BenPaddon.co.uk

I haven’t much felt like blogging this past week or so, largely because I’m not going to write anything people want to read about. I’ve worked. I’ve seen films. I’ve spent money. I’ve visited friends. This satisfies me, because it’s want I want to do right now. I’m happy with my current state of affairs. I just wish some of my friends back in England could be happy too.

It was pointed out to me in an email the other day that I’m not traveling. I’m not seeing the United States, visiting landmarks and trotting through its many cities, towns and States. The email came across as quite rude, although I imagine it was entirely unintentionally so. We emailed each other back and forth and said friend made it clear that they didn’t mean it to sound rude. That’s fair enough. But I know a lot of people I left behind in the UK expect me to be doing something different with my life.

I want to tell those people that I am doing something different.

For a starters, I’m working for The Walt Disney Company. Specifically I’m working for the Disney ABC Television Group, helping to coordinate the shift from standard-definition to high-definition on two of their networks. That’s something I would never have even had the chance to in the UK in any way, shape, or form. Is it because my Dad works for Disney? Not directly, no - he doesn’t work in that department, for a start. He doesn’t know anyone there. I signed up with an agency that my Dad told me the Walt Disney Company hire from and from there I got this job working for Disney ABC. Is it because I’m English? Quite possibly. At first I was worried about finding work in the US. I thought people would hire me just because I’m English. I have the ginger hair and the funky accent and I thought this might cause people to hire me over, say, someone who can actually do the fucking job and then I’d get the boot when they discover I’m a talentless hack.

I’ll be honest, I was worried about that when I started the job at Disney ABC. During the first day I was given a lot of information and it wasn’t sinking in, and I was worried they’d hired me because oi speak funney. But I started to pick it up. Over the past two weeks I’ve really found my feet with that job. I’m enjoying it. I’m on top of everything and I’m convinced now that they hired the right person. I only hope they feel the same.

Had I stayed in the UK, my best prospects for the future involved more callcentre work. When I left NTL I was offered jobs at HSBC, Carphone Warehouse, and an IT Customer Service Center. I turned them all down because, besides the fact I was moving to America (at the time I was optimistic and thought it might happen in February/March, although that was perhaps too optimistic) , was that I didn’t want another job like that. Working at NTL, I met people who had been working in that sort of job their entire life. I didn’t want that to be me, and I thought one of the ways I could escape that would be to come to LA and try to open some doors. And it worked.

Ang and Pat suggested I take the time to travel the country, and I seriously considered their idea. I considered it, and I read through the US travel guide they got me for Yule, and I decided that yes, I will see the US. But not yet. Financially it’s not viable just now, and besides which I’m having too much fun working. I will travel, and I will see the US. I’d prefer not to do it alone, because while I’m the sort of person who craves company, I’m not the sort of person who could, for example, go and sit in a bar on his own.

Ang and Pat planted the original seed of the idea in my head, and that idea is blossoming. The more time I spend thinking about it, the more I think about places I want to go and optimal ways of hopping from one to the other. I’m sure they understand why I’ve decided not to do it straight away.  I just wish everyone else would.

I’m happy right now. I hope people realise that.