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momentous events Random thoughts Technology

Pride to the winds…

Today is going to be HUGE. Really, really, really HUGE! You know, one of those days that you’ve already invested so much of your time and effort in, even though it hasn’t yet arrived, kind of huge.

Today is photo day.

My new(ish?! Started Feb 14 this year) job is marketing St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School, Caboolture. And I ABSOLUTELY love it – it’s the best job in the world! And today is photo day. Today’s the day we get a Library of shots done by the best photographer I know. So I’ve been planning this thing for what feels like non-stop, for what feels like ages. (But is actually instead more like for several hours per day for the last three weeks.)

So we have a cast of close to 60, from 4 year olds to those well into their 50’s (actually, more like 60’s but I’m not entirely sure). We have close to 20 locations. We have props. We have costume changes (which in reality will look more like uniform changes, but that image doesn’t fit with my metaphor here, okay?!). And of course we have cameras and all their associated paraphenalia. And we have a LOT of work to do in a very constrained time period. So…

It’s Monday, 28th of March, and I’m off and running on what is quite likely going to be a strong contender for the prize of ‘Busiest Day of My Year’. Running as fast as I can with no thought to my technique or my looks – running with my pride to the winds.

Wish me luck – it’s a distinct possibility that I’m going to be needing it!

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momentous events Random thoughts Technology

Hey ho; hey ho! It’s to the store I go…

Today’s the day! Hopefully this will be the last time that I need someone else’s computer to write my blog!

Catch you all soon when my wallet’s a lot lighter! (And yes, Uni assignments… here I come…)

 

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Random thoughts

Inspired before breakfast…

My day started as most seem to recently. Late to bed due to working on hubby’s computer (SOOOOOOO can’t wait for mine! Each day brings it closer!!!), then up sometime in the middle of the night to a child with a nightmare or who’s fallen out of bed, then up again sometime around 2.30ish to turn off that talkative toy which has decided to ‘speak’ and wake me up with its annoying electronic voice, back to bed but can’t sleep because my brain has woken up and is buzzing, then up again within the next 30 minutes to an hour, to start working on the computer before I lose access for the day. Sleep deprivation? What sleep deprivation?

This morning though, I have been pleasantly surprised. I don’t always give Google Reader a quick glance over first thing, but am glad I did so this morning. Bun-toting Librarian was also up late last night, and posted a blog that both inspired and challenged me when I discovered it in my RSS feed earlier. And because today looks like it’s going to be a pretty full-on one for me (think: three, possibly four, meetings as part of my new ‘marketing’ career, and all of them with my 3y.o. and 1 y.o. at my feet. Gonna be fun…) I thought I’d share with you all, dear readers, how lovely a start to the day it was. A friend made a comment the other day that really resonated with me. In response to the obligatory greeting ‘How are you?” he said, “Well, I woke up on the right side of the ground this morning…” – well I’ve got one up on that. Not only am I on the right side of the ground today, but I’m happy, healthy, surrounded by a wonderful family, working in a fantastic new job and being intellectually stretched by my wonderful lecturers at QUT. And add to that, being inspired by @fionawb this morning. And all before breakfast! It’s going to be a great day… can’t you just feel it?

Have a lovely one. dear readers!

— Ceridwyn

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momentous events Random thoughts

Countdowns are so exciting, aren’t they?!!

I feel a little like Big Kev. I’m so excited, I swear little bits of me are actually escaping out of my skin. The reason, you ask? I’m SOOOO close to re-joining the world of the internet-capable computer owner again, I can just about taste it! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so when I last blogged, I was computerless and jobless. Using hubby’s computer to bemoan my lack of money, my mounting credit card bills and my growing concern over the increasing intensity of demand letters over my past-due bills (boy, they can get rather stroppy, can’t they?!!)

Since then, I’ve got myself a job. Was getting absolutely nowhere with gaining paid employment the ‘traditional’ way, so I mustered as much courage as I could, found a niche that needed filling, went and pitched my proposal to the boss, and he agreed to pay me for the service I was offering. Yay! So now I can say that I’m ranked among the ’employed’ again! I oversee the marketing for St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School, Caboolture. So I’m pretty stoked, and my first pay will go towards purchasing myself my very OWN laptop! Yay!!! So I have around two weeks to decide what I want and where to get it from. I’m actually leaning towards getting a Mac. Never had one before, but I keep hearing good things.

What would YOU recommend?

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#librarytwittermysteryamonth

Just another day in paradise…

I’m still computer-less. And still job hunting. But really, what have I got to complain about? I have my health, my (relative) youth, my family, a home, vehicles, food, clothes. I’m blessed. Truly.

Okay, so I’m scumming a few minutes of time on hubby’s computer – again – and I so can’t WAIT for a job so that I can buy myself a computer and start blogging again. Maybe continuing my assignment for @katiedatwork which has been on permanent hold for almost a month. Still an’all…

My reason for blogging today is to add my impressions of Marianne Delacourt’s “Sharp Turn” to #librarytwittermysteryamonth. I read her “Sharp Shooter”, the first novel featuring Tara Sharp, just to get acquainted with Delacourt’s writing style and protagonist. A great beginning quickly became quite a readable pageturner. Not quite the sophistication of Agatha’s Christie’s classic for the January read, but entertaining nonetheless.

