calypte

It’s not really cheating, either! :) 2 weeks ago

Been very remiss with this goal – each month checking to see if my ‘earnings’ were about to expire, and promising to get scribbling anyway before they did. But, between job apps and laziness… not so much! Seemed even less likely with the new job starting…

Then yesterday I saw it was the last day of the ‘short and sweet’ competition – and decided I could rattle out a very concise little piece and break the long gap.

And lo – got back from my shiny new job to discover I’d won second place in the comp! Wheeeeeee :) 2 weeks ago

thank you! :) 2 weeks ago

Gosh, bit of a whirl of activity over the past couple of weeks! Culminating in a massive change for the month: a new job! :)

I’m equal parts terrified and excited. I’m not just going to be the new girl (tomorrow, eeep!) but I’m starting over in a whole new industry! I’m either mad, or astounding myself with my own bravery, but hey – I’ll never know unless I give it a go, so here I am. Squeeeeee!

Happiness project, then, is job-centric and all about getting back into the working routine in a happy and healthy way!

Habits-wise, nothing desperately new, but all worth revisiting and improving.

• prioritising sleep – no more random late nights on school days! ;)
• meditation
• exercise – going to have to re-figure the gym (Sundays? I’ll get more settled for evening stuff soon), but I can do little bits at home (zumba, etc) to maintain a little
• eat well – ooh, healthy interesting lunches challenge!

• in the first week, absolutely nothing! I have a planned schedule of lazy cooking, movies and tv, and early nights with my book!
• ongoing, my new job (eeee!) is totally ‘pooter-based: perfect opportunity to break my nasty internet habit and do more of my ‘proper’ hobbies – couple of cards I want to make this month, for a start! Plus, playing with all that stuff gives me something to look forward to :)
• lunchtimes – getting a fixed hour for lunch now (I think?) which might be a great time for more reading, and some scribbling…! :)

Overall: the past week involved me getting a whole pile of stressed about ‘running out of (holiday) time’ – and it sucked. This constant push push push to be doing/achieving/whatever really doesn’t seem to work for me – I end up lazy anyway! So I am uber-happy now that work fits one of my main life-goals so very well (I hope! Fingers crossed :)) and this will be the first time in years I’m not ‘meant’ to be studying in the evenings/weekends – so time to relax, enjoy my spare time (!) and see what comes out of it without the pressure. 2 weeks ago

Dear old Delia – followed her recipe here, more or less! ;) Mine didn’t have any seafood, and I didn’t bother removing the chicken (diced breast in my version) from the pan. My quantities were also a little rough and ready, not least ‘cos I was cutting the whole thing down to a single portion. Oh, and it got a slug of wine at one point ;)

I’ve had goes at paella before, but this was far and away the best effort yet! Biggest difference, I think, was that I wasn’t in any rush and just let it cook and cook until I was happy the rice was good. Mine was a bit soggier than ones I’ve had in restaurants, but overall I was pretty chuffed.

Not really an effort I’m going to go to on a regular basis, but hey – I’ve got another 3 mini-chorizos to use, so either another of these or I find some new recipes…! :) 2 weeks ago

Two jobs ago, everything was just getting unbearable – the industry was bad, the department had about six reorganisations in three months, and the new head of dpt that came in was not impressed with me needing time off to get my tonsils out (I mean, ffs!) – so, I left. No flouncing, just, calmly “bye”. Took a big gamble on a weird new job, and while that wasn’t ideal it’s certainly been an experience! 3 weeks ago

Hmm, let’s see. There’s a Jason Statham flick called Revolver that I clearly did not get. Ooh, Sucker Punch – wtf?? I only got halfway through Lost in Translation, too. 3 weeks ago

I am loving the wording of this goal, especially with a new job, new career direction, and generally new life all set to commence – next week! Squeee!! It’s taken me a while to get past the sheer terror, but thankfully I have some great friends talking me up on (a) bravery and (b) opportunity. So – la! :)

Also currently reading a book on the ‘Growth Mindset’, about seeing challenges as a chance to learn and why that’s a good thing – THAT is what I’m doing. So while I can see there might be some stress ahead, I must keep the right attitude and – indeed! – bloom and grow :) 3 weeks ago

but very well done you! :) 3 weeks ago

Oooh – excellent and fingers crossed and yay! :) 4 weeks ago

Can’t say I’m not really really nervous about it, but… eeeeep!! :) 4 weeks ago

Although yeah, I can see it would get tiring after about two repetitions…!

