When the Cheshire emerges...

Where do I begin?

Let's start from the very beginning in the quickest of ways.

I am now the education reporter from my paper. As well as education and general stories for said paper, I write up a fortnightly double-page spread on what public schools are getting up to and also an advertising feature every month or two (as guided by the education department).

Today and tomorrow were always going to be busy days. Because the way things happened, my turnaround for the fortnightly feature is basically today and tomorrow. The first of my ad features was also due to be done by today so it could be laid out ready for tomorrow's edition.

***

I'm fine with getting into the office at the start of the day, if not a few minutes late. I even got a new surprise.

I get into work aiming to deal with the feature first. Email everything to the sub editor I was told to go through, words and pictures. She comes in having no idea what it is. Then the designers that come out with the fancy banner headings and that also had no idea. Neither knew because advertising hadn't told them about it (we didn't sell any ads with them so they didn't think it was necessary to notify other departments).

Talk about an office-wide miscommunication. Then about 4.15pm I get called by advertising asking about what headings to put with each story. Which of course is a sub-editor's job and not mine (anymore). But I found out without the notice, said sub wasn't touching it and had just passed it through. So the head of advertising pretty much did that and made other corrections while I sat there wondering how it had even made it to that point.

***

In between this, I begin sorting out things for the fortnightly feature. Straight up, I almost get told it's not happening (which would've been third week running, it's been a rocky start to the year) - but that gets sorted very quickly. Then I get notified instead of six stories where photos would be provided (as I requested because of the short turnaround), I'm to do two stories and a feature. Two of those where I'd have to organise photos and go out on the job. I must stress, this is usually not a problem. But today it was.

For the feature story, I get the call to confirm a time just as I was about to step out for lunch. At a pub. As part of a meeting. I'd made sure I couldn't miss it - until this call. Instead it was left by the wayside as I had to make my way - in my own car, because I was meeting my photographer there - halfway across Darwin to the primary school right near where I first lived. And I managed to miss two turns on my way.

That went OK in the end, I got food at 3.15pm or so and went back. Eventually, I find out the second photo story is getting rescheduled on me - from 9.30am which was perfect, to 12pm. Now, this change means I miss out on another meeting, a union meeting that we've waited an age for, completely. It was a case of knowing she was going to say that time even before I picked up the phone.

To end the day were a couple of small notable things. Firstly, I received a reply to my progress update saying 'I hope it hasn't been too much drama'. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. And then I overhear story pitches regarding education stuff that I should really be doing, not knowing how they got that information; they're not a focus of other rounds and I feel like a fraud because that should be me finding that stuff out. Makes me angry.

So I said (in my head, I don't want to be rude) 'screw this shit' and walked out. I know today's event were not really any one individual's fault, so I can only blame Mercury retrograde. Of course. How else would all this happen in a single day?

At least I got to relax with an after-work Bodybalance session. Tomorrow's another day. Hopefully a more sane one.

There is such a thing. Almost. It's always a happy birthday to my cousin Stefan at least.

But for someone who has never had to care much for it, I've had a lot to talk about on Valentine's Day the last few years.

Today is also Library Lovers' Day for those Aussies who didn't know, which I wrote about two years ago, and eluded to last year.

This year? I actually have plans!

Drumroll...

I will be attending the (bookends of the) NT's Board of Studies education awards, interviewing the high achievers of 2013 who have been honoured by the government!

Geez, people should be grateful I'm a singleton.

***

In other news of today, the CSIRO had some huge arrow from that angel guy stuck up its backside. My mistake of putting them on a Twitter education feed meant that all day I was bombarded with shit like this:

Watch: Why do you love science? 12 of our summer students declare their love: http://t.co/zB5GIEeXE2 #ValentinesDay #sciencelove ^SL
— CSIRO (@CSIROnews) February 14, 2014

No more. There's work to be done.

Well, I'm still excited I have Instagram a month in (follow me by all means, @katiinkaa01), but really, not being able to embed photos to show you is a bit of a pain in the neck.

So you'll just have to follow the links.

Elcho Island #Galiwinku #NTAustralia #TopEnd http://t.co/Rs93333QPr
— Katina V (@Katiinkaa) January 20, 2014

A day on Elcho Island as Indigenous Affairs minister Nigel Scullion talked with #Galiwinku residents… http://t.co/yaAEyk17XF
— Katina V (@Katiinkaa) January 20, 2014

The pictures show my day at Arnhem Land's Elcho Island, which is my first proper trip for work. I had to fly on a plane to get there! It was also my first day as the education reporter, as I'll be focusing on that round as well as general news stories from now on.

It was really great to get to a remote part of the Northern Territory - and Australia. I was there while the Galiwin'ku community received a visit by federal Indigenous Affairs minister Nigel Scullion, who had been in talks with an elder from a group of Yolngu communities. They have been discussing the options for getting children to attend school - in Galiwin'ku there's a five-year average of about 52 per cent attendance - and that's for the kids that are enrolled, there are still lots more that have never been to school.

For me, it was just great to get to talk to some locals. I got a little bit of an insight into a different way of life, saw why there's such a need to push education in certain areas, and saw how a community is easily brought together (literally - the meeting was organised by someone talking over a massive PA system and everyone converged onto a public space).

I thought it was so important I suggested my American friend Luke get a copy of my paper while he was visiting Uluru during his current trip across Australia. Although he couldn't buy one, he did see my work. Thanks mate.

Ahh! This is so cool! I am finally in the same region as my Aussie friend @Katiinkaa's newspaper is distributed! :-) pic.twitter.com/jgjIkXPsJV
— Luke Fritz (@LukeFritz64) January 21, 2014

The power of news...