G'Day

Journalism is an option, yes, provided I don't need a driver's license... Which I probably would need, to go and hunt down interviews... D'oh!

I'm hesitant to go deeply into psych, because I don't think I could deal with literally insane patients all day. I probably don't have the temperament for it... Though my Retail studies would help in some regard, I suppose.

I really don't know what I want to do. I'd love to be a writer or musician and get paid big bucks for it (wouldn't we all?) but that's not something I can count on. Those things will have to be secondary to a more reasonable paycheck, at least until I make it big.

I was just kind of hoping that all these different aspects would come together into one awesome job or something... Like, something that I'd be especially qualified for which would give me an edge over the competition...

I could feasibly do Government work... My dad once told me I should be a politician, but I think that was mostly a joke about the pension scheme if you manage to be Prime Minister.

What I was really looking for was something along these lines:

Head Office of a Retail company - this would require office skills and retail knowledge. And then within Head Office, maybe there'd be something that would utilise my other knowledge bases (creative writing and either psychology or sociology)... Maybe?

Ideally it would have to be something innovative or to do with new designs of some sort. I'd want to make a difference, otherwise I'd feel like just an everyday worker (not that there's anything wrong with that - but my own psychological makeup requires me to try to be a little different).

And in a way, that would be perfect for me, at least for the foreseeable future. The way to get there would simply be:

Get a job in retail, preferably with a big company.
Work up to manager.
Work up to State Office.
Work up to Head Office.
Find the right role within Head Office.

And the best thing is, you can change which company you're with at any point along that path. I mean, if you've been a Manager with Store A for 6 months, chances are you can then become Manager of Store B without having to start out as a casual all over again.

I'm not sure how much creativity would come into those sorts of jobs, but hopefully enough to make me happy.

*shrug*

I've got to get a job in retail first...

And of course, my studies are far from over...

I'll have Cert. III in Retail on the 29th of this month, but then there's the Cert. IV stuff (both Retail and Office). And I'm still on first-year subjects with my Arts degree.

Such lofty goals... And even just a casual position with a retail store would be the best thing to happen to me that I could imagine as feasible right now.

Cliff Face said:

Well, the way I saw it, Rage had the occasional 3-4am 30-minute section with music I really liked (metal etc.) and the rest was pretty crap most of the time. And I wasn't going to stay up till 4am just to see 4 or 5 metal music videos. Whereas Video Hits had all the popular artists. It annoyed me that they didn't have any metal, ever, but I like some pop music from time to time. And I think it was a great way to wake up on a weekend morning, when I'm usually bleary eyed and not knowing what to do with myself.

I should totally start my owm music video show, full of punk, heavy rock, all shades of metal, goth, whatever. I wonder how long that would last... and what terrible timeslot they'd give me...

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I used to stay up late on Fridays to see those 5 videos!

At one stage they used to replay sections of Friday night on Saturday mornings after the top 20 countdown. That was great. Don't know why they stopped and when I emailed the programmers they said they had never done so.

The metal show would be great. The only metal show I know of in WA is on RTR FM, a community radio station. Yet Australia has quite a strong metal scene.

Yeah, Australia has a good metal scene. Unfortunately, it's kept hidden in the shadows. The only airtime metal ever gets (on radio or TV) as far as I know is at ungodly hours of the morning.

It's basically prejudice against a cultural group, when you get right down to it. Or maybe it's that metal is seen as "rude" and "shocking" so the people in charge censor it to those hours.

I don't know.

Even on Foxtel, which has heaps more variety, the music channels only ever played metal at 11pm or later, or not at all. It's shameful, really.

/rant

This thread is hardcore huge! I'm getting thread hypnosis even trying to read some of it. But aussie thread FTW!

The trick with reading huge threads on AW is to read the first page, so you get the general gist of what's going on, then read the last page or two.

At least, that's what I do.

Your mileage may vary.

Metal is much maligned everywhere. I say I listen to metal and people look at me funny. Then when I put some on they really get into it, well aside from the death metal and black metal.

