"The back of yo' head" : Hair challenge

I have a lot of hair and, as such, I've made the executive decision that I should be doing more with it. So I went shopping for a stupid amount of accessories, revved up my Pinterest board (http://www.pinterest.com/ediguest/style/) and set myself a challenge: New Day, New Do. And I just came up with that on the spot.

Completely spontaneous I know but, with a lack of other things to really distract me apart from the daily grind, I thought it would be nice to do a little something for myself that could also be considered skillful. I am still knitting btw, but that tends to be for other people...

Anyway, it’s pretty self-explanatory and I’ll try and keep up with it at least for this week (they’re probably gonna get a bit repetitive after that). I probably won’t be including things like clothes (because I still wear the high-waisted jeans I bought in 2007) or make-up (because I don’t wear any to work), but hopefully the up-and-down dos will keep you entertained enough!

Day 1 - The Big Bun

I took this photo after work, so excuse the flyaways 

All I have to write about is work, because that's all I do.

I feel I'm getting the hang of the work-life balance balance.

I manage to see at least one member of one group of friends once a week (last week I saw people from two different groups, a personal best), go on a date at least once a week, go to the gym three times a week, cook for for the entire week and watch Game of Thrones. Despite this minor achievement however, I can't shake the unfulfilled feeling that lingers everyday I wake up at 5am. An un-ticked to-do list sits at my bedside while unwritten articles pile up beside un-read books.

I thought have disposable income would help, but as it turns out money brings its own problems, as pointed out by Fran. There are literally limits to the amount of joy money brings, especially if you spend 70% of your time at work or asleep. For me, it's not so much about money but more about what I can't do due to work constraints. I really want to volunteer or take up some kind of extra curricular, like becoming a school governor or a part-time tutor, but as it is I can't find the right time to take time off to go get my fillings done.

Work is stressful in ebbs and flows, but the most difficult thing about trying to balance extra curriculars and my currents job is not the long hours, but the lack of contingency the company has in place for hectic periods. If I have someone working on the same product as me who's on holiday, I will not be able to take any time off during that period at all. That's an un-written rule of course, but due to the tight staffing and nature of the work, anyone with a minutia of common sense knows it to be true. It's frustrating, because I do want to explore outside activities, and while I am spending a lot of time with family and friends, doing something alone and by myself that isn't working-out would be a nice bonus.

I also miss studying. A lot. I thought I would be able to at least keep up with characters on the side, but though I speak Chinese almost everyday at work, I find my abilities flowing away like water. I'm currently reading academic books about paleolithic China to help me get through the withdrawal symptoms. I don't even get Chinese current affairs anymore. I'm like, "Obama's going to China? What?"

I have some longer term plans to deal with these personal issues, which will be revealed gradually, not only to avoid getting prematurely fired from my job due to lack of commitment, but also to keep people generally interested in what I have to say. In the meantime, I will continue to drink the free alcohol provided at work on a Friday. I promise I'll start looking for things to write about that aren't my job. Martin and I are going away next week if that helps? I'll take pictures, I promise.

WHEN PEOPLE EXPECT ME CONTINUE WORKING ON FRIDAY AFTER 4PM

Under Review

As my one month review at work has just passed, so I thought it would be a good time to review the past month myself.

Work's going....good? Well? Positive pronoun anyway. I've got the hang of it, and it's the kind of job that when you leave work, you've left your work behind. As I start really early and am technically contracted for 9:30 hours, there's always the danger that staying even 20 minutes past 5 will mean that I would have been at my desk for more than 10 hours. People always seem surprised that I manage to leave bang on 5 everyday, including the Chinese girl who sits next to me. She gets in about 6:45 and leaves even later than I do! Today referred to me as a "超人" (superhuman), but it all boils down to the fact that I just don't want to live at work.

The general public also seem very concerned with the fact that I have to wake up quite early. You get used to 5am (promise), as long as you go to bed at 10. Needless to say, Martin isn't really feeling it. It won't last forever, but it's causing a stir amongst the community regardless. I'm not sure why everyone at my workplace feels it would be much better for me to move out of my parents home and closer to work. Well, it's not like they're outraged, just genuinely surprised. Of course, why wouldn't I want to pay rent, buy my own food, cook my own food, live with 5 other people and be cleaning up after their mess and dealing with their drama (don't pretend that you don't have to deal with that). I have to pay some money and contribute to meals and upkeep in my parents' house, of course.

But they also have: cleaners, an ironing lady and unlimited central heating. 

My back-to-the-gym initiative is also going well, though some weeks are better than others. I have yet to find a yoga class that I like, but at least I don't have to attend a Gym Box. Did you know that a membership to a Gym Box is -- no. Don't get me started. I was honestly so outraged about it when I found out that till this day I don't believe that anyone could pay so much for - literally - a box with no swimming pool.

My biggest problems at the moment consist of choosing what outfit to wear tomorrow, so I'm not making arbitrary decisions at 5:35am, and deciding to what charity I should donate. Don't worry, I'm not gonna try and fit that drama into this post.

I still feel that in general, I've taken to long to get my sh*t together. I feel like I should be further along with my projects, making more of my weekends, knitting (although to be fair I should probably cut out some Real Housewives of NJ if I really wanna get that done), inflicting more blog posts upon unsuspecting friends, etc etc. But working life is hard! How long do you think I can keep using that as an excuse to not take driving lessons?

