" ..A fraction of a heartbeat / Made us what we are.. "
My, it's been a long time since I updated properly.
In short, it's been very stressful for several reasons, almost all of them unexpected.
Firstly, work has been hectic. My job is safe but entire departments, including ours, are getting physically reshuffled, so we're halfway down the hall from our machines. Which makes for annoyed phone calls from three other departments when our machine alarms go off, as we're simply too far away to hear them. Staffing hours have been cut like never before. For example, we used to have two scientists working a Saturday (one from 8am to 4pm, and one from 12 noon to 8pm), as well as two full labby shifts (8am to 4pm, and 10am to 6pm). Now we have only one scientist (9am to 5pm), and the later labby shift has been halved. This includes running Haematology, Transfusion and Coag. Plus the scientist working Saturday works Sunday as well, now. As one of the two most senior scientists, I have been rostered on lots of night and graveyard shifts, as the other senior scientist likes working weekends (and the 9am start on Saturdays makes them mutually exclusive). If I get more weekends off to spend with my TigerEyes I'm certainly not complaining.
It's no wonder I am now on medication for gastric ulcers. Yay, fun times. These pills also make me a little drowsier, so I have to chug extra caffeine when on an early shift.
Secondly, I've been accepted into Masters for next year. I need to do further study to get out of my career rut, and Health Services Management and Policy is not that much of a change in industry, so much as a change in direction. I managed to score an interview with the Head of School, who advised me that given the number of professionals (doctors, nurses, dentists..) she'd advised who were looking to get out of the clinical sector, my best bet for employability would be a full Masters. Otherwise if I chose only the Grad Cert or Grad Dip I'd be up against Masters grads and have to upgrade anyway.
The kicker? It's $16K in fees for full time study for the first year. And it goes up every year. I'm lucky in that all the units are available part time and externally (so I can work full time and service that mortgage and car loan as well), so I'll be stretching it out to probably three years minimum.
Which means I will be very short in time, energy and money for the next few years. Goodbye to plans of more Europe travel until at least 2014. On the good side, the Good Doktor approves so much of this decision that he has told me he will willingly bulk-bill me for my appointments, as long as I get good grades for him. Isn't that nice?
Thirdly, I got news of a very dear friend's second nervous breakdown due to the explosive end of their marriage. The wave of fury that washed over me when I heard the details took me completely by surprise. As did how good it felt. Said dear friend is coming out of over ten years of emotional abuse within marriage, and is staying with good friends, being cared for and pining for the children (who are currently being taught to hate them). As this very dear friend hasn't bought any clothing for the last ten years that wasn't from Target or Kmart, I'm commissioning designer KG to make them a winter coat for a Yule/birthday gift. That will take the place of my annual holiday self-gift this year, and anybody who would like to donate to help defray this is welcome and encouraged to do so. While I'm getting truly amazing mate's-rates discounts here, it's still not a small amount. I'm throwing in almost my entire discretionary income at the moment. And it is a truly worthy cause for a very deserving person.
On the other hand, life has lately shown me some shining moments. I got to march in the Pride parade for the first time, costumed as a nun with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It was an astonishingly uplifting and empowering experience, and one I'd happily repeat next year. Thanks to chaosmanor, who gave me the opportunity to be a part of something wondrous.
I got to see Needlenurse at her 40th, and it was a fun thing. I got to reconnect with her and an old acquaintance as well as make some possible work connections. Even getting confronted with an overly aggressive and overly political wanker couldn't spoil my mood.
And I had a great birthday this year too, despite the whole 'I hate birthdays' thing. TigerEyes dragged me to get my nails done - mani and pedi - earlier in the week, then we got dressed up and went to Yu at Burswood for dinner (I need to take lady_niav there; I've not seen a high end Chinese restaurant that had an actual vegetarian menu section before). The rest of the weekend saw us playing around in the kitchen, with risotto and panna cotta experiments. (Note to self: drop the yoghurt from the recipe, sub in more milk for tenderness.) TigerEyes also built me a new Puter (just need to clear my desk; a monumental undertaking!), and Housemate got me a gift voucher for a hair salon (it's been over a year since my last cut).
