My Ko-Ko-Ko!
Email went around from the head of VRD at work today 9:10 - Thanks for all your hard work this year blah blah blah, you can leave at 1 if your work is finished. Great!
Email 2 minutes later from our line manager - Due to workload and patient turnaround times etc. today will be treated as a normal working day. If you are at a loose end come see me, I have a list of jobs that need doing. Bonfire + Piss = DENIED. (It later turned out our line manager had asked the big boss if today was going to be a "half day affair" and he said no - normal working day. So he'd sorted the schedule etc. out as a normal working day and then the boss changed his mind without telling him).
Anyways, we all decided to order in a Chinese and had a nice dinner. Line manager puts the word around at about 1 - when your work is done you can go. Great, apart from the fact that my test takes 7 hours and was due to finish at 4.50. A whole 10 minutes before our normal leaving time. Super. Off tootled everyone else at half 2. Fanny Ann here was stuck in work til 5. BUT - some good did come of it, the line manager also had to stay for his test, and we had a wee bit of a chat. He's trying to sort out my contract, so that they can keep me. Apparently he's really impressed with me, and they want to keep me. He knows that been as it's only a one year contract that I'm obviously going to be on the lookout for a permenant gig, and told me that if I see anything I have to tell him so he can harrass the people above him to get the contract thing moving so I don't go. No promises or anything, but I know from our last staff meeting they're getting a big European HIV survey contract in the New Year from the World Health Organisation, which I'm pretty sure they are going to need at least 1 full-time member of staff for. As I have experience with the GUM clinic HIV anonymous survey in Cardiff I would hope that I could get in with that. That would be pretty much what I want, research work (well kind of!) and some financial stability. And he also said that because I'd had to stay behind I could take the 2.5 hours whenever I wanted, so that will come in useful next time I go to Cardiff or whatever on a Friday afternoon. But the best thing about this afternoon? I had the radio on in work - singing along in the lab to Bon Jovi - Living On A Prayer like my life depended on it, then Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah and New Order, Regret. Funtimes.
Fuck New Year's Eve at Koko last night was immense. That venue is awe-inspiring. Was a bit concerned that it would be a bit of a haven for the self-concious cool, but wasn't. The odd twat granted, but no more than your average night out in your average club. Which this was not. Free badges on the door set me off straight away (one of a little spaceman with angel wings & one with F*ck NYE on). Koko is a beautiful building. Absolutely lush (toilets are well ghetto though. We're talking bus station rough). Their drinks "offers" made me piss my pants though, most places are BOGOF or £1 shots or whatever. Koko - Bottle of Champagne ONLY £95! Bottle of Fosters ONLY £2.40! Bargains! Pfft. After paying £4.20 for a single vodka & lemonade, I was on the tap water all night. To be honest, I didn't feel like drinking and didn't need to drink really. I was mentally preparing myself for an evening of social anxiety abound, but felt very comfortable in there and danced my little feets off perfectly sober. One girl had obviously been before and noted the drinks prices because she was munted when she arrived. We're talking comedy TV stereotypical drunk here. Looked completely lost and I was actually fearing for her safety after she nearly fell over twice within the space of a minute, and I was relieved when her friend rescued her. One girl was sporting this T-shirt:
which instantly made me want to be her friend.
The DJ was playing some stonking tunes, and I actually jumped up and down and shouted "YES YES YES