So that's my review. Unfortunately, I can't say I miss China itself but I do miss the boys! That's another thing I've been neglecting - it's all in one big list, this post taking a prime position - but it's all coming soon. As soon as I get some time to myself.

Well, it's 9:25 so.....I'm off to bed! Happy Wednesday everyone.

THE BUILDERS' REACTION WHEN I GET ON THE 6AM TRAIN

My first week at work/Delete!

OK, a little late as I've actually completed two weeks of work now, but it's been a heavy settling in period you know? I think it's going alright, there's really no way to tell with these things, is there? I mean, it's not a formal training plan, everything's very chiiillled, and yet there are deadlines. Daily deadlines. It's a little weird (as I have to keep explaining to people on the phone). I would explain what it is I do exactly, but I like to keep people on tenterhooks. Also, it's kind of hard to explain. Maybe I'll give it a whack later on.

I'm sorry for the  rambliness of these sentences. I wake up very early. My working hours are 7:30-5, meaning I have to wake up at 5. Yeah. I even got sick this week, which was probably due to a combination of new schedule, waking up early, and the fact that everyone on SouthEastern is ill, and yet no one seems to feel the need to cover their mouth when they cough.

Things are on a schedule: meals, the gym, social media. Expect these posts to get fewer and further between. Yes I have started going back to the gym - mainly classes though as working out of one's own volition is just plain boring. I tried Yoga and Zumba, which I think I'll stick with, with a bit of pilates and swimming thrown in when I have the time. Those of you who know I've always dissed Yoga heavily, the change of tune comes because I've now accepted the fact that I'm probably too inflexible for a 22 year old, and the fact that I really struggled with the downwards-facing dog means that I should realistically keep going. Also it's really helped with my breathing.

The office and the people I work with are cool and laid back. We even occasionally have an office dog, which our MD is in love with, and helps to alleviate the compete lack of tension within the office space. One complaint - it does get really warm. And then really cold, because I sit next to the window which has to be opened for all the people who don't, despite the fact that it's still spring so everyone needs to calm down and take their jumpers off. No but it was quite warm actually. There was even some (premature) talk of turning the air conditioning on, which my editor strongly objected to. Office life, eh?

Oh, about the 'Delete' thing. You know how I now have a job, right? Is there some way of informing all the job alerts of this fact that I don't know about? I actually didn't know that I had subscribed to so many email updates - it's like the more I delete, the more pop up. Sometimes from accounts that I'm sure I've deleted already. I'm talking to you, Reed.co.uk. Deleting one's online presence has all of a sudden become challenging; why can't these things just fizzle out like Bebo?

So that's it really. Living in the UK = seeing friends more often + having very little time to one's self due to the need to earn a living. I miss uni. But  the settling period is over, spring has sprung, which means I should get on those other projects that I've been meaning to start/finish. There is no longer any excuse.

1st up, writing back to the Student Loans Company....

Interview Day

I had three interviews on Thursday, but rather than give you a blow by blow - despite how much you love my ramblings - I think I'm gonna give a bit of a match of the day run down, with highlights and spoilers as a bonus.

So, company A had invited me for an interview on Tuesday, and I must say the level of informality threw me a bit. I had all my answers for the 'top 10 interview questions' from target jobs down, but needless to say I should have known a little bit more about myself because that waa all we talked about. That sounds kind of weird, as it's an interview and of course you're talking about the candidate. But I find that most interviews are very focused on a specific area ('skills' and and your ability to theorise hypothetical situations), whereas I had to talk a whole lot of me. I was a bit of a mess, but I was invited to a second interview on Thursday. By the skin of my teeth by my own appraisal.

I had an assessment centre on Thursday with a different company for a role in Conference Producing. It sounded cool, the office was pretty swanky with a maze of glass doors, and the majority of people there were not recent graduates. I would say the majority were experienced workers, there were a lot of foreigners with a good language range, but our group managed to outdo ourselves in the presentation. You'd be surprised how lack-luster and unfocused people can be in these things - people with jobs! - so we made a conscientious effort to be more enthusiastic, which landed me a second interview that afternoon.

But before that, I had my second interview with company A, remember? I thought it would be a bit more formal this time round, after all, it was with the MD of the company. I was wrong. Another informal chat ensued in which it became abundantly clear that having a good academic record meant I was probably going to jump ship as soon as I got bored - 4-6 months by their estimation. Just to confirm, I don't have a Master's course lined up for September. But it went well: I know I made a good impression; I was less of a mess; I made them laugh and, most importantly; I convinced them that I was the right person for the job (and probably that I can speak more Mandarin than I actually can...but more on that in later developments).

Back to company B and the second interview in the afternoon. I got rejected pretty much on the spot. I knew I wasn't the correct fit about 20 minutes in when they started talking about my lack of salesmanship, and I had to agree. I couldn't sell hummus to the middle classes. The job looked pretty cool though - you got the opportunity to travel to the location of whatever conference you produced worldwide, but the intensity of the atmosphere (and to some extent the belittling of my qualifications) made me realise, almost before they did, that it wasn't for me. I did get a free A4 lined notepad - the good sort with the big lines - from the assessment centre, so the day wasn't completely wasted.

3 Interviews in 8 hours

It was a good day overall however. I got to do a lot of walking, and, if nothing else, got a lot of experience with interviews (which is apparently a thing).

**SPOILER**

I got the job with company A! I become an adult on Monday. I may or may not have bought myself a Google Nexus 7 as a reward...