I'll keep working at this Life thing. It seems vaguely fun at times. ;/
In short, it's been very stressful for several reasons, almost all of them unexpected.
Firstly, work has been hectic. My job is safe but entire departments, including ours, are getting physically reshuffled, so we're halfway down the hall from our machines. Which makes for annoyed phone calls from three other departments when our machine alarms go off, as we're simply too far away to hear them. Staffing hours have been cut like never before. For example, we used to have two scientists working a Saturday (one from 8am to 4pm, and one from 12 noon to 8pm), as well as two full labby shifts (8am to 4pm, and 10am to 6pm). Now we have only one scientist (9am to 5pm), and the later labby shift has been halved. This includes running Haematology, Transfusion and Coag. Plus the scientist working Saturday works Sunday as well, now. As one of the two most senior scientists, I have been rostered on lots of night and graveyard shifts, as the other senior scientist likes working weekends (and the 9am start on Saturdays makes them mutually exclusive). If I get more weekends off to spend with my TigerEyes I'm certainly not complaining.
It's no wonder I am now on medication for gastric ulcers. Yay, fun times. These pills also make me a little drowsier, so I have to chug extra caffeine when on an early shift.
Secondly, I've been accepted into Masters for next year. I need to do further study to get out of my career rut, and Health Services Management and Policy is not that much of a change in industry, so much as a change in direction. I managed to score an interview with the Head of School, who advised me that given the number of professionals (doctors, nurses, dentists..) she'd advised who were looking to get out of the clinical sector, my best bet for employability would be a full Masters. Otherwise if I chose only the Grad Cert or Grad Dip I'd be up against Masters grads and have to upgrade anyway.
The kicker? It's $16K in fees for full time study for the first year. And it goes up every year. I'm lucky in that all the units are available part time and externally (so I can work full time and service that mortgage and car loan as well), so I'll be stretching it out to probably three years minimum.
Which means I will be very short in time, energy and money for the next few years. Goodbye to plans of more Europe travel until at least 2014. On the good side, the Good Doktor approves so much of this decision that he has told me he will willingly bulk-bill me for my appointments, as long as I get good grades for him. Isn't that nice?
Thirdly, I got news of a very dear friend's second nervous breakdown due to the explosive end of their marriage. The wave of fury that washed over me when I heard the details took me completely by surprise. As did how good it felt. Said dear friend is coming out of over ten years of emotional abuse within marriage, and is staying with good friends, being cared for and pining for the children (who are currently being taught to hate them). As this very dear friend hasn't bought any clothing for the last ten years that wasn't from Target or Kmart, I'm commissioning designer KG to make them a winter coat for a Yule/birthday gift. That will take the place of my annual holiday self-gift this year, and anybody who would like to donate to help defray this is welcome and encouraged to do so. While I'm getting truly amazing mate's-rates discounts here, it's still not a small amount. I'm throwing in almost my entire discretionary income at the moment. And it is a truly worthy cause for a very deserving person.
On the other hand, life has lately shown me some shining moments. I got to march in the Pride parade for the first time, costumed as a nun with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It was an astonishingly uplifting and empowering experience, and one I'd happily repeat next year. Thanks to chaosmanor, who gave me the opportunity to be a part of something wondrous.
I got to see Needlenurse at her 40th, and it was a fun thing. I got to reconnect with her and an old acquaintance as well as make some possible work connections. Even getting confronted with an overly aggressive and overly political wanker couldn't spoil my mood.
And I had a great birthday this year too, despite the whole 'I hate birthdays' thing. TigerEyes dragged me to get my nails done - mani and pedi - earlier in the week, then we got dressed up and went to Yu at Burswood for dinner (I need to take lady_niav there; I've not seen a high end Chinese restaurant that had an actual vegetarian menu section before). The rest of the weekend saw us playing around in the kitchen, with risotto and panna cotta experiments. (Note to self: drop the yoghurt from the recipe, sub in more milk for tenderness.) TigerEyes also built me a new Puter (just need to clear my desk; a monumental undertaking!), and Housemate got me a gift voucher for a hair salon (it's been over a year since my last cut).
I'll keep working at this Life thing. It seems vaguely fun at times. ;/