by Kristine | Mar 9, 2015 | Eternal Student, Kristine Moments
This is perhaps one of the more epic stories up here on the blog in more recent years. Matt and I were due to graduate on Tuesday 24th February 2015 – him for his Masters & me for my Grad Dip. I had gone down to Rockingham by train so that I could drive us up to Curtin to have our 10 seconds of fame for all the hard work we’ve put in. On the way down, there was impending chaos as there was a bushfire along the Kwinana near Anketell Road, causing the authorities to shutdown the Freeway from Armadale of Rowley Road to Mortimer Road, a pretty decent stretch & one of the main arteries in and out from the South metro area. On the train, I noticed a lot of people gasping & plenty of camera sounds. I looked up and no joke, I saw trees burning right by the side of the Freeway, with flames higher than the tree tops. The roads looked like a ghost town & by that stage, the fire had already jumped the Freeway to burn on the other side.
Our graduation ceremony started at 7pm and we were to be seated by 6.30pm for a video briefing. We left Rockingham at about 4pm, thinking we’d give it plenty of time for us to get through the traffic, given that the Freeway was closed where we needed to get on. Lo and behold, we had started driving & soon it became apparent that things were not looking good. We tried to get on to Stock Road, but traffic was really bad so we attempted to get on the Freeway on Thomas Road, given that either way we’d still be stuck. Got to Thomas Road and at the on ramp to the Freeway, there was a cop redirecting traffic as the Freeway was still closed. We got back on to Stock Road to try to give ourselves a fighting chance to get to our graduation. By the time 6pm came around, we hadn’t even reached Spearwood (20km from our initial starting point) & we had to call it quits as we were only halfway there. Both sides of the road were jam packed as far as the eye could see, we weren’t going to get out of there any time soon.
Turned around at that point & got to Phoenix to try to get some grub but all the back road were also congested & stopping to get food didn’t seem like such a good option as all the carparks were full. So back around to Rockingham we turned & we got to the local Maccas by 8.15pm. I needed to stretch my legs as they were cramped and my butt hurt from the 4 hour long drive. By the time we got back, my dad had messaged & said that the fireworks had come on after the graduation ceremony.
I must say I wasn’t too bothered about it all as it is my second degree and a Grad Dip. We’ve organised it so that we can go to the winter graduation ceremony mid-year. That’s probably a better option, given that the regalia is so thick & heavy, it’d be better suited to colder weather conditions teehee 🙂
What’s your graduation story?
by Kristine | Feb 17, 2015 | Shopping
As part of my birthday 2 weeks ago, a got a number of online vouchers from places where I have reward cards or am registered on their mailing lists. One of these places was Jeans West, where I had a $10 voucher to use by the 17th of February. Being the opportunistic person I am, I dragged Matt over to the Rockingham Shopping Centre to go have a look at what I can get with the $10. I figured, I might as well get something since it is literally free money.
We strolled into Jeans West & I headed for the jeans section as my only pair is currently slowly starting to eat away at the crotch area. Don’t even ask me how I’ve managed to do that, I really don’t know. Anyway, the saleslady came to assist me with my selection as I had no clue what I wanted to get, just that I wanted to get something. In the end, she told me that my voucher could only be used for full priced items which wasn’t too bad as I had chosen 2 pairs of jeans. The lady really knew her stuff, right down to informing me that the dark washes generally shrink & change the stretch of the fabric & she was completely right as I differed in sizes for the pairs I’ve tried on! They even came in different lengths & when one wasn’t available in store, she even placed an order online for me for the other pair to be delivered to my doorstep for free. Now that is what I call service! I cannot rave about them enough, it’s so wonderful to experience such great service, to be treated like a human is refreshing.
Target was also having a sale & I ended up splurging on some Nyx butter gloss in a 3 pack. At last count, I’ve got 44 lip stains/glosses/balms/stains. I think I might have to wear them in my sleep! I am looking forward to the deeper, richer colours of winter but loving the bright splashes of colour for summer. Which one do you prefer?
by Kristine | Jan 16, 2015 | Musings
We’re now well & truly into the start of 2015, with it being the 2nd week of the 2nd month of the year. It’s been pretty non eventful so far, apart from the reaffirmation that my body still doesn’t like mega hot chilli sauces & will attempt evacuation about 12 hours post consumption. I’ve had my fair share of time to think about what I would like to achieve in 2015 & am now ready to put pen to paper, so to speak.
