Bad Mood Blogging

I'm in a funk.

Don't seem to have anything to write about.

Went to see Fame on the weekend. It was good.

Here's a picture of Alana getting her program signed by Director and Choreographer Kelley Abbey.

The coach had a crash on the way home. Managed to cause a major traffic jam in the centre of Sydney. Police, ambulance and fire brigade attended and despite the fact that noone was hurt, the lovely fire fighters boarded the bus to check on us and hand out bottles of water in case we were thirsty. Nice of them considering it was about one-and-a-half hours from the moment of impact until we were on our way again.

The third and final of Alana's ballet concerts is on tonight. Am looking forward to seeing the "Introduction to Ballet" class (2 and 3 year olds) as Alana is helping them on stage. Here's a photo taken at rehearsal to give you a sneak peek.

Tomorrow I'm visiting Josh's new school for orientation day. Did I mention he's a gifted and talented child? Yeah I know all parents think that their kids are, but in his case it's been confirmed with an invitation to join an "Opportunity Class". So we're going tomorrow to find out all about it including buses to and from school, new uniforms etc.

What else has been happening? No more job interviews on the horizon. Christmas shopping has begun.

I told you I was in a funk.

Please don't start an intervention, I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.

We'll talk again then.

Caution: Optimist at Work

On Monday I had an interview for a really great job. It was almost my dream job - at the University Library closest to me working as an Information Services Officer. You can read about my interview experience on my professional learning blog here.

The only thing that wasn't perfect about the job, from my point of view, was the fact that it wasn't a permanent position but rather the opportunity to be placed in a casual pool to fill temporary vacancies as they arose. Not ideal, but a great oportunity for someone like me who needs to gain experience, and a wonderful way to get my foot in the door at a place that I would like to work long term.

Anyway, long story short, I didn't get it. And, optimist that I am, I was surprised! I really thought I'd get it and was already imagining myself in the job.

The Senior Librarian, who was on the interview panel and rang me to let me know that I was unsuccessful, was encouraging. The position, despite being casual, is not really an entry level position. They need casual Librarians who have the experience required to jump straight into work without needing training or support. And that's fair enough.

I have also applied for another position at the same Library which has two things going for it. Firstly, it is a lower level in terms of training and experience required so I am more likely to be successful. Secondly, it is a permanent postion! Yay! So it's all good.

And, guess what! The Senior Librarian who interviewed me is making the short list for this other job and I told her I had applied for it and so now she knows me. I believe that the interview went well and she did say that she enjoyed talking with me, so I'm really hoping that means that I will back there again soon for another interview.

So, yeah, my optimism has not been rocked. And I'm still looking for other positions to apply for. And I really want to get a job before the next school year begins at the end of January, so that's my goal.

How about you? Are you working in your dream job? How long did it take you to find work the last time you were looking?

Buck-a Book Challenge FAIL!

Way back at the beginning of the year I blogged about DelGal's Buck-a-Book Reading Challenge. You can read it here.

It's an easy peasy reading challenge - all you have to do is put aside a dollar for every book that you read during the year and - HEY PRESTO! - at the end of the year you have a nice tidy sum to spend on yourself.

Hooray! What could be better than "earning" a dollar for every book that you read?

One little problem...can you see where this is going?...I've had a bit of a fail with an important, crucial really, part of the process...

If you check the sidebar of my blog, you'll see my challenge progress. I'm doing a great job, having read sixty books so far with over a month to go in the year. Yay me!

Slight problem...I'm supposed to have $60 set aside, one dollar per book, and actually I have $0.

Yeah, major FAIL!

I started off with the best of intentions, carefully keeping a tally of books read and making a note when I didn't have the right change and how much I "owed". But then I needed some money for something, so I took it from the Buck-a-Book stash...you know how this story goes.

Ooooops.

Oh well, I probably would have just spent it on books anyway :)

My Reading Slump Continues

Ugh. I just can't seem to read lately. Well, I can read, but I can't get through a whole book and enjoy it. What is happening to me???

