Last October I posted a blog about being 12 months on from redundancy. What I’ve started to realise over the past six months is how rewarding self-employment can be.
Last March was pivotal for me. I was interviewed by Mad Science and taken on as Volcanic Vic. It has been an incredible year with over 250 hours’ work for the organisation – everything from after-school clubs, end-of-term camps and parties to full science days and huge assemblies. Today I will be teaching sound, electricity and how to make slime to a primary school in Chiswick. In the course of that I’ll work with one of my electric guitars and effects pedalboards, swing sound tubes around my head, change kids into fairies and giants (vocally!), make their hair stand on end with a Van der Graaff generator, pass enough electricity through them to light a neon tube with a plasma ball, give them shocks with a Tesla coil, and introduce them to something akin to elephants’ bogeys!
As most schools have a Science Week around now, it’s a busy time for Mad Science. Last week I handled two assemblies with a total of over 600 kids. Assemblies are whizz-bang affairs with big experiments such as floating a beachball over their heads with a powerful leaf blower or demonstrating flash paper with their eyes closed. Yesterday’s assembly included firing the paper from a 130-metre toilet roll into 100 girls at a private school (including an Only Fools & Horses moment when the paper hit the chandelier) – does life get any better!
Last March was also when I was first interviewed by a tutoring agency. Since then I’ve logged almost 600 hours’ of maths tutoring. My first set of five 11+ students all passed their entrance exams and got in to the schools of their choice – and that includes two that I taught across the Atlantic via Skype and iPads. I’m now working hard with a number of Year 11 students towards their GCSE exams in a few months.
There was one casualty last year: music. This year I’m working on a couple of projects and playing occasionally with a soul/funk band called the AJs (http://www.ajsband.co.uk). This side of my life should develop as the year goes on.
I’m still writing for Macworld and now also for iPad & iPhone User along with some website copy, brochure design and print artworking. Old habits die hard! I’ve also had life-changing experiences with last year’s Olympics (which wouldn’t have been possible had I been employed full-time),
My wife also left Jewish Care last year and is now operations manager for a dance academy – and a much happier person.
My gains over the past 12 months have been huge – probably more than at any other time in my life. I’ve remembered who I am and what I’m capable of achieving. One of the reasons I joined Jewish Care in 2001 was to make a difference, something I certainly did at the beginning but less so by the end. Now I make a difference to people every day – and isn’t that what life’s all about?