Thoughts of a midnight owl
Well it’s 4.15am & I’m awake: my upstairs neighbour is having a bit of a hooley. It’s not overly loud but somebody seems to have a thing for stamping the floor every now and again which woke me up half an hour ago and I can’t get back over to sleep. It’s compounded by some indigestion – the consequence of munching on cookies too late – man I’m getting so like my Dad! So I feel inspired for some middle of the night reflections, which may or may not be totally rational, I’m not usually good at being rational at this hour!

Week One of Unemployment
… I’ve had a nice week actually. Mostly I’ve spent my time studying, filling in job applications, going to the gym and sorting out more stuff around the flat. I’m really loving the flat now, it’s a great wee home. I managed to put together an Argos desk – felt very proud of myself, hope it stays together! So I’ve been able to get my PC removed from my dining table and I’ve got some more of my clutter a bit better organised.

The studying has been for the last seminar in the penultimate module of my Masters course which has been on Mental Health and work with young people (aimed at non-health professionals) – interesting stuff. Though one of the articles we had to read was on approaches to prevention and highlighted the potential mental health problems associated with unemployment – cheerful reading for me right now – NOT!...

… I’ve been doing a lot less panicking about the jobless thing, though the more time passes without something coming up I know I’ll get more stressed about it. The whole process is just so darned slow. The deadline for a job application is usually 2 weeks after the job has been advertised, then it’s usually another week or two before you hear if they deem you good enough to interview (and 6 months sick leave due to stress does not go in your favour), then the interview is about a week after that, and then it’s another week or so before you hear if you’ve got the job or not. I’ve got about 6 applications in the pipeline at the moment at varying stages. I should have heard by now about 2 applications so I’m thinking that’s me out of the running for them thoug I’ll ring on Monday to see what the craic is, I’ve got an interview on Tuesday for one job, I just got an application sent off on Thursday, I’ve got 2 applications sitting on my desk to fill in, I’m waiting on another job application to come in the post, and there were a couple of things I spotted in the paper on Friday night which I want to find out more about. I’m thinking that once I’ve got my studying cleared up this week I’ll register with a temping agency and just do some office work, though it makes getting to interviews a bit awkward.

One of the things I’ve been worrying about is getting my last Field Practice placement completed for my Masters course – it’s just a 120-hour placement focussing on individual and group work, but the deadline is early August and the tutors like you to spread it out over 2-3 months to increase the reflective learning process. But thankfully I’ve been able to confirm with the university that I can use the hours I do in my next place of work as it’s likely to contrast the work I did for my first Field Practice … as long as it meets the criteria. I decided this week that there’s no point panicking about it, my first priority is to get a job and then I can worry about placement stuff after that.

A place to belong?
I think I’ve found a church to be a part of. Don’t want to say too much yet as I’ve only been along to the place about 3 times, but what I’ve seen I’ve really liked. In fact it’s been a bit like fresh water being poured over me and I’ve sensed a sincerity and genuineness that I haven’t experienced in churchy/Christian circles for a while. I’m hoping to get involved in a cell group after Easter and get to know more people – I hate that feeling of being a bit of a wallflower when you don’t really know anyone!

Weekend Warrior comes out to play
Was kayaking today at Clare Glen, Tandragee with the club and it was a great day’s paddling! I managed to capsize only once hitting a hole coming off a slide at a weir, but other than that it was the best day’s padding I’ve done for a while. I think I am improving. Unfortunately there won’t be any river trips over the summer – less water – but hopefully we’ll be getting some pool sessions, I’d really like to get my roll mastered.

And wouldn’t it be cool to do this?



Oh man, I can actually hear some birds twittering, time to go back to bed methinks!