T'eyla Minh

I had the minute-taking test for the job I applied for yesterday. They finally emailed me to confirm I'd been shortlisted, a month after the closing date.

( Details )

I'm trying to update semi-regularly because I have so much going on in the run-up to Christmas, and I don't want the Sunset write-up in particular to fall by the wayside due to lack of energy/motivation. :P Also it saves me having to do massive word-dumps every four months.

Legal Assistant day yesterday was quite good (other than the hour or so in the afternoon where everyone in South went to a team meeting and I had nothing to do - although I was helping Lisa out with a few bits and pieces). I didn't do very much really but it seemed to take all day...

Also managed to go to the gym AND swimming this week, which is an achievement on last week (snow notwithstanding; I would have done both if the public transport was in any way reliable). The gym was rubbish though - still full of new-year-resolution-y types so I couldn't get near half of the equipment, and several of the treadmills were out of action, too. Meh.

Yesterday I finally got the phonecall (or, well, I called back) about organising a start date for the new job. Apparently the CRB isn't needed after all as the process has changed, but the medical check has come back clear, so today I'm just sorting out notice period and whatnot with Sue so I can hand my notice in (hopefully) as of Monday - so potentially a start date of 4th March. (February is a blissfully short month!)

Today I was intending on getting an eye test, as the world has become significantly blurrier lately, except it'll have to wait until Monday now. I was going to get my 'spare' pair done as my main pair - I've not been able to wear them for two years because the last time I got my eyes tested it cost so frelling much for one pair of lenses that I could only afford to get my main pair altered, then kept forgetting about the other pair. As this pair are now looking a bit scruffy I had decided to get my red frames done as my main pair, then get two more sets - another spare/second pair and some prescription sunglasses. Since I've run out of money again, the plan changed to just getting the one set done and then getting new frames when I've got the spare cash for it.

Except, obviously, I couldn't find the bloody spare pair last night. I thought I could picture where it was but apparently I was wrong, so this weekend we need to turn the house upside down. Thankfully that will mean emptying some more boxes so we can start rearranging the upstairs rooms, but yeah, annoying. I can't see properly, dammit. :P

This morning, it transpires my job hunting could not have come at a better time. The WPO's are going to become part of Professional Support Services, thus no longer under the umbrella of Legal Services, which basically means they'll be offering a typing service to everyone. There may even be potential job losses, though having already lost four staff through "natural wastage" and me going hopefully quite soon, that might be a saving grace.

I suspect they may lose several more staff before the financial year is out. :P

( Just a bit of fandom stuff )

Right, over and out. Let's see how much fail my colleagues can cram into my next month of working at Legal, eh?

I'm at work today (and yesterday), along with three other WPO's (should be four but Demoted is off sick), and apart from a brief flurry yesterday of urgents from Spellathon, presumably in protest over the fact she couldn't come into the office over Christmas - seriously, rather than appreciating the free days off, last year she felt the need to moan about the fact that she didn't celebrate Christmas so shouldn't be expected to have a day off (WTF??) - it's now gone very quiet. So here's an update.

( Christmas, etc. )

Back at work Thursday, but I have next week off. My mission should I choose to accept it is to learn to make bread. I have a couple of bread-related books now - the new Mary Berry and a WI book that we were bought last Christmas. I really want to try and make focacia, but I know it's really difficult so might start with rolls or a basic white loaf. First I have to oil the big wooden board I bought from Ikea last year, as it's going to become my bread-making board. It's too bloody big to use for anything else (seemed like a good idea at the time), I don't have enough counter space for bread-making anywhere else, and the board can sit nicely on the kitchen table instead. ;)

I managed to post a photograph of our cream tea (because I'd laid everything out all pretty on the table) but have so far failed to take pictures of anything else. I think I'll charge the camera up and start doing so - next year I want to start taking more photographs again. I really need to get a new camera but I need to justify to myself that I take enough pictures to warrant a big SLR-type thing rather than another point-and-shoot...

