You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘work’ category.
It’s hard to believe it’s Sunday evening already. And mid-December, no less. WTF has happened to the year?
I’ve had a pretty good week and weekend. Work was satisfying this week – for one of the few times this year I actually felt like I was working on something important. I had to write up a document for the Premier’s chief of staff, in a very short time frame and with little direction, and it went through without any amendments. This made me happy 😀
The diet and exercise etc is still going well. I’ve now lost 4.6kgs, which means I’m about half-way to being a size 12. I’m starting to get a lot of comments about it too, mostly from various people at work. I just have to stick with it, I guess. Zumba is having a two-week break over Christmas, so I’ll have to see what I do about that. In theory I’ll go running instead. In reality, I loathe running with a passion, so we will have to see. Maybe I’ll just limit my eating to 1000 calories a day, who knows.
Also, we’ve bought another property!! This was the truly exciting news of the week. It’s a 3×1 villa, and we got it for $322K. This is a BARGAIN, and it has really made my month. It needs a bit of work in the outside areas (new paving, and a garden needs to be established) but inside it’s relatively okay. The really exciting thing is we’ve also negotiated access to the property after finance approval, but before settlement. This means we can start doing stuff to it, before we have to pay the mortgage on it. First time we’ve managed to negotiate this so I’m really stoked!
I saw my mum today, who was in good form. We spent two hours together gasbagging, and it went really well. I don’t always get along fantastically with my mother, so today was really nice for a change. I even got my act together and bought a secret santa gift for this coming Friday’s work Christmas party – a calendar with smartarse sayings. The recipient will love it, she’s got a similar sense of humour to me, so that was a win.
I’m in the process of cooking a lamb roast for dinner. It’s got to the point where the lamb-roast odours are wafting around the house, and driving me nuts. I’m so hungry, I’ve only had 900 calories today – I thought I’d save up and splash out for dinner 😀 Plus, I may even have a chocolate mousse for dessert. I’ve found these great Aero chocolate mousses which are only 69 calories, with pretty much no fat, so they’re an allowable indulgence.
Five years ago today, C and I got married. I didn’t know it at the time but I was about to be diagnosed with clinical depression, which would follow my life for at least the next half-decade. That said, I can honestly say that the day we got married was definitely one of the best days of my life.
We don’t do anything special for our wedding anniversaries; all we’ll do tonight is kick back and have some takeaway squid with salad for dinner. Then we’ll probably cuddle on the couch and watch some episodes of True Blood. Simple, but perfect 🙂
I’m nearly at the end of week two of my new exercise/eating plan regime. It’s been pretty easy, to be honest. I love my zumba classes and never need to motivate myself to go to them, so that aspect is so simple. The food part is a bit harder, and takes a bit more effort, just in terms of recording it all, and being mindful of what I eat. I’m also premenstrual so have had some significant sugar cravings for the last day or so. I’ve bought some diet desserts (creme caramel and chocolate mousse) so that if I do break down, there’s something ‘permissible’ but still naughty that I can indulge in. So far I’m holding out though, which is good.
I had a meeting with my old boss yesterday. Basically she wants to lure me to work with her. The description of the job sounds fantastic, and she’s the best boss I’ve ever had, so I told her that if she could arrange it, I’d love to work with her. Plus it would effectively get me out of my substantive role, which I’m well and truly looking to do.
Wow. Busy few days.
I went to a zumba class on Wednesday night, and again yesterday morning (Saturday). After the first twenty minutes on Wednesday, I thought I was going to die. Talk about unfit. However it’s already getting easier – after yesterday’s class I didn’t feel so bad. Tired, yes, but ready to peg it, no. There’s another class on Monday night but there’s stuff I have to do for one of the properties, so I don’t think I’ll make it this week.
Interview on Friday went okay. Not amazing, but okay. I should find out in about six weeks whether I’ve been appointed or not. Until then I just need to not think about it.
It’s been a social week, too. We had my brother and sister in law over on Thursday for pizza, and we had my in-laws over last night for roast lamb. I now feel like I’d be perfectly happy not to interact for a couple of weeks with anybody other than C. However, I’ve been a good sister/daughter in law, the house got cleaned so it was decent, and I’ve covered off on my family obligations for a little while, so it’s all good.
I got a head start on the cleaning on Friday night – I did both bathrooms and toilets. Then I got up early and did laundry and food shopping before my 10am zumba class. I don’t know if I can keep this up, but I do like the precedent it set. I kept on with the good work this morning, by ironing three of C’s work shirts. In theory I need to get to the apartment today to continue work on the bathroom, but I don’t know if I can be bothered, to be honest. I’m worn out from all the housework, entertaining and exercise!!
