Monday, 29 January 2018

January 2018 Life Update; Job Hunting Fail.


Dear readers,

Today's post is going to be brief because I'm not in a writing mood and I'm putting off switching out PCs. - My boyfriend give me his old computer and now the hard drive is full on mine, I've decided the time has come to say goodbye my computer and hello his. Hopefully, it'll all go fine!

On Friday, I had an interview of a job I really wanted - lead receptionist at a soon to be opening youth center. It's 40 minutes drive away and it was 30 hours a week. But the hours were going to be mostly evening and weekend which wasn't what I wanted but still it would have been good for me.

I thought the interview went well and my experience coming from another youth center and being able to train others to do the reception job was a bonus. There was room for improvement of course - firstly, I left my jacket at home and admitted that, when I shouldn't have done and I should've double checked I'd picked up everything before I left home! Secondly, there were some questions I should have answered in more detail and clearer, but sometimes it's hard when you feel on the spot to answer correctly and your brain goes and hides in a corner! Thirdly and this is always hard, I should have created a better impression at the beginning and end of the interview.

I know everyone judges each other all the time and first impressions account for everything but with me, I'm not good at first meetings. I've never been great socially. I love being alone and not having many friends, I guess because I've just had so many problems with friends in the past that for me I'm happy with my own company and realise that I'm better off that way. Saying all that though, I do have a habit of talking to strangers to make comments or suggestions. I think that comes from my mum though. I'm chatty to those I know and even more talkative to those I like. That's why I can pull off being a receptionist.

Appearance is also important and I know for a fact that people always get the wrong idea about me when they see me and mostly acted in a negative way. Only after you've gotten to know me do things get clearer here. And that's something you can't get across in an hour or two of meeting someone / being interviewed. I tried hard to always look good at interview - I never were jeans or trainers, low cut clothes. I wear black or red or blue skirts, with matching jackets, white or cream or blue blouses with black or blue boots. I hear some people just turn up in whatever and don't try to wear a suit! 

Anyway, I got a phone call two hours later and the overall result from my interview was that I didn't have enough experience and they'd had a few people who had more experience and did better at the interview then I did. It was a total blow to hear that because I was a few months back and partly still now, doing the job! So how come there were more experienced people? I get they were better in interview, but I just find it hard to believe that they weren't even going to reflect on things longer. Did I do that badly? They wouldn't tell me - too busy.

This is now the third job interview where I've been told someone with more experience then me has gotten the job. I'm struggling to determine how to change that. Having YEARS of experience will always win over someone who's had months or only a year, that's a fact but how can I get years if no one will give me a chance? The other issue I've got is that my high level of education, so when I apply for level 1 jobs I'm over looked because of that. Which sucks because I still need to start off some place!

I try not to be too picky about applying for jobs but due to a number of things - disabilities, health issues, my pride, I won't apply for just any old job. There's no way I can work in a call center or sales. I tried being a charity street worker and that wasn't me, I've ruled out teaching and not just because I'll have to get the right qualifications, it's not for me. I can do retail but I'd have to find a place that understands my issues and is like a quiet shop to work in. I don't want to do a lot of traveling and I'd like to stay in one place. So, admin, receptionist, office jobs etc, have been my main go to. there's lost of jobs out there like this and lots of people applying, so it's harder. But I don't know what else to do.

If I could go back to college or uni to take a course which would then get me a job, I would do. But I can't offered that. So I'm trapped in a limbo and not sure how to get out. Everyone says to keep on going, you'll find something soon or realise what you could do instead. I guess that's what I have to do but it seems pointless to be chasing around a stick with no carrot on it.

Today is one of those days where I wish things were totally different. I hope that I find something soon.     



Monday, 22 January 2018

Book Review; Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Norse Mythology



Hi readers,

Here's my first book review of the year! When I read that a new Neil Gaiman book was coming out I knew I had to read it. He is one of my favourite authors and I've now read all but three of his books. Then I found out that this book wasn't going to be a normal fiction novel but Gaiman's re-telling of Norse myths. 

That made me more interested to read this book. I like myths and legends though the stories and characters don't often stick correctly with me! In addition to this, I'm into the Marvel superheroes movies and Thor and Loki are two of my favourite heroes. So, learning about their origin stories also applied to me.

Having never really read any Norse myths before and having just a basic knowledge of them means I can't compare this book to other collections. Though I do have another book called Viking Myths and Sagas; retold from ancient Norse texts which was recommended to me at a party, so as soon as I've read that I can look at seeing how good or bad Gaiman's take on Norse myths is. For now, though my feels about this book are pretty positive.