1. Work on my side project
I can’t unfortunately say what it is at the moment as it is still in its infancy but I have got ideas written down & am slowly making my way through setting things up & get it ready for when I have the time to be able to commit about 10 to 15 hours per week to it. The plans I’ve got is for it to be almost a 2nd job which will give me entertainment & provide me some sort of income while indulging my hobbies. Clear as mud? I’m sure I’ll let on in due course, but at the moment it is a closely guarded secret amongst a very select few.
I’m not planning to kick off the project this year, but to get the ground work set up & have some solid ideas & plans. I can’t wait to start sharing with everyone, but it is also a bit scary to do that so I’m waiting till I’m sure that this is going ahead. The last thing I want is to tell people that I’ll be doing something when I’m not ready to deliver.
2. Get a new job
I have mentioned this on Twitter a few times, I am currently employed as a casual & am seconded to another company. I’m grateful for the opportunity, but at the same time being a casual is no way to live life and I am wanting a permanent job and a better paying job. At the moment, having to count each dollar & cent I spend is really doing my head in as I want to be able to get a cup of coffee or food without having to wonder where else I’d have to cut down so that I can pay all my bills. It’s not something that I enjoy after being in a permanent role for 5 years. Almost 1 year with my current company & in my 2nd role, I can say I don’t mind working there but this is not a long term thing.
The people I work with are fantastic, although the role can be a bit monotonous at the same time, it isn’t the worst thing in the world. I appreciate the chance to show that I can do other things & diversify but I’m ready to move into a permanent role to settle down so that I can start a family & get on with life.
3. Get good grades in my Masters
I start my Masters in Information Management in about 3 weeks & am doing a half load for this year & 2 research projects next year in hopes of graduating at the end of next year. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to manage and cope with trying to find a new job – the writing of selection criteria, attending interviews & starting it, combined with getting good grades the 2 units I’m doing this semester. It is quite a lot & ambitious, but like they say, aim for the moon & if you fail, you still land among the stars. I figure that if I don’t try & apply myself in things, I will always ponder about the what ifs, which I don’t like. I would much rather know if I am capable of something or not, and know that I tried my very best than to keep expressing my frustration about my situation without doing anything.
4. Declutter life
I’m the first to admit, I’m a bit of a hoarder but have been getting much better as I grow older. Most of my belongings fit in my room at the moment which I’m pretty proud of actually. My room is literally my living space & has been for my entire life. I cannot wait till I have a whole house to myself which I can decorate to how I like. I’ve made it a point to clean & declutter my room a little each day & so far it has yielded a pretty good result. I’m constantly recycling pamphlets & putting aside things I don’t have use for anymore. If I can keep this up for the rest of the year, I’d say it’s a good effort for when I move.
Moving 5 times in the last 11 years or so, I’ve packed a lot of my stuff in boxes which haven’t been touched in years. I’m looking forward to unpacking my stuff & using them. Yes, I am that person who hasn’t unpacked after moves. I don’t really have room to put my stuff at the moment, so things are staying packed away for now 🙂
I think 4 goals for now is a good start. I’ve made a start to some of my goals at the moment, which is something I’m hoping to keep up during the year. Once I’ve managed to achieve my goals, I’m hoping to add more just so I can keep working towards something as I’m such a goal oriented person. Here’s to 2015 being a better year than before!
by Kristine | Dec 31, 2014 | Personal
I write this while travelling on the train to the work on the last working day of 2014. It’s this time of year that many people, yours truly included, will take the time to reflect on the year that has been & to make plans for the year to come. While I’m reflecting on this year, next year’s goals & dream will be for another post as there is much more reflecting that I would like to do.
There have been many ups & downs this year, 2014 has been quite the roller-coaster ride. Somehow, it feels like 2014 has only just begun, which is such a weird thing to say on the last day of it. I had quit a job, moved interstate, moved back, got a job, got promoted, graduated from uni with a post grad dip, enrolled to do my masters & got recommended to apply for the next intake of the graduate program at my place of work. In a nutshell, 2014 has been a year of change. I’m not a fan of change & it has been quite challenging to accept all these changes that we’re coming my way so quick & fast. It has been a learning experience & I got there in the end.
There are also aspects of my daily life which have also made a change of sorts. I’ve finally learned to listen to what my body is telling me & being better able to accept that I’m not going to be a size 6 model any time soon. I have fat rolls, love handles & thunder thighs. So what? I’m comfortable in it. I must also mention that I am not healthy at all eventhough I might look so on the outside. I might be a size 12 & weigh 65kg, but I’m pretty sure as hell am not even close to being healthy. I eat junk most of the time, barely eat fruit, have no exercise at all & consume a whole lot of sugar. That’s something that I’m going to be working on in the new year. Not so much to look good, more the fact that I want to be able to live long enough to see my grand kids.
