Lazy

Well aren't I the lazy one. Following the current exponential time between my posts, I'll next post at the end of 2007, but I'm intending to avert that horrible fate by bothering to update more regularly. Many things have happened since my last update, all of which I intend to write about, few of which I actually will. One of the funniest is that I wrote my last post while at work, and got fired from that job later on that day. Apparently I'd been using the internet while answering calls *Shock*. Funniest part is that I'd been browsing online for jobs all day, every day for the 2 horrible horrible months I was working there, as well as emailing people whenever I fancied.

Following my overdue departure from that shite job, I started working at Newcastle City Council on their temp register, doing admin type work for the HR team which was ok. Work wasn't thrilling, but the people were nice and it let me get my foot in the door with the people in the Transport department. So, as of the second of January I will be working full time as a kind of graduate transport Planner at the Council, which is good. I'm not sure its what I want to do, and I'm still leaning more towards normal Planning work, but its relevant experience which is what I need. Preferably by the bucket-load.

Other than the trials and tribulations of trying to find a job, life is continuing on much the same as ever. Clare and I are living together in a nice if slightly small flat. She is also on the hunt for a decent job with some kind of career prospect. Many of my friends are still in Newcastle, which is nice, and I get to see them fairly often these days which is even nicer. My friendship with an old housemate has been put on hold for the time being while other aspects of his life can come to terms with things, which for me has been very sad. I'm hoping that the friendship may renew itself in the not-too-distant future, but its been quite a while since I last heard from him.

In more exciting news, I'm going skiing in 3 weeks! I'm off to Serre Chevalier, and staying in le Hotel Sporting. Not only will this holiday be in fully catered accommodation, but it contains a free bar! Hurrah for free beer. This trip has taken a fair bit of organising, but I got there in the end, and will be skiing with 7 of my mates which is a pretty decent showing I think. The more astute of you who may read other blogs linked from this site will know of one of my other companions on this trip. Lets hope his limbs hold up this time.

So then, that concludes this latest update I think. I shall endeavour to increase the frequency of my updates, and may even add some more links and mess around with the style a bit. I'll let you know if I get a job, but in the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me.

Dear Interweb

Somehow three months have slipped by since my last update, and a very busy three months they've been too. At the time of my last post, I had just finished my dissertation. It was a very busy time leading up to that deadline, and the relief once it was handed in was considerable. Following that, I went back down south for a few days to see my family, since I had not been home to visit them since Christmas, and only briefly then.

I then borrowed my mother's fiesta and drove back up to Newcastle, where I picked up Clare and the next day drove to the Isle of Skye for a week's very well earned holiday. One of our friends from Uni has a holiday cottage at the northern end of the Island which we were able to use for the week at a considerable discount, and it was very nice indeed. It was a new cottage, facing out onto the Loch, and from the outside it looks a little small. However, it had something of a tardis effect once inside because it was very spacious indeed. In addition to the lovely cottage, we also had the best weather possible for a holiday, with a week of sunshine. I've never been to the Western Isles before, but I certainly wouldn't have thought I'd get a week without rain! I've got a few nice pictures which I'll add in too at some point.

After that lovely week spent without watches or mobiles, I drove back home again and had another few days back down south. I drove over 2000 miles in the space of 10 days then, which is certainly the most intensive driving I've done, but it was brilliant. I passed my test about 16 months ago now I think, but driving has lost none of its enjoyment for me yet.

Between leaving Skye and heading back to Berkshire I had a job interview at South Shields for a planning policy officer post, which unfortunately I didn't get. This is to be a bit of a theme for the next two months….

After another relaxing few days at home, I came back up to Newcastle (on the train this time, unfortunately) and set about getting a job. Since I needed to start earning quickly, I needed to get a job ASAP, and so I went back to work for the place I'd worked for last summer briefly, a call centre for the NHS. I went back because I knew they'd be looking for staff, and I could therefore start working the next day, which I did. That was about 9 weeks ago, and I'm still here. I hate it.

I've had several interviews for various other jobs in the last two months, all for 'proper' planning jobs, but I've so far been unsuccessful. My current future plans are to work for this year up until the end of Feb 2007, then go travelling for about 6 months with Clare, then come back to Newcastle and do a Masters degree in Transport Planning and Policy. Since I'll only be working for a relatively short period of time, namely 7 months, it's a bit hard trying to find something worth doing in that time. This is further hindered by the fact that my course was not accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute, meaning I'm not currently eligible for professional chartered planner status. Turns out that people place a lot of importance on that, especially councils. Anyway, once I've done the Masters, I'll be able to become a chartered transport engineer, which will hopefully open a large number of new doors for me, and allow me to start clearing some of the massive debt I've accumulated.

