Of course!

"Hi E, I expect to get a call from you tomorrow to say bye, i know if i call you i will be shot down by your helpers and not be allowed to talk to you. Obviously you have instructed them well."

Hehehe, obviously!

Stating the obvious

Most stores, I think, like to assume their patrons are at least a little intelligent. However, one place I walked past in the city yesterday must try to cater to the lowest common denominator. They had a big sign across their store window which read '1st floor upstairs', with a big red arrow pointing up. That solves that mystery!

Visualising

My next car, or something rather similar.

Top of the class

We had our first mini test today. Apparently, we should have known, but nobody told us where to look to find out when we'd be tested, so the entire class was surprised and under-prepared. Like sheep, we panicked together for a while, then decided we couldn't do much about it, so we'd do what we could.

There was 30 minutes alloted to answer 40 questions. I got it done in about 10 minutes and sat there the rest of the time wondering why I'd finished so easily and where I'd gone wrong in spectacular fashion. My result? 39/40! I didn't know I'd retained so much. I was especially surprised to find that everyone else got between 30 and 36. 32 was a pass.

The really peculiar thing was that it made me somewhat esteemed. We had our first in-gym session afterwards and once we were shown the exercises we had to go over, the trainer left and we were left to our own devices. I had half a dozen people, standing in a group around me, asking me to show them how to do various exercises and use different pieces of equipment (good thing I knew how). Dudes, I'm learning, too! I've noticed I'm one of only a couple of girls in the class who'll get up and demonstrate, which I think is a little unfortunate. The others are missing good learning opportunities.

It's not the first time they've come to me for advice, or asked my opinion. It's nice in a weird way. The fun I get out of it also reinforces to me that this is exactly what I should be doing. It's hard, it's a lot to learn, and I don't know anywhere near as much as I should by now (although it's all starting to sink in), but it's so much more 'me' than what I've been doing for the last however many years.

I voted after class. Change is necessary. We'll find out in a couple of hours if that has happened.

I just have to laugh

Seriously, I'm speechless. Dad's Army could run this place better than the people here.

With four days to go and a major project to complete, our airhead HR girl turned up this morning with the girl who's starting full time in mid December, expecting me to train her....as well as my current temp and the network guy who was thrown into the mix unaware on Tuesday. Train/supervise three people and get the project done by next Wednesday? Not going to happen.

I've told all three to look after things between themselves as best they can and ask me when they need clarification on things. It's the only way stuff will get done.

And my boss. My oh so communicative boss. He called me into his office this morning and said something intelligent like, "So, it's your last day today". Um, no. I told him I finish next Wednesday. He mumbled rubbish about he's sorry things didn't work out. I replied that I didn't believe that at all. That was met with silence, before he proceeded to ask me if I wanted to work on any of the project sites around the city. Um, no. He suggested I didn't like working in construction. I said, in fact, I do like working in construction, but I'll find my own job thanks.

Just a few more sleeps...

FTR

No, I'm not related to Julia.

Better

I'm ridiculously, insanely busy this week, but things are looking good. I've had three agency interviews this week, another two with companies directly, and a further one booked for tomorrow afternoon. The one I had yesterday was with a household goods distributor. It's a bit of a pain to get to, but would be a good job. They liked me and want to line up another chat in the next week or so. Getting to my course on time from where they're located may prove to be a bitch, but I'll worry about that if I get past the next stage of chatting.

Today's interview was interesting. The organisation is a religious group with political interests (well, that's the easiest way to explain it here). The job would have certainly been diverse, except they're offering around $15+K less than what I'm on now. He couldn't get me out the door fast enough after I told him that. However, he did say they had room to move on the salary. Yeah, methinks not that much. Tomorrow's job is completely different - in the hospitality industry - and it's in the city, so it's convenient in terms of getting to my course two nights a week.

