Thinking that this week is going to be rather stressful on the work front, I thought i'd take a few moments to update my blog, since this month tis the season of late nights, wild mornings, long work hours, continual promises of catching up, and the best laid plans of mice and men.
First thing I wanted to comment on was something that happened to me Friday morning. I woke up, feeling in a somewhat crabby mood, and just finding myself feeling that I was going to have a bad day. I left home, walking up to work, and letting my mind take in what I had to achieve for today. Now, i'm sure we all have these experiences where, during transit from one place to another, you catch the sight of something that just has an immediate impact and makes you really re-evaluate things. This happened to me on Friday morning.
I was walking up to Prahran Market Clinic when I noticed a man crouched over, leaning against the railing on the side of the footpath. As I moved closer, I realised that the man was quietly sobbing to himself, his arms folded across his chest as he hunched over, and beside him where two large envelopes that they send Xray scan results in. Whatever the news was that this man received, it was clearly obvious that it wasn't good.
At this point, I felt like such a dick! I spent the rest of the walk saying to myself, "I was having a bad day? Are you kidding? That man was having a bad day. I was just being lazy and making excuses for small inconveniences in my life that will, ultimately, mean little or nothing in a day, week, month, year..." I often find comparison to be such a cop out when people aim to comfort you on things (ie, "Yeah, but who isn't in debt? I have a mortage and two kids to pay for so I know what it's like to be in debt!"). It's all very well and good to compare one circumstance with another, but ultimately provides no real solution or positive outcome other than suggesting that we're all as screwed as each other. However, these sudden moments of truth, where you see how bad the world could be, and realise how absolutely tiny many of our own issues are; they're the ones that bring home the difference. Whoever that man was, I will be thinking of him for some time, and while I hope he is all right, at least his courage to react openly in public brought home to one person how much bullshit we can all really be full of.
On to a more lighter note... birthdays... so many... and engagements... two in one month! I barely go to a wedding a year! This weekend, we celebrate Michael Sakellaris' birthday in a MASSIVE way (I will be feeling it for days), while sending love to best wishes out to David "Margeaux" Watson, who celebrated his 30th in Sydney, and Jodi, who celebrated her birthday as well. Next weekend is Lyle's birthday, and so Ant and I are keen to help him celebrate in some way too. My budget is entirely out the door. I'm keeping an eye on everything at the moment, and educating myself on financial management. It's a long hard road ahead, but for someone who has never really been that good with money, I feel more clued in now than ever before. I think home life has a lot to do with that as well, content with the company of Ant and the kids and not so concerned about superficial spends. In fact, I think i've nearly lost the ability to impulse shop!
Work... ahh, what to say about it. Last week, I brought in nearly more hours in one week than the first three months of the companies history. I've had two consecutive weeks of record breaking hours for the company, and look set to redo that this week for a hat trick. I'm feeling good about work; i'm getting results and feeling successful, and feeling empowered from it too. In fact, the past few weeks have had me feeling the most happy about my work life than I have been since FMR, which, as it is abundently clear, will always be a golden age for me. I do have some frustrations, and found myself dreaming about work over the weekend, which was not great. I do find many candidates, in this high demand period, are being rather fickle and fussy about what they will and won't do, and as a result, are telling me no more than a day or HOURS before an assignment that they've "changed their minds" and don't want to do it. Or clients, who feel the need to see a CV and Efolio on a candidate before bringing them in a for a temp assignment... crazy! If they're any good, they'll be snapped up and gone by the time they've read the CV, looked at the folio and then deliberated and procrastinated over it for hours. ...And then lose out cause they're gone, and wonder why they can't find the right backup resources! Truly, this job has given me so much insight into what is the perfect candidate, client, and how businesses should ideally be run.
Time for bed. My lovely boyfriend is already asleep and looking very peaceful. He has his own work issues to contend with, but at least we have each other to give us support. For someone who spent much of their life claiming that The Twins "Not The Loving Kind" was virtually a self-anthem, it feels like it has all been a refreshing change and one that can only make me grow more and more.
