A wha??

I'm a bit lost for what to post, because I just finished reading Tripp and Sarah's blog (if you haven't read it yet, treat yourself: trippandsarah.blogspot.com), and I can't even respond to that let alone post my own stuff. THEY BIRTHED LAMBS PEOPLE! Well not they, themselves, but they pulled a lamb out of a sheep. Even Sarah. Up to their wrists in sheep. Eww... but wow. And kayaking in fjords... wow.

So yeah, I'm just in awe of them at the moment. Because how did I spend my morning? Laundry and cleaning my flat. Whoot! I kept stuff at the chaplaincy over the summer for storage, and the basement where my stuff was flooded.... so I spent 3 hours and 8 pounds today washing damp, somewhat moldy clothes. I think I've rescued three pairs of pants, some PJ bottoms, a fleece vest, and a sweater, but I'm afraid we lost two brave sweaters, a shawl, and three pairs of shoes in the mess. One of the sweaters was this gorgeous, teal, jcrew one that Sarah got me last year too. I washed it three times and now I think its too small for me for one thing (it might fit my pleasant company dolls), and it still smells of damp... shed a tear.

I did quit my job yesterday though, and I'm planning a few days in London, and a possible trip to Norway in February to see the northern lights and the arctic circle. Thats some thrilling stuff to look forward to:) And my friend Colette is coming back to Bangor tonight and we're gonna rock the pub quiz this evening. Yay!

So no birthing lambs, but still wicked good. :)

I love productive days

(The picture is from last Easter, frolicking on Newborough Beach, but it kind of reflects how I feel today!)

Seriously, today was great. Busy and head is buzzing, but the good things-are-moving-around-in-there buzzing. So I quit the cinema today, and it went surprisingly well. James was on, and he's the manager that just kind of takes situations. He never reacts to them, just takes them. So I told him I was quitting, gave him my letter, and he said 'okay, that sounds fine' and that was it! Fine by me... no guilt trip or harassing as my other managers would do :) So I'm working tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, and then I'm done! It'll be sad to lose free movies, and a job completely brainless and kinda fun... but my new jobs are sounding pretty sweet!

I took the international job and started it today. It's good! Mainly secretarial stuff. I answer the phones, look up application details, answer emails etc. But it's a fun office, laid back, and I already know the answers to a lot of the questions because I lived through it, so that's good!

And next week I'll start the job with Raluca. That's only about 4 or 5 hours a week, and it's all conference planning and webpage management. So both really good experiences I think, pay is decidedly better, location is walking distance from my house, and the hours are totally up to me to plan. I just tell them when I'll be in, and that's it! Sweet!

And I had a meeting with Sam (friend) and Peter (supervisor) today and both were really encouraging and I might go so far as to say a positive experience (rare and somewhat unheard of with Peter!). YAY!! So I had two meetings, worked in the int'l office, went grocery shopping, worked for an hour and a half, met with some friends and saw the Departed at the cinema (SO FRICKIN' GOOD. SERIOUSLY.), and now I'm blogging. Oh, and I almost died at Sarah and Tripp's new post. I LOVE THEM. And I love living through them :)

YAY! So things are lovely. May it continue.

Jobsjobsjobs

This whole money thing just gets in the way, doesn't it? So my solution for now, is that I've decided to quit the cinema and take the job with Raluca and the one in the international office. Raluca's is a max of 5 hours a week, and the international job is as many hours as I want on whatever day I want etc. etc.... very flexible, perfect, even, but it's only guarenteed until November (which is fast approaching!). So I'm working for them, but I've applied for these two library jobs and pretty much told them that if I'm offered a position with them, I would probably take it, and they were totally fine with that.

So I'll turn my notice in this weekend for the cinema! I'm sad to leave it, but it's the right move. The people I work with there are great, I like that it is out of the way and has nothing to do with academia, and of course free movies are great, but it'll save me 3 pounds each time (train fare), and two of our managers left along with about12 staff members, so it's not been a perfect place to work recently! It's a good move. And worst case is I am not kept on the job in the international office and I'll have to find yet another job sometime after Christmas. We shall see! It'll be fiiine :)

As for today though, there are blue skies, and I'm going to Chester (the picture is Chester) with David to go ice skating and walking around the town. Yay!

And just to add to the confusion... I was just offered a job by the international office. GAH! It's perfect, but it's only a guarenteed job until November. If I don't get the library jobs, then what? Huh... we shall just have to see. I need a tshirt that says that. "We'll see" as it seems to be the slogan of the year.

Things to ponder...

So a few interesting things have popped up over the last couple of days. One was that I got an email from one of my supervisors, Raluca, offering me a part-time job that pays more than twice what I make at the cinema. Whoot! It'd only be like 5 hours a week, but it actually has to do with my major, I'd be helping to organize conferences, and doing palaeography work. Exciting. Then she told me about two other job openings in the library, where I'd be a member of staff (which means I get a library card and an email account, something I don't have now and would have to pay 40 pounds a month for... yeah, don't really want to pay for that when I can just use my hotmail address). One is reshelving books, helping people find books, basic library stuff. The other one is in the archives department, and involves handling the rare documents and assisting researchers and stuff. Both pay really well, and as both are University jobs, if I decided to do my PhD at Bangor, my tuition would be halved.

So I still don't know if I want to do a PhD, but things are being set up pretty well that if I do want to do one, it would be very easy to pay for and get accepted. Eep!

So those are the things on my mind... no real news otherwise. I saw Children of Men yesterday and that was a crazy movie. Really good, but crazy. It's about the end of humanity because people can't conceive anymore. Then one girl gets pregnant and Clive Owen has to get her to safety before the government tries to take over her and her baby. Crazy!

Anywho... off to apply for some jobs. I'll keep ya posted

Blue skies

Yay! It is sunny after five days of rain. I did fire drills again this morning because we were rained out on Friday, so this was my fifth day in a row for getting up at 5am (fire drills Thursday, Friday and Monday... drunk residents waking me up on Saturday and Sunday). It felt like I was on crew again! I actually kind of miss being productive before 10am. I bought a pedometer right before I came back to Wales and it's been a daily personal challenge to break 10,000 steps a day... yeah, not too hard here as I walk everywhere. Might have to up that number. I broke 10,000 before 10am today! And had 16,000 the other day when I was at work. I should see if there's a suggestion for how many steps to do in a day. I just remembered 'the average new yorker' walked 3,000 a day (from Super Size Me), so I thought x3 was pretty good. It's fairly easy to do though when your only mode of transportation is your feet.

Anywho... things are good in Ol' Bangor. Emily went home last week so I'm still getting used to not texting her three times a day with random stuff I think about. I definitely miss having her around, but hopefully I'll get my butt to Chicago for New Years. The new wardens are a good group though, and I've met some of the sailing club and they're a lot of fun. And of course I have David and Andrew :) So not lacking in company, thankfully. Also went back to work last week and enjoyed seeing that gang. It may be a brainless job, but I enjoy the cinema.

Okay, all for now. Going to do my laundry.

Fire Drills in the Rain

Today was uber fun. I got up at 5am because I've started my warden duties, and we did fire drills this morning. I got to wear a bright orange vest, set off fire alarms, and watch still-drunk 18 year olds spill outside. It was actually a good time. I got to know my other wardens which was good as I missed the training period and I'm still 'the new guy.' And then we were going to go out to breakfast, but decided we'd go tomorrow as we have to do it all again tomorrow morning! So I went back to bed until noon instead. Sweet.

And now it's absolutely pouring and I'm just not motivated to go outside. So I shall unpack some more, make some lunch, and possible watch a dvd. I'm THAT exciting :)