If the Peace Corps was willing to take my uncle, I guarantee you you'd pass any assessment with flying colors.

It was one of those times when you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing...

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i have recently started more and more to be skeptic about my skeptisicm.

in the past - for most of my adult life anyway - i believed that intuition was just the word we gave to thinking and pattern finding in the back of our heads, gut feelings never told you anything other then what you are feeling yourself, vibes are just subconscious perception of body language and tone of voice too fast for us to put into words, dead people are dead, and mystic powers are fallacies of perception... i was offically "open for the possiblities" the same way i am open to the possibility that the universe is entirely my imagination - could be philosophically but i wouldn't make any life decision based on that.

it's only with my ex wife that i got plenty of remote sunsations - constantly from early on - that ended up being very accurate, and had a certain flavor to them... but i was still able to chuck it out to coincidence or my mind playing tricks on me, fallacies, projections, whatever...

she herself was also skeptical - she has told me she tried getting into those things and had a period of it as a teen but nothing much beyond, but when she tried divinations they where so creepishly accurate that they scared the crap out of her so she had to stop. there was no explenation for it as far as she was concerned. my ex is a very intelligent person, but she sometimes had a hard time recognizing and weeding out subjective and retroactive biases, so i chucked that out too.

then their was an expeirence that seeded my double-layered doubts: one night where she took me to the kitchen, otherwise my realm (i cook), held my hands, told me to talk to someone who died and tell them one knock for yes two knocks for no. i chose my father and... we got out information that i didnt know, and she had no way of knowing, information i had to check later with my mother. plus the knock from the top of the wall where there was nothing behind... the whole thing was just plain creepy. she told me she has no explenation, its just something she has always being able to do. i still have no idea what to make of it.

in the last day and a half i've had the same gut feeling that she's not only thinking about me but is missing me like hell, at those very moments, that she wants me back and then has her fears holding her back, that she wants to cry out in frustration "why did he have to be such an ass!"... and that she's being drinking.

same old flavor, and this time i am not sure if i am inclined to chuck it out so easily.

And you've been doing so well, traceur, too! This is your imagination speaking. Go for a run!

Well, this is kind of a whinge, but it isn't going to get me much sympathy.

Having recently quit my job, I've been in contact with the college I used to work at, and had pretty much lined up teaching work starting in July, at least two days per week, maybe more.

Now they want me to do an admin job for nine weeks preceding that while someone else is away.

Dammit, I'm enjoying being a bum. I'm getting done a bunch of stuff I've been putting off for ages and have plenty more of the same to do.
And it would be all admin, organising, paperwork, administrivia.
I don't really want to. [ whine, moan, grumblegrumble ]

On the plus side, it would be a good reorientation to the company, the work would be fairly easy, the person I'd be covering for is very organised and I'm sure will tell me what needs doing in adequate detail, and ultimately, they'd give me money for it. And it wouldn't start for another month.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I don't wanna.

But my inner critic is calling me a slacker.




I know there's at least three of you that want to slap me right now. Sorry.

Slacker...nah. You have choices. I envy you. Just like you can't send half a sandwich to the starving kids overseas, you also can't send jobs coming out the ying yang to the unemployed overseas.

Do what you want! What happens if you say no to the administrative part?

Will it hurt you at all if you don't take it? Will they take the other job away from you out of spite?

If it were me, I'd say that you have personal commitments and you are not available.

I can't judge your slacker creds from here. But I would tell you from *my* experience, that the next nine weeks will come and go regardless of your decision. How you remember them once they're behind you will last a lot longer. What kind of experience do you want to remember?

If I had the means, I'd choose playing out your finite time as a bum. Assuming I had the means to support such a choice. Another way to assess your options is to imagine which choice you'd *regret* having missed more. Way, way down the road, you won't remember having an additional nine weeks of pay or orientation (which will happen when you start, whenever you start) or an increased understanding of some other fella's filing idiosyncrasies. You *could* do some things (or no things) that you'll remember long after, maybe not, but you could. You won't miss the extra work, who the hell wants extra work?

Well, that's my take on your good news. Congratulations!

I'm one of them, although I have a definite maybe with a company I applied for a loooong time ago.

Money aside - I gotta agree with V here, with one condition.
If this affects the job you want, then you may be obligated to do the admin crap.
If not, tell them you've planned your trip to America and get your ass over here
(layover at our British counterparts required). THAT will be something to remember. ;)

Well, my inner child and inner adult had quite the discussion, and agreed that I'll take the work, and make sure I get good value for the five weeks of freedom I have left. Until the two weeks in mid semester (late September/October) and six weeks over summer...

I plan to get done a bunch of overdue life stuff and then visit Melbourne (800ks southwest) and if possible do a hike in the Flinders Ranges (700ks North).
I'm also looking at moving house. What I have is adequate and okay and quite cheap, but in the suburbs with traffic noise and no real nature. I'd much rather be living in the hills. I've seen a place that is a little expensive but bloody awesome and still affordable provided I have a job, and reasonable for commuting.

So yeah, I went in to talk with them and the person I'll be covering for is uber-hyper-organised. She has already prepared a spreadsheet as the master sheet for all the various projects I will have to manage, and each project has a link to another spreadsheet for that project with all the specific tasks spelled out, contacts listed, timelines, etc. etc.
Scary.

Only hitch is they will probably want me to wear business clothes. I tried on my business trousers today. Seems if you leave them unworn in the wardrobe for four years, they shrink around the waistband by a few inches. :p:

I have two days before my premium for my car insurance is auto-deducted (hey, that's punny) and I'm not sure if I want to stay with these guys or not. I was so stressed about the hit and run and they were so complacent and told me there was no plate matching the number I gave but gee the police officer reported right away that there was a match and 3 ambulance chasers sent me mail with copies of the police report but that damn lizard couldn't be arsed to help me out or work on my behalf. I was a victim of a hit and run, ffs. I was in the car, ffs. If I'd been hurt (and it's sucky to say this I know) everyone would have fallen all over themselves for the claim, and I certainly would have used an ambulance chaser.

So I just wrote to them to tell them of my apprehension and why (they sent me a survey regarding their service.)

Mixed feelings because I hate conflict and change and I hate hassles and inconvenience and I don't know if the quote I got from a competing company was because it was just cheaper or because I didn't request the same coverage. Hey, then again I haven't changed my deductible with the lizard and you KNOW that will make my cost skyrocket and I picked a more reasonable deductible with the competitor.

Ugh. I don't understand these things.

I left after about 10 years with them. Fuggem.

I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance!

The lizard didn't respond to me after my careful thoughts on my treatment in the survey they sent me.

I got better coverage for less money with a competitor. I didn't cancel the lizard in time so they will refund the payment they take tomorrow plus the money that was paid in advance for this month (however that works.)

I'm glad I did it but it kind of felt like breaking up with someone because they are so obviously not interested in you anymore. :blush:

I mean seriously, they kinda hurt my feelings. ;)

Good job!:thumb:

Thanks! I know to most it's not much but I have a terrible time doing stuff like that. I have to be in just the right kind of mood. I'm trying to take better control of things. The guy I broke up with was pleasant and helpful but he didn't try to talk me out of it, just said how sorry he was and that maybe in the future...

It's a love story, really, full of joy and pain and sorrow and regret. And hope, there's always hope. ;)