An expensive year

Two months have passed since my last post and nothing much has changed. There is still no work at my “second” job and not enough at my first. So my income has basically halved. I have applied for numerous fulltime jobs without luck. To add to the frustrations, the tax office has estimated that I owe them quite a lot. I checked on their estimations and it seems they’re correct. Damnation.

Rather rashly, I’ve spent money on three overseas trips this year – one in January to NZ, one in July to Rarotonga, and it was arranged for the family to have Xmas together in NZ, which means paying three times the usual for the airfare, thanks to airlines ripping people off. Each time I go on holiday, of course, it means paying for a cattery. The reasons for my first two trips? I chose to go to NZ in January to avoid the Xmas airfares last December. I chose to go to Rarotonga because my friends were there for a limited time and had invited me. My friend in Auckland also expected me. It’s just unfortunate that my financial situation isn’t as healthy as last year. But what can I do? Not a lot.

I did enjoy my week in Rarotonga and I might blog about it at a later date but I’m not in the mood right now. I never did blog about my trip to Myanmar. I still might, even though it was now three years ago!

I came here, actually, to blog about social media, but now I can’t be bothered. I don’t like Facebook and hate the fact that they own Instagram. Twitter is rather depressing and it feels like one-way communication all the time. But that’s all I’m going to say right now. I’m going to have a cup of tea and read a book and get off this thing. I sometimes wish I was a cat, curled up by the heater, purring.

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Frustrations continue

I’ve been enjoying the sunshine lately, and sitting in it to go over my physical family history files. I discovered I had not added information from another researcher to my online tree so did that and worked on confirming it. Still have information to add.

The frustrations I speak of: I have not had any work at one of my part-time jobs for over a week now (nearly 2). I imagine there are no upcoming projects due to the end of financial year and no-one wants to commit. It is very frustrating, as I wait daily for news to go in, then try to get extra shifts at my other part-time job. It’s the cruelty of contract work – a win-win for employers, but totally unfair for people trying to pay their bills. Lucky for me, I have savings to cover, but for people like a colleague who had just taken a month off, it must be very difficult.

I still haven’t heard, and the lack of communication is rather poor. I have, therefore, just used the morning in obtaining extra shifts where possible at the other job. It will be a poor fortnight.

In the middle of enjoying a relaxing day for a change, I got a phone call yesterday to go to a job interview today! I had applied for two jobs. The one for today’s interview doesn’t pay very well but it’s permanent and full-time, so I wouldn’t experience the worries I’ve had over the past week. Immediate stress! Of course the sunshine has gone today – and it’s very wet and very cold. Just my luck. I just cannot relax before an interview so my day is ruined as I stay home worrying, my power bill sky-rocketing with having the heater on all day.

If I get the job, good. If I don’t, well I can hope for more projects and keep looking elsewhere. My current positions are well paid. It’s just the uncertainty of it which is stressful.

And now, I’d better prepare…

Postscript:  The interview went well, I thought. But I don’t care if I don’t get it. In fact, in a way, I don’t want it. I would greatly miss the people at my other jobs and I worry about the culture at this job. “Glass door” reviews are not full of praise. The interviewer didn’t even shake my hand or welcome me properly (the only other interviewer asked questions through a conference call). Also, not to sound racist, but all the managers seem to be Pakistani – nepotism? The reviews say the company is all about money and not people (as is often the case).

Meanwhile, finally received word that there is no work at the part-time job next week either.

So, I worry.

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Frustrations

Technology – great when it works, bloody annoying and time-consuming when it doesn’t work properly or wants you to jump through hoops. For a start Mozilla is currently taking ages to load pages, despite my clearing the cache and cookies. That means, of course, that I have to re-enter forgotten passwords. Gmail is a real bastard if you’re signed out. Even if you’re accessing the account from the same computer and you’ve forgotten your recently changed password, you have to have your mobile phone with you or remember, ffs, when you joined gmail (who remembers that?) – this despite answering a ‘secret’ question which should be enough.  Fuck gmail. I would like to find an alternative but that involves changing email for so many other websites.

Even just now, as I signed back into wordpress, I could not find the usual button for adding a post on the left hand menu. Have they changed the site recently? It seems you now have to click extra buttons to do what one button used to do – like the “Publish” which you have to click twice. Annoying!

It’s not just technology that’s infuriating me lately. It’s things like simply applying for a job. Here in Australia, government and associated institutions want a list of Key Selection Criteria which you must answer in a certain way. Most give a list of about five to eight criteria to answer, giving examples of “knowledge and understanding”, bla bla bla. I hate it. I loathe it. And when some job demands answers to 13 criteria I want to scream.