Oh yes. Perhaps more important than any of this is the update on the new job situation. I'm sure most people have heard via Facebook already, but in any case: I had the interview on 17th December. I woke up with a headache, of course. I already know my migraines are stress-related, so it wasn't that surprising. I've been wibbling quite a lot over the test and interview, but it's been a very different sort of wibbling to any of the Legal jobs I've gone for - less "OMG BIG SCARY CHANGE" and more "OMG POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT CHANGE". I'm taking being nervous about the interview - rather than the life-changing upheaval - as a very good sign that I made the right decision in applying. Not that I had any doubt; once that decision was made it was very satisfying, not umming-and-erring like I normally would.

So yes, I had a headache. I cannot remember a single thing about the interview or even really what I said, except that they didn't ask the Equal Opportunities question and that's my best answer. :P I couldn't tell if it had gone well or horrendously or averagely, not that one ever really can, mostly because as soon as I'd left the building and started walking towards the Squeg to meet Paul, my head started pounding like a thousand elephants were doing Riverdance in my brain.

I was planning on going back into work. We went for lunch at the newly-opened Boston Tea Party on Corporation Street, as it's midway to my office (Paul had the day off to finish the Christmas shopping anyway), but by that point the migraine was making me nauseous as well, so I phoned in sick. I subsequently spent the day on the sofa watching EastEnders, and was well and truly monged on Migraleve by the time they rang me up about the job.

Long story short, I got it. :) It took me a while to process that because of the migraine, but when it finally clicked I was incredibly relieved and pleased. We actually went to see The Hobbit on the evening up at Giant Screen but I can barely remember anything about that either, except that it was quite pretty.

It's still conditional, as they need to do references and CRB / medical checks, so I haven't handed in my notice as yet. The reference request came in on Friday (21st December), which David bizarrely forwarded on to me to fill out myself (apparently this is quite common in Legal Services), so I threw something together. I don't think he had time to look at it, though, and as he's now on leave until 7th January I suspect I shan't be handing in my notice until mid-January. In which case, my estimate of mid-February for potentially starting really wasn't far off the mark. ;)

I'll fill out that Year in Review meme this weekend (well, it's traditional now) but 2012 has been a very strange year, all told - so many ups and downs I lost count. Work has been rubbish and soul-destroying on several occasions, but there have been so many amazing, wonderful things to counteract it. (I already suspect the meme may be too constraining to summarise the year.) I dunno, maybe when the eyes of the world are staring at your country for so much of the year (the Jubilee, the Olympics and Paralympics), it makes you think about your own contribution and the changes you need to make.

2013 is going to be better. Or at the very least, it feels like it might be the start of something. BRING IT, BIYATCH.

If I don't manage to update before January: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

So, I've been shortlisted for the CPR Admin job, and have a minute-taking test on 30th November. If that's successful then I get an interview.

Paul's mate Jenny will be the umbrella manager for the entire of Children's Business Support when she returns from maternity leave and she reckons I'll wing it, but obviously I'm not going to go into it expecting miracles. I need to start applying for Gr3 posts outside of Legal Services, and I might as well start with one I know I'm more than capable of doing; if I don't get it or choose not to go for it, I'll at least have the relevant application/interview experience under my belt.

( Meanwhile, other things are occurring. )

So, things are getting interesting, if nothing else!!

For anyone who hasn't yet heard via Facebook or text message (not many!), here is the official announcement.

Paul and I are engaged. :)

The ring is actually a teense too big so I'm going to get it resized this lunchtime, after which I will post a proper photograph.

If you're curious, he bought it on a whim on the way back from his business course on Saturday, pretended he couldn't get the internal porch door open (it sticks sometimes) and knocked so I'd come to let him in, whereupon he was waiting on one knee in the porch. He was going to wait until April so I was definitely surprised!

