When I was a giraffe

So, I had an interview today for a program called KidzBodz. Do you remember Harold the Giraffe who went around primary schools in the Life Ed Van (when I asked my sister this question, she thought I'd asked if she remembered when I was a giraffe. She doesn't remember when that happened...)? KidzBodz is a little similar- minus the giraffe, sadly, but going to different schools teaching Health Ed stuff. Energetic, fun, set your own hours sort of stuff.

Last minute yesterday I decided to make a slide show of me, as all I knew about the interview was that I'd have fifteen minutes in which to 'sell myself'. Turns out that slap-dash slide show was the best thing I could have done- I have a second interview on Friday, and have been told that I set the bar and no-one else they interviewed matched it, let alone raised it. They also advised me that the Eastern region of Melbourne job was pretty much mine if I wanted it. Woohoo much! So, I'm not counting my chickens, something could go insanely wrong... but I think I'll get an ABN, because I'll need one for this job. Argh!

The interview was out near DFO, so of course I had to go shopping, so I also bought a pair of jeans for not too many $. Yay. And I'm working tomorrow. More yay.

A mish-mash of facts

I feel the need to clarify my working position, as I seem to have confused people. I do not have a job. I was offered a job, accepted it, then thought better of it and quit on the morning of my first day (yeah, they love me there...). I am working temp reception and admin, which means that one of my various temp agencies (I'm with about three hundred now) calls me when they have work. Temp work can vary from a year's work, a month's, a week's or, in most of my recent jobs, a day's. I have worked three days in the last four weeks :(

However, I am enjoying drinking wine on my balcony, a book in hand... I am just cutting into my travel funds to pay for my wine, which is bad.

Considering the threat to my wine supplies, I was hoping to win the enormous kitty in our post-Bond poker game on Friday. Alas, this was not to be. But Nick did win, so he bought me dinner on Saturday. Yay!

Also yay was the fact that we got a few of our friends out to swing dancing at Speigeltent this week. Scatpack, including Nick's and my teachers Noni and Josh, performed, and despite being 37 degrees outside, god only knows how much hotter inside, the afternoon was stacks of fun. Sai has already taken a few swing classes following his previous Sing at Speigel outings with us, and now Paul and Deb are expressing an interest. As a result, we may get a gang together at the CBD location over summer. Yay!

I'm too scared to go outside right now. Last time I was out (a few hours ago) it was supposedly 41 degrees. The smoke haze from the bush fires means there's no direct, piercing sun, but instead the smoke is like a blanket, holding the heat in. It's quite intense, although I imagine it's far worse for the many people affected by the actual fires, not just the smoke.

And to finish on a random note, today I made apple and strawberry pies, and they were yum. That's all!

Selling myself

In interviews, I mean. Have two interviews lined up for next week, which is GOOD :)

The first one is at Deakin, and while it's a permanent role, I won't be insanely overworked like the last permanent job I accepted then changed my mind over. It's only three days a week, which would be GREAT, and I think the $ will be better than stingy international school (VIT).

The next interview is for a program called KidzBodz, which is a teaching program that goes to primary schools and teaches kids about healthy lifestyles- eating, exercise, no drugs, etc. I'd like this one, as it's casual- based on as many schools as I book - and they already know I am going to be away for Term 2, but still gave me an interview. I hope it goes well, it would be lots of fun (they expect you to have drama/ performance experience), and the experience of both working in primary schools and teaching health would be GREAT for my CV.

In other news, tomorrow I am driving to Thomastown to do a reception shift. This is what happens when you only get two days work over four weeks- you become prepared to drive crazy distances for a decent wage. Oh well, at least it'll pay for my 80 meals dinner this week and my ticket to Casino Royale tomorrow night. And my share of the poker kitty afterwards...

Countable nouns: poker chips; plastic soldiers; election ballots

I discovered on Saturday that I'm not bad at poker. At the very least, I'm not bad at poker when the person with many, many chips has to go home and starts betting all in, and others try to bluff to get them. :) I'm probably not the poker queen just yet. I'm also not quite the queen of world domination (I also played Risk for the first time on Saturday), but that was a lot of fun, so I plan to try again at that! I enjoy conquering the world... but the game gets really boring if you get wiped out while plays still going on. Oh well.

I'm also not bad at counting votes. Yesterday I did some work for the Victorian Electoral Commission, counting the data to be given to the data-enterers (of which I neveer had the chance to be a part- there was insufficient workload. Bummer, it would have been good money).

I do not understand why it seems so hard to get temp work right now? It's leading up to xmas, and I am registered with just about every agency you can imagine, but they keep telling me they only have permanent work. It's enough to make a girl look back semi-regretfully at the sucky job she quit at the last minute...

In UPPER news, Nick won Temptation. He's still only got a pen as a prize, but he's coming back next year (while I'm in New Zealand) to win the lot. Right honey? And he was so right to turn down the prize they offered- it was this super fancy shiny big barbecue. Not only did the BBQ look fancy than anything we own, we don't have anywhere to put it. It would fill our whole balcony, although there was a suggestion we could turn the sausages through the window...

I'm also fairly excited about my AP role. Lots of stuff for me to do, most of it the boring admin stuff many would turn their noses up at but hey- it's to do with theatre, so it's THAT much cooler :)

Prioritising

So I made a difficult decision last night: the role at the VIT was looking to be 8.5 to 9 hour working days, with only a half hour lunch break. While I'd be prepared to put in these hours for something I was really passionate about, or for super-duper big bucks, this role represented neither of these.

Considering that the AP role I'm looking at is going to be something I enjoy (theatre), and may require more time than I could have allowed with the long working hours of the VIT role; and considering that I am determined to slot right in to Gen X/Y, and 'work to live' rather than 'live to work', I just rang the dude at VIT and quit. Funnily enough, he didn't sound surprised, just flatly expectant. Nick reckons that's cos he knew he was ripping me off :P

:( Negatives of this decision: I no longer work down the road from Caroline; I won't have guaranteed pay over Christmas, including public holiday pay; I just bought and validated a monthly bloody tram ticket.

:) Positives of this: I just had a bad feeling about this place, and really suspect they were going to work me into the ground; I think I was totally getting ripped off on the salary; I no longer have to feel guilty about quitting a permanent position to go overseas; I won't have to remember not to mention my trip (which is proving most difficult); I will not be working behind a snack machine with tempting chippies, chocolate and Starburst jelly babies; I will earn a better rate working temp than I was going to working full time- realistically sick leave means nothing to me, as I never take time off anyway; I like the flexibility of temp work.

Thanks heavens for small mercies...