I’ve always had the bad habit of leaving things till the very last minute & I’ve made a small change with that. By my calculations, I’ve only left half the things I wanted to do till last minute, but did half of them before they are due. Also something to work on for next year. And waiting for the perfect time to do stuff was always my excuse. Not anymore.
Reflecting on only what is a small part of the year, I’ve come to the conclusion that change isn’t such a bad thing. It stretches your capacity & builds upon the foundations you at underneath it. Not all change is bad, people have to evolve just as technology has to evolve in keeping up with people. If I had to pick it, I’d say 2015 will be another year full of change. Small changes that will lead to big changes & also big pay off’s. I am really looking forward to it being a great year!
I leave you here with a picture of part of my goal for next year as a sneak peek. Enjoy the celebrations & be safe everyone!
by Kristine | Dec 19, 2014 | Personal, Working Woman
As I’m writing this, I’ve officially passed my Graduate Diploma in Information and Library Studies!! Needless to say, I’m absolutely stoked with it all! I’ve now got a bachelor’s degree, a cert 4 and a grad dip under my belt. Also will be starting my Masters in March, so that will be interesting.
It’s been very very quiet at work, to the point where I’m doing work all day which is meant to be for quiet times. It’s a bit disconcerting as the other day in the team meeting, it was brought up that it has been unusually quiet even for this time of year. If this continues in the new year due to a change in process for how some of our work flow is managed, team resources would have to be re-evaluated. It was a bit of a blow as this means that I could well possibly be out of work if things drop off & become too quiet. It was a bit of an awkward moment in the meeting as I had to smile & nod while alarm bells are ringing in my head!
Due to it being super quiet over the last 2 weeks, it’s given me ample time to think about things & which way I’d want to head for my future. Being a goal oriented person, I’ve set some goals to achieve in the short & long term. Short term goal will be to focus on actively applying for positions in both my fields of expertise, given that I’ve now got dual qualifications. I’ve set myself a time frame of between 2 to 3 months to last in my current position as too much free time & lack of meaningful work is making me feel like my brain is decaying again. Something I’ve actively worked to avoid in the past 2 years or so. I do however, feel horrible about this decision as I’ve started in this role part time since September but only started full time since November. In less than 2 months, I’ve given it my all but work isn’t exactly steady & there’s such a lull between busy periods. I’m much more used to being in high pressure situations & being tested. I suppose one thing that made this decision easier is that I’m being paid at a pretty low rate & knowing what my workplace pays my employers for me makes me feel rather used. In talking to other people from the same employer, I’ve found there to be little to no room for negotiations on wages. I don’t think I’m being paid a fair wage & for my skills, I think I’m being ripped off. Also, I am on a casual contract which makes my job very uncertain, not to mention makes me feel like my life is on hold as I can’t do many things with limited money & options. One of the big things for me is not being able to secure a loan as I want to build another place again, our home for when we get married. Which is in fact a long term goal of mine, being able to own another property within 5 to 10 years. I think it’s possible to achieve this & I’m hell bent on doing it.
It’s been a pretty interesting past couple of weeks & it has given me time to really evaluate what I want to do. Am chasing up some leads with things & am really hoping it works out. I’ve also started some baby steps into some things I’ve been working on & it feels pretty good to start chasing my dreams again. I’m looking forward to the next few years to see what it brings, but I’m more so excited about the next few months to see which path I will take next.
by Kristine | Dec 9, 2014 | Kristine Moments
About a week ago I had quite a strong craving for some fruit, namely bananas or mangoes, preferably in smoothie form. I must admit, I am not someone who automatically reaches to the fruit bowl each day for the recommended daily dosage of them natural sugars, but I don’t despise them at all. I actually like fruit, I just don’t have a natural inclination to eat them unless it is in front of me.
I’m not exactly sure why that is, but it might have something to do with not having fruit on a daily basis while growing up. I spent a great proportion of my childhood/teenage years at babysitters’ houses & ate whatever they gave me. More often than not, fruit wasn’t a big thing there. I got the occasional banana, apple and sour oranges. I used to love ice cold turnips dipped in plum powder, that’s the taste of my childhood.