So back to the job hunt. Having been turned down for two more jobs last week, I've now realised that rather than temping where I am and looking for a planning job, I now need to just get anything where I'll earn more than £5.60 an hour. My current job lets me have a day off a week which I use for job-hunting/interviews etc, but it means that I only ever take home about £150 a week. If I'm to ever save enough to be able to go travelling for several months, then I need to be earning a fair bit more than this, especially since my rent is about to go up a lot. Which brings me on to the next happy topic.

I've been with my Girlfriend for a bit over 2 and a half years now, and we thought it would be nice if we could get somewhere to live together for the months leading up to us going travelling. Added to this was the fact that most of our friends who we would otherwise live with are in houses with 12 month contracts, whereas we would need one with either a shorter fixed contract, or one that ran for 6 months and then just rolled on a monthly basis after that.

A good friend of mine had a girlfriend whose housemate was suddenly moving out, and therefore had a double-room going spare in her house which she needed to fill. Since there would be 3 of us sharing a 2 bedroom house, it was going to work out a fair bit cheaper for all of us. Whilst not an ideal situation, the financial benefits were enough for us to want to do it for the sake of minimising expenses before travelling, so we signed up and moved in a couple of months ago. We had to move into the new place a month before our current contracts were due to expire, which was fine for me because my old housemates were all staying in the same place and the guy replacing me was able to move in early. It was less ideal for Clare however, since they were all vacating her place, so she had to pay a month's double rent. The longer-term benefits of having 3 of us living together would have outweighed this, and worked out cheaper in the long run.

However, once we had moved in, it very quickly became evident that it wasn't going to work. The person we moved in with had been in the house for about 18 months, and was very clearly set in her ways about how things should be in the house. For example, she was much more fastidious about tidying and washing up than either Clare or I were used to. In order to make some kind of compromise, we tried our best to be tidier, but no matter what we did it wasn't going to be enough. There didn't appear to be any kind of reciprocity in this compromise either, which was a source of great irritation for me, and for Clare. The were other things too, such as the fact that we were meant to check with her before having anyone over, for the sake of "consideration". This is despite the fact that not once were we asked about her having anyone over. On one occasion a couple of weeks ago, I was having a couple of friends over for a meal and a film, which was arranged at short notice. When I got home from work, I informed my housemate of this, at which point she became annoyed that no notice had been given, and that she had brought home some work to do and needed the table. Although I explained that we would only be needing the table for a short while to eat, it continued to be an issue. Housemate disappeared into her room for the middle of the evening, as she was wont to do, and only came out once we had finished eating. We all went into our bedroom to watch a film in there rather than in the living room, out of "consideration" since housemate had work to do, but shortly after that she was in the living room with a couple of friends drinking wine and watching TV. Now, of course I'd normally have no problem with this, however, when she's just had a go at me for not telling her sooner about having friends over, to then not say anything at all to me about it is not only rude, but highly hypocritical as well.

The above event is just one example of the daily frustrations that have plagued my life since moving into my current address, and they are the reason that Clare and I will now be moving out in the next two weeks. It's a sad and sorry situation to be in, but I've never in all my life lived with someone so difficult. She clearly has issues with sharing the house, and needs to get used to the idea that she is a tenant in the house, equal with other tenants, and not a landlord living with lodgers which is the way we were treated.

So, on to greener pastures. I'm very much looking forward to moving into the new place, and not just because we'll be moving away from the current situation either. It will be really nice to live with Clare, just the two of us, and have a whole place to set up as we'd like. Also, the new place is much nearer our friends, so we'll be less out of the loop than we often are. We do seem to be a little side-lined when things happen, generally the impromptu nights out or parties etc, but hopefully living 5 mins from people again will remind them we're here! Its also nice to be able to pop in to see people for a cuppa on the way back from work rather than having to make a special trip.

So now that the housing situation is nearly resolved, I can return to the joys of finding a job which will pay me enough to be able to afford to go travelling.

So that's my life now. I apologise to my adoring fans for the brief hiatus, but normal service will hopefully be resumed soon. Fingers crossed that the move will be smooth, and that Telewest will move the connection over soon after we move house.

Right then, I should get back to answering my phone calls since I'm at work.

"Hello, Tom speaking……"

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO

My dissertation is now finished, and I am about to go and get it printed, bound and handed in. A longer update is forthcoming, but I thought I'd share my joy.

These are exciting times.

