22 May 2013

No Job Interview :(

So I didn't get an interview for the most recent job I applied for. It's probably not such a bad thing - I was overqualified and I don't actually want to be a microscope technician for any significant amount of time, but it is the type of job where they would prefer to hire somebody who will stick around for most of their career. But it still leaves me in a rather unsecured financial position. Technically I have enough savings to keep me going for a good few months after my student wage ends (which will be in about a month or so!). However, if I have no work and live off of my savings I won't have anything to fall back on in case of emergency, and I will have no money left to take a holiday back to Europe. So it's on to the next thing, because my thesis is not really full time work right now anyway. I just handed in the next draft of the next research paper to my supervisor and in my opinion, it is close to being ready to submit. The introduction and discussion needs work, but everything else is looking pretty good I think. There are two more chapters to finish of course, but I can't do anything about that until my supervisor gets back to me with comments. So for today I am taking a break from the thesis, I have updated my CV and I am about to make some phone calls to various publishing houses to offer my name as a freelance editor. It's what I want to do, so I might as well just try to get started, right?

Making those sort of phone calls is difficult though, so first I am procrastinating by writing. I had a terrible week last week - I came down with a tummy bug and a bad cold and I could not make the most of the clear weather we've been having. My poor dog was neglected because I was too ill to take her for proper runs, and I had no appetite so I couldn't even make myself feel better with comfort food. Luckily I came right around Thursday because I had to get cracking on my entry for the Oyster Festival fashion thing. Talk about last minute - it's lucky I had the idea and did the basic construction before I got sick or I would have been screwed. The judging was on Sunday so I spent to days making the biggest mess imaginable with my oyster sacks, paint, sand and glitter. After a long day on Sunday it is all over, except for the show itself, and I'm glad because I large part of me couldn't really be bothered with it all anyway. There were only three adult entries and the other two were adult-child pairs so I'm not sure if my ridiculously huge, painted monstrosity of a dress can compete with all that cuteness. Here is my entry, I have no photos of it being worn yet but it looked pretty good. I really, really hope I win something - have to pay for my sewing machine after all, and it would make me feel better after not getting a job interview.



So that's pretty much my life for the past two weeks. I don't appreciate all the cold rain today because, no matter the weather, I still have to take the dog for a run. Despite having no financial security, today I feel like shopping would cheer me up - perhaps I will go buy myself something nice. I'm debating over whether to spend a chunk of my savings on buying a car - then when my sister is out of hospital and wants me out of her house, I could just take to the road for awhile. After all, my work is pretty mobile and flexible. But then if I find now work how will I keep it running? So with that thought in mind, I guess I should pick up the phone and start trying to market myself as a freelance editor.

07 May 2013

Not much to say...

So what have I been doing for the last week or so? Well, first of all, I decided at the last minute to enter the fashion competition of the Bluff Oyster Festival again, after all these years, so that required a trip out to Bluff for last minute sign up. Now, why might it take nearly an hour to drive to Bluff? Well, when you are stuck behind this for one thing:


I'm not quite sure what it was, but it took up both lanes and moved very slowly. After that trip I decided to take a drive out to Colac Bay; I was struggling to find motivation for my thesis work and I thought a change of scenery might help. It didn't, I spent two days reading books instead (finally read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and it was really good, so I had to read the whole trilogy). The scenery was nice though, there was a really high tide, lots of wind and clear skies at night to show off all the stars.


Now another week is here and I am finally getting focused on my work again. It is going slow, but that's how these things work. As well as the thesis I have two weeks left to make my entry for the Oyster Festival - which has shown me that it's high time I bought myself a sewing machine. I borrowed a machine that my Dad had hidden away in a closet and it's the most obsolete dinosaur of a sewing machine that I've ever come across. I don't know where he got it but it surely belongs in a museum or the tip, not really sure which but it really is impossible to use and I refuse to waste my time and energy trying to make it work. Instead I'll use it as an excuse to go out and buy one of my own - I mean, I would be needing one anyway so why wait? However, now it's late afternoon and even when I take the thesis work slowly it is still draining (especially when it's chemistry that I have to get my head around) so now it's time to rustle up a snack and take a break.