Moving to Australia & seeing everyone eat fruit & it being pushed at every direction has slowly altered my mindset to try to consciously include it in my diet. I used to eat a banana or two a week & no other fruit. I’m actually a walking billboard of what not to do with your diet, I might not look like I’m unhealthy, but I can guarantee you that if a doctor ran me through a barrage of tests, I wouldn’t fare well. I’m actually making a conscious effort to try to eat fruit each day (I managed to find a slice of kiwi & green apple at work today!) and am slowly trying to make small changes to the way I do things.
As long as I don’t have full control of what I eat each day, I am going to add to my diet a bit at a time in way of fruit. It is a bit of a hard habit to break, 28 years of not having fruit regularly is ingrained in me. Baby steps each day.
by Kristine | Dec 8, 2014 | Eternal Student, Finance Matters, Growing Up, Super Secret Kristine Project, Working Woman
So it’s been just over 3 months since I’ve blogged. Since I last posted, I have hopefully finished the last of my units for my Grad Dip in Information and Library Studies, passed my probation at work & settled into my new role at work. I’ve been at my new work for about 2 months now & been settling in rather well. The only problem I have with the whole work situation is that I’m still a casual & if I can’t work for whatever reason, I’m screwed. That is in fact a very scary situation to be in, considering that I’ve got a mortgage over my head. I’m taking one day at a time & slowly looking for work as it comes along, building relationships along the way & networking. I’ve also got accepted to do my Masters in Information Management, I’ve decided to do this within 2 years rather than a year and a half.
It’s been a pretty eventful year & I’ve had many opportunities to reflect on where my life is headed. I’m hoping to start a few side projects which will help me get through the working day & keep my brain active doing what I love to do. I can’t quite say what it is yet, but all in due time. I’m also wanting to get back into reading more & blogging more about stuff. I’ve always struggled with keeping my private life off the internet & have been fiercely protective about what I put out there on the big internets. Hazard of the job I guess, knowing how much data is put into cyberspace daily is frightening, especially when it can be used against you. But, I’ve decided sharing & documenting bits of my life without giving away identifying information is as much as I want to do. I’ve got a few interesting blog posts lined up, so am really looking forward to getting into it.
I guess the reason why I’ve been absent from blogging is that after a long day’s work staring at the computer all day, the last thing I want to do is stare at the computer all night again. Staring at the computer screen for 7.5 hours a day while doing mundane tasks is really not my thing. I’ve been craving human interaction at work & not quite getting that much. Which is why I’ve also decided to turn to blogging again as a way to get my thoughts out in more than 140 characters. There is only so much I can put on Twitter, which I will still be on. I’ve always been one for writing & I’ve missed it. A lot more than I’ve actually realised.
At some point later this month, I will be reflecting more on the year gone by & looking to set some goals for next year & review what I’ve accomplished this year. It’ll be exciting and bittersweet to leave behind 2014, but I am looking forward to 2015 & for better beginnings! I’ve always been one to wait for the perfect time to do things but I am slowly beginning to live by the motto carpe diem, seize the day. There is only so much time I’ve got on this earth & waiting for the perfect time to do things is just not something I can afford to do anymore. Here’s to seizing the day!
by Kristine | Sep 2, 2014 | Working Woman
It has been just over 3 months at my new role and I can say that I was offered another ongoing role just last week. I started the new role today & will do 2 days at my new role, while I do 3 days in my old role till my contract finishes on 19th September. Needless to say it’s been a really exciting day today. I got to learn a whole heap of new things and get to know the records system and workflow. My old role was as an archivist and now I’m a records administrator. I’ve gotten quite a bit further in just over 3 months than I did in 5 years in my old role. Not sure what work saw in me, but this promotion was a real surprise.
I’ve always thought that things worked out for a reason and by chance I’ve always fallen into things accidentally and somehow managed to prosper and make my way through things. Not exactly sure why or how, but it seems to have happened with my previous job, I fell into it after uni when my circumstances were pretty dire (I was on a student visa, the GFC just hit, employers weren’t employing people who weren’t PR and I hadn’t gotten my PR so I couldn’t get a job). I was offered a job 2 weeks into my prac & I stayed there for 5 years.
I fell into this position quite by accident as well as it was by chance that I saw an e-mail advising of a position available in the CBD as an archivist, starting immediately and full time. I swung by for an informal chat & obtained the job, which I am where I am now. By chance, someone had left within another department & I was offered this position. All this with my employer knowing that I didn’t have the experience or records background, but knew I was studying the Grad Diploma in Info & Library Studies and finishing up this year. From what I’ve heard, as long as I’m willing to learn, I will be fine. I take that stance in everything I do and every job I go into, I’m not going to lie about what I do know, but am upfront and frank about what I know, but make it very clear that I am willing to learn.