“Sharp Turn” continued the themes commenced in her first. Tara Sharp, a broke Private Investigator living in her parent’s garage, continues to use her ability to see auras to crack cases within a week. In “Sharp Shooter”, the case involved a Mob Boss. In this, Tara moves into the field of motorbike racing and high class brothels. Both were easy reads, with believable characterisation and a choice of setting – Perth – which is obviously well known and dearly loved by the author.

I must admit a little disappointment with the sheer size of the cast though. And although it may have necessary to include some of the wayward characters to eventually become Tara’s “employees”, it seemed a little contrived.

On the whole, they were enjoyable reads. And I’m very much looking forward to reading and reviewing the March #librarytwittermysteryamonth choice! Hopefully by then I’ll have a job and my own computer…

 

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Random thoughts

Okay… this is a little strange…

I blogged last week about how I felt when I had graduated but not yet started working. Restless; a bundle of nervous energy. That story had a good ending though. I applied for, and was given, the perfect job.

I find myself in the same situation now. In December last year, I thanked my two emplyers (Coolum Beach Christian College and Glasshouse Country Christian College) profusely, and resigned. My intention was to have just the one employer in 2011, working either part-time (my preferred option, seeing as I wanted to complete as much of the M.IT that I could this year) or full-time. Teaching, or Library work… it did’t really worry me.

But here I am. School’s been back for two days, and I’m at home. ‘Unemployed’. Hmmm…! And it’s not as if I’ve been sitting on my behind doing nothing; I’ve been applying left, right and centre! Was interviewed yesterday by ‘SmartTeachers‘, a company that sources teachers for Private Schools. Even they said that there are no jobs available. So where does that leave me? Restless! And full of nervous energy! I need a job! And because I’ve been without a paycheck since early December and the bills are starting to pile up in a very threatening manner, I need a full-time job… now!

It’s 9.47am. I’ve cleaned and vaccuumed my entire house, baked a cake and transferred the rest of my delectable home-made vanilla slice into containers, done a couple of loads of washing, picked up what feels like several truckloads of toys. All of which is great, but I need to do something which pays…

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momentous events

It’s party day…

I mentioned in last night’s post that hubby and two daughters had birthdays in the past week.  So today is party day. Yay – I think! (The rain’s just started, and it looks like it’s setting in.) Wish I’d had more sleep last night, rather than waking up every few hours, having dreamt about (yet more!) ant invasions.

Still, the point of this post is to reminisce the fifth momentous event in my life to date. And that was another celebration – much quieter though. MUCH. Internal, as a matter of fact. That ‘want to jump out of your skin because you can’t contain how happy you feel’ kind of celebration. And the reason? Gaining full-time employment for the first time ever.

From memory, it was January 27, 1996. I was in the Principal’s office in Chisholm Catholic College, Cornubia. I had spent the better part of my mental and emotional energies over the past fortnight being concerned that schools were going back. I had been offered the position of Music Coordinator of Mt Isa State High School since finishing my B.Ed a few months earlier, but, being only a few weeks married to a NAB Lending Officer based in Brisbane, had turned it down. So now I had found myself unemployed, with the schools going back. And with nervous energy to burn, had applied for and been given an interview for the position of Music Coordinator at Chisholm, a Term One replacement for Peter Shaw, who was on Long Service Leave.

So I sat in Mike Ashton’s office, explaining who I was and trying to demonstrate how enthusiastic I was to have the opportunity to finally have my ‘own class’, rather than the classes of supervising teachers. I guess it must have worked, because Mike asked me to wait outside while he called my referees. Then he called me back in and offered me the job. I could hardly contain my excitement! I was engaged to start the very next day, and he took me for a quick tour of the school.

I think I may have impressed him that very first day. The students had returned, and he hadn’t yet organised the relief for the Music classes that would start that afternoon. So I offered to take them. To start that day. He agreed, surprised yet probably relieved. And so my first day’s (well, half day’s) work was that same afternoon. What a ride! And what an excellent school! And when I left at the end of Term Three, (a Maths / Science teacher had taken maternity leave in Terms Two and Three, so Mike had rearranged the timetable so the classes were covered internally, and so I could stay there, teaching English and Music classes,) I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my career. I learned so much, grew so much, and gained far more than I thought would have been possible. Even now, I’m smiling.

I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit this week. Again, I find myself in the position of being ‘unemployed’, with the schools going back. And again, I find myself with huge amounts of nervous energy to burn. I need a job. No, really, I NEED a job. Know of one I could have?

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Random thoughts

Life is short…

Today marks Day Two in my aim to discover seven ‘Important Words in my Life’, inspired by the American Dialect Society’s ‘Word of the Year’. This list reflects the person I think myself to be. (But I’m happy to be proved wrong, as for each character trait I tend to see the negative outweigh the positive!) So each day I’ll be explaining why I believe each word to be important enough for me to include in my list. So. My word for today? Restless.

