Blog
"Weekly Info", Spring Week 4: Three Meetings Before Lunch
Well, that was a success. Nearly 200 people turned up to try out for University Challenge, and I'm in the process of working through the tests now. There are some very smart people on this campus - and some very funny ones. Particularly the person who insulted Jeremy Paxman in a profane and creative manner in the answer space for every question they couldn't get.
THIS WEEK...
In an effort to be help the union be a bit more transparent, and my job be a bit less mysterious, here's just some of what the last seven days have involved for me:
I'm been to University Senate, the highest academic body in the university.
I've sat in the Catering Consultation Group and the Student Services Consultative Sub-Committee, trying to get better facilities, improved catering, and more space for societies. It's slow going, but there should be improvements on the way. I've been in the Student Centre Working Group, too, trying to working out where we're going to be in five years' time. (I've got some ideas about that, and we're running focus groups soon.)
I'm sat on the College Development Working Group along with two folks from Vanbrugh JCRC, working out the fine details of the new Goodricke College. And I've worked with the JCRC chairs on differential rents and a few other things. And I've been chatting with the ISA about projects they're working on.
(It's worth noting that each of these meetings needs preparation time too - it's not just a dash-in and dash-out thing.)
I've calculated the by-election results for Derwent, Halifax and Vanbrugh JCRCs, helped start the preparation for this year's student union elections.
I attended a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at the Guildhall in town.
I've enjoyed LGBT's Broken Ice, the GSA's Superbowl Party and Comedy Soc's Have I Got News For York.
Oh, and I've dealt with somewhere in the region of 300 email requests (admittedly, that's only a fraction of what Matt, the Services and Finance Officer, has to deal with).
And this is an average week for me - almost a bit of a rest after some of the previous weeks. I'm not even troubled compared to some of the other officers in the Union.
YORK COME DANCING
Starting off RAG week this Sunday, you can find me and ten other "campus celebrities" (York Dancesport's words, not mine!) taking part in our own version of Strictly Come Dancing. The tickets for the main hall are already full, but you can vote - and watch the live stream from YSTV on screens - with a £2 entry ticket to the Courtyard. All proceeds to RAG, of course!
AND FINALLY
I'm going to divert for a few minutes here to talk about earplugs. Get some. If your hear high pitched noise after you leave a gig or a club then your hearing IS getting damaged.
Decent earplugs - I use Alpine MusicSafe ones, which I bought online - cost you less than £15 and can be reused any number of times if you keep good care of them. And here's the thing: when you go to a gig or a club and put them in, you don't notice them two minutes later. No-one else notices them either. The music sounds a bit clearer, though. And you can hear other people talk - they still have to shout into your ear, but now you can hear them clearly.
And you might still be able to hear music in a few decades' time.
Yeah, I know, it's a boring public service announcement and doesn't end with a joke. Deal with it.
