Career Nosedive or clearing the air for new opportunities?

If one has to work, one at least wants to have some kind of career satisfaction. Am I right? You bet your buttons, I am.

So how do I predict whether my career is about to take a nosedive or not? Should I stay eternally optimistic and repeat to myself that change is good, new opportunities await, and be patient it will all turn out well in the end? Or should I start looking around for a replacement position (anyone want to pay me to travel and write?)?

Let’s look at the facts (my version of them, of course).

1. I’ve spent several months developing a certain line of planning and strategy, working on policy, asking questions and providing a choice of solutions, etc, etc and so forth. I’ve done such a job of it that instead of being given the work officially as part of my job description, the company is planning to employ someone to do the job. I could apply for the job, but the company chooses qualifications over experience and I don’t like to waste my time.

2. I have been working on, developing/improving marketing campaigns for our events and doing a good job of it. My work in that area now seems to be shared out among other people, which wouldn’t be so bad if I was going to be able to continue developing point number 1… It appears that due to an overlap in job descriptions in the area I now work in, I’m going to be the “fall-guy”. I won’t be out of a job, but I won’t be doing a whole lot either.

3. I’ve been filling in in other areas while we were short-staffed. We will soon not be short-staffed and that work also will be taken out of my hands. Even, apparently, those parts I been asked to, and am willing to, continue with because no one else wants them.

So, if I’m not doing what I was working toward and I’m not doing what I was working on or helping out with, what will I be doing exactly?

I have an answer for that but I do not wish to sound bitter…

I already know what I’m going to do, of course (and this little vent has cleared at least that up for me). I’m going to bide my time (as I always do), and concentrate on the two most important things, career-wise. They are, a) negotiate a full-time position, which has been my basic request for the last six months and b) work on my TAFE course so I will have qualifications at last. Experience counts for nothing without a bit of paper to sit it on.

After that, I’m going to find someone to pay me to travel and I’m nicking off to the Outer Hebrides and similar locales, to write about it.

It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

 

 

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

 

I first read this book a few decades ago when I was young and green, and fairly new to international spy stories (high school, in fact). I loved it then and I loved the film now. The length of time between reading the book and seeing the film was a benefit – there were probably many details of this twisting turning story that had to be left out. That’s okay – it’s been 30 years! I don’t remember them.

I was happily refreshed on the bits I did remember though and I thought all the actors did an excellent job with their roles. The cinematography and colouring was great – gritty and 1970s to the core. If it occasionally it seemed to drag on, I reminded myself, that I’d thought the same with the book and in both cases, I found myself unexpectedly in the middle of something big. This happens in a story with so many parts coming together.

From memory, I don’t recall that Guilliam was gay in the book but like I said, thirty years have passed and at 17 (or so) I might not have noticed any sexual inferences. My children, on seeing the film didn’t notice it this time around either. In fact, they didn’t get a lot of what was going on and didn’t enjoy it as much as their love of the cast suggested they might.

One of my all time favourite spy characters is George Smiley. Such an ordinary man in appearance and manner yet so smart and observant. An obliging spy if you will. He listened and watched and pulled all the strings together until he had his rug of truth. Obligingly letting the others tell their own stories and dig their own graves.

I hadn’t read a le Carre story in years and thought I might dig one or two out to reread when I found “A Constant Gardener” sitting in the back of my car. Hooked by the end of the first page. I’ve missed Le Carre’s stories – can’t wait to get back into them. Can’t wait to reread “Tinker Tailer…”.

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North and South: a book review

I finally read the book (see earlier post: North and South: is the book as good as the film?) and loved it just as much as the mini-series. I’m keen now to read more of Elizabeth Gaskell’s stories. Her characters were wonderful, believable, real people. John Thornton has far more depth to his personality than Mr D’Arcy or Mr Knightley. Elizabeth obviously knew men to a much higher degree of intimacy than Jane Austen. Austen’s men are all wonderful but their characterisation only hints at their real thoughts and feelings compared to Gaskell’s Thornton who not only “really” feels but does not try to deny those feelings.

I’m in love all over again!

Of course, John Thornton isn’t the only character of note in the book. Margaret Hale is just as good on paper as on film; a worthy heroine in anyone’s book. Higgins is quite different – certainly harder to understand.

My only gripe with this book is the heavy accents in the dialogue of the Milton workers. It doesn’t usually bother me. I’ve written stories using dialect as well, that Milton accent though was something else. Having now griped, I will admit that I kind of figured it out half way through. Bessy was a good strong character as well, in touch with her god and her forthcoming death.

Actually, I have two gripes, the ending was not a patch on the film. The feeling was there, but the big romantic kiss at the railway station was not. <sigh>

If you haven’t read North and South yet, see the film first – having Richard Armitage as the visual for John Thornton is an extra benefit!

