When I tell someone I’m a respeaker/captioner, I get asked two main questions. Firstly, “What the heck is that?” Secondly, usually something along the lines of, “How did you get into that, or what made you want to do that?” Well, I’m here to tell you what makes me tick, because we captioners are an interesting lot, and you should all be curious about us.
I grew up in a tiny village surrounded by national park in the middle of nowhere. The population has never been over 30 people, and these people are spread out over a 50km radius. There was no internet, no phone service and no street lights, so I had to make my own fun. Exploring through bushland, or ‘scrub’, as I prefer; taking electrical and automotive things apart and figuring them out, much to the bereavement of my parents; and reading. Reading was my escape, and it began a thirst for knowledge that, as yet, three degrees and a trade later, has not been quenched.
This is one of the fabulous reasons I love captioning, especially uni lectures. I can learn about politics in the morning, anthropology over lunch, and top the day off with some soothing quantum mechanics.
So what do I do now with my life when I’m not captioning?
Well, I live in Wollongong, south of Sydney. It’s a beautiful town sandwiched between the mountains and the sea. I live on the side of a mountain with my fiancé and our two rescue furbabies. It’s basically paradise.
One of my hobbies which always keeps me busy is circus class! The circus culture is strong in Wollongong, they’re great people and it’s so fun. It’s great to get up in the air, twirling around, and it lets me switch off all the skills I have exhausted throughout the day. My favourite things to do are silks and hoops, but my juggling skills are really getting en pointe as well.
I also do bikram yoga, which is almost two hours of contorting in a room heated to 38 degrees. It’s way more fun and rewarding than it sounds, and sitting at a desk most of the day definitely needs some stretching out!
I am working towards my PhD of philosophy, planning a wedding, and reading – always reading. When I put it all down like this, I’m amazed I have time for captioning!
So this is me. I am one of many interesting and wonderful people who work at Ai-Media. Say hey if you see me in Ai-Stream!
Written by Holly Buck - Respeaker/Captioner