So, there we go. I wouldn't get too excited just yet as it will probably be the longest engagement ever until we have any money. :P

Okay. So on Thursday I got it into my head to Make A Change. I have been suffering lately with... well, I suppose one might call it "ennui". I get this thing sometimes where I just want to DO SOMETHING, like get a new job or move house or shift furniture around (see also: "spatial cleansing" tag). So on Thursday night, out of morbid curiosity, I had a look to see what sort of typing jobs there might be in Birmingham which paid reasonably well.

Obviously there was bugger all in Birmingham - plenty of "typing from home" stuff and a lot of temporary / part-time positions, but most of the full-time positions are on what I was earning in BCC when I first started, and quite frankly I'm struggling as it is. Then I spotted one via Reed for an audio typist position at a legal firm in London, for £20K a year.

First I was like,"Okay, what's the catch here?" and then figured out that actually, £20K in London is probably the equivalent to what I'm on now here, and if I were to live in London I would be worse off, and if I didn't it would all go on hotel/lodging and travel. Aside from that, (a) job stuff is terrifying and (b) 147 people had already applied for it.

So instead I started house-hunting again. After several fruitless hours Paul and I discovered a "three-bedroom cottage" on Barn Road, which is literally five minutes away from where we are now, for £525 a month. For Kings Heath / Moseley that's insanely reasonable. There was no photograph on the website (always a bit dubious) and the website for the actual letting agent (Easy Lettings) was rubbish, and aside from that we couldn't find it anywhere else on the internet except the one "catch-all" website it was listed on.

So on Saturday we walked down to Barn Road to look and see if there were any houses to let. Riiiight at the very end of the road we did indeed find a house to let, with an agency called Midland Housing. On getting back we Googled them. They're asking for £800pcm, which frankly is extortionate for a three-bedroomed house, but I presume it's because the postcode falls under the all-holy Moseley and thus they can charge what they like. I think they'll be sitting on that one for a looooong time.

That was disappointing, to say the least, as if it had been anything up to £600 we would actually have considered it, if only because it was a lovely house and would be SO EASY to move into. Boo. :(

I've spent a couple more hours tonight searching on rightmove.co.uk, scouting out all of Birmingham and the outskirts (including Bearwood - there are loads of houses on the road where I grew up, and at least Sandwell Council aren't complete bastards like BCC), and have come to the conclusion that if I want to live in a nice area, in a house with a decently-sized kitchen and windows which are not pointlessly tiny, I need to pay about £100 more than if I don't. There are plenty of good-sized, affordable and attractive houses - and they're all in the shit bits of Birmingham. I don't want to live in Erdington/Sheldon/Perry Barr/Hockley/Handsworth/etc. I know that doesn't leave me much option, but I don't want to end up somewhere awful, with terrible neighbours or a high street where I have to look over my shoulder...

I am probably insanely over particular. We tried searching Kings Heath and Moseley and came up with nothing (except tiny houses, obviously), and there was a BEAUTIFUL place on Russell Road in an old Georgian house with the most AMAZING kitchen I have ever seen... but it was a shared house. The rent was stupidly cheap, too. I want to live in that kitchen. :(

Soooo yes. Still fruitlessly hunting. I am also constrained by my inability to drive and my reliance on public transport, so every time I find a house which is affordable, in a nice area and looks remotely promising, it turns out to be in the Arse End of Nowhere. Considering we can't afford a proper place to live until they either bring back 100% mortgages (not looking likely), we win the lottery or someone gives us money for a deposit, renting is currently the only option and even THAT is being scuppered, mostly by my desire to actually live somewhere I feel safe at night and can bloody well get to.

BEING A GROWN-UP IS HARD.

PS: Seriously, landlords/builders/converters, stop it now with the tiny kitchens. Or with the massive kitchens with NO BLOODY CUPBOARDS. Is it such an alien concept that people actually WANT TO COOK THINGS? Jesus.

Further to my latest tweet, here's the full story...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updating around here (again), but... actually, I have no excuse. I've just not been feeling very posty. My online activities of late involve reading Facebook and Twitter, checking my Flickr stream and LJ f-list, and nowt much else. I'm still quite skint and haven't done anything of interest since Alice in Wonderland (still haven't seen that again, either). Choir is choir, life is life, work is work. At the moment I'm just waiting for this week to be over and Easter to start. I have annual leave booked from 16th April and will not be back at work until 5th May (the 3rd is a bank holiday; I have training on the 4th).

