A L I E Nenthusiast

Due to my excitement of Alien: Covenant being released earlier this year, I've been asked a lot why do I like the Alien movies so much?  My friends and family have always been bewildered why I am so enthusiastic about these movies.  Yes this does include Prometheus as its part of the story which I really enjoy!

I wasn't even thought of when the original Alien came out, but I was about to be born when Aliens hit the theatres.  I remember when I was a young kid watching the first Alien movie.  My brother had his school friends over for the night and they decided to watch this.  I remember being interested in it but was scared to watch it too.  They put it on and we all watched it while we were in bed.  From finishing the movie I was playing it over and over in my mind.  I didn't sleep a wink that night, I woke up in cold sweats and remember watching the video player clock flashing in the darkness, watching every hour go past.  I was traumatised!  😱 Well, I can't have been traumatised that much as I ended up getting pretty much of all the toy alien figures.  In my adult years the collection has since expanded to the more professional ones.  I went on to watch the sequels with caution, only to be told that Aliens was even more horrific.  But it somehow increased my curiosity and appetite for the movies.

So how did I go from being terrified to loving these movies?!  In this post I try to uncover why I am such a huge fan of the movies and what really interests me about them.  This is not a review of the movies (which could be good for a later post) but underpinning reasons of what engages me in them.

Science

Firstly I like sci-fi movies.  I like how they bring in science, whether it is true or not.  They can take you to the past, future and new/unfamiliar places - often dystopian.  I find sci-fi movies interesting because of the possibilities they bring and the issues that could happen.  It's a good mixture of both depending on the movie of course.  I like movies that emphasise on experiments and biological factors, especially with creatures, perhaps that's why I love Jurassic Park/World a lot and Deep Blue Sea too.

Discovery of something new and unknown

In terms of the movies, there is always something new they discover, it could be a creature or pathogen or even something simple as behaviour. But it is all to do with some kind of alien life they find. One of my life goals is to discover something new in the natural world. And I achieved a small bit of this from our trip to Scotland in October. 😉 Maybe something on this scale in the natural world is a bit too large, but if I could discover a new creature on plant of some sort, that would fulfil this little life goal.

Evolution

Whilst it's a very brief form of evolution, each xenopmorph evolves in its appearance and behaviour and I like that it represents real life evolution, although this is a lot quicker and obvious. You go from the egg, facehugger, chestburster to the xenomorph. But there is the wider cycle from the hammerpede, trilobite and deacon in Prometheus and then the neomorphs in Alien: Covenant.

Creature feature

I've always been a big fan of creature feature movies; movies with animals or some kind of beasts in.  I love to see animals of some kind dominate the big screen.  It's like nature claiming back its right to exist.  Even though in these type of movies it makes you not want them to exist.  I just find creature features generally more interesting, depending on the movie and the direction it takes.  But you could say they are all the same tone, as in they escalate very quickly, go on a rampage of some sort and then get killed or disappear.  But that said, to me they are enjoyable and I love animals. 👍

Insect-like structure

I find the insect world interesting, especially how ants for example are ruled by one individual; the queen. It was a good move to bring in the Alien Queen into the Alien franchise. It added more depth to the xenomorphs world by showing expanded function of their behaviour and how they collectively work together in some sort of way. The designs of the xenomorphs mouths by "H.R." Giger resemble very much like a dragonfly larva's mandibles.

Lead female

I'm very keen on lead female roles and I find them very inspiring.  Probably because of the empowerment that comes from the history and movement of feminism.  Sigourney Weaver played an important part in being the female lead and subsequent Alien movies, and has since inspired other movies to put women at the forefront.  It's just refreshing to see women lead rather than being led by men or gangs of men.  Eventually, we had the introduction of the Alien Queen.  Again highly female; produces eggs, has an ovipositor and even has high-heel like feet!  Excellent multitasker having six arms, I'd imagine!

Encourages critical thinking

These movies introduce large concepts like creationism and conflicts with religion.  But the stories in general allow you to think and ponder at them afterwards.  The first mystery I was pondering was who was the humanoid figure in the chair on the derelict spacecraft, often referred to as the Space Jockey or now engineer.  The movies leave you with a few open ends and many questions that you want answering or theories that you think it may go in subsequent movies.  They just get your imagination flowing of who is that, why were they there, how did they get there, what happens when they are in a new environment etc.  I applaud that not all answers are spoon fed to you like many other movies, it's good to allow your imagination to fill in the gaps and create the 'what ifs'.

