Sydney vs. GRE

There’s something about the big city that I absolutely love. Not just the sounds of cars honking, trains speeding by and continuous construction, but the feeling that everyone walking around has a purpose and somewhere to be or somewhere they are going. It excites for my own venture out into the real world when I get to dawn an expensive suit, carry a briefcase and carry two phones at once (ok maybe a bit far).

My trip to Sydney, much like my trip to Auckland, New Zealand, was a relatively short one that only served one purpose and that was for my GRE. I hitched a ride from Jimmy to the airport to save on the hassle of taking the bus before checking in and heading to the gate.

I want to go off on a slight tangent here and state that although Virgin Air considers itself a discount airline, I absolutely love what Richard Branson has done with the model of the company. Customer service agents greet you by name on check-in, ask you how your day is going, why you’re going to your destination AND my first time flying with Virgin, they upgraded me to an exit row seat! Needless to say, I love the customer service associated with it (and the hot staff they employ) even if it means I’m paying a bit more than flying with Jetstar.

I tried my best to sleep on the plane since I had to work all night but it wasn’t happening. So I arrived in Sydney exhausted, groggy and ready for bed. I purchased a multi-transport pass for $61 and that allowed for unlimited travel on any of the trains, buses and ferries including leaving and coming to the airport. Although now that I look back I did not take the full advantage of the $61, the pass is good for a week, so anyone going to Sydney, I strongly recommend getting it. Moreover, last time being here Sydney was lacking in the apps department for travellers whom have an iPhone and they have greatly improved this time around with transit schedules and such, so really helped out. Far better than my time here in 2007 in which I only had a brick phone Nokia.

I caught the train to the city and then a bus from the city to Cass’s place where I would be staying for my two days in town. She has an awesome place on a hill that has a great view of the city nightlife as well as the quietness of any suburb. She gave me a tour of the place; I met her roommates and then after an evening of chatting decided to finally pass out. I was a bit nervous, as I had not done any studying that night to prepare for my afternoon GRE test the next day, but oh well…

I didn’t sleep well that night and woke up with a kink in my neck resulting in a pretty painful morning. I left the house with Ally for the city as she was on her way to work and figured might as well travel with someone who knows the area. I’m glad I did because my intentions were to go to the library at Circular Quay to study until my exam and then head to it at 1pm. She advised me there was the state library (which I didn’t even know about), which was closer and offered more amenities than the local library. So I headed there, found a seat in the café and began studying furiously for the next 4 hours.

I skimmed the material for the last minute cram session before realising I hadn’t looked over anything regarding shapes! It sounds stupid now that I look back, but to completely forget a whole section, at this point I told myself “screw it”. I grabbed some KFC before heading to the testing centre.

To spare the long boring details regarding the test and to avoid getting sued by the GRE people, I’ll just say it wasn’t what I had expected. After the exam was finished it gave me a raw number regarding what my scores were without my verbal reasoning essays (as those would be graded by humans). I’ll spare the details now and wait until I get back my official results before announcing anything, but at this time all I’ll say is the ends justifies the means, clearly.

After the exam, I walked around a bit before heading back to the library to do some email checking, podcast downloading and connecting with Lani to meet up for dinner. She told me she was in Kings Cross, which I shuddered after hearing because that place is absolutely disgusting (and it’s apparently improved over the years!). We ate at a local hole in the wall Thai place, which was pretty spicy but also amazing. Afterwards, we went our separate ways and I headed back to Cass’s place before relaxing for a bit and heading to bed.

I woke up Thursday morning to the sound of rain, which I wasn’t to pleased with as I was not expecting it to rain until Thursday evening. I packed my stuff and headed to library to drop off for a few hours since they had hourly lockers, so that I could walk around the city as well as head to the harbour to take pictures of the bridge and opera house. Sadly, the rain was constant throughout most of the morning, so I bought a $15 umbrella to attempt to keep me somewhat dry.

I first headed to the rocks and took some pictures of the bridge as well as the opera house across the way before making my way over to the opera house. Luckily at this point the rain had stopped so I was able to get a few pictures as well as Skype my buddy Diaz from back home to show him the sights and sounds of Sydney Harbour. A pretty low-key day before I grabbed my stuff, headed to the airport and caught the 3pm flight back to the Gold Coast.

