looking good = no work
I always tell people that if they see me, and think
that I’m looking well, or have facial hair; that it’s a good chance I haven’t
worked in a while.
Well I’ve recently grown a beard, and I’ve dropped
7 kg.
Take a guess when I last received a call-sheet…
Yup – sometime in late-January.
It’s almost April.
The point made to people is that if I’m not working
– I have an opportunity to look after myself better; I suppose it’s a way of
filling in the time.
The facial hair, however, is a combination of
laziness, and apathy.
When working on Killer Instinct (long-distance
Wildlife Doco), I’d often be fully clean-shaven at
the beginning of a shooting trip, and not shave until I arrived in
Why do I do these “odd” things?
I use facial-hair growth as a calendar, wear cargo
pants almost exclusively, I don’t own a suit, or a tie, or even a white
business shirt.
I’m most definitely NOT what you would call a
normal person. Forget the standard
response of “what IS normal?” cause I’m not ashamed of my eccentricities.
I am a solid worker (with VERY strong views on what
I want to call work), Intuitive, a great observer, considerate of others;
almost to a fault – you know what, sometimes it is a fault, Goddamn it - I
worry about what others are thinking WAY too much.
I constantly find myself thinking of those that
don’t seem to “get it” and well frankly, feel I’m above them, better than them,
like I should perhaps give them a hand.
I guess it all stems from my love of imparting
knowledge, teaching those around me things that I’ve learnt. I really enjoy it.
But I can’t stand the rigidity of “structured” learning.
Learning is a process that should be comfortable, and eternal – there shouldn’t be this system
that reinforces “school-hours” as the only time a person should be learning.
I learn the best by observing others, with a small
amount of guidance; to put me on the path of discovery.
That’s the way I like to teach.
Give ‘em a framework to
guide the process of discovery, give people a good demonstration, some
information, and leave them to it. (Sounds really fruit-loopy doesn’t it?)
Questions are encouraged, as are mistakes (so long
as you can learn from them).
There’s no way I’d be anywhere near as confident,
if I wasn’t allowed to fail – time and time again.
There is of course a limit to the number of times
that you should be allowed to make the same mistake, without learning from it –
and this is where teachers come in.
They can be as gentle as a mentor – strong as a
drill sargent, both ways
work – for different people, in different ways.
So the next time you think that a teacher isn’t
deserving of a pay rise, or that they get it easy… Try and put yourself in
their shoes for a while – and see if you’re up to the challenge. (personally I hope that you are, there’s no better feeling
than having taught someone something they didn’t know before you got to them)
Rant over.
Peace out
Skiin’ Ian
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