If I remember how to do this it'll be a miracle....

Its been a long time. A very long time…..

First of all, to anyone who actually reads this (other than Calvin), let me offer my apologies for not updating this blog for nearly an entire year. I could launch into a lengthy diatribe as to why I haven’t done so, but that would take another year, so here’s the truncated version:

Aug ‘05: My computer died. Didn’t have much time or inclination to fix it.

Sep ‘05: Left my job. All computer access now gone.

Oct ‘05: Got a new job, still now computer access. Life kinda got in the way…

Jan ‘06: Job, which had previously only been temporary, was made permanent.

Apr ‘06: Job moved to another town, increased hours.

May ‘06: Finances became a lot more secure. Bought a new lap top!!!!!

June - July ‘06: Been a bit too preoccupied with work and e-fedding…..

Okay, so I will elaborate on some of the above; After I left my job, I had NO computer access at all. It was really weird, and I did try to replace it with using computers at my local library, but that didn’t really work. Other than losing this place and not being able to e-fed, the real bummer was that I had to put the writing of my novel seriously on hold. I’d been on a roll in the previous months, and had written almost 60,000 words. As of yet I haven’t really got back into it, which isn’t good. I know the bloody thing will never write itself, and by the end of this month it will be two years since I began it. I’ve kind of changed my priorities slightly over the past year, and while I do want to finish the book, and get it published, but I no longer feel that this is going to be something that I’m going to devote my life to. I may change my mind at a later date, it depends how the book is received, but in any case, I intend to finish it towards the end of this year, and endeavour to get it self-published when funds allow….

Next, the new job. I started working at GAME as a Christmas temp in October, and my boss loved me immediately. I had worked in the same role three years previously, but I hadn’t got on with the manager half as well. By this point, he had moved on, and the new manager, Ian, was someone I had a lot more in common with, possibly because there’s only a year between us. Anyway, as I said, he thought I was brilliant, mainly because of my amazing skills at getting people to buy consoles. He said in early November that he didn’t want me to leave after Christmas, but he didn’t know how many hours he’d be able to give me. As it turned out, it was very few. From a practical, financial sense, I should have turned him down, left, and found something full time. But I was pig-sick of starting at the bottom; I now have six years of retail experience, including eight months of management training, and two years of telephony and administrative experience. So as far as I’m concerned, I’m too good to be a dogsbody anymore. And as I’ve tried to tell my Dad before now, it’s got bog all to do with university these days; experience counts for more than a couple of letters. So anyway, I stayed, doing sometimes as little as four hours a week. But I stuck it out, no matter how much of a monetary pickle it put us in. Then sometime in April, things began to change….

We found out that the region was having a management move around. Basically, a manager from a bigger store couldn’t cope with the pressure, and got to choose where he moved to. This meant Ian was leaving our store, and got shunted off to Preston, which is a lot closer to his Lancaster home. Our Senior Sales Assistant, Chris, also left the store at this time, moving to Wigan. This left some hours up for grabs, between myself and another member of staff, who had also been kept on after Christmas. However, almost immediately, I realised that I just didn’t click with the new manager. Maybe it was me, maybe I didn’t give him a decent chance, maybe I just got on too well with Ian, but I felt it wasn’t working. So, with one last roll of the dice before I conceded defeat, I asked Ian for a couple of shifts at Preston….

The first shift I did, he wasn’t there, and I worked the day with his deputy manager, Neil. We
got on really well, and before the end of the day I was talking to Ian on the phone about more shifts. The following week, he offered me a contract at the Preston store. Which I took without a second’s thought. About a month later, after I’d come back from a week’s holiday in Bulgaria (more about that later), I left the Southport store completely, and have been working solely at Preston ever since. I’ve been averaging 30 hours a week, on a contract of only 20, and I’m being pushed by Ian, Neil, and the deputy from another store in the town, to be trained up to Senior Sales Assistant. I haven’t yet decided whether or not our current SSA is bothered by this or not….

So yeah, that’s work. I know I waffled about it, but at the end of it all I feel very justified in sticking it out during the early months of this year, because now for the first time in over three years I actually feel like my job might be going somewhere. I found out a couple of days ago that the area manager is keeping an eye on me, as well….

Back to the main story; in May of this year, Beth walked into her bank to check her account, and twenty minutes later walked out with a five and a half grand loan. Which sorted out the financial problems we’d accrued since last Summer instantly. And also, finally gave us the opportunity to fix our computer problems. Rather than actually fix the computer though, I opted to buy this rather stylish laptop that I’m currently writing on. I used the excuse that it will help me to fix the computer and finish my novel. Two months later and I’ve started neither. What I have done, however, is get heavily back into e-fedding. Unfortunately, I’ve not had half the success I had previously, and after looking back over some of my older stuff from a couple of years ago, I don’t feel that I’m as good as I used to be. Maybe it’s just because I’m rusty, but I’ve been back for nearly two months now, and feel like I’m floundering. I don’t want to give up, because it’s something I enjoy far too much, but I think its time I reassessed my efforts.

Aside from all this, I’m actually feeling in a pretty good place at the moment. Beth and I are looking at moving soon, to a bigger and nicer flat, and Beth is working on the Nurse bank at a private hospital. It’s not perfect, as the hours aren’t always there, but its given her the experience she didn’t have when she first qualified in May of last year. On top of all that, she’s just got her provisional driving licence, as I’ve finally conceded to let her learn to drive. For those of you who don’t know, Beth is epileptic, and as such, I told her I couldn’t agree to her driving until her specialist gave us written evidence that she is not photosensitive. He did that in January of this year, so she’s been very excited about starting ever since. The licence came yesterday, and she’s going to spend tomorrow morning looking for an instructor. She has decided that this means in about six months we’ll need to buy a car….

I was going to go into my lads holiday in Bulgaria in June, but I’ll leave that for another post. I might even show some of the photos of my friend Max flashing his backside to the whole country. I also intend to share my views on the outside world, football, films etc, as I used to. And yes, I do intend my next post not to take as long as this one…..