Overall, the trip was pretty good. A bit unfortunate that there were many friends of mine I didn’t get to catch up with but since airfare is relatively cheap to Sydney ($150 on a good day), I am planning to go back in August on my days off but with the mindset of relaxing and not worrying about a test. There are already plans in the works to go see an opera or symphony at the opera house! More to come.

Until then,

Cheers and 再见!

-H

G.R.E.

The reason why I chose to pursue my masters degree in criminology was two-fold. First and foremost, I felt my employment status at the time did not reflect what I truly wanted to do in life or what I was capable of doing. Working security for a nightclub that had no room for promotion and a commissioned sales job reliant on quotas, led me to a very unhealthy lifestyle in which I gradually became depressed, exhausted and without a social life. The second reason for coming was I found myself always talking about ‘Australia this’ and ‘Australia that’ with friends and such. I wanted to continue with my education and felt not only could I go back to Australia and obtain my masters degree in Criminology but because universities in Australia did not require Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores as do US universities for postgraduates.

I have always hated standardised testing and while many of my friends slaved away hours a day studying for the SATs for college in 2003 and taking the PSATs numerous times to prepare for the SATs, I went in winging it. I feel a standardised test is just that, standardised. Why try to cram for a test where you should either know the information or not? And because so many of my friends crammed for it, they obtained higher than average scores that did not truly reflect their true knowledge of skill level for a university setting. I took the PSATs scoring 800/1600, and then the SATs scoring 960/1600 and again scoring 1000/1600. No studying whatsoever and good enough to get into Washington State University and graduate with two bachelors degrees.

But at the time, I was also looking at Arizona State University (ASU) and University of Southern California (USC) because of their excellent criminal justice programs. However, all three universities wanted GRE scores of which I refused to pay for to take once if not two or three times on top of study materials if I chose to actually study. So I packed up, left and came here to do my graduate degree.

After obtaining my masters degree, I then contacted WSU, ASU and USC once again to possibly come back to the United States and pursue my PhD in criminology with an emphasis on crime prevention. And once again, all three universities advised me they needed my GRE scores even after obtaining my masters degree. So it looks as if I have to bite the bullet and go full guns blazing for this damn test.

I have signed up to take the GRE in Sydney Wednesday, July 4th (Happy birthday America!) at 1:30pm. I’ll be flying down to Sydney right after work Tuesday morning to give myself time to relax and unwind before doing some last minute studying before the 4 ½ test Wednesday afternoon. Afterwards I’ll do some sight-seeing and relax with friends living down there before coming back up to the Gold Coast for work Thursday night. A relatively quick trip nonetheless, but only with one purpose in mind that could re-shape my academic future.

I’ve also decided to do somewhat of a basic skim of the material, seeing how a lot of it is high school math that I not only failed twice in college, but also haven’t touched it since 2004. So for the next 2 weeks, in between work and sleep I’ll have my eyes fixated to a computer screen and in my GRE prep notes to prepare for this gruelling beast of an exam.

If I pass with acceptable scores, I am hoping to apply at ASU, USC and my alma mater WSU in hopes of pursuing my PhD in the US instead of here in Australia. While these plans are not set yet and anything can change pending what the scores will be and if Bond University ever gets back to me regarding the possibility of doing my PhD here, I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket…

Until next time.

Cheers and 再见

-H

Public Transportation vs. Walking

For the past six months while working at Griffith University, something was reconfirmed to me that I have always known throughout my two years of being in Australia, public transportation in Australia is HORRIBLE. It may just be Queensland (aka Translink) or even just the Gold Coast, as I have yet to verify this with Sydney (New South Wales), Melbourne (Victoria) or even Brisbane (Queensland).

Not only do Translink services abruptly stop or Translink bus drivers blatantly miss stops or never show up to stops, but the fact that buses start running earlier/later at certain platforms than others is annoying. They don’t sync up! Moreover, with the Gold Coast being a predominantly tourist population, the system overall is always delayed as tourists are continually asking questions to drivers about what stop to get off of, how much the fare is, and what bus they would take to get to such and such destination.