My current job is proving as ridiculous as ever. I've given up trying to train the people I have working with me in any formal way. They decided between themselves that they'll just try to pretend I'm not there and figure stuff out together, with my help if they really get stuck. That should work out better, because it allows me to get some things done that need to be done before I go. I could leave them, but the shit would seriously hit the fan and my telco dealers would be the ones under pressure to sort it out and I don't want to put them in that position.

This week's typical stupidity....nobody told the guy who's come on board to be our second in charge network administrator that he'd be doing telecoms and administration until Christmas time. He found out on Tuesday when he came into the office to do his job and was told, no, he'd be learning my job. He even spoke to my jerk boss in person, last Thursday, and wasn't told. He wasn't told he'd be doing it for a couple of months. He wasn't told there's another person starting mid December that he'll have to train. He wasn't told he'll be training the person who starts in January, but at least he knows her. He's very young and slightly amused by the whole situation. He won't be when I explain to him in the next couple of days the enormity and the critical nature of the tasks I'm working on above the every day stuff, that need to be finalised by Christmas. They'll be pushing it. I feel sorry for him.

My brain is on overload from my course. I remember all the bones and muscles easily, because I learnt all that stuff when I did massage years ago. It's all the flexions, extensions, rotations and medial this, lateral that, what's in bones, what's between bones etc, that has taken longer to sink in, but I think I've got it covered now. We get our first gym session on Saturday, thank freakin goodness! We're all about to go nuts from classroom style learning.

The group is fantastic. Everyone gets along, and in a strange, but nice way, we are spending our breaks together and we chat as a whole group while we're waiting for class to start. There are smaller groups of people who've naturally gravitated to each other, but as a whole, we mesh well. There was a realisation from everyone on Wednesday night that we're all going to miss an entire Summer of Saturdays, so no weekends free for us till the weather is cold again. A small price to pay in the scheme of things, but the initial thought of having no Summer hurt a bit.

Things are looking good. They'll be great if I get a job soon. And the drugs the doc gave me on Sunday are working, so I'm more pleasant to be around this week than I was last week. I'm sure anyone who has to deal with me is happy about that.

Blah

Just like last week, as soon as I finished my course yesterday, I started feeling unwell again. It's as if my body wants to shut down the minute it knows I have nothing to do. If I could just sleep for a week, I would.

I think I'm ready to admit that the over the counter stuff is not working and I need to go back to the doc once more. I've managed to remain relatively illness free this year, but this whole weather change thing (and, no doubt, all the work stress, combined with study) has totally knocked me about.

In a repeat of last Saturday's events, I got up early, went to class, did a workout at lunch time, went back to class and collapsed onto the tram home. I even fell asleep on the tram, which really is not advisable. Once through my front door, I threw myself on the couch and have endured a thumping headache, hot and cold sweats and difficulty breathing in ever since. I may as well have been eating M&Ms instead of pain killers for the use they've been.

It is now 2.42am. I woke around 11.30pm and I've been awake now since 1am on the dot. Anyway, no more complaining for now. I'll be at the doc first thing in the morning, or at least whenever it is I wake up and drag myself through a shower to make myself respectable.

I'm actually considering myself lucky at the moment. Walking home from the tram, I had to wait to cross the main road to get to my street. As I stood on the edge of the curb, a car pulled out of my street opposite and turned to drive past me. I have no idea why, but she pulled out directly in front of a car that had to slam on the brakes and skid to avoid her. How he missed her, I have no idea. They would have collected me if they hit. Literally seconds later (like 2 or 3) the exact same thing happened again. This time, a taxi pulled out from the street where I was standing on the curb, directly in front of the next car travelling down the road. The car hit the brakes and skidded. The taxi didn't realise there was also a parked car in front of him and hit the brakes and skidded. Again, if they collided, I would have been hit. It was crazy.

It was pretty warm today, but it's raining now. I've opened the window to my balcony and the blinds are noisily hitting against the window frame, because of the wind, but I don't care. The breeze is nice and it's cooling me down. The cats aren't impressed, though. It's 3am on the dot and I have the light on and the laptop going. I'm getting the, "We're trying to sleep, don'tcha know!" look. I guess I should try, too.