Great doco on metal as a sub-culture or tribal group.
http://www.metalhistory.com/about-the-film.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzMNuGwGW7g

And, I'm apparently too old for the NFO route too. They waive up to 31, but only if you have 3 years of active duty service. So right now, I'm thinking of going into a field that will let me use the tuition assistance and GI bill to finish my degree. Then, when my enlistment is up, apply to different agencies. I've always wanted to be a state trooper or an FBI agent, so I guess I'll see where it goes.

tim290280 said:

Metal is much maligned everywhere. I say I listen to metal and people look at me funny. Then when I put some on they really get into it, well aside from the death metal and black metal.

Great doco on metal as a sub-culture or tribal group.
http://www.metalhistory.com/about-the-film.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzMNuGwGW7g

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lol if you say you listen to country you get downright abused, or laughed at, but at any shows, events, radio when a county song comes on, everyone gets into it. whats up with that?

HuntfortheWildborn said:

lol if you say you listen to country you get downright abused, or laughed at, but at any shows, events, radio when a county song comes on, everyone gets into it. whats up with that?

Click to expand...

The same reason why I would never buy most of the music that gets played at dance clubs, but when they play it, I shake my arse like everyone else: they're fun to dance to or sing along to in a group setting, but they suck on their own.

Hmm. Well, I tend to listen to black, death and doom metal. I don't really find the "original" metal bands to be that exciting. *shrug*

I really go in for the dirty vocals, though there are some great doom metal bands with women singing in hauntingly beautiful clean vocals.

I only know of 2 metal bands that have dirty female vocals. The Agonist, and Astarte. I'd really like to see more women doing the growl.

PrincessofPersia said:

The same reason why I would never buy most of the music that gets played at dance clubs, but when they play it, I shake my arse like everyone else: they're fun to dance to or sing along to in a group setting, but they suck on their own.

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LOL, I'm the opposite. I don't mind some dance music, on occasion, but I would never dance in a nightclub.

Well, maybe in a goth club...

Cliff Face said:

LOL, I'm the opposite. I don't mind some dance music, on occasion, but I would never dance in a nightclub.

Well, maybe in a goth club...

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Yeah, but that's different. That's just you not liking to dance in a nightclub. Do you ever go to a house party or anything where they play dance music? You don't leave if it comes on, do you?

PrincessofPersia said:

they're fun to dance to or sing along to in a group setting, but they suck on their own.

Click to expand...

lol i guess were just going to have to agree to differ on that point

PrincessofPersia said:

Yeah, but that's different. That's just you not liking to dance in a nightclub. Do you ever go to a house party or anything where they play dance music? You don't leave if it comes on, do you?

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Actually, there was a time when I'd go outside and chain-smoke and drink until I had gotten less aggravated by the music I didn't like being played way too loud.

I'd eventually go back inside, but I was quite happy to be outside on my own, just doing nothing much.

HuntfortheWildborn said:

lol i guess were just going to have to agree to differ on that point

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On which point?

Cliff Face said:

Actually, there was a time when I'd go outside and chain-smoke and drink until I had gotten less aggravated by the music I didn't like being played way too loud.

I'd eventually go back inside, but I was quite happy to be outside on my own, just doing nothing much.

Click to expand...

Yeah, again. That's different. If they start playing music I hate really loud, I'm not going to enjoy it. I dunno though. Certain songs are good for dancing around and acting like a tard, but I wouldn't listen to them in my living room.

Mmm.

I should play some guitar. All this talk of music is making me daydream about actually having talent at an instrument...

Of course, I'm showing more talent with keyboards nowadays. Well, the organ to be specific. Grandad has an organ and last time I played it, I thought it sounded really good. I'm not at that level with guitar yet. My own keyboard is kind of... cheap. And it sounds cheap.

What I really want, now that I have a (temporary) paying job, is to get rid of my keyboards (sell it in the paper maybe or just take it back to Cash Converters, where I got it from) and find a really cool keyboard that has the same sound options as a traditional organ, but which would be much more portable and take up heaps less space. That would be ideal. Of course, I've been so busy lately I haven't even had the chance to go into the local music shop and find out what sort of keyboard could do what I want it to do, and then it'd probably cost like, $500+ or something ludicrous.

So maybe it should wait until I can say I have a paying job without adding (temporary) before it...

Especially as I'm expecting some big bills soon. Eep!