It’s that time of year. We’ve had cold, wet weather and with shorter days I get fed up with the cold and darkness. I’m a sun worshipper, and always feel much happier when the sun shines as it is, ironically, today, when I have stuff to do inside on my only day off. I tend to withdraw into a semi-hibernation, but also feel depressed (and, of course, alone).

I made an effort to go to a colleague’s birthday party one cold, very wet night, which involved a long car journey through unfamiliar, congested, roads in poor visibility. I’m not a party-goer, normally, especially when I don’t know others at the party. You’re supposed to be able to meet new people and engage in conversation, but as an introvert, I’m reluctant to barge in on obvious little cliques of people who know each other, and end up standing or sitting alone. I didn’t even have a drink to sip. The hostess had assured me there would be beer so I didn’t need to bring my own. I was not offered one, nor was it evident where it might be. The men had beers. Whether or not they had brought their own I couldn’t tell. I eventually went into the kitchen and helped myself to some filtered water. (The only beverage on offer in general was strong alcoholic punch, which I didn’t want to drink due to driving). I was relieved to leave when others did and drive home to the quiet, and my purring cat. I’m not the sociable type. I enjoy small gatherings with people I know, but parties of unknown people in loud conversation with each other is not for me.

I haven’t been able to relax lately, with organising getting the car serviced and preparing for the real estate agent’s six-monthly inspection of the property. Now, I’m trying to apply for jobs, which also stresses me out. I look forward to a week in the Cooks Islands next month. It will pass very quickly, and I won’t want to return to the depths of winter.

Enough for now. Back to the dreaded KSC. Three down, four to go, then the covering letter. Ugh.

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A new year

Things will change this year. I’m over having two part-time jobs. I’ve applied for another and in the likely event that I won’t get it, I will try to wangle five days a week out of one of my part-time jobs, which seems possible, I’m glad to say. I want my weekends back, my evenings back, my time to be my time. Bugger this working all hours at the drop of a hat, having to make excuses if you don’t want a shift, spending way too much time doing administrative stuff on their secure website (which takes ages to load), keeping up with pathetic goals, doing inordinate amounts of training in stuff you’ve done several times before. It’s all just a bit too PC. I’m sick of it. I haven’t had time to do what I want to do.

So, this year, as soon as possible, I’ll get rid of the weekend/evening work and then can actually do stuff, like blog, take photos, plan trips out of Melbourne. I feel like I’ve spent my whole time at work with just one day off a week. I had to forgo the walking group and the Welsh dancing in the weekends because of work. I had to turn down voluntary work because I didn’t have any spare time.

First up is a trip to Ballarat next Saturday. Normally I’m working on Saturday but I got rid of the shift. Then a trip to NZ to see bro. I haven’t told anyone in PN as I won’t have a car this time, and am uncertain whether I’ll be in town long enough to visit. If I do it can be a surprise. In the meantime I don’t want to commit to anything. Then in July I’ll head over to see my friend in the Cook Islands. Then C is talking of spending Xmas in NZ this year which would mean another trip. And while the weather is good M and I must get out and about and explore Melbourne environs. The summer goes by so quickly.

Ok, time to get ready for a shift this arvo. How exciting – not.

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I’m back!

With a sigh of relief. I thought all was lost.

After years of not having to manually log in (my computer did it automatically), I found myself logged out and tried desperately to log back in again using all passwords I could think of to no avail. To make matters worse, I did not remember which email account I had used to sign up with so long ago. WordPress kept telling me to use the verification email when I first joined to get back in. That’s all very well. If I’d known the email I could have requested a new password. I tried all my email accounts to no avail. (Yes, I had way too many over the years.) I suspected that the relevant email account was one that had been closed. I had closed three.

By some miracle, a saved file of my blog up to 2013 had included the email address of the account! Yes, it was one that I had closed, without realising it had a WordPress account attached to it. By more good fortune, I was able to open a new account with the same name. (Gmail does not let you open an account with the name of a previously closed account.) Ah, but the frustrations didn’t stop there. I requested an email to reset the password. It never arrived. I tried three more times. No email. Now I had the correct email address for the account I could approach WordPress again. Finally, finally, after another failed attempt, I got sent a link in which I could reset the password! I was in!

The first thing I did, of course, was change the email account (so I could close it again as it was not needed). Unfortunately, I couldn’t use one that I had used for an ancient (deleted) blog. Nor could I use the email account attached to my Sims 2 blog. There was only one left – one that I use for family and work only.

I had been close to despair. All my blog posts over 13 years unaccessible. And my genealogy blog also unaccessible. I thought I would have to start all over again. But no. Such relief that I could get access again!

