A wee story - Cheryl Bainbridge

Cheryl Bainbridge sat at her kitchen table the remains of her breakfast pushed to one side. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath before opening them, picking up the handgun which had been placed on the table when she came down this morning. The weapon felt heavy and cold in her hand as she rose putting it into her waistband. Shaking her head to clear it more she turned and walked out of her house.

Four hours latter a call went through on the police radios, "Officer down, 17 Rose street west, back alley. I repeat: Officer down, 17 Rose street west, back alley. All available officers to attend."

The first car to respond to the call was on the scene minutes later. An undercover van was parked close to the alley entry where it met with rose street. The police car pulled to one side as a suited man approached, his badge visible in his hand. " We are looking for a white van, license plate Charlie zero five, Alpha Sierra Foxtrot. Three suspects - 2 white males, 160lb's and 190lb's, dark brown hair; 1 asian male, 160lb's. Tattoo's visible. Oh and one of the guys was shot. " The description was interrupted by the arrival of the ambulance which slid past the patrol car into the alley.
As the suited officer went to return to his parter the officer who'd been writting the description down called over, "Who got shot?"
Turning back to the police car the suited officer replied " Cheryl Bainbridge. Odd thing was, she said she felt like something was going to go wrong today. She took out one of the perp's and clipped one of the others though. " Turning back to watch as the ambulance was being loaded the suited officer paused, under his breath he spoke so quietly the others almost didn't hear "I told her she'd be fine". The officers in the patrol car picked up the radio and called in the description and update. "187"

Job security - a myth

It's been a while since I turned my back on the possibility of working as an actor. The lack of job security is a problem when you are the sole source of income for your family. It's not going to be helpful, when the rents due, to be stuck going from audition to audition and not being in fashion right now as you've saturated the adverts or extras slots already. My logical brain said it's not worth the risks - do something else you are good at and enjoy with more likelyhood of keeping the wolf from the door. Hence, my years spent becoming the scientist I am today.

Now the reality of research science, you spend hours sending out your CV, hunting for elusive roles in areas you have skills, applying for agency jobs and trying to come over as great and not needy, while juggling writing papers and trying to source funding in your own right so you have some presence which shows you are worth employing or create your own job.

Once you get a job it's subject to funding continuing, or on small bitty contracts (I've known a 8 years postdoc Senior Research fellow stuck on 1 month contracts for 4 months) which means you never stop job hunting.

There is the same job security in the acting trade as in the sciences - only as an actor you may get enough money to see you through the dry times and while you are in a role you get to focus somewhat on the job at hand.