Last week I had a call from the law firm I was supposed to start work with in September; they had too many people starting and, to cut a long story short, wanted some of us to work as a paralegal for a year first, take a gap year, or not do the contract at all. If they didn’t get enough people to choose, they would choose who started this September, with the rest not starting for another year. Over the course of a week, with a lot of good advice from family and friends (I’m not going to go into details on my thinking, but this poem was quite influential, and one I wanted to share), I’ve chosen to take a gap year. I’ve done 5 years of university without a break, straight after 18 years of school without a break; it’s time to do my own thing.
I need to find employment of some kind, but thankfully the pressure is off slightly due to the financial incentive from my firm. I have a couple of ideas of what I’d like to do, but my key criterion is actually doing something that interests me; I want to incorporate what I do in my spare time into an actual job.
I also have a lot of other things I want to do; I feel like this year I’ve neglected a lot of my interests, and I’m well aware that once I start the training contract I won’t exactly have an abundance of spare time. I haven’t danced as much as I’d like for a while, both due to studying and ankles. As both of these will (fingers crossed) be rectified by September, I’ll definitely be dancing more. I’ll have more time to devote to Unworkshop, which I’m having to take a backseat on for a couple months due to exams and travels. I’ve also been asked to help out with some other dance stuff, which should be fun. Ideally I’d also like to try teaching; while I have a lot of ideas, I also know there are far more advanced dancers than me who are keen to teach. If you know of any vacancies or anyone interested in setting up classes, do let me know.
I want to get back to more legal and philosophical reading. While I have done a fair amount of this over the past year, hopefully with a less stressful job (or one that involves reading anyway) I’d like to do even more. I’m still interested in the concept of demos, especially when it relates to Europe. I’ve always related this very closely to Habermas’ concept of a wider form of democracy, and Arendt’s ideas on how to preserve this form of democracy. Habermas was also talking recently about how a demos hasn’t been formed with new technologies; I haven’t decided whether or not it has been formed yet (the use of social media to protest issues surrounding the new government tips me towards one being formed slowly), but I have pretty clear ideas on how a demos could be formed.
I also want to cook a lot more. While I bake a fair amount, I think I could be trying out even more recipes. I’m also less adventurous with cooking main meals than I’d like; I want to spend far more time experimenting. This may even lead to my spinning recipes from here out into a separate blog.
Finally, my camera plans may have to be postponed slightly, but I’m not going to stop taking more photos. I’d been hoping to buy an SLR with my first solicitor’s paycheck, but obviously that’s not going to be for a while now. Ideally I’ll find a relatively cheap used camera; if not, I’ll keep trying to get the most out of my compact and use other people’s nice shiny ones when I get a chance.
So these are my exciting plans for the next year. This has all happened rather quickly, so there could be lots of things I’ve not thought of yet. I’m open to other ideas as well; either send me an email, or leave a comment here.
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