The craziness just keeps on coming

I'm gonna break out the popcorn soon, coz this is turning out to be quite a show. Keep in mind, I'll only be in my current job another 8 working days.

My boss was in the office today. Everyone was taking bets on whether he'd ignore me completely, or just pretend like nothing happened. As it turned out, it was the latter. He only approached me once to ask me to do something, but said it in a way that meant I was supposed to have predicted the future and known to resolve a situation I knew nothing about before it happened. No big deal, though. I sorted it in a few minutes. There's a general feeling of bemusement in our office now, about the whole situation.

Officially, I've been told absolutely nothing of any plans they have for my position or what they're doing about me leaving. Actually, I've literally been told nothing from my HR department, or my boss. He did get our team leader to tell me half of what the plan is today. I have to sidetrack for a bit, though.

There are two (or three, we can't work it out) new people starting. A guy, who is supposed to be assisting with the more technical network stuff, and someone to replace me. I assume they're not going to be expected to do the job on their own, so there has to be a third person in the mix.

My team leader was told to let me know that the guy would be starting some time next week and I'd be showing him my job (remember, he thinks he's doing high level networking) not telecommunications and administration. He would, in turn, show a girl who's starting on 17 Dec how to do my job, then go off and do what he's supposed to do. The girl would then, if our theory is right, show the other girl, who's apparently starting some time in January, how to do my job.

It took me almost 3 months to get Daniel up to speed on most (not all) of the job, up to date in our tasks, and to the point where we were fairly cohesive as a team and working well together. And they think I can show a guy everything he'll need to know to pass onto someone else in a matter of days. My current temp will be leaving on 19 Dec, so the new people will be on their own from that time.

I'm almost disappointed I won't be there to see what happens. It truly is ridiculous.

Not touching the mini-bar

I have sooo checked out of my job. The lack of motivation is enormous. It doesn't help that I've got myself a sinus infection and I just want to be asleep.

Eleven working days to go. I need to pick up the energy levels, or the next couple of weeks are going to be insanely slow.

My boss and my HR department still have not communicated with me at all. I get paid in two days. As soon as it's in my account, I'll be sending our MD an email with a few choice thoughts on the matter.

Public displays of ....vegetables

Who knew a cucumber could be an effective exercise tool? Ok, maybe don't answer that.

Each year, around this time when the seasons change, I get hayfever, bronchitis, and/or sinus troubles. I've had hayfever all week. Last night, I spent the majority of the night trying to sleep sitting up, because I couldn't breathe in lying down. Getting out of bed was an effort, but the show must go on and I had my course to get to, so off I went. I worried how well I was going to do today, because I knew we'd be doing a number of practical sessions. By the time I got to the city, I was feeling tired, but generally ok and class was fun.

Before we broke for lunch, our instructor told us we'd be doing some practical work in the park afterwards and it would involve cucumbers. That got everyone's attention. Once there, after having to run around the park touching ten trees that were not next to each other, we got into groups for relay races. We had to come up with names for our teams. The first team called themselves the Dickheads. Don't ask me why! My team called ourselves the Cucumbers, because hey we're there to learn about fitness, not for our creativity skills, and we couldn't think of anything else. The last team were the Sparkles. Hmm yeah.

Relay 1 - run around hats and back with cucumber in hand, pass to next person.
Relay 2 - run around hats and back with cucumber between legs, pass to next person.
Relay 3 - run around hats and back with cucumber on shoulder, pass under/over.
Relay 4 - run backwards around hats and back with cucumber between legs, pass left/right.

First team to have all runners back and sitting on the ground with arms in a triangle above their heads (simply because it looked stupid), won.

The Dickheads won the first race. My team won the next three. We may not be original, but we can run fast. The Sparkles...well, they got nothing, but at least they sparkled.

The final race was a combination of all 4 relays. Although the Dickheads won by a second or two, the win was given to my team, because the Dickheads cheated. Our instructor did give them credit for cheating together as a team. The Sparkles just kept sparkling. Both other teams had to bow down before us in the middle of the park. It was a good win.