I fully identify with some people’s difficulty in just ‘stopping’. I don’t think that I actually can. Looking back on my life post-school, it would be easy to mistake me for a Gen Y, as I’ve changed direction every few years! (Yes, I realise that this seems to contradict the ‘commitment’ inherent in yesterday’s important word “Integrity”, but all will become clear…)

I graduated High School in 1991. I then started my Bachelor of Education at Griffith University the following year, but left mid-third year to lead the cult I had joined about six months earlier. (That’s another huge story for another post though!) Fortunately, I had left the cult by the following February, so I enrolled in 12 courses in my fourth year, to finish the degree with the rest of my cohort at the end of 1995, the same week of my wedding. From being a teacher in 1996, by mid 1998 I was a Subject Area Cordinator and by 2002 a Head of Department. I became a mother in 2005 and then a Head of Middle School in mid 2006. In 2008 I became a mother of two, and then had my final child in 2009, the same year I founded goodoldtalk.com – the site I run with my own mother. In 2010, I ventured into the world of Primary teaching, and also started my Masters mid-year, with a view to qualify myself as a Teacher Librarian by mid-2012.

So when you boil it all down, it would seem that I lack commitment to seeing things through. Not true though, in my opinion. When commencing each position, there was a steep learning curve initially. But I endeavoured to master the ins-and-outs of each job quickly, developing each department under my care to the fullest of my ability, before moving on to my next challenge, leaving each position better for my being there. (I think that one of my words for later in the week should be ‘conceited’, too!) So regarding being ‘committed’, ask any of my employers. I doubt I would have been promoted as quickly through my career if they hadn’t seen my potential. So rather than being a non-committal employee, I would say I am the opposite. I give 110 percent to any job I have. (And there’s my pathetic maths skills showing themselves again!)

But in my own opinion, after I’ve ‘been there, done that’, and conquered that particular challenge, I’m ready for the next one. I think it’s because I want to ‘suck the marrow out of life’ – after al, we only get one of them! Or maybe I’m trying to find my ‘limits’, or something. Came pretty close to finding them in Semester Two of 2010, too! (Teaching three days a week at two different schools, running a website and the Mosquito Magnet business with my husband, studying 38CP’s worth of my Masters – and getting 2 HD’s and a D, which I’m quite proud of! – and being a wife and mum to three children aged 5, 2 and 1.) That was pretty insane, I must admit. Not going to do that one again!

Anyway, I’ve blabbed on enough. Have a lovely rest-of-the-day, and I’ll meet you here, same time, same place, tomorrow!

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Wouldn’t it be nice…

… to win a million! (How ‘bout that 31 million last night?! But bummed I didn’t win it. Oh well.) What would YOU do with that much money?

Me? Well, after the mortgage and paying off the vehicles, credit cards, etc and donations to worthy charities (not forgetting my bank account, of course!) I must admit that one of the first things I would do is to get a housecleaner. I quite despise cleaning. Sad, and very un-motherly, un-wifely and all the rest, but very very true. So to be given, like the singer, eight maids, would probably be a dream come true. (Although I wonder. If I had eight today, eight tomorrow, eight the days after etc until I had 40 of them, would that be 39-odd too many?!) And are ‘milk’ maids different from ‘normal’ maids?

Hmmm… what do they do when they’ve finished milking? Go on to the next cow, or bludge for the rest of the day?! (Heck, with 40 of them, there’s almost enough for them to form a union on me!!) And does the cow or cows come supplied WITH each maid? Because if not, there’s not a whole heap for them to do. After all, the singer mentions nothing about her true love supplying the cows as well…?

Interesting concept, to be defined by what you do. It’s something I’ve been mulling over for the last little while. You see, for the last month, I’ve been ‘unemployed’. As in, no certainty of what paid work I’ll end up with this year. (I finished up at both Coolum Beach Christian College and Glasshouse Country Christian College in the first week of December, deciding that I needed a three-day-a-week job with ONE employer, rather than two-and-a-half days over two employers.) It’s the first time in 15 years that I’ve had no real inkling of what my future entailed. I have a B.Ed degree, so I guess that makes me a ‘teacher’ – but if a teaching job is not what I end up with this year, should I still be defined by my degree? I’m studying a M.IT majoring in Library / Information Services, and would LOVE a job in the LIS field somewhere – but again, should that be my identifier? I’m a wife, a mother, I run the goodoldtalk.com website, and hubby and I are the QLD distributors for Mosquito Magnet machines – so what, exactly, should I choose to define myself by?

It’s a pity, but I guess it’s the way society works. People are defined by what they do. These eight maids are known by the fact that they milk. Me? Well, I am known for… hmmm…

Dear readers, I will let you make up your own minds. (Feel free to let me know your opinion, by the way. And of course, any offers of employment are also extremely welcome hehe!) Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you all tomorrow. Have your dancing shoes ready!