For the second sheet of paper, I always use “Please find attached…” which I always think of as covering “I hope I remembered to attach it”, “I hope it’s still attached”, and I suppose in rare circumstances, “I hope you’re bright enough to look for/at the second sheet of paper”. Heh ;)

I’m always amazed at the figures quoted for poor spelling/grammar in such important written documents – it’s not like you don’t have time to get it right (eg typos in entires lide tihs), or as said, proofread! Or maybe I’m just shocked at how poor language skills seem to be in general. On the other hand, gives me such an advantage (I know for a fact I got a big boost in my dissertation mark ‘cos my written English was… well, good (pardon the bragging!)) ;) 4 weeks ago

As the saying here goes, “Whit’s fur ye’ll no go past ye” :)

Good luck! 4 weeks ago

Yesterday I went to my first ever craft show! Fortunately I wasn’t thinking ahead too much and thus didn’t have enough cash with me (few of the stands took ccs) to go too mad ;) Came away with a few new things to play with, and a lot of inspiration – man, some of those examples were good!

So, plan now is to ease myself back into a bit of making before my next ‘big’ card is needed for a birthday at the end of May. I figure now is a perfect time to start on my Christmas cards by way of practice! And maybe a few birthday ones for a stash, so I don’t get caught out again like last week – if you’re known as a crafter, turning up with a bought card simply doesn’t cut it ;)

Hurrah for getting back into my hobbies! :) 4 weeks ago

Nervous about the interview I have tomorrow, and for hearing back about arranging the interview for the job I want more! ;) 1 month ago

(am I reading that right?!)

And what a lovely set of gratitudes for it :) Have a fabulous day! 1 month ago

Definitely that too. But what I meant above was purely comparing myself now to how well I used to be able to draw – it’s a skill that fades terribly with lack of practice! 1 month ago

Until I zoomed in I was thinking elaborate cat toy! Urm… no clue with the strings, though! 1 month ago

on the drawing bit! It’s a horrible thing to just loose somewhere along the way, isn’t it?? 1 month ago

Gut reaction was play the guitar – I’ve owned one for a looooooooong time and still can’t play, so clearly the ‘learning’ bit isn’t working, but reading through the list there are so many better ideas. Martial arts really appeals – instant fitness AND self-defence ability! Ooh, a language – I have zero ear, so that’d be cool. Super-mega programmer, maybe? And painting and drawing – gimme!

Y’know, I’d settle for just a medium-sized dollop on each of these, so that the learning process didn’t feel quite so much ‘from scratch’! 1 month ago

Sometimes I just scratch my head and wonder, is it me? But yeah, I’ve left several workplaces that had become (or I’d eventually discovered were) rather caustic. 1 month ago

probably. No, it wasn’t intentional, even at that age! 1 month ago

Where I am (Scotland) honeydew are the standard melon available, everything else is a bit exotic! 1 month ago

I was looking at flight prices yesterday (web research, not holiday!) and the price to go anywhere from Scotland is always massively hiked up compared to anywhere in England. Bleh :( 1 month ago

Yeah, I drew out that last one for long enough, but still!

While not the best thought-out program in lots of little ways, overall I really appreciate the concept of this. With or without external prompts it is so worth taking just five minutes – or just a second! – each day to fully focus on the moment, to express gratitude, or otherwise reset your perspectives of life.

Be calm and happy! :) 1 month ago