Autobiography of an Over Abundant Quantity

"Tina T's Countdown" was always a record of events and thoughts passing through time, to the eventual goal of leaving some place and arriving back home to Australia.

But after what happened today, I won't be counting down no more.

It was a whirlwind weekend. My mind has been a complete mess. Decisions were made then unmade. Then made again before changing my mind for the umpteenth time.

Finally this morning when it came to crunch time, I made a call that is potentially the end of life as I once knew. No, I'm not going into the nunnery. I've taken a job in the realm of the industry I once worked, once perceived as one where I could excel in despite smaller pools of opportunities and possible years of really hard work but really, seemed to have been advancing towards in various ways and on roundabout paths to, since Year 10 Work Experience.

One Mr Bryce Courtenay, Australia's best selling author set me on that path. He had worked for many years at the top advertising agencies in Sydney. So inspired by his writing was I that in Year 10 when proposed with the task of arranging two week's of work experience, it was the easiest choice in the world to seek out Mr Courtenay's agency and ask for a week there. To be up front and clear, stalking was NOT one of my motivations. Bryce wasn't there at the time, apparently away on publicity tour of yet another new book but I wasn't disappointed. I would have another run-in with him a couple of years later (that's another story) and even a fan letter was written years after that.

The point was, I understood what I needed to do to get into advertising from then on. I shall become a graphic designer! Except everybody wanted to be a graphic designer that year in 1996 when I was in Year 12 and took my HSC where your marks either got you in, or in my case, out of your First Preference for university course. I took Interior Design as a consolation.

I am NOT an Interior Designer today.

Having spent four years hitting my head against a brickwall (interior design never came to me) I did graduate with a BA Design (Int.) with second class honours, but I knew something else beckoned. I enrolled in night school (I love saying that, it's so American like Grease the movie; it was technically a part time course at TAFE, government-run vocational training centres; for the life of me I can't remember what TAFE stands for) where I studies Film and Video Design, building upon my lessons at uni where I had taken Film and Television Design subjects.

It was with luck and timing on my side that I would meet a girl at TAFE who told me about the job opening. Her company was looking for a video tape librarian and it was the perfect entry level position I needed. They were in Post Production. A complete unknown to me. Who has ever heard of post production and what the heck did a post production company do anyway? I applied for the job nevertheless and was offered it after being interviewed three times. It's probably the most intensive interview process I've ever went through incidentally.

I would loosely infer that I received the most education I've ever received in my life at that place. When I left there, I left only to go to another post production company. When I left the second company, I went to London looking for something similar. I ended up in Broadcast Services, which was still in the same family so to speak. My one year in Toronto was a departure work-wise, but always knew at the back of my head that it was only a short detour and that my goal remained the same, for over the years, a seed was planted and it grew. It grows only if I keep working in the Media Content Creation world. I believe the fruits of my labour would be sweet only if I remained focused and toiled endlessly for it. If I chose to abandon it, what will I have? Only a wilted dream.

Taiwan was never meant to by my final stop in my travels. I was on my way back to Australia when "Taiwan" happened. It was out of sheer morbid curiosity that I decided to throw a couple of Post Production companies my resume, to see what would happen and to facilitate my fantasies of escaping the life of a Bored Secretary, something I had horribly disfigured into in the last three months which I vehemently detested.

Then I received a call. And I attended an interview. Then I received another call and a job was on offer.

It was a Computer Animations company but that is beside the point as it has Post Prodution facilities. It was a Post Production company with a focus in Computer Animations. It was suddenly very likely that my nomadian existence could come to an abrupt end, even before I was to reach my Holy Land. The last three days and three nights would have found useful an enlightened intervention. But curse me none was forthcoming. Only in the final hours did I eventually stop my hand-wringing for a moment to make that call and committed myself to realistically, a miniumm of a few years of working in Taiwan. But here's the real kick to the balls: it's less pay than being a Bored Secretary.

On route to career goal, but in less than desirable social/cultural/economic/political setting AND less pay.

I'm a Luddite Who Loves Robots.

Things don't make sense here. But amusing they better damn will be, cause it looks like we'll be here for a while.