Lesson learned – check that your  email account is still valid and, I don’t care what they say, note down the feckin’ password somewhere – it doesn’t have to be the whole thing, just a hint. (My browsers had failed me, assuring me that the saved password was the correct one, but apparently it wasn’t.)

As well as the frustrations experienced with WordPress, at the same time, added security for remote access to work files had been activated while I was away, so that I could not log in to see the email about what steps to take to ensure access. Talk about dumb. I had to log in at work to complete the steps but then back at home the software didn’t co-operate. I had to reinstall. Having no access is bloody annoying! I was feeling just a little stressed by that stage.

I will update properly at some point. But now I have to head off to work.

 

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NZ, part five

The rest of my visit to NZ was spent at my bro’s place. I had missed him the most, missed driving to his place for a weekend of peace and tranquility.

I had breakfast with H before she went to work, and said goodbye. I would miss her and kitty. I left just before 9 am heading over the Pahiatua track (more memories). It was cloudy when I left but sunny once I got past the Mt Bruce hill.

It was fantastic driving the usual route. Unfortunately, I had no music as the rental car didn’t have a USB port for my music. I didn’t bother with radio as reception is not great in the hills. It was great to see K and G again. We played several obligatory games of Siedler.

The next day we drove the back road to Gladstone. G had mentioned a reserve to go walking but it was just a carpark by the river. We had lunch at a local pub.

Returned for more Siedler (visits to K were always about food, Siedler and trips to walk the dogs) and watched more of Hellfjord.

Next morning, K and I visited a beach between Riversdale and Castlepoint. I’m glad K had an SUV – it was quite a narrow, windy, hilly gravel road but spectacular views.

Castle Rock, looking north towards Castlepoint

It was a lovely day, if a little windy.

We returned to more Siedler (yes we are addicted).

I had given K scanned copies of the old family slides, so we went through those, reminiscing, then K showed me video from his snorkelling near Cairns, and his visit to Goulburn, our father’s birth place. We had a glorious dinner of free range pig with roast veges. We watched a bit of the winter olympics.

Another storm was expected over Wellington, but thankfully the day after my flight home.

K left for work the next morning at 7.45 and I left half an hour later. I chose a different route to the usual one but got held up by sheep!

I stopped on the hill for one last look at the region.

And a pic of the rental.

I had enjoyed driving it. I had thought that if I bought a car I wanted something like it, but it was a bit basic inside for the price and I couldn’t open the boot while the engine was running (pretty stupid).

I had confused the time that I was supposed to be at the airport with the actual departure time so I was very early. I had had time to visit H and C’s cousin who lives near the airport. It was great to see her. She offered me something to eat but I figured I should get to the airport after dropping off the car.

The car rental people didn’t even look at the car and so the new aerial wasn’t noticed. I heard nothing from them after that so either they didn’t notice or didn’t mind the replacement. Relief.

I won’t talk much of my usual negative experience of Wellington airport. I did not have a beer (at $10 a glass) but did get something small to eat. The queue to go through customs was so long it wound past the eating places in the main lounge. (The airport is too small!) Once on the plane we taxied to the runway, stopped and returned to let off someone who had behaved inappropriately (apparently – I saw and heard nothing). The already late flight was another half hour late. The video screens didn’t work properly for the first third of the flight. The “Thai beef curry” was more like a stew. The “dessert” (an icecream) was too sweet.

The plane reached Melbourne at 7.40 pm a lot later than it was supposed to. The bag took ages to come through which was unusual for Melbourne. However, after getting the bag it was straight through to catch the Skybus (unlike ****ing Wellington).

End of. I’m still planning to travel to Sydney this year but have yet to organise things. I want to visit two cousins and two others, if poss. We will see.

 

 

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NZ, part 3

Discovered, that after one day, some arsehole had banged the rental car door and left a red mark. Headed to Super Cheap Auto and the guy there got the red mark off but said he couldn’t remove other marks left behind. A guy parked next to me suggested using toothpaste (which I used later with success).

Went shopping at all the usual places including the Plaza and bought myself some jeans which didn’t need taking up – 2 pairs for $60. I bought a size each in 10 and 11 for slim and fatter feeling days. It’s the first time, apart from a dress I bought last year, that I’ve fitted a size 10. Wow.

Also shopped for a new bag, parking at Harvey Norman and wandering down Broadway. Nothing there. Had a pain au chocolat at the French cafe and headed to Ezibuy. Again, nothing I liked. I liked the pattern on one top but it was long and overpriced.