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A life so tagged….

I’m not really sure about the effectiveness of “tags”. Every blog post I create, I dutifully tick a few tagwords and create a few more. Occasionally, they actually relate to what I’ve written about.

I presume that having them allows, somehow, my posts to become more searchable or findable… one or the other, anyway. However, if someone having a problem with menopausal symptoms, types into her search engine box “fluctuating hormones” and gets a link to my post on travel-writing, have I really added to the cause or just her headache?

What level of tagging responsibility should I be practicing?

If the purpose of tagwords is to make my posts more findable, how come very few people view my posts? I’m sure there’s lots of people out there who search for “creativity” or “writer’s block”, yet not very many of them pay me a visit or read my pearls of wisdom on the subject. I’ve had lots of writer’s block so I know what I’m talking about.

I know, I should also be optimising, leveraging and marketing, and spreading the word by commenting. I’ve done all that in a previous blogging life and while it did up the ratings, I didn’t find it satisfying enough to continue with the all the effort (fluctuating hormones can really kill the mood, don’t you know). I even spent a few months writing articles on marketing – one of the top blogging topics apparently as there’s certainly a lot of marketing drivel out there in blogging world (not your marketing posts, of course… or mine, I might add).

Tagging in Facebook is another matter. I see how tagging photos allows lots of other people to view images of you that you’d rather hadn’t been posted in the first place. It also leads people (like grandparents) to photos of you doing dumb things (like guzzling beer at a mate’s birthday bash). Not me, of course, I gave up guzzling beer years before FaceBook hit the scenes. I find FB tagging very useful when I want to check in on what my teenagers have been up to on the weekends or on holidays. They do put the silliest photos of themselves up, and if they don’t, their friends do!

I’m off now to tag this post and make up a few things that disguise the bullshit of this entire post in order to lure one or two gullible readers to my blog and improve my viewing stats.

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SportyKids: 6 spectator tips for parents

Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of my weeknights and weekends watching my kids play sport. I have three girls and all have been quite sporty at various times. My two eldest have since moved on to other interests (mainly work), but my youngest is still at it and doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon. As a result of my years of dedication and experience, I have several tips to share with other parents of sporty kids.

1. Always pack two extra bottles of water. If it’s hot, your SportyKid will go through at least two bottles. If you’re an active spectator, you’ll need one as well.

2. Take a small gear bag with towel, the water bottles from point 1, sunblock, spare socks, jacket, rain jacket, first aid kit, tissues, book, a container of safety pins, tape, snack food and spare hair ties. At some point, your SportyKid will need all of this stuff.

3. Shove more hair ties in your pocket. These are always the first things to go missing from the gear bag.

4. Always pack at least two camping chairs in your car. At outdoor sporting events the ground can be damp, hard, rocky, dusty, and generally uncomfortable.

5. Always pack at least one extra large umbrella in your car. We use golf umbrellas and have just bought the oversized versions of these. They fit three underneath and will ward off rain and sun.

6. Leave in a cooler bag in your car: more water, fruit, a sandwich, and some chewy lollies (we pack “snakes”). SportyKids are usually starving once they’ve finished being sporty.

Next: SportyKids: looking after #1 at the game – yourself!

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North and South: is the book as good as the film?

I would like to review this book, but I haven’t read it yet. You see, I was given a copy for Mother’s Day by my youngest Angel. We’ve watched the movie (or is it classified as a mini-series?) several times: there is just no getting past Richard Armitage in this one. Ooh la la! He and Daniella Denby-Ashe do such a good job of swapping hate for love that we are in danger of judging all romantic moments by their kiss at the train station! I love that instant when John Thornton realises Catherine Hale returns his love… <sigh> so romantic.

The moment...

The kiss...

But I’m getting distracted, I’m writing about the book that I have yet to start reading. You see I watched the show… and, for possibly the first time ever, I’m wondering if the book will be as good.

I am very much looking forward to several hundred pages of Richard Armitage, I mean, John Thornton, including all the scenes that didn’t make it to the film. And I do love a good period drama… I’m a big Jane Austen fan – surely it can’t be that much different. However, I’m stalling. I really don’t want to be disappointed and I don’t know anyone who has read it so I can’t ask their opinion.

I flicked through a biography on Elizabeth Gaskell. It was very long though there were several quite interesting bits. I like the Unitarian connections she had with her family and friends, and her belief in the validity and importance of truth in all things. This theme of truth being the most important thing comes across quite strongly in the film so I assume it will in the book (and probably all her others) as well

I suppose I need to stop stalling and get on with it. After all, a tall dark and handsome man in a starched collar and black coat is waiting for me….

Richard Armitage as John Thornton

Images from: http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/index.html

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