You learn something every time you watch it

In my case you do.  I find that every time I watch any Alien movies, I seem to learn something new, see something new or again think really deep about the story.  Perhaps because there is a large amount of depth and imagination enabled in each scene, and your concentration is on a focal point, but then on a few more watches you take notice of what is going on at the same time.

Horror

I'm a massive fan of horror movies, well the ones that are not cheesy! Freddy Krueger I am pointing at you. I like to be on the edge of my seat in anticipation, only to fall off it by jumping. Good, well-structured and memorable stories that play on your mind for days after watching are excellent, even if it does last for years after!

New or not well-known actors

Alien movies are good at introducing new or not well-known actors and actresses to the screen.  The casting crew do a good job of bringing fresh faces in and not just going for 'hot-at-the-moment' people.  Again it's refreshing to have unfamiliar faces in the movies rather than having mega Hollywood stars take over the movies with their expensive egos.

To round off, here's a beautiful piece of artwork that Gary's Brother Darren drew before we went to see Alien: Covenant earlier this year. Darren gave me this piece of artwork as personalised coasters for my birthday this year too.

A post shared by Darren Purdy (@darren_art) on Apr 10, 2017 at 9:33am PDT

Castles, caves and a cabin

From the 22nd to 27th October, Gary, I and our friends Martin and Stu had a trip to Scotland.  This was our first time there and we were very excited to see it.  The pictures we saw and the tales we heard made us even more eager to experience the place.  Our mates have been here before so they were acting as our tour guides but we had a few ideas of our own as well.

Edinburgh

On the Sunday morning we started our long journey up to Edinburgh.  Our first mini stop off was at the border to get a quick picture of us standing in two countries at once.  On our way into the city we was in awe of the dramatic scenery of the gigantic mountains that were scattered with trees and wildlife and this was even before we hit the highlands.

We arrived and checked in then went straight out for a walk around the city.  With stone, medieval-looking architecture the city looked very ancient and grand.  It had a very warm and welcoming feel to it despite the drop in temperature.  There was a little market that was based in a church with many craft stalls inside.  One particular stall caught my eye as it was selling gemstones.  I got an excellent bargain by purchasing a seven layered gemstone orb!  In the early evening we ventured up to the backdrop of the city, Arthur's Seat which was very dark and chilly at this point.  We only made it half way, guided by torchlight but was rewarded with stunning panoramas of the lit up city below!

As it was close to Halloween we booked a tour to walk around the spooky Edinburgh Vaults.  We were part of a small group and had a animated guide to entertain us with ghostly and gruesome stories.  Martin ended up being chosen to act out some of the storyteller's scenes!  I had been selected to stop behind the group to check everyone had moved on, but I was anxious about 'Mr Boots' touching me on my shoulder! 😱  The vaults were very interesting as they were part of an original bridge and later had buildings erected around it, except for one arch that is still visible to the public.

In the morning we got up early to visit the Edinburgh Castle.  This was situated on an ancient volcano that overlooked the city and sea surrounding it.  We got some fantastic view points to take many pictures of us and the city.  We walked around the castle's buildings, underground and even got to see the crown jewels.  After our castle exploration, we set off on our journey up to our cabin near Invermoriston.

Loch Ness/Inverness

As we left the city, we passed through the Highlands.  The mountain backdrops got even more gigantic and epic-looking.  This was amplified by the various shades of reds and oranges that Autumn had brought.  The cabin we stopped in was very cosy and overlooked Loch Ness, it was literally inches away from us.  We settled in, ate and headed for one of the cabin's main features, a hot tub!  The sky was crystal clear so we turned the ambient lighting off and star gazed for ages.  There was no light pollution and was extremely silent - bliss.  The sky was that clear we even saw passing satellites!  We then started revelling in conversation about alien life beyond our galaxy and future human evolution impacting on our planet - pretty intense conversation for the first night!

Inverness was the closest city to us so we headed there on the next day.  We had a brief walk around and stopped by at Inverness Castle and replenished our stocks for the cabin.  In the afternoon we visited Urquhart Castle.  This was a very interesting place built on the edge of Loch Ness.  You start off being led into a mini theatre to watch a somewhat cheesy video on the history of the place but as the movie ends the curtains behind the screen open up to reveal the true castle in all its stunning glory.  You could walk around all of the ruins and climb at the top of the tower.  We wanted posh grub that night, so Martin and Stu recommended a drive up to Cawdor.  Here we found an unassuming tavern that Gary said gave him one of the best meals he had in years.  Succulent venison in a red wine and berry sauce on a bed of red cabbage.

