Monday, March 28, 2011

sing in my chair

I dance in my chair when I hear....
I guess this is not to everyone's taste.. but this is just so happy i can't help wanting to hear it again

Friday, March 25, 2011

Relay for Life


This time last year I was helping build for the Caledon RFL team. This time, with full time work I don't have time to contend with the lag that is SL. So I haven't been even reading the IMs on the subject let alone joining in.
So I was kinda chuffed when Autopilotpatty asked me to build a lantern for her as part of the RFL activities.
I built the lantern... eventually and Patty was very happy with it and asked if I would be happy to put it in a RFL vendor. Well of course!
Only thing is that I was then sent the vendor to set up! Well with my lag it tool three crashes and the better part of an hour to get it all happening. But it is happening and you can buy a set of three copyable lanterns in the three shades.

The Interview

I arrived on time (no thanks to the traffic) and sat waiting, preparing myself for the written part of the test. It had said I would be given material that I would then have to produce a document from. Potentially a letter.
Well, the kind fellow took me in 5 minutes early and I am sure he gave me extra time. And the task was so easy that I fear I have misunderstood it. I spent 5 minutes working on perfect formatting.

Then on to the interview!
I was given the three questions and 20 minutes to prepare. I had some answers semi prepared, ready to adjust to the exact question. I decided to go with one whole new example of "seeking help from a colleague".
And I thought hard
Sent a txt to my tiger to tell him that I had finished part1, then wondered where the toilet might be in time for a smiling young lady to come shake my hand and lead me off to the interview.

The room had three people. Two younger ladies who smiled, and made eye contact and an older gent who did not make eye contact after first shaking my hand. I had been told not to expect any eye contact but just hurried scribbling, so two smiling ladies put me at ease. At one point though I wished they would scribble something. I hoped I was saying something worth recording.

At last I said something magnificent and they cooed and made notes so I did at least something right. Actually, I think I did as good a job as I could do. I suppose with practice I can do it better, but for the time being I don't regret much from that interview.

We got through to the end and I was elated and could have hi-5ed when the older guy looked up and barked
"but are you comfortable with a keyboard?"

What do you think? I told him I was and didn't let on that actually I am obsessed with all things keyboard :)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Looking for a Job

There are somethings about my job that are simply great. The people.. the environment, the things we get to deal with every day. It is a wonderful lucky thing. But at the bottom of it all, it is retail. My experience is that in retail everyone thinks you are a bit more stupid than they they are, unless you own the business, which I don't. As a result, the pay is not so great, your successes are attributed to people higher up the food chain and there is no "career path".

So I am looking for another job. I am aiming at lowly levels and the pay there will be several thousand a year more than I currently get. 10 days ago I was requested to do some on line testing as the second round to an application. I was excited. I rather like testing.

Well... oh boy! I managed my time badly and didn't come close to finishing the tests. The first one I could have finished if I had more time and if I had managed my time better. But the second one was plain old hard. By the end of the time there, I wasn't finished but my brain hurt so much it wasn't in the mood to go any longer anyway :)
So I figured I had flunked. I imagined all the youngsters who were still in the exam mode blitzing past me.

Today I got an email.. I am on to the next round! I am above average in the Inductive Reasoning part and well above for Verbal Reasoning. Yay! My brain isn't too old after all.

If I actually get the job, I will die of fright. I do love my job. There are aspects about it that are not so good for me. But I do love it.

Monday, March 14, 2011

oh!

Hello folk
Sometimes I forget that people are out there listening and I was very pleased to hear your voices after my last post. It was brief but there is a much fuller story behind as you might guess.

In SL I have two corners of land still. A shop in Raglan and a home in Glengary. I think The Glen is a laggier place than Downs was. Don't know why, but the 5 bunnies I have there don't seem able to breed without me interfering... so they don't breed because right now I am not so much into bunnies.
I did say no more bunnies but it seemed too still and lonesome without something bouncing round. So I have a few who insist on hopping out onto Des's land and then autoreturn throws them back into my inventory. Sometime I will build a new shop and a garden so that it all sits better with the landscape.

With less land, my sales of bits and bobs, mostly tiny clothes, are seeing my linden balance actually grow a little so I am self sustaining once more. That means when I get my Internet speed fixed at my new home, I might be able to enjoy SL again.

Meanwhile I am amassing a collection for my new RL. I have been on-line shopping. I have been ebaying and researching. Not all things end up being an EBay purchase but I usually begin there to get an idea of the going rates for things. I pick on a subject then chase it to a conclusion. I have bought two beds and mattresses, 6 chairs, a desk, two sofas, a fridge, a washing machine, a house worth of door handles, kitchen containers, a Christmas tree, doonas, pillows, kitchen utensils, bed linen, a vacuum.........

My current projects are 800mm square tiles for a kitchen splashback and bathroom vanities. The builder's allowance for these is pitiful and unless I shop elsewhere I am going to have less than I want ;)


The result of all this squirreling is that my dining room is now all but inaccessible and my lounge room has two sofa pillars at one end wrapped and ready for the move.


It is fun and it is also a distraction from the more distressful side of my divorce. This is frivolous but there is the underlying sadness and worry. But there is also the core of hope and dreams of what comes next. I am building a nest of dreams.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

No Blogging.. No 2nd Life

A whole month and more and no posts!
My SL has crawled to a halt. The lag is now so bad I can barely move. Building is an exercise in frustration. Now and then I open up to check that things are where I left them, but that's about it. I open Caledon chat and watch but even he names there have changed so that an entire conversation can be carried out by people i have never heard of and who don't respond to anything I have to add.
So times have indeed changed.

I don't lament too much as I am so focused on RL now that I don't haven any time for SL angst.
So don't worry about me :)