Really the title should be ‘day off paid work’, but I’m not quibbling – any day off is a good day! I realised yesterday at work that I had some flexi hours up my sleeve, and that I was on top of my workload, so I asked the boss if I could have today off as a day in lieu, and he said yes 🙂
I spent most of the morning sleeping (how sad is that?!) then did some food shopping and had lunch. After that I went to the property we’re working on and did some more sealing and patching work in the bathroom/laundry. I’m really hopeful this is going to sort it out, the bits I patched today I’d sealed the other night, and they looked really good, and gave a great surface to put the polyfilla on. Hoping for the best!
I even have some plans in the pipeline for exercise. I randomly did a google search the other day for zumba classes in my suburb, and a few popped up. One is on tonight at the local hall, from 7pm and the best part (apart from being just down the road) – it’s only $12 per class! At that rate I can happily justify going twice a week. Whether I do or not is another story, but location and price wise it’s ideal. I’ve only done zumba before on the wii, but I love high-energy aerobic based stuff, so I’m sure to love it.
I spoke to my brother last night, who informed me that he’s leaving on Sunday to go to the UK for work for ten weeks. I was a bit sad as I haven’t seen him for ages, so he and his wife will be coming over tomorrow night for pizza for dinner. I even thought ahead enough to buy some garlic bread today when I was shopping that we can have with the pizza.
Finally, I have an interview for a permanent position on Friday. I keep forgetting about it. That’s probably not a good sign, is it? I’ll have to make sure my brother and sister in law don’t stay too late on Thursday night. The good thing about my brother is that we do have that relationship where I can kick him out at 10pm and he’ll understand perfectly. 🙂
Another good day. I managed to get all the washing done and hung on the line, and most of it dry. This doesn’t sound like much but it puts me in a really good mood. I also cleaned both bathrooms and toilets, changed the bedsheets, and started sorting out the room we call the ironing room. As you may have guessed, this is where we keep clean clothes before they’re ironed, together with the ironing board and iron. I should add it’s my least favourite room in the house, particularly as it often looks like a bomb has gone off in there.
The cat has spent most of today sleeping in her box on our barbeque, outside the kitchen window. She’s a determined napper – she even managed to sleep through C vacuuming. I read somewhere that cats sleep about 16 hours a day. This sounds about right, from what I’ve seen with the cat.
It’s kind of hard to believe that tomorrow is Monday (and work) already…. the weekend has gone so quickly, and I don’t feel like I’ve really had any time to relax. Still, I’ve done heaps, and that’s always good.
Yes we are both still alive! It was C’s birthday on the 2nd of August, which took a fair bit of prep, as we had his dad and stepmum over to a three course dinner that I cooked. Yep three courses, plus little coffee meringues for afters. I was shattered by the time it was over, but it was worth it – C had a great night. As the 2nd was a Tuesday, I then had to struggle through the rest of the week at work knackered, but it was a good evening.
On the third, we lost both internet and phone connectivity. Thanks Telstra! We’re iinet naked DSL customers, and it appears one of Telstra’s techs just stole our line for a new customer in the area :O This shit amazes me. It’s anti-competitive behaviour, as far as I’m concerned. Anyhow, we didn’t get a connection back for nearly a week and a half. Pretty stressful as C was on call for a week during that period. Luckily for the first time in forever, he didn’t actually get called on the entire week. This is just about a miracle.
LIfe has been going pretty well generally. We’re finding the properties are all behaving themselves, which is nice. We had people move out on Friday and for some reason, I washed all the linen like I was possessed. Not really sure why, as we didn’t have anyone due to move in to that property. Anyhow, wouldn’t you know it, I got a call and long story short, we did end up with people moving in on Saturday. I’m SO glad I got that linen all sorted out. How’s that for lucky?! They’re there for a minimum of three months, which is great. Next couple of turnovers will be happening at the beginning of September, so no rest for the wicked here.
Work is also going well – my boss P has asked me to put in for a permanent position. This is a good indicator. Mind you, I am pretty good 😉 I know he likes the work I do, plus the fact I can adapt reasonably easily. These two factors definitely count in my favour.
I’m not feeling so good, either physically or mentally. Physically I have a horrible feeling I’m coming down with something, or at the very least, fighting it off. I’ve spent yesterday and today mostly asleep, with some housecleaning and ironing interspersed between naps. However, I keep coughing in my sleep and feeling exhausted, despite sleeping about 18 hours out of 24.
Mentally, I’m feeling a bit on the numb side. Not sure whether it’s linked to my physical health, but I suspect it is, at least partly. Plus, it’s been a full-on week with work – I discovered that I’m only staying where I am for the next three months. This makes me sad as I was hoping to stay there permanently; but never mind. I guess I just need to look around and find a contingency plan (ie. a different job) in the next twelve weeks.