Isle of Skye

You cant visit the North without having a day rambling in the wilderness - so we choose the Isle of Skye for this.  I had to listen to something very fitting to set the mood and so I played us the Prometheus soundtrack.  Not only did it enhance the misty and haunting landscape we were seeing with the visuals and audio giving us goosebumps, but it got me feeling very excited for the second part of the day...

Before we visited a particular place I was so excited to see, we went to the Fairy Pools.  From a distance it didn't look that far away, because of the trickery the giant mountains play, it makes everything seem smaller yet a massive layout.  We walked up the river side and saw gorgeous waterfalls cascading into openings where crystal clear water was pumping out.  A sharp pointed mountain with a summit covered by swirling grey mist gave the whole place an eerie and ominous vibe.  Afterwards, we all had a spot of lunch in a café in Portree and walked around the town and harbour.  Gary bought a coaster with a Scotsman's kilts blowing up to reveal his peachy bum!

Now, as a massive fan of the Alien movies (including Prometheus and Covenant), I was extremely excited for our next stop!  We visited the filming location of the beginning scene of Prometheus - the Old Man of Storr.  I just couldn't wait to put myself in the movie scene and make a discovery!  The views that we were given were incredible, I can see why this was chosen for the movie.  Those giant jaggered shaped rocks make it a very distinguishable place.  One personal mission I had was to get a particular picture of me and the rocks and merge with a familiar movie scene.  I didn't manage to get one grouped together like in the movie as the focal point was way up in the mountains.  However, I got this picture, merged it and just had to caption it with 'I think they want me to come and find them'.

I saw this as a once in a lifetime opportunity, as it's such a long journey to get to, so I embraced it and took every moment to get pictures against these ancient rocks.  This was a pretty treacherous place, at least on this day it was, the wind literally lifted me off my feet!  When we got up to climb around the Old Man of Storr, the wind was more powerful and nearly blew me down the steep descent!  In the fifth picture (left to right) you can see me to the bottom right, just to give you the scale of the place.

After another busy day, on our way back we headed for a local fish and chippy.  Obviously I just had chips and peas.  Then the daily ritual of a hot tub dip occurred followed by some board games.

For the final day we were tempted to head to John o' Groats but the three and a half hour drive ruled that out.  We visited the Highlands Wildlife Park instead.  This was very similar to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park which I visited again earlier this month.  However, they had some very different animals local to the highlands and some exotic ones, which was something new for me to see.  They had Arctic Fox, European Bison, European Forest Reindeer, European Grey Wolf, Japanese Macaque, Mishmi Takin, Red Panda, Scottish Wildcat, Snow Leopard to name a few.  Just like the Yorkshire Wildlife Park they had Polar Bear too.  We ended the night by carving our pumpkins we bought a few days earlier and displayed these on our cabin fence all lit up.  Gary made us a suggestive pumpkin design and with his fine art drawing skills, he drew Martin and Stu a Nessie imprint.

As we drove back home we took in our last sights of Scotland by passing through Glencoe, Loch Lomond and Glasgow, before hitting familiar territory.

A return to form

A new chapter in my career is about to begin...  A short while ago I reflected upon how I felt about my career and said "I feel I have a lot of scope and mileage to ascend to something higher" and wanted to work back with my strengths. While I was waiting for further details on the development/future of my then current role, I decided to scout out other potential jobs I could progress to.  In my searches I found the role and place where I wanted to be!  Since moving on from my last two roles, I have learned that it is ok to move on from organisations when circumstances change and not feel like you have to be rooted there.  In this case I took a brave decision and not to sit it out to see what happens.  I put myself in the driver's seat and took the destination I wanted to be at.

Employ-meant

Whilst I was in Croatia, I had seen the Senior Digital Practice Adviser role at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), listed on the ALT Weekly Digest, which I was instantly excited of what the role entailed.  So I went ahead and applied for it and to be later invited for an interview.  Originally, I was really anxious about attending the interview and nearly declined it due to my own negative thoughts of not doing a great interview, facing candidate competition and dealing with the disappointment if I didn't get the job.  But I was reminded of why I applied, what I have to offer and how it was a privilege to be invited for an interview, so I attended.