After lunch we talked about the importance of planning and preparation, before putting something into action, then we had to construct the tallest building we could out of marshmallows and raw spaghetti. It had to stay standing for 10 seconds, unaided. We split into three different teams. My team built a brilliant architectural wonder and I'm annoyed I didn't take a photo. It was a work of art, was tall and remained standing for quite a while. Once we were back in our seats, the instructor asked which of the groups actually sat down and drew pictures and planned the design before they started building. Our was the only team that did and it was a really good example of effective planning. It made the point of the entire afternoon's discussions.

It was a good day. I do promise, though, that I won't dissect every single session on my blog, because I'm sure I'll bore even myself to tears if I do.

Oh! Funny story.... We were told we had to smile at at least 10 people we didn't know each day, so we started practicing at lunch. Most people don't smile back. I was sitting with Alysha and Leigh in a restaurant booth when Alysha looked out the window and smiled at someone then turned away. I looked out to see who she was looking at. As I did, the guy made eye contact with me, so I smiled too. At that point, the guy, whose shirt was undone, smiled (or rather, grinned), licked his finger tips and rubbed his nipples as he walked off. We decided that was the last time we'd be smiling at people in the city....especially those dressed semi Brit punk.

It all went a bit pear-shaped after class. As soon as I got on the tram, I started feeling bad. By the time I got home, my head was thumping and I went straight to bed at 5pm. Sleeping for two hours didn't help and I have a killer sinus headache that's finally starting to go. This weather change thing really does suck.

The tram line through the centre of the city was blocked off for most of the day today, for a damn Christmas parade thingy. At the beginning of November! Geeeeez! Easter eggs will be on display next week, I'm sure.

Two is a light switch

Mwahahahaha! Jones, I had no idea what you were on about, but I figured it had to do with my course, so I skimmed through my book to see if I could find it. Alas, it was not there. Now I know why! I got 12/20 the first time, then 20/20 the second time. Other people did, too, but I was the only one to figure out there was a pattern to it.

More later... ;-)

Ok, now I'm at work and full of hayfevery goodness and completely devoid of any motivation to do the slightest ounce of work.

We finished the class late last night. How late? So late that a bunch of us had to run for the train/s. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't late, dark and cold and we weren't carrying backpacks full of gear and massive folders. Not only that, the entire way is up and down quite steep hills. Run too fast and you would fall flat on your face. Run too slow and you would miss your train. I got to the station first (in about 7 minutes, and only just still breathing), with one of the guys running up behind me to ask how I got there so fast. "I bolted!" I would have said more if I could talk. On the map, it doesn't look far. In reality, it hurt. But, I told myself that was my serious cardio for the day and that made me feel better.

Darren was still in the class. When we broke into pairs to do a memory exercise, he told the girl he was partnered with that he'd been advised to keep quiet, except when asked. He did pretty well in that regard, I have to say, but managed to give rambling answers when asked questions.

We did an exercise to remember everybody. We had to go around in a circle saying everyone's name and an action they'd come up with to help us remember. People said things like, "my name's Jo and I like to travel" or "my name's John and I like football". When it came to Darren's turn, he said, "My name's Darren and my dad told me I'm ok from the shoulders down". Too funny! The entire class cracked up. What made it funnier was that everyone after that had to say, "He's Darren and he's ok from the shoulders down".

It was a good night, apart from almost busting a gut to get the train afterwards. They mentioned doing time trial runs around the Botanical Gardens some time soon. I can't say I'm too keen on that, but as long as I'm not last, I'll be happy.

Separation, by a couple of degrees

I've been emailing with a guy for a few weeks, but I'm really not interested in boys at the moment, and he lives about 90 mins away, so we've only met twice. I hadn't had a chance to tell him that I didn't get the job with the oil company when I received a call from him a few moments ago.