Working at Griffith University in Southport is an easily fun and equally laid back job, getting to and from work though is a whole other story. For my journey to Southport (20 mins by car), it takes roughly 90 mins to get there by bus with one. This means that working 5 days a week, I waste 450mins (7 ½ hours getting TO work) when if I had a vehicle, I would only be wasting 1 hour. Luckily though, I’ve been able to keep busy with PhD readings, GRE studying, etc. On top of that, because of the timing, I can either get to work an hour early, or be late by 10 mins. Therefore, I also waste 5 hours of down time before I actually start my shift. With Queensland security industry standard pay at $24, I waste $120 sitting around at work before starting,

Now, I clock off at 0400hours every night. HOWEVER, the bus from Griffith University does not start running until 0550hours. This means I have to wait almost 2 hours before I can even get on the bus for another hour of travel before getting home; 3 hours total down time and home by 0730hours. Again, 5 days a week, that's 15 hours of garbage time wasted. So I wanted to experiment with taking the 24-hour bus from Australia Fair shopping centre, which is 4km away from Griffith University.

One night, I decided to walk the 4km to Australia Fair after my 0400hrs shift to catch the 0500hrs bus (24-hour running bus to Gold Coast airport) home. Lo and behold, I was home by 0600hrs and typically in bed by 0630hrs. Crazy and annoying that I can either wait for the bus and be home in bed by 0800 or walk 4km (usually takes me 40mins, I walk fast) and be home and in bed by 0630.

But I guess the better question is why I don’t just go out and get a car…

Anyways, just a random observation (and great workout!)

Until then,

Cheers!

-H

Life of a student actor.

I decided to try something different and get into acting. While I would like to say it’s a hobby, I feel it is something I would definitely spend much more time on doing if something better came from it (unlike my music); therefore, continual courses, films and criticism to help me become better at it. I mean, I’m already a pretty amazing bullshitter. So I told myself, get in touch with a talent agency and begin my quest.

Now something that needs to be mentioned in regards to Australian ‘talent agencies’; they aren’t what they seem. As someone from the US with a few friends in the entertainment industry and in some very high profile feature films, I’ve come to think to get into acting you needed to go to college and study drama/theatre for 4 years followed by doing some small/unpaid roles before getting into the bigger scheme of things. But then, when I came here, I saw all these advertisements from talent agencies looking for people both with skills and fresh to the new industry to represent them and find them work on TV shows, commercials, movies, etc etc.

I was excited when a company called ‘Blackbox Management’ and a representative from them called ‘Anita’ was willing to sign me on and represent me. The only concern I had was when ‘Anita’ stated they needed $180 to start up my web portfolio and get me listed on casting agent sites. I was hesitant but paid the fee as she had told me there was plenty of work out there for me, I just needed to be listed for casting directors to see. After three months of never hearing from her and continually being charged $10 a month for my ‘monthly profile fee’ I emailed the company stating to cancel everything and called ANZ bank to let them know to cancel and block all further debits from the company. I never heard from them other than the initial signing of my ‘contract’ and have found out that ‘Anita’ now works for ‘Showcase Management’ and that ‘Blackbox management’ is no longer a business. A couple of weeks ago, I continually was receiving calls from the company AND HER before putting them on my block list.

Then, about two months ago, I came in contact with ‘Global Talent Management’ and subsequently had a meeting at their office with ‘Danielle’. Again same story of which she had work they could get me, blah blah blah, but that they needed headshots for me as I did not have any. This time around, GTM stated they needed $260 for the headshots with their photographer, Chris Goode. I hesitantly paid, knowing I needed headshots but was content that GTM did not need any website fees, sign up fees, etc. I was also fortunate to meet Chris and immediately get all 300 of my photos taken that day without any watermarks added to them so that I could continuously use them for future use (of which they have been extremely useful). At first, Danielle would send out occasional emails looking for pregnant moms, families, that sort of work that did not apply to me. Then I received emails from her stating she was putting my name out there but getting work was hard because I did not have a standard showreel and would need to come in and get one done for $60 with Chris. I hesitated and decided not to, and for good reason. A few weeks having gone by without hearing from GTM or Danielle, I emailed her to have my message bounce back. Furthermore, GTM’s website was no longer operational and even Chris said he was unable to get a hold of her or the company. However, he did inform me that he believed Danielle was now working for a company called ‘Unique1’. Instead of attempting to pursue, I again kicked myself in the ass, ate my loss and moved on.

I guess the moral of the story is if it’s too good to be true it is and that if a talent agency is asking for money up front, they are usually a scam. Talent agencies are there to represent their clients and issue them work as they are looking to make commission off you if you succeed in getting work. Moreover, there are an ABUNDANT amount of talent agencies that all gloat the same thing: plenty of work, good pay and they want you NOW. Obviously before you go around signing up, do your research or ask around. Look at reviews from people based upon their own experience with these companies (even my own words of advice).

