OK I'm in two minds as to whether to recap the things that happened in September/October that made me too busy to blog, or whether I should just go forward. Perhaps a little summary:
New Job:I've been in the new job for awhile and its fine. I would go as far as great except that it's so fricking busy. It turns out it used to be a full time job, and now I'm doing it in about half the hours. Mostly it's accounts and various administration, which is actually nice. I'm so used to (and tired of) doing this big unwieldy task that it can actually be a relief to do small, manageable, completable tasks like balancing petty cash, ordering stationary and filing. The people, workspace and ethos are nicer than any place I've ever worked. And while there are a few exceptions, any blips are so small in character as to be easy to deal with. Mostly I've spent the last 2 months organising systems to be more efficient and trying to establish who everyone else is! Oh and organising the Christmas party!
Thesis:Speaking of Christmas... there's a plan to have a full draft by then (this plan is motivated by me taking Christmas off - apart from January marking!) The plan was going well, but slid a bit over the weekend, but I hope to be back on track soon. I'm just getting the head down and it seems to be working
Family:De nephew is getting so much bigger and really making that transition to little boy.... he's also a one-boy germ warfare machine. He's always got something and he always gives it to me. I was sick over the weekend as a result! He's currently obsessed with Tigger, but the best way of entertaining him is to give him a press full of tupperware... it eludes me why we bother buying toys for children at all! In other family things my mother had a health problem, which was sorted out with an operation in the end. Because of all that I had a period of time where I tried to see my parents every day, to do things for them, check if they needed anything, and to chat.... and also distract my mother from housework. She's never had the urge to do housework in her life, but tell her to get into bed and she starts cleaning everywhere. I gave her all of the west wing to watch which she got addicted to and has only just finished (she's now despairing as to what to watch... I have explained that we all went through it - I've pointed her towards Entourage as its my new favourite show, she says she'll give it a shot [GW can't get over that I would suggest my mother watch such a graphic show... I had to explain that this woman has seen Paris Hilton's sex tape, but that's another story!]). Anyway she's all grand now, which is great, but it was another thing that sapped my time.
Career stuffIn the meantime I also did my first ever interview for an academic post. I was really surprised at being called for interview and was lucky I had saved the job spec because I totally forgot I’d applied. On going there I had really mixed feelings because everything had been so topsy turvy and I’d finally got sorted with a nice admin job. So while getting this job would be brilliant for my career and that, I found I didn’t want something that would upset the balance I had just managed to achieve, so I knew if offered I couldn’t turn it down, but moving to another country and starting a new job with about a week’s notice would be hard.
It all worked out well actually. In fact it had the best possible outcome. The interview went well. It was a good experience. Some things do translate across from other interviews and other things need to be prepared. I have a good idea where I’m weak now. They didn’t offer me the job and I didn’t have to upsticks (although I think I’d happily move there next year), but they did say I was second on their list and I gave them a lot of trouble. Apparently in the end it came down to the other person fitting their course requirements slightly better than me. Anyway it was a great confidence boost because it was a pretty impressive institution, so it was nice to know I am good enough to be taken seriously at a place like that, and maybe some time in the future when I’ve left the hell of thesisland something will come up there or connected with it.
Writing job:I finished my term on the writing job quite well, although I cut my targets in the last few weeks because the family stuff made it impossible. My boss was really understanding about it. It was nice to be paid for my writing, but the targets were hard to meet.
What else?Oh yes I am due to get a car soon. It was a gift, so I didn't have to buy it, although it isn't the swanky alfa romeo, but a nice little peugeot, which will be cheaper to insure and run... although it is so small that my knees hit the steering wheel, and there is no power steering so I think I'll have to learn to drive all over again!! But my very own car... hurrah!
oh yes and my friends S & G who got engaged a while back have decided they will get married in 2010 and that they will get married at the zoo, which has to be the best venue I've ever heard. I'm even more excited about it now!
OK now you can see why blogging suffered over the last while. I am back, but I expect I won't be blogging to previous levels for awhile as I'm still under quite a lot of time pressure to get this damn thesis down.
How've you all been?