Apart from the weather, all is going well. I’m loving my new job, and I like my coworkers (at least, most of the time). I’ve even worked out how to catch public transport to and from my new job, with minimal effort involved. Yay! I’m really hoping I get to stay at the new organisation. Fingers crossed!
Mental health is going fantastically, needless to say. I can’t believe the difference changing my job has made. I’m calmer, happier, more easy going, and I’m sleeping better. I even have energy to do stuff like house cleaning and dishes. It’s just about a miracle. I’ve been thinking that if I do get to stay with the current job, I might try very slowly easing off the antidepressants. I’m currently on 40mg/day of fluoxetine (aka prozac) and I’m feeling really really good. However we shall wait and see – a lot depends on where I’m working in six months’ time.
While everything work wise is going great, the weather has been not so good. I said to my boss during the week, that it’s like we’ve all died and gone to hell. 38 degrees celsius (what’s that, 100F?), plus about 80% humidity is horribly uncomfortable. And the nights aren’t helping either – more humid, if anything, and only dropping to about 25 or 26 degrees celsius (about 77F). Shit, if I wanted to live in this weather, I’d be in Singapore – better food, public transport, and shopping. The worst part of it is that it’s not just a few days we’re talking about here – try the last ten days; and the seven day forecast is for exactly the same. Yucky.
Our airconditioning is evaporative and it’s really struggling to cope with the heat and humidity. We’ve had it all 24/7 for the last few days, and I’m still sitting here in my underwear, sweating, directly under a vent. That said, it would be a lot more uncomfortable if we didn’t have it at all. It’s times like these that I thank god we had air con installed in our rentals – our tenants would be cooking in this heat if there wasn’t air conditioning available.
Generally though, weather aside, all is well. I’ve had a productive day already – all the food shopping done, loads of laundry done and hung out on the line (where it drys in about thirty seconds flat), kitchen clean, bathroom clean….. all that’s left for me to do now is have a nap 😀
I’ve been so slack, not keeping up with my blog. Naughty me. To be honest there’s been so much going on, I’ve been spending a lot of time sleeping. (big surprise there, I’m sure!) All the properties are going well – nice tenants who pay on time and look after them – so they’re all okay for the moment. My new job is great, I’m settling in really well and very happy. I’m hoping they’ll want to extend my contract or maybe even offer permanency, so fingers crossed. I just cannot imagine ever getting stressed doing this kind of work. C has noticed that I’m a lot happier too, which has made him happier as a bonus side effect.
Speaking of C, he’s been called in to work tonight. Lots of important stuff going on and they decided they HAD to have him in. He got the call early afternoon, and I just spoke to him – he should be home in an hour or so. That’s about seven hours of overtime. Looks like somebody will be able to make an extra mortgage payment this week 🙂
I’m slowly reconnecting with friends. Even though I’m tired after work, I still have more energy and inclination to see people I haven’t seen for a while, including some of my good friends from high school. That’s been really nice so far.
I’ve had a falling out with my mother. She rang me up and berated me for being a horrible daughter, the day after she had us over for my birthday dinner. I didn’t know what to say (and in fact I still don’t) and when I recounted the conversation to C, he couldn’t believe it. So I’m basically not worrying about keeping in touch. It’s not like ‘Oh, I’m not speaking to her’, it’s just that when she gets like this anything I say makes it worse, so I’m basically just laying low and not calling or emailing her voluntarily. Much less stressful that way. It’ll all sort itself out eventually.
One lot of tenants moved out on Thursday. We didn’t have anyone to move in straight away, so C convinced me on Friday evening not to go and do my usual cleanup. After all, there wasn’t any hurry, was there? I allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security, and spend Friday evening being spoiled by C.
Anyhow, yesterday morning I got a phone call. We had a prospective tenant who wanted to move in ASAP. Guess who had to run around like a mad creature to get the property ready?! Still, I got there in the end, the tenant took the property, and it was all neat and clean to a reasonable standard by the time he moved in. I was knackered by the end of it, but it was definitely the fastest turnover of a property I’ve ever done.
In more news on properties, we had a pest inspection done of one of the others earlier this week. I’d been concerned that we had bedbugs in it, but fortunately we don’t. Not that I care, especially, but it’s an awfully expensive process to get the property sprayed – starts at about $1,000 – and it has to be repeated between 14 and 21 days later, to kill the eggs and break the life cycle. So that was some extremely good news.
Work has been crap. I left a training session on Friday because the officer in charge was being an ignorant pig. I’m extremely patient (and a reasonably good trainer, if I do say so myself) but I’ve had enough of this crap. Two more sessions, and I’m done with training. And in some other work-related news, I have a contract for six months at another agency, starting early January. I can’t wait. I’m overdue for a new workplace. The best part is, there will be no training involved. Yay!!
a life half lived 