Then headed to supermarket and bought some beer I had missed (Aussie beer is so expensive and not a great range of international brands). Also bought Red Seal tea, hair ties, etc.

I returned to kitty and played with her and read a book. There was a text from M that she was home so I headed off to visit her. A was home too and invited me over for dinner. M talked a lot and it seemed not everything was rosy in her life.

As I backed out of the shared overgrown drive, I heard a crack. The overly long, stupidly angled aerial on the top of the car had broken. Bloody hell! There was no time to return to the car place, so I stowed the broken bit and headed to Ashhurst. I went to the domain and walked around, reliving so many memories and feeling very sad. I missed my dog so much.  The river had carved out a huge chunk from the bank and it looked very different. Where once I had walked with friends and family – gone.

View from domain

Memories of walking Zara

Then drove to A’s place out towards Pohangina. Her friend, S, was there but didn’t really greet me, which I thought rather rude, considering he was all chummy on previous occasions. He was on his way out in any case.

Chatted with A over a G & T and I met her 5 cats who had adopted her. Had a lovely meal and sat in one of her two lounge rooms for more talking. We had missed each other.

Stitch, the friendliest of A’s 5 cats

I then returned to H’s place and had a wine before heading to bed.

I had not driven past my old house. The new owner had removed all the garden and trees and I did not want to see it ugly and bare.

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NZ, part one

A week later and I’m again heading off to work soon. I worked for 10 days straight and only had a day off yesterday. But I’ll start the account of my NZ trip and then perhaps, one day, I might get around to blogging about my Myanmar trip – nearly two years ago already. I cannot believe how time flies. I’ve been in Melbourne 2 1/2 years already.

I was asked by some why I took a trip to New Zealand as if it was an odd thing to do if not actually “holidaying” there. Naturally, I wanted to catch up with friends and family. Perhaps it’s weird to spend a week in a place you used to live in but if I’ve learned anything in life, it’s people more than places that matter.

So, I had a reasonably early flight, I thought, and was up before dawn to catch a tram (there being no trains at that hour) to Southern Cross station in order to catch a bus to the airport. Melbourne is still backward in having no train link to the airport – really stupid. I got to the airport in plenty of time to check in, only to be told that the flight had been delayed by four to five hours, thanks to fog in Wellington! Thanks, Wellington! Thanks for your lousy weather. I swear that city hates me. Ninety percent of the time I visited that city the weather was absolute shit – just for my benefit, it seemed.

Five or six hours is a very long time to spend in an airport where there’s not much to do, except eat overpriced shit food or drink overpriced alcohol, or shop for overpriced ‘things’ that I don’t need. Luckily, I had a book, but you can only read for so long before needing a break.

At the appointed ‘new’ hour of departure, the plane still wasn’t there. Wonderful, just wonderful. I had had to call the rental car company to tell them I would be there after hours which incurred an extra fee. I was delighted – not. Any plans for a civilised dinner with H had gone out the window. I was driven to drink.

Finally, finally! we were permitted to board the plane half an hour after it arrived.

I watched a movie (Three Billboards…) which was ok then half an episode of “Top of the Lake”. The meal was salty salmon which I did not enjoy and left mostly uneaten. The other choice was fried chicken or eggplant and rice, both of which sounded unappealing.

It was pouring with rain in Wellington but unusually warm. We waited forever at immigration then another 20 minutes for the baggage to come through – why, I have no idea as we were apparently the only flight to have arrived at the time. I despise Wellington airport. Every single time I pass through it I have a negative experience. It didn’t stop there. My bag, when it finally arrived, was absolutely saturated. I was not impressed to say the least. I had declared, so had to go through bag screening. On previous occasions I was just asked what I had (chocolate and/or tea) which is usually the case in Melbourne. Once through (about an hour after landing), I called the car rental company who was to pick me up. I waited outside in the rain but no sign until I got a phone call by the driver to say the van was parked nearby and was waiting. How the hell was I to know?

The driver took me and two others to a shed on the other side of the airport and said keys were on the counter. Not exactly talkative. We wandered over towards the shed and saw someone behind the counter. The cars were parked opposite. Got into my white Mazda 2 (aka Demio) and began the journey towards Palmy. It was still raining heavily.

I had barely left the airport when I had to take a detour and was stuck in a traffic jam for 10 minutes. You can imagine my mood. This trip had been a nightmare.

Finally, I got on the motorway and headed north. I drove the new stretch of motorway with no idea where I was in the dark with pouring rain and wind. It was nice to get on familiar roads.

I actually drove past H’s place as I didn’t recognise the frontage. A garage and fence had been built in front. But she’d seen me and come out. It was great to see her but so late that it was time to go to bed almost immediately. The top layer of the inside of my bag was damp. Fuck you, Wellington.