A week

Well, it appears to have been a week since I last updated my blog, and my what a week its been! Well, what a mundane week its been. The dissertation is coming along in dribs and drabs. I've written roughly 4000 words now so I'm approximately halfway through, and theres exactly one week left to go, which is not long. I spent yesterday doing the reading for the case study section, which I hope to have written up by Sunday evening. My dissertation supervisor still hasn't replied to me in well over a week, which is fucking brilliant. No-one in the department knows where he is either, so my mother is no the one doing all my proof-reading! Thanks Mum!

I'll be very glad when all this is over. I've got a holiday planned with Clare which is going to consist of a week camping in Scotland which I'm really looking forward to. It'll be nice to get properly away from everything and chill out for a bit. After that I'm spending a week at home, then hoping to start a fantastically well paid job around the beginning of June. I haven't yet been given such a job, but I have applied for one. Theres two places going at South Tyneside council for Planning Policy and Projects Officer which would be fantastic, but I'm not holding my breath. Application has been sent off though, so we shall see.

But enough procrastinating for now. I need to get this bloody dissertation written as a priority above anything else. Should be fun with a drummer practicing in the room beneath me.

Have a video of some amazing skateboarding by Rodney Mullen to keep yourself entertained until my next update.

Viking Rock!

That is all, you may carry on.

Hurrah!

At last - tangible progress!

My dissertation is now 1,000 words and one literature review closer to completion. I am feeling a lot happier today. Spouting gibberish to Clare about it for an hour last night and bouncing ideas off her helped me actually plan out what it is I'm trying to do - so doing it today became a lot easier.

Yay me.

Have a silly video for geeks. Made me smile the same way a loud fart does. Its childish, but you can't help it.

More Gah

Dissertation is not good.

Sorry to keep going on about it, but its the major part of my daily life now and for the next 19 days.

I just can't get motivated at all. I keep getting told I need to start writing and then it'll start coming together more, but I just don't feel in a position to start yet. I feel like I've got less info for this than for any of the 2,500 word essays I've done. Its not good. I really wish I'd chosen a different topic other than wind turbines, but I've got to stick with it now. I should be a lot more worried about this since its the biggest individual piece of work that contributes towards my final degree mark, but all I'm getting is annoyed that its not progressing.

I'm going to go to the library tomorrow in the hope that I can find some inspiration there.

In an effort to do something constructive but none-dissertation related yesterday I baked a cake. Its a Lemon Curd and Poppy-seed cake and is very nice. This is the second time I've made this recipe, and the first was more successful, but this one still passes as a cake. There may be a little too much butter in the mix, and I may have put the cream on while the sponge was still warm, but meh - it tastes nice.

Back to the main topic again, but normally when writing essays I do all the reading beforehand, then churn out the essay in one or two days of straight writing. This isn't much of a viable option for a 10,000 word piece, so maybe writing in chunks is the answer. I think I shall attempt the introduction today and see if that helps. Theres one other section I should be able to write now too, so maybe having some tangible progress will help lift my spirits a bit.

We shall see.

Also, my dissertation handbook has this gem to offer about editing:

This is a vital stage. Marks can be lost or gained here through the impression your work make son the reader. Failure to spot most of the typing errors leads to a view (mistaken or otherwise) that the work has been rushed or you have not worked hard enough.

Two double spaces and a typo in the short paragraph emphasising the importance of proof-reading. This is followed by a section dividing points up using 1, 2, 3, and 4, but then referring back to them as A, B, C, and D. Hardly encouraging.

Gazza's Tears

Being the first person from the group to arrive at the beer festival, with the exception of the organiser Joe, I won the free first drink he'd promised. He got me Gazza's Tears, a Somerset Cider. Looking through the programme for the festival all of the ciders were rated Sweet, Medium or Dry; except for this one. Gazza's Tears was the only Cider I've ever seen rated Spicy. It was 12% and tasted like some weird apple-based spirit. It did not go down at all smoothly, and being the first drink of the day and going into an empty stomach meant it quickly went to my head and legs in equal proportions. However, once the initial ordeal was passed I had a very good afternoon/evening drinking nice beers in the company of some good friends a lot of beardy old men. There was a disappointing lack of pipes, but you can't have it all!

Back to reality now, and that means dissertation. Last night was the last time I'm going out until April 28th, when I plan to start a weekend of drunkeness, but until then: Dissertation Stations.

Dissertation Loses

Beer wins.

I'm going to the beer festival.

I want this job

Someone was paid to make these Rube Goldberg machines for an advertising campaign in Japan. They're incredible. Its possibly best watched with the sound off, unless you like terrible jingles.