Sarah's job log: 12

Sarah Klymkiw has a job in fashion that could be a step towards her goals – but that doesn't mean she enjoys the work routine.

Jobs are unhealthy

It’s official. I’m allergic to work.

With long hours and tight deadlines, working through lunchbreaks and no time to drink a cup of tea, I’ve come over all, well, ill.

It’s early stages so, on this beautiful summer evening having sneaked out of the office at a reasonable hour, before I tuck up into bed with Big Brother I am enjoying some downtime in the garden with green tea on tap and Vogue on my lap. Shouldn’t I be in a pub garden or at least with a glass of Pimms in my hand, I hear you cry?

So you can imagine that on my coming home every evening, exhausted, the last thing I want to do is trawl the internet for jobs. Perhaps I’m just having a bad work fortnight and need to take some time-out to wind down at the weekends instead of heading straight to the pub and cramming all my social events into just over 48 hardcore hours.

Working hard and playing hard is leaving little time to explore London and do and see all the things that I know London has to offer me. The solution? Perhaps to stop becoming so engrossed in Big Brother that has now become my defining moment of the day.

I wake up to Big Brother and catch Dermot discussing the house antics while I quickly absorb a bowl of Special K whilst drying my hair, and I fall asleep to it. I think I have a problem, and I’m using a reality TV show to temporarily take some time out from thinking about myself and where I need to go next and instead focus on some extreme egos that evoke the same feeling as watching Trisha did when I was a student, ultimately making me feel safe in the knowledge that my little life really isn’t that bad. Unfortunately there’s still about three months of Big Brother to go!

East to Brick Lane

Last weekend I ventured out (yes out!), away from Big Brother and out of Camden and decided to head east to Brick Lane. The streets were heaving with fantastically and unusually self-assured individuals.

I stumbled across the Art Car Boot Project with its unusual concepts of selling and setting fire to a lot of matchsticks; paying a pound and sitting in a little tent and drinking tea to promote talking to complete strangers in a confined space; or buying the unknown contents of a black box for a tenner. It was all for a greater artistic cause and there was a warm and friendly feeling of union, if not a little bemusement at this interesting take on a car boot.

As I wandered around the numerous stalls in the Spitalfields Market with the vast array of young and aspiring designers’ wares I felt that warm glow when you see normal people do good. The customers are happy to find a new and exciting purchase unlike any other and to support the up-and-coming whilst the up-and-coming greet you with a knowing yet genuine smile, excited to be supported, that little bit closer to making a living out of something they love to do or make and seeing a positive response.

All in all, there’s a loving feeling in the market and when attempting to combat the Sunday blues it’s a somewhat stark contrast to the anonymity and numbness that is the predictability of the following day's daily grind.

Nostalgia

I visited the Royal College of Art Summer Show (yes, I tore myself away from the reality that is those people being broadcast from a house…again). As I walked around the show it took me back to when I was a student (oh, how it is to reminisce!) and I realised that I wanted to be a student again.

Gone are the days when I craved the routine of the 9 to 5, I miss Neighbours and Trisha (although I’ve heard she’s since been replaced), and I miss spending the day drawing and writing and talking about pretty and conceptual things. I want it back, I just have to work out a way of combining it with earning a living.

The work routine is overrated and so, as my glands swell under the copious green tea I’ve consumed since writing this rant, I will tuck myself up in bed and catch a bit more action from the house before I do it again.

Sarah's previous job logs

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