Prior to the interview, I had a conversation with myself and filled my mind up with positivity and determination.  I woke up on the morning of the interview and the first thing I thought of was intending on getting the job.  I got washed, made myself look decent and set off out to Nottingham on the train.  The sun was shining all day and I had those feel good vibes surrounding me.  I felt determined all day and kept it in my mind that I was going to be the best and express myself the best I could and be offered the job.  I feel I gave a good interview and mentioned quite a few key things I wanted to bring up - but there's always things you forget to talk about.  I don't think there is such thing as a perfect interview.  For me there's always just too much experience and examples to recall and frame in such a precious timescale, and to get your best impression and efforts over to the panel.  However, I still need to work out composing what I am going to say before letting myself bubble over with passion and stumble with words!

I received a call from the Digital Practice Manager to say I had not got the job, so I was feeling very deflated.  It's always disappointing to hear this, however, I received strong feedback and that the panel had seen potential in me.  And to my unexpected surprise, a Digital Practice Adviser post came up, so I had another shot of hope at getting a position there - I didn't have to reapply or interview again either.  This role was similar to the senior position but this is more involved at the frontline, developing academic and business support staffs’ digital capabilities in all elements of the NTU Digital Framework.  Again, I instantly connected and was thrilled by the thought of this opportunity.  Collaborating with others on ideas and challenges to create innovation, and then supporting people through the process - this is where my passion lives.  The role is a perfect fit of what I want to do, where I was wanting to head towards and more importantly I have the knowledge and skills to do it, so it was certain that I'd apply.

After the waiting game, I feel absolutely overwhelmed with happiness.  I've been waiting for this moment for a long time and to receive a call and hear those words spoken to me "I am pleased to offer you the Digital Practice Adviser role within the Digital Practice Team at NTU" just gave me the biggest smile and sense of achievement.  It means a lot to me getting this position because the role is everything that I am strong and enthusiastic about and is at an outstanding place I want to thrive in, so I proudly accepted the offer of the role.  I have so much to offer and I gave the best I could in the interview and for all of this to be accepted just brings me pure joy.  I patiently waited for this moment and it arrived, it really did and I couldn't be more happier,  It felt right, it was right and it will be right.  After the call I just wanted to shed a little tear of happiness - but instead, I instantly felt very light headed and had to go to vomit.  So you could now say I was sick at the thought of the job! 😂 This has never happened to me before, so it must have been a build up of emotions and adrenaline or something.  A few minutes later I was back to my normal self and enjoying the moment.

During the time of interviewing for the NTU job, I somehow pulled a double feat with being offered another job - which I accepted before I got offered the NTU one.  I was glad I did because the day after I got offered the NTU role they had to withdraw the job role itself.  Saved me telling them that I had a better offer...  But still, imagine leaving a job for no job - close shave.  Anyway.  I was invited for an interview for the Virtual Learning Officer at a commercial skills, education and employment organisation where the role focussed on leading and shaping their digital learning offer.  As part of the process I had to deliver a presentation of my Virtual Learning Environment and curriculum development projects.  After the presentation I received some really good and interesting comments - I somehow blew a panel member off her chair in amazement.  Subsequently I got offered the job due to my performance, I accepted.  However I knew that the NTU role was the best career decision for me.  These two interviews especially have increased my confidence and demonstrated that I am a strong candidate to compete for jobs like my new NTU role.  I won't hesitate or doubt myself in the future if I am in this situation.  I'm ready for a new start and to bring everything I've got and more to NTU!

Restore and reflect

After my last working day I now have a two week break before starting with NTU later this month.  I'm going to use this time to refresh and prepare myself to delight future colleagues with my wisdom.  It's also good for me to take some time to reflect, take stock and enjoy the positive changes that are about to come.  I started my last day of work by purchasing P!nk's long-awaited new album Beautiful Trauma.  On the first week of my break I am attending Jisc's 'student experience experts group meeting'.  It will be good to see familiar people again and re-establish myself to others in my new role, as well as gaining some inspiration and updates to take with me.  I had also arranged an informal visit to NTU to meet people and get familiar with the place.  I'm really excited to meet the team I will be working with and will be good to put some faces to names.  On the second week I have my first trip to Scotland and will be visiting Edinburgh and Inverness.  So it looks like it turned out to be a very well-timed break!

I can't wait to get back to reflecting on what I am doing in my practices, as much of it recently has been about what I have done and achieved.  Which is good, however I've missed talking about the process of what I'm discovering, learning, making sense of and putting it into practice, which can also benefit the wider community.  I may even get back to stating some discussions on the ALT mailing list.  So watch this place and space as it's a return to form!