I found the myths easy to read, maybe because of Gaiman's style of writing, but maybe because these myths were originally written in a simplistic way so that they could be remembered and re-told? There wasn't much description of characters or backgrounds and I would have liked a bit more of both of these as I'm sure my little knowledge and imagination got some of the scenes I pictured wrong. The myths were easy to understand with basic plots, mostly the same characters and meaningful endings. Though there was a lot of repetition about magical items, animals, backgrounds of things which did slightly bug me.

The flow of the myths has this overall start, middle and ending feel and it reminded me of Bible stories. Firstly, there is the creation of all things and how things became like they are. Then there's the development of the Gods, other super beings and humans; they go on adventures and learn from their mistakes or get revenge over monsters and enemies. At the end, there is the death of the god Balder, the final punishment of Loki and Ragnarok - The End Of The World. 

The main characters who appear or are mentioned in each myth are Odin - The All Father, Thor - his son, God of Thunder and Loki - The Trickster. (Who is often mistaken for a God but it actual a giant). As I read the stories, I realised that Marvel's impressions of the characters were influencing my overall thoughts about them. Mostly, these characters have been well represented by the comics and movies, though I was surprise to learn that Thor isn't that intelligent and Loki committed a lot of bad things - including killing gods or causing the deaths of others through his 'tricks.'

Some of the myths are about other Gods, giants and dwarfs which helps to give a deeper understanding. Though according to Gaiman, most of the Norse myths have been lost. So though, lesser Gods and Goddess etc appear, we don't know of any of their deeds and adventures. Gaiman attributes this to the growth of Christianity and that fact that many Norse myths were not written down.           

One of the first reviews I saw about this book was questioning the audience because the reader found the text so simply written that they believed this was a children's book. However, the content is older teen and adult due to the violence, murders, sex and drinking that goes on. I don't think that children would enjoy or fully understand some of these myths. I believe this book is aimed at people coming to these myths for the first time and Gaiman does have a simplistic writing style. Also, he seems to have wanted to re-tell the myths as close as possible to their original format which was possibly kept basic.     

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Norse Mythology. I found this a good starting point to the world of the Norse Gods. I was worried that my dyslexic brain might find it too complicated but with Gaiman's simple style of writing, the myths were easy to understand. I'm looking forward to reading more now and learning about some of the other Gods.         

Thanks for reading!



Please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/
I write a new short story every day!

Links;

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30831912-norse-mythology

http://norse-mythology.net/

https://pixabay.com

Monday, 8 January 2018

January 2018 Life Update; I read 100 books in 2017 BUT I cheated!


Hi readers,

This is my first post of 2018! Happy New Year to you all!

I've been thinking about writing this post since I realised at the start of September 2017 that I wasn't going to reach my goal of reading 100 books in a year. To be honest, it was a lot to ask of myself due to being dyslexic, picky about the books I read and having goal committed issues. I wanted to prove I could do it though but in the end I just put too much pressure on myself and found that it was affecting my reading enjoyment. 

So, I ended up cheating by reading a lot of manga and children's books, plus putting an end date on two books I hadn't finished reading, so that my GoodReads 2017 reading challenge page says 100 books; https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/7287580.

I did it because the idea of not reaching what seemed to me an easy goal was frustrating. Plus, I also realised that if I'd just had a little more time I could have achieved 100 books without having to change the dates. The feeling of being disappointed over this would have made me miserable too and I just wanted to say that I could do it.

Some people would say that a book is a book no matter what and I didn't make it an added goal of only reading a certain type. It doesn't matter what I read but the fact that I did read. That's a good thing in the present world as most people say they don't read because of lack of time. Though, books are so much easier to access then ever before and everyone surely has a few minutes at some point in their day to read.

I recall a news report about a man who read 200 books in 2017, but I can't find the actual report now. It was that story that got me thinking about how much time people spend doing other stuff - sometimes meaningless. I wanted to try and change then, to read more instead of scrolling through social media pages which hadn't changed in hours or just watching re-runs of TV shows. 

A quick Google search comes up with things like this;

http://observer.com/2017/01/the-simple-truth-behind-reading-200-books-a-year/ 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/rosie-leizrowice/the-secrets-to-reading-mo_b_14315860.html

I have no plans this year to aim for 200 books! Instead, I'm back to 50, though if I read more then that's good too. Really that's what this post is all about it, it doesn't matter what or how much you read as long as you do so and enjoy it.

Thanks for reading and please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/