The fairy from our tree, granting New Year wishes
On 1st January I was feeling pretty glum and meh about 2012. I saw it as something to be got through, not to be enjoyed in itself. A nuisance or a chore. 2013, on the other hand – that will be exciting. We’ll finally go to Japan for our Amazing Honeymoon (TM), only 3 years after it was initially cancelled by BA going on strike. I’ll finally pay off the massive hideous loan I try not to think about most of the time for fear of depressing and horrifying myself and be rich, rich I tell you! Oh yes, 2013 will be good. 2012, on the other hand, was looking like it was going to be all about worrying about whether or not I’d get another job when this one ends in June; my season ticket for work going up to over £300 per month (£314.20 to be precise) making me poorer; the possibility of any new job I would get paying me less and me being even poorer than the poor church mouse I already am; a job interview I had done pretty much no prep for that I was convinced I wasn’t going to get; not being able to afford to go on holiday with my lovely husband this year… etc etc etc.
Anyway, things took a turn for the upside on the 4th Jan when I had that interview I had been dreading. I spent just over a day putting the presentation together when I would have rather spent the final day of my holiday doing something more interesting (particularly given that Flâneur had been very unwell during the week off we had together but was better by then, and yes, I know I should probably have done it while he was in bed, but I was getting acquainted with streaming films from Love Film instead). I did very little research into the actual place I was going to, other than for the presentation, although to be fair to myself it was pretty in-depth on the facilities they have for potential students, so probably does count. But for once I didn’t totally freak out about the interview itself. It helps that it’s a short term contact – maternity leave cover of 9 months initially – and that I had confirmation that my current contract has been extended to June. So it felt like it didn’t really matter if I didn’t get it.
So, totally knackered from not sleeping properly the night before, I went for the interview. And I rocked it. It’s not often that I come out of an interview doing the ‘I’m awesome’ dance in my head. Really, I’m generally much more modest about myself in a work context. Seriously. But I did feel like it was the best interview I had done for a long time. And I’ve been in quite a few in the last 2 years… It helped that the questions were easy for me to answer, but they were also impressed with my presentation, which on reflection was not bad, considering I’d never been in the building before. It probably also helped that not many archivists with 10 years experience would be going for a short term contract, but hey ho. They gave me the job. And that’s what’s most important. And, again blowing my own trumpet (really I’ll stop this soon, it’s getting embarrassing), my interview was at 10:15, they interviewed 5 people (I was number 2), and they rang me at 4:30. So I reckon there can’t have been much competition. And then just to add to my utter joy of knowing that I would be employed until at least November this year, I found out today that they have agreed to my request to pay me one point up the scale, rather than the bottom. Because of my experience and the fact that at the moment I am paid a mere £30 more than the bottom of their scale. I’ve never done that before and am so delighted that I did. So I’ve got a pay rise and will pay less on my season ticket (the job is in Liverpool which is £40 a month cheaper to get to than Sheffield). So WOO HOO! Go me. etcetcetc…
But I am blushing from my own gushing now and it really isn’t very British of me, so I’ll stop now.
So 2012 is looking up. It really is. My Christmas tree fairy has done a good job so far. And to add to my delight about being employed and a bit richer than I thought this year, now I’m (probably) also getting an exciting holiday, accompanying Flâneur to Seoul in July/August. He got a big(ish) research grant from his university to go and do research on Marketplaces in S. Korea and is planning on staying in the big posh hotel we stayed in in October as it’s not actually very expensive and he cheekily put in for the exact amount of money for staying there in his bid… Hmm… I’ll be put to work to earn my keep while with him, but only in a photographic manner – I’m not sure he’d want me to do any sketching or notations or any of that other stuff that he does in his research. But I’ve got a pretty good camera and I’m not afraid to use it!
So what about the rest of 2012? These are the things I said I would like to do when we wrote our ‘resolutions’ on January 1st*:
– worry less
– make two quilts
– be more adventurous with the shapes used in the above
– Lose a stone (in weight, and keep it off – planning in the first instance to do this as a pound a week)
– Learn Japanese (again)
– Learn some more fish recipes
– Eat more veg
– take more photographs. Of anything.
– enter a photography competition
Clearly written before the interview – and some of those things are a base level, if I do more then that’s great!
So my progress so far, 9 days in? Well, I am now worrying less, that’s for sure. I have made a start on the first of the two quilts I want to make and am already planning the other one in my head. We rearranged the spare room a bit so I now have a dedicated sewing space, which helps! The two quilts aren’t going to be exactly squares sewn together, but I can’t say too much more for now. I have lost 1lb in the first week of January (and have been to the gym three times so far this year). I am making a new fish dish on Friday this week (using a fish I’ve never used before) and have eaten my 5 portions of fruit and veg today. The Japanese and photography will be on their way in due course, I’m sure. And I have found one competition to enter by the end of January.
Phew!
So here’s to 2012. May it be brilliant for you all.
*Flâneur’s list was much more interesting and exciting than mine, but then he was in a better mood about 2012 when we wrote them than I was!
In search of my figure 