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Gettin’ old and cynical?

What do I mean getting. I’ve always been cynical (it runs in the family) and I am getting older (who isn’t?) but I do wonder if it’s getting worse.

Of four books I had out from the library recently, none of them were gripping enough that I had to get to the end. I didn’t finish two of them. One by Ben Elton (and I should’ve known because I haven’t enjoyed any of his books) “Dead Famous” I found totally boring. Another “Goodbye Vitamin”, an American book which I thought would be funny, didn’t capture my interest at all. It read like a collection of totally random diary entries. I gave up on that one. A third “Headlong” was interesting but had verbose in-depth analysis of Bruegel’s paintings that read like a thesis. And the fourth, a collection of short stories by Roddy Doyle, is enjoyable enough but only something to pick up because I had nothing else to read. Disappointing overall.

My cynicism continues with the TV series “Mars” a so-called documentary, recommended to me by a friend. I think it’s dreadful. It has two parts – the present (2016) and the future (2033-37) dramatisation about a base on Mars. Neither is well done for the following reasons:

1) 2016 Random ‘experts’ drone on about human exploration, past achievements, the difficulties, ad nauseum, but don’t actually talk about technical issues. I think it’s more of an advertisement (‘how great are we’) for Elon Musk and his SpaceX venture.

2) 2033-37 Professionals, such as captain and botanist do not behave professionally. On landing, the captain refuses a medical examination. What? The ‘botanist’ spends his time spraying water on his plants, fingering their leaves, whispering to them, and breaking down because some of them die. Not once does he use any technical equipment (computer, microscope, etc) – ie there is no research. He’s just an overemotional gardener.

3) They go from finding a cave to build their settlement, to suddenly being up and running without explaining the technical aspects – how they did it, where the materials came from, etc, etc.

4) An engineer uncouples his safety line in a dust storm and wanders off to find the machinery he’s supposed to fix (how he would without getting very fine dust in it, was not explained). Oh miracles, he finds it and all is well, and presumably finds his way back to the rover despite not being able to see anything. The power comes back on and all can continue as normal. (Never mind that the person responsible for rapid expansion argued that plants needed power when they barely had enough for essentials. Oh please.)

5) The “botanist” opens the door to the unprotected outside world because he’s hallucinating. Why would there be a door to the outside world from the plant lab? Come on!

It’s all utter bullshit. I got more information from five minutes of googling, and you’d learn more from watching the movie “Martian” than this piece of garbage melodramatic “documentary”.

I live alone, so have to rant sometimes.

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Random musings

Among the biggest mysteries to me, which I truly fail to understand at all, is why I get “likes” and “follows” from obscure “businesses” or individuals on Twitter and Instagram. I don’t get it. Included in this social media bewilderment is LinkedIn. Why do total strangers from the other side of the world in a totally different industry want to connect with me? I just do not understand. Then there are the random comments on blog post entries which bear no reference to the blog entry they’re commenting on. The same comment is posted on numerous totally different blog entries.  Why??? What are they getting out of it, these people? Do they think they’ll get followed back or that someone will click on a link to their “business”? Just bizarre. I’ll never understand people.

I was disappointed in a movie I watched last night “Drive”. I had read good reviews but I came away with the same puzzlement as to why people rated it so highly. For a movie called “Drive”, there is very little driving. It started off promising but after the first ten minutes it went downhill. This statement on the SBS website “When the job goes dangerously awry, the only way he can keep Irene and her son alive is to do what he does best – drive” is total bullshit. The seemingly harmless driver goes around bashing people’s heads in, etc. Fuck-all driving. Then there were the slow-mo scenes with his love interest and lame music, which was all very sickening.  Why a typical “all-American” waitress let a silent stranger into her life when she seemingly loved her husband (in prison) is beyond me. None of the pathetic plot made sense. Why are American movies so clichéd, predictable and ultimately boring? I’ve been spoiled by European and Australian dramas which are realistic, unexpected, gripping, and totally enjoyable.

Another disappointment is Duckduckgo as an alternative search engine. I’ve tried to veer away from Google, and Duckduckgo is my default on Mozilla, but so often I’m dissatisfied with the results and head over to Chrome where Google is the default and try again. A shame.

I’m sure there was something else I was going to comment on or complain about but it’s gone – obviously not important. Such things never are.

I’m looking forward to a week in New Zealand in a couple of weeks’ time, specifically seeing K and H, and driving! (I miss driving but don’t need a car here and wouldn’t want to drive in the city.)

 

Listening to: Niyaz

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