Since then, I’ve done freelancing work on my own and have secured over a dozen roles with Bond University, Griffith University, New York Film Academy, Viscaria Films, School of Digital Filmmaking, Queensland University of Technology and a commercial for Australian Private Hospitals Association), ALL in the span of two months and without any outside help of some 'talent agency'. Some of these have been paid and some have been volunteer work (as they are for student films) but it has also allowed me to cautiously talk to other actors in the industry and get a feel with what talent agencies they are with, if they have gotten any work through them and what they have to say about other agencies. As I always like to say, ‘the art of good business is being a good middle man’. I’ve learned this from Blackbox Management, Global Talent management and through countless actors whom have warned me regarding certain talent agencies on the Gold Coast that boast the same perks but offer nothing but a signed contract that is meaningless and ties you to a non-existent company that isn’t work for you. So on my own I go.

Until then,

Cheers

-H

When the time comes...

At times I wonder if anyone even reads this, since I rarely post or don't seem to do much that is exciting. At the same time, I have fallen a bit behind on them as well (Ahem Japan blog) But I promise to get all that caught up in due time.

In the meantime...

I came to Australia under the plan to obtain my masters degree in criminology and then return home right afterwards to begin looking for work and possibly re-applying for the FBI. They had led me on a chase of employment for 5 months of flying back and forth between the branch office in Seattle and in Pullman where I was living and working (5 hours away). After the 4th cancellation of interviews, I advised them I would be withdrawing my name from the interview and pursuing a higher degree and attempting to find out what I really wanted to do with my life and if a government field job was the right move.

While I was set to return home right after my degree finished in January, a little birdy put this idea into my head that I could potentially stay and pursue my PhD and open great opportunities for myself. So I decided to stick around, swap over to a work visa and pursue my options.

In the meantime, I have done nothing but work 35 hours a week and thus eliminating my social life and shunning all friends out as I spend my two days off recovering and getting whatever I need to get done before I hustle out anothe 35 hours. But the more I work, the more I realise I have a masters degree in criminology and I should be able to get far better work than your average person with a high school diploma. Especially since all these security jobs that I work will hire anyone and those whom I have worked with seem to be stuck in the job for years with no possible advancement or promotion. Now this isn't to say that I hate my job, as I have been in the security industry since I walked out of Pizza Hut and started working at Stubblefields in April 2008. Every job that I have held since then has helped me to become a better equipped person with the knowledge and skill set neede to work in any security industry. But there are better jobs out there for someone like me. Jobs such as the FBI, CIA and NSA are lucrative with benefits and travel all over and they are looking for people like me whom have traveled and have the education and experience to back it up. So you'd think I would be able to find similar work outside the US? Sadly, no.

As a foreigner NOT in my host country, I cannot get the work I want as I am not a citizen. I could go through the process of becoming a citizen, but that is equating to more time, money and effort on my part. Especially since I am on a visa, the same would apply anywhere else I go throughout the world. Get on a proper visa, try to get citizenship, then find a decent job. Therefore, my options here in Australia (or anywhere for that matter) are very limited in what I want to pursue in life.

Don't get me wrong, I can find security work just about anywhere here, but they don’t care what degree you have, they’ll hire anyone and there isn’t room for advancement, travel or promotion. I feel if I am to waste 7 years on school to obtain two bachelor degrees and a masters degree as well as put myself in 6 figure debt, I might as well make use of it and come back to proper job that pays well without the need for a visa or being limited due to regulations as a foreigner.

And while the PhD would be nice and padden the resume/experience with the possibility of having full grants pay for it, I feel I can do without it instead of spending another 3-5 years in school. The PhD may or may not add additional pay to my annual income levels, but it would further open up employment for me in regards to teaching, something which I have no desire to do. Overall, I would be getting the PhD because I'd be getting it for free or relatively cheap while I wait for further job opportunies to become available. Which is the reason why I pursued a masters degree in the first place.