Cliff Face said:

Hmm. Well, I tend to listen to black, death and doom metal. I don't really find the "original" metal bands to be that exciting. *shrug*

I really go in for the dirty vocals, though there are some great doom metal bands with women singing in hauntingly beautiful clean vocals.

I only know of 2 metal bands that have dirty female vocals. The Agonist, and Astarte. I'd really like to see more women doing the growl.

Click to expand...

Try Arch Enemy. I'm not a fan of The Agonist, whereas Arch Enemy is just awesome.

I'm a fan of Gothenburg and MeloDeath. Also like prog and symphonic metal, stuff like Epica, Nightwish, Kamelot. That Headbangers Journey movie has a sequel looking at metal in different countries - Global Metal. Some of the Chinese and Israeli bands are awesome (Orphaned Land and
Tang Dynasty).

HuntfortheWildborn said:

lol if you say you listen to country you get downright abused, or laughed at, but at any shows, events, radio when a county song comes on, everyone gets into it. whats up with that?

Click to expand...

And rightly so.

Country music is often thought of as Conway Twitty as opposed to the more pop/rock country a'la Keith Urban. So I think it is more due to the cool factor and how different modern country music is.

Plus: Shania Twain. One part catchy pop, two parts cringe-worthy embarrassment. Sums it up.

Cliff Face said:

What I really want, now that I have a (temporary) paying job, is to get rid of my keyboards (sell it in the paper maybe or just take it back to Cash Converters, where I got it from) and find a really cool keyboard that has the same sound options as a traditional organ, but which would be much more portable and take up heaps less space. That would be ideal. Of course, I've been so busy lately I haven't even had the chance to go into the local music shop and find out what sort of keyboard could do what I want it to do, and then it'd probably cost like, $500+ or something ludicrous.

Click to expand...

You're not going to find a keyboard that has a really good organ sound that is very cheap or easily transportable unfortunately. I had a pretty cheap (~$100) one that had one decent organ sound, but we ended up taking it off of all the recordings. If you put it through a Vox amp, it sounded like Ray Manzarek was in the room.

Y'know, I had a closer look at my current keyboard, and it does have some organ sounds... But they're a bit crappy. And for some reason the bass side of the keys is really quiet on the organ setting. *sigh*

I'll still have a look around for something that suits me, but I guess I won't be holding my breath.

Also - Arch Enemy. I actually have one of their CDs, but as far as I know it's a guy singing? I saw one videoclip of theirs on youtube with a woman singing, and I went out and bought one of their albums right away. And then I looked in the booklet, and it was just a bunch of guys in the band. Is it possible that they changed singers at some point, and I just happened to buy an early album?

I'll look into them again at some point, I suppose.

Re Arch Enemy: Yep, they had a male vocalist for the first 3 albums and then Angela Gossow came on board in late 2000. Her first album with them was Wages of Sin.

Keyboards that are decent aren't cheap. I've got a cheapo one to learn and practice playing. Best to hunt down a used one, check out what model your favourite bands use and hunt around for similar stuff.

Oh, okay. I must've bought an old Arch Enemy CD.

I might have to hunt down a newer one tomorrow when I go shopping. Thanks.

And that's good advice for the keyboard - hunting down a used one of the same model that a band I love uses. I think the first band I'd look at is Cradle Of Filth. They get some really good sounds out of the keyboards used in their songs, and it's one of the metal bands I know of that actually use keyboards. Chalice is another one (from Adelaide, no less!) but I'm not sure I could find out what model they used, as they're no longer together, so I'm assuming that info would be hard to find.

I should probably practice on my cheap one more often, to make it a worthwhile purchase. I tend to get very enthusiastic about musical equipment. Like the time I spent $1300 on a drumkit when I didn't live in a house where I could play it (noise problems). I've hardly touched that drumkit. I probably won't be able to use it until I get my own place and soundproof a room... Yet I still bought it as soon as I could afford it. Because hey, it was on sale. And we all know sales are heaps rare... *headdesk*

/ramble

So it's Saturday morning, and my immediate impulse was to watch Video Hits. But of course, that show is dead now.

*sigh*

It's Saturday morning and my immediate impulse is to sleep in.