Archive for December 16th, 2005

So many words, but which one applies?

Sometimes it is hard to decide which word is appropriate for a particular circumstance, and today I found myself debating one such occurrence. You see, today I was deemed to be overqualified for my job, which upset me quite considerably, and saw me break down in tears, which is probably quite understandable considering that it came as a complete surprise. After a while (and after clearing out my desk), I left and had a coffee, which certainly helped to settle me a bit, I won’t say it cheered me up, because there really wasn’t much to be all that cheery about, but it did make me feel better.

While I was having this coffee, the radio, which is vaguely audible from where I was sitting, started to play a familiar song, which has in some ways become the song by which this day will be remembered. The song was a Rod Stewart song, namely “Sailing”. The reason I recognised this is that The Cuckoo’s Nest performed an adaption of it called “We Are Whaling”, this was a satirical view of Japan’s continued whaling in and around Australian waters. Of course, I also know the Rod Stewart song, but the tune sticks out clearly thanks to The Cuckoo’s Nest. Incidentally, John Kerr (or was it Stuart Bocking?) played Sailing in the last week.

Also while I was having my drink, I started to think about how I would describe my overqualified end of employment, was I sacked or retrenched or fired, or something else all together? The official term was “terminated”, but that is a fairly neutral word, which didn’t really express the circumstances. Sacked could work, but that is generally used for an employer’s dissatisfaction with an employee or a downsizing of the workforce, whilst that could apply, it didn’t sound right. Fired is very much a negative punishment word, and seeing as I wasn’t reprimanded or told that I had done something wrong, that certainly doesn’t fit. Retrenched is also not relevant as the job hasn’t disappeared (to the best of my knowledge). I did ponder this for a while, but didn’t really reach a conclusion.

Afterwards I went to Woden and met my bus driver friend, who I had lunch with, and spent most of the afternoon with. This was a great help, as it helped me take my mind off things, and cheered me up considerably.

This evening I went about searching for the Rod Stewart song I had heard later in the day, as I wasn’t sure of its name. Upon finding it I played it, which made me burst out in tears again. It isn’t the song which is sad, but the memories which are now associated with it. I have now discovered just how hard it is to officially leave something which seemed to be going well, and people who were very nice.

I am now likely to take a break until the new year, when I will start looking for a job again, hopefully this time I won’t be “overqualified”.

I seem to be having difficulty ending this post, so I’m going to let Rod Stewart do it, here is Rod Stewart with Sailing, the honourary song of the day.

I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again ’cross the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

I am flying, I am flying,
Like a bird ’cross the sky.
I am flying, passing high clouds,
To be with you, to be free.

Can you hear me, can you hear me
Thro’ the dark night, far away,
I am dying, forever crying,
To be with you, who can say.

Can you hear me, can you hear me,
Thro’ the dark night far away.
I am dying, forever crying,
To be with you, who can say.

We are sailing, we are sailing,
Home again ’cross the sea.
We are sailing stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

Oh lord, to be near you, to be free.
Oh my lord, to be near you, to be free.
Oh lord, to be near you, to be free.
Oh lord.

Samuel

12 comments December 16th, 2005 at 11:57pm

Samuel’s Year 12 Graduation

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything in the last couple days, this was due to my year 12 graduation ceremony taking up my time.

Yesterday (Wednesday) at 10am the rehearsal for the graduation took place, this mainly consisted of working out where everyone would sit, and what the order of events would be on the night, surprisingly this took nearly an hour, after which I decided to have morning tea at a nearby cafe, the Calypso Coffee Lounge, the same cafe that I attended a few times during Linux.conf.au 2005. The staff remembered me, and I had a cappuccino and a fruit mince pie, before heading back to work. Whilst I was having my coffee, I could see the Linux.conf.au 2005 venue, and it brought back a lot of memories.

Anyway, when 5pm rolled around, I left work for the graduation ceremony at Llwellyn Hall, unfortunately the person operating the camera did not use the zoom, and the camera focused on an audience member’s head, which made me blurry and distant. I am on stage in the group of six people. If you count from the left, I am person number three. The lady further over to the left wearing yellow is College principal Sue Northmore, who was handing out the year 12 certificate folders and yearbooks. (UPDATE: Apparently Sue was not handing out the yearbooks, apparently it is something which I imagined whilst tired and writing this post.)
Dickson College Year 12 Graduation Ceremony 2005 with Samuel Gordon-Stewart

The ceremony went on for a while and was quite enjoyable, the college staff certainly worked very hard to make this a memorable and well run event. Afterwards, two photos of myself holding the folder and yearbook were taken in front of the building adjacent to Llewellyn Hall.
Samuel Gordon-Stewart post year 12 graduation
Samuel Gordon-Stewart post year 12 graduation

I have also managed to get some photos of the various items handed out, here you can see the program guide, the yearbook, and the certificate folder.
Program Guide, Yearbook & Certificate Folder

Next up we have photos of the certificates from the certificate folder:
Top Row: Year 12 Certificate, Certificate 2 in Information Technology (Applications), Certificate Folder, Certificate 2 in Information Technology, Certificate 1 in Information Technology.
Bottom Row: Certificate 2 in Information Technology (gained via apprencticeship), Certificate of Attainment of various aspects of Certificate 2 in Business, Certificate of Appreciation for work during Dickson College Open Night of 2005, Statement of Attainment of various aspects of Certificate 3 in Information Technology, Certificate of High Achievement in General Mathematics.
Samuel Gordon-Stewart's certificates from Year 12

I was personally surprised by receiving two Cert 2’s In IT, it reminded me of a scene in Fawlty Towers where Basil Fawlty is assisting a couple of doctors who are checking into the hotel and he gets the impression that one of them is two doctors

Basil: How do you do doctor. Very nice to have you with us, doctor.
Dr (Mr) Abbott: Thank You.
Basil: And Mrs Abbott, how do you do.
Dr (Mr) Abbott: Dr Abbott, actually.
Basil: …I’m sorry?
Dr (Mr) Abbott: Doctor Abbott.
Dr (Mrs) Abbott: Two doctors.
Basil: (to Mr Abbott) You’re two doctors?
Dr (Mrs) Abbott: Yes.
Basil: Well, how did you become two doctors? That’s most unusual…I mean, did you take the exams twice, or…?
Dr (Mr) Abbott: No, my wife’s a doctor…
Dr (Mrs) Abbott: …I’m a doctor.
Basil: You’re a doctor too! So you’re three doctors.
Dr (Mr) Abbott: No, I’m a doctor. My wife’s another doctor.

And finally, the photo of Dickson College’s Year 12 of 2005, as seen on the inside cover page of the yearbook. You may recall that I wrote an article about the photo shoot a few weeks back.
Dickson College Year 12 of 2005

Samuel

15 comments December 16th, 2005 at 01:00am


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