How To Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

Publisher: Other Press
Author: Sarah Bakewell

 
 

I got an electronic galley of this book from netGalley. If you love to read and aren't lucky enough to get review copies sent to you in the mail, netGalley is a fantastic way to access soon-to-be or recently published books.

 

I chose this one because I thought it sounded right up my alley. Here's the marketing blurb:

 

"How to get along with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love-such questions arise in most people's lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: how do you live? How do you do the good or honorable thing, while flourishing and feeling happy?

"This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Monatigne, perhaps the first truly modern individual. A nobleman, public official and wine-grower, he wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. He called them "essays," meaning "attempts" or "tries." Into them, he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog's ears twitched when it was dreaming, as well as the appalling events of the religious civil wars raging around him. The Essays was an instant bestseller and, over four hundred years later, Montaigne's honesty and charm still draw people to him. Readers come in search of companionship, wisdom and entertainment-and in search of themselves.


"This book, a spirited and singular biography, relates the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored. It traces his bizarre upbringing, youthful career and sexual adventures, his travels, and his friendships with the scholar and poet Étienne de La Boétie and with his adopted "daughter," Marie de Gournay. And we also meet his readers-who for centuries have found in Montaigne an inexhaustible source of answers to the haunting question, "how to live?"

Unfortunately, I seem not to have an alley at the moment, because although I have read 52 pages and can intellectually see how interesting this book should be, I'm just not enjoying it. Strike one.

Mr Peanut by Adam Ross.

Borrowed from my local public library.

Now this one, I at least got all the way through. I borrowed it on the strength of the blurb:

"David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. after thirteen years of marriage, he still can't imagine a remotely happy life without her - yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.

"The detectives investigating Alice's suspicious death have plenty of personal experience with conjugal enigmas: Ward Hastroll was happily married until his wife inexplicably becomes voluntarily and militantly bedridden; and Sam Sheppard is especially sensitive to the intricacies of marital guilt and innocence, having decades before been convicted and then exonerated of the brutal murder of his wife.

"...complex, interlocking dramas are structurally and emotionally intense, subtle, and intriguing..."

Yeah.

I got to the end of this book more confused than when I started. Just what happened? What was the author trying to say? I think I need a university seminar to unlock the symbolism and themes of this book, not to mention someone to tell me exactly whether Alice was murdered or not! Am I right in thinking what I think happened??? Strike two.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold.

Borrowed from my local public library.

I enjoyed The Lovely Bones and wanted to read something by the same author. That is what I based my decision on, rather than the blurb which I found somewhat disturbing:

"With fierce intelligence and emotional intensity, Alice Sebold brings us a searing portrait of a mother-daughter bond that descends into murder.

"Clair and Helen Knightly are a parent and child locked in a relationship so unrelenting that they have become the center of each other's worlds. But as this electrifying novel opens, Helen crosses a boundary she never thought she would approach. And while her act is almost unconcious, it somehow seems like the fulfillment of a lifetime's unspoken wishes..."

I should have gone with my gut. Twenty-six pages in and I can't take any more. Strike three.

I'm desperately needing some reading suggestions!



On the 38th day before Christmas...

Only 38 days until Christmas! *insert warning siren*

Sing along with my happy little Christmas song. Can be sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

In the 38 days until Christmas, I have a few little chores -

buy presents for umpteen family and friends

clean the house and garden to host the family Christmas day

prepare for Josh to change schools

attend a job interview

get the dog clipped

send out Christmas cards

help Josh with his science project

FIVE STIFF DRINKS NEEDED!

4 Christmas parties

3 ballet concerts

2 school prize-givings

and a gymnastics competition!

Lalala! Are you feeling Christmassy yet?

I'm beginning to think that in Australia we do it all wrong - having summer and the end of the school year and Christmas all at the same time. It's too much!

Couldn't we do Christmas in July when it's cold and dreary and we don't have anything else going on???

So, how are your Christmas preparations going?