He mentioned the name of the company to his dad, who also works in that industry and is MD of his company. His dad said he had not heard of that company until yesterday....when his secretary/PA/office manager lady, who's been with his company for 20-something years, resigned to take a position with them. The position I was going for. She's the one I was up against for the job. Bizarro coincidence, no?

Now? His dad needs a new assistant. I told this guy to give him my phone number so we could arrange a time to meet. The woman has given two weeks notice, which just about suits me perfectly. There wouldn't be any hand over at all, and it's not really the type of job I was looking for, but that's ok. Nothing like being thrown in the deep end and seeing how well you can swim. I'm not going to count my chickens, because I have a feeling the money might not be enough. However, I'm willing to have a chat and see what happens. You never know. He might know someone who knows someone...

Small world, huh.

But wait, there's more...

First things first. I didn't get the job with the oil company. Once I heard I was up against a woman who'd worked in the industry (not just mining in general), I knew she'd get it. Apparently the guy felt very bad for not choosing to hire me, which gives me a small amount of satisfaction. However, the mild panic about finding a job quickly has increased just slightly. I'm not going into meltdown just yet.

Onto last night and the first night of my course. I was expecting to be one of the older people there, and was surprised to find there were a number who were (or at least looked) older than me. There are only two teenagers and a handful of guys who look like they're more brawn than brains. Overall, it's a pretty wide mix of ages and experience, which is a good thing.

Considering it's November and it should be starting to get lovely and warm now, it wasn't too much fun waiting outside before the class started. It was a damn cold evening in the city! We didn't have to wait too long, though, and were finally ushered into the classroom. I sat right at the front like the nerdy kid I am. On one side of me was a teenage girl with pink hair, Alysha. On the other side was a nice looking boy called Leigh. We all got on well from the start, thankfully.

I won't go into the boring details of the session, but it was mostly about goal setting and visualising the results you want to achieve in different areas of your life.

There was one....issue...the whole night. A guy who came late and sat at the back kept interrupting the instructor and talking over him. He was either a recovering alcoholic, or ex drug addict. He'd killed so many brain cells that his speech was almost incoherent and he lacked any understanding of social etiquette or manners. He had a thought and it came out his mouth. I must say the instructor was seriously patient for most of the night. One of the other students was the first to crack and tell the guy to shut up. He apologised. And kept right on interrupting and talking the entire night. At one stage, the instructor had to say, "Darren, NO", like he was talking to a toddler, to get him to quit yabbering on. Anyway, needless to say, people were getting short tempered, but everyone was well behaved about it.

I would be surprised if they let him back on Wednesday night. Seriously, there is no way in the world he'll be able to train anyone, so I'm not sure exactly why he's there. He must have been sponsored through a program, because a) he couldn't afford the course, for sure, on his own (going by appearances) and b) he wouldn't have passed the hour long interview the rest of us had to sit just to get accepted. I respect his right to be there, but I - and everyone else - paid a shitload of money for this course and people won't put up with that kind of distraction and disruption very long.

All in all, it was a pretty fun night. The 'lecture' was broken up in the middle when they showed us how to do squats properly, then we had to do star jumps, run on the spot, then more squats before we sat back down to listen again.

I froze my arse off walking through the city to the train station at 9.30pm, had to borrow the money for the train from Alysha, because the stupid machines didn't take notes, and got home shortly after 10pm. I'm excited about going back on Wednesday.

Oh, I also learned that the course timetable I received is only the first two components of the course I've signed up for - which explains why I couldn't see some of the subjects I thought I was doing. So, I'm not finishing in mid March, when I expected to. There's another 8 weeks of business subjects to be done after that. I won't be done till the end of May!

Expectation

How ironic that I did a thesaurus search on 'anticipation' and it made me wait a while.

The feedback I've received from the agency lady about the job I went for on Wednesday morning has been positive. Apart from the fact that I'm slightly over-qualified for the position, she thinks I have a good chance. The only real issue is one other candidate who, I'm told, is even more over-qualified, but has worked in the particular industry. The agency lady said she didn't want to get my hopes up, but she was confident about me. She left the guy who interviewed us alone today for some thinking time (cue music) and she'll contact him on Monday to see who he's chosen.

I feel a bit like a game show contestant. Either I'll be singing at the Opera House next week and signing autographs, or I'll be starring in candy commercials during the mid afternoon soaps for the next six months.

Honestly, I know I'll be disappointed if I don't get the job, but the thought of getting it is equally scary. I'll be out of IT and back into a 'regular' job (whatever that is) for the first time in almost ten years. The idea is a little daunting and my lack of confidence, brought about by the bastards I currently work for, makes me second guess my abilities and I hate that. On one hand, it's good, because I'm not allowing myself to get excited about a potential new adventure in an industry that really interests me. On the other hand, feeling the enthusiasm, without getting my hopes up too much, is just the adrenalin rush I probably need.

I'm not sure where the balance is. Regardless, I suppose it comes down to I'll only have to feel this way for another couple of days, then I'll deal with whatever cards I'm dealt.

I got a phone call today from a guy in one of our regional offices, interstate. He knew I'd resigned. How? I don't know. He said a lady from my office told him, but he couldn't remember her name. Word travels. And yet, my boss and my HR department still have not acknowledged that I resigned five days ago. Miss me when I'm gone, guys.

My body is changing (boys look away now)

No, not in that weird, teenage OMG-what's-happening-to-me way. More like an OMG-I'm-getting-old(er) way.

Way back in the day, before the docs started finding things wrong with my girl bits, I never had issues with PMS. No moodiness, no pain. Hmm, ok, there was probably moodiness, but I couldn't tell, because frankly, I could probably say I was in a constant state of moodiness till my mid 20s, for various reasons.

After the first couple of operations, I started getting all the pain type symptoms; more back pain etc. The mood swings also became more evident. For the last year or so, I've been taking Vitamin B6 and it makes a big difference. I feel a lot more balanced and deal with things more calmly than I do when I don't take it.

However, w.i.t.h.o.u.t f.a.i.l I've started getting a headache about 12 hours before I'm due. I know one Thursday each month is gonna really suck. Yesterday, Wednesday, at work, I was fine. I got up at 5.30am, drove to work early, caught the train to an interview in the city (which seemed to go very well), caught the train back to work, was productive, had lunch and all was well. Just after lunch, it all went downhill. The headache came on almost instantly and I lasted as long as I could, but left work early and was in bed by 5pm. Combined with the change of weather hayfever, comprising a runny nose and red eyes I've had all week, I haven't exactly been a Miss Universe contender.

I spent most of last night and today in bed either too hot and sweating, or too cold and sweating. If this is an age thing and stuff like this is going to happen more often, I'm not really liking the idea all that much. A lot has happened in the last 5 years. And it's gone incredibly quickly. In another 5 years, I'll be 40. I really would like for the next 5 years to go twice as slowly as the last ones, because I'm not too keen on being 40 if my body is doing weird shit already.

Of course, my office could not do without me for a single day and I got woken up by a phone call to sort something 'urgent' out. Eh, I sat up in bed long enough to send a few emails....that could have waited till tomorrow, but my dumbarse boss was being an uninformed jerk and the universe was in a panic. My temp was also not at work today. She called in sick, too. All my assistants have had time off in their very first week or so. I keep telling everyone that the desk they sit at needs to be feng shui-ed or exorcised. I hated that desk and asked to move within my first two weeks. I haven't decided if I did myself a disservice, or not, by doing that.

At any rate, a weight has been lifted from my shoulders (and mind, and everything else) since I've resigned. I can concentrate on what comes next, now, rather than how to deal with the stupidity that currently surrounds me from 9-5 every week day. My boss and our HR department still have not contacted me in any way or acknowledged that I've resigned. So professional, huh.

Now, because I'm feeling old and slightly invalid, I'm going to take some pain killers, make a nice hot cup of tea, put a blanket over my knees and watch the 5pm news.