Unfortunately though, I dread coming home, because I fear there may be work that I don't want or feel qualified to do and I will be stuck in the same rut a majority of my friends back home are in. However, I would need to come home to find that said work if it exists. At the same time, there are these jobs that suit me but they take 9-14 months before getting hired on as an employee due to background checks, polygraphs and psychological interviews. Therefore, I would be looking at coming home and working a mediocre job for 2 years before I get anything solid that I want. But in order to apply for these said jobs, I must be in the United States to do it.

Having said that, and after contemplating it for a few weeks now and discussing it with numerous friends and family, I have decided it is in my best interest to not pursue my PhD here at Bond University or anywhere outside of the United States for that matter but instead come back to the US to pursue a career position with my degree and get the ball rolling on the hiring process. While I can leave and come home anytime, I still have much traveling that I want to do (China, South Korea, Thailand, India, Europe) and so will wait until the holidays before coming home for good. Potential dates being from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

I still have plans of coming home in August for a few weeks to see family and friends and determine if this is what I really want to do. At this stage, I feel there is no further need to be here and just being here is preventing me from starting the hiring process back home with potential employers. Another option would be to pursue a PhD in the US but most importantly somewhere close to home suggested universities being WSU, USC or ASU (all have heavy focus on criminal justice).

But for now, this is the path that I feel is right for me. It may seem a bit hasty at the moment and as I always believe, anything can happen that changes that path. But I haven't been happy these last few months with what I am doing with myself whether it is because I am in the wrong career or that I just need to come home and get things started. Either case, it is time for me to change that and move on to something better and higher paying.

Until then, Cheers!

-H

Visas, Kiwis and Germans

Sadly, my student visa expired on March 15th and I therefore had to either swap over to another visa or leave Australia and head back to the United States. Sadly though, I don't feel there is anything worthwhile for me back in the US (yet...) and have opted to stick around Australia and continue working while networking and scouring the world wide web for career choices and such.

The governmental system in Australia is absolutely ridiculous to say the least regarding visas for foreigners although I am told the American system is even worse. Because I have decided to apply for the PhD program at Bond University, I am waiting to hear back from the faculty to determine if I have been accepted or not. But because my visa for my masters degree is expired and EVEN THOUGH I may need to get on another student visa, I still had to leave the country and come back on a work visa. It is such a pain that I have to pay for my flight out of the country on top of a $270 visa only to have it for a week or two and having to leave the country again and get on another student visa (which is approximately $500 and thensome for flights).

So courtesy of my German friend Kim and her hospitable mother, I was able to head to New Zealand for a very short break and apply for an Australian work visa. So be sure to check out my New Zealand blog!

The work and holiday visa allows me to stay in Australia for up to a year and can be renewable once more at the end for another year. The purpose of the visa is to allow those in Australia to fund their traveling through work in Australia. I cannot study for longer than 4 months and I cannot work for the same employer for longer than 6 months. Unfortunately though, ABNs do not qualify for a work and holiday visa and must be applied for through a business visa. So any security work I do pick up, I have to be on the books with them and not issuing them an invoice every week. So far, so good!

Cheers and 再见！

-H

DCH

BAM! Been awhile since my last post. I've tried to make every conscious effort to fully revamp and update this blog but it's taken a lot of time. So have patience as I get everything merged over.

My lease at Varsity on Main ended December 21st and in the meantime, was looking at a place to live with my then current roommate Perri and our friend Craig. Long story short, Perri moved in with her girlfriends and we picked up Dom to find a place in Burleigh Waters to live for the next six months. We wanted something outside of the student accommodation and apartment nature and into an actual house where we had our own belongings without shared units, parking, etc etc. We ended up moving into a complex right behind Varsity Towers and a quick 3 minute walk from campus. Great two story place with our own small yard, single car garage with driveway and partially furnished.

I'm still in need of a bed frame and desk so in the meantime, my room is pretty bare. But I'm not really impressing anyone. Ha. The landlord is lovely, haven't met the neighbours and probably have no intentions on it either.

The housing complex is called 'This', but I found the name to be too boring, lame and well, stupid. So I drafted DCH ([D]om, [C]raig, [H]ardy). The order is significant as Dom found the place, Craig helped follow up on it and I just sat around and said "when do we move in". Plus anything else (CDH, HDC, etc) just sounds like a viral disease...

And so here we are. At DCH for the next six months and possibly the final stretch of my time here in Australia. While it's been great, I won't make any preemptive calls yet as I could stick around a bit longer or go somewhere else other than back home to Seattle.

In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Cheers.

-H