I am a bit buggered out at the moment, uni is taking up quite a bit of time, but I am 2 units away from my Grad Dip! I’m super excited about that, but not looking forward so much to all the assignments. Am currently immersed in the Harry Potter series again (I am currently reading about the Yule Ball in the Goblet of Fire and laughing my heart out at Ron’s dress robes!) amongst other things to wind down after work and uni. I’ve missed reading heaps. Speaking of library and reading, my new work place has an informal library where we can take and give books out of a mini cupboard labelled ‘Library’. I’m an excited little person right now!
by Kristine | Jul 1, 2014 | Finance Matters, Super Secret Kristine Project
For those playing at home, that phrase comes form a local tv ad advertising the End of Financial Year sale for some cars. It is that time of year again & it has been a bit of a kick start to some new habits & a project. I used to be really good at keeping track of my expenses, but have dropped off as money wasn’t such a giant issue as time went on.
So I took the opportunity to kick start my expense tracking again. I’m using this app on my phone called Xpensy, which is really nifty & shows how much I spend in each category. Really helps me identify where I’m bleeding money the most or spending unnecessarily. Always good to know as I always seem to think I have more money that I actually have. Heh.
Also, have begun my new project, slowly setting things up and getting ideas onto paper and into motion. It’s rather exciting as I’m hoping that this project will be an outlet for my creative side that I’ve always felt has been rather under utilised. It’s all under wraps at the moment for good reason, I’m wanting to give it the best chance to succeed when I finally reveal it. But I am very, very excited about it to say the least.
So far, it’s been nearly 2 months that I’ve been in my not so new job now. As each day goes past, we keep finding more and more documents to be digitised or hardcopy archived, I’m still amazed at the amount of documents generated in the 7 years. The aim is to get everything cleared by end of August or early September but we will be doing it till we finish everything so when the actual finish date is anybody’s guess. My colleague’s initial contract at another project was 3 months, but it took her 1 year and 2 months to finish. I must say, now that I’ve slowly adjusted to my colleagues and settled in, the human interaction side of things are improving considerably. Actually talking to my colleagues is helping the time go past at work so much quicker, which is awesome. The amount of work I’m doing each day is also relatively high, so things will get done eventually, I’d say it’d be around the September mark. I’m actually looking forward to finishing up to be honest & move on to other things.
by Kristine | Jun 2, 2014 | Working Woman
I’ve done 2 weeks of full time work at my new job & I must say I don’t particularly love it, but I don’t hate it either. I’m a bit meh with it. Checking that physical documents match the scanned version & typing in codes to say that it matches for 7.5 hours a day is enough to make me see stars. I have to type in “DIGP0019” on each document and by the end of each working day, I’m starting to call it digpooig in my head. I have to find amusement in such things, or else I’ll go insane with boredom.
On the bright side, I’m allowed to listen to music or radio while I work, which is nice. I made it through the 1st week without listening to music as I was a bit unsure if that was allowed, but seeing that my colleague was watching anime while he worked, I’m pretty sure listening to radio is fine. Plus, I was outputting something ridiculous like close to 400 documents per day.
I can’t say I see myself in this position past the September deadline, it is way to mundane for my liking. It does pay well for the work I’m doing though, but I really miss the human interaction part of a job. Staring at the screen for almost 8 hours a day with barely a word spoken to colleagues really isn’t me. I know I am shy and don’t talk much, but going mostly the entire day without talking to anyone is starting to do my head in. They’re aiming for about 4 months for us to archive & digitise most of the documents left behind after a 7 year project, which isn’t too bad given that I’ve worked out that they’ve got about 30000 to 40000 documents to complete and aim to do 2000 per week. Those numbers scare me, but I’ve worked out in my 2 weeks there, I’ve done just over 2000 documents, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I’ve decided to stick out this 4 month casual contract, I was told that there might be work till December, but really have to play it by ear. Not sure that after 4 months of staring at the same types of documents, I’d be wanting to sign up for another 3 months of it. If any interesting library jobs come up after the initial 4 months, I’m going for it. Being on a casual contract isn’t entirely the best & I definitely do want to get back to a permanent role somewhere. But for now, this will suffice 🙂
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