Anyway. I think I half-mentioned that there were some potentially exciting opportunities possibly arising at work. Here's the full story, and explanation of subject header... You can probably miss out the first cut if you really want because it's quite boring. ;)

( Precursor )

( Wibble )

I anticipate an influx of similar comments to last time, and I will of course keep LJ / Twitter / Facebook updated with progress reports.

I receive regularish emails from Derby University as an ex-student, informing me of mostly pointless information. Except the last one was actually quite interesting.

They are now doing an MA Humanities course, for those of us who graduated with our degree in English, Creative Writing, Media Studies, etc. It's 1 year or 2 part time, and £180 per module (of which there are 12) and you get a discount for being an ex-Derby graduate.

The prospect of this is quite exciting. Obviously there's no way I could afford it now, and I'd probably have to do it part time unless I come into some money to tide me over for a year, but still. I wouldn't be able to move back to Derby (booo!) unless Paul was willing to rent there for a year / find a job there, but at least the commute isn't too bad. In the absence of having anything resembling a plan for the rest of my life, putting it off for another couple of years by hiding behind academia sounds very appealing.

I have no idea when I could do it, though, or whether I'd even still have the brainpower to be able to succeed at it. I sort of... fumbled through my degree, really, and don't know if I have the dedication to do an MA, especially as I still have no plan for what to do afterwards.

Hm. It requires a lot of thought, but the potential is something, at least. The MA course isn't going anywhere, after all.

I am SO TIRED today. Still 25 minutes until hometime, too. And today has been crazy busy for some reason... Paul has a very busy weekend. Gig tonight; house-party Saturday; surprise party on Sunday. And my mum is bringing over David's old telly for us on Sunday so that should cause all manner of fun chaos in trying to get the old unit upstairs into the attic along with all the videos...

( Today's entry, brought to you by Olivetti... )

Hee.  I love using the typewriter. It makes me feel like a real writer.  Also, see how bad my accuracy is?  It's really quite horrendous...

Oh, and this is what the beast ( looks like. )

(It's far prettier without the cover on, but pretty loud, too, so I don't want to contemplate the noise it'd make without it.  It has little Magic Roundabout rub-on transfers on it. :D)

well, we had our module info day this afternoon, and so far my (provisional) timetable appears as follows:

autumn semester:
monday; 5.00-8.00; representing the contemporary (which is all about post-war britain and is more interesting than it sounds.)
tuesday; 9.30-12.00; critical theory iii (which i have to do. next year it's entirely based on post-modernism and is apparently 'fun'...)
wednesday; 1.00-4.00; apocalyptic and paranoid cultures (another brottman subject. he didn't turn up to plug it, but the title along is interesting enough.

spring semester:
tuesday; 1.00-4.00; shakespeare today (exploding the myth around shakespeare, apparently, and how he influences literature/theory in the modern world. mostly a self-study module.)
wednesday; 4.00-6.00ish; america noir (whereby we get to study poe :D)

and then my 2 modules in creative writing, which knowing my luck will both be on friday mornings or clash with all of the above, and then the double independent studies module. i'm considering doing my dissertation on the phenomenon of fanfiction, assuming i can find a lecturer willing to assess it. i'm thinking probably dave ellis since one of his 'specialities' is youth sub culture, and that's probably as close as i'm going to get ;) (i wanted to do sunset film/musical/other comparisons, but then i'll end up with either scary sam kasule or the brottman, and just... no. besides, i'm realising there's just far too many stage versions, only one of which i've ever seen, and it would take rather a lot of research...)

and the scary careers man came again with more information. see, the thing is, i do know what i want to do. it's the same thing i wanted to do when i was seven years old, and that's write. unfortunately it's no longer a case of what i want to do, and more a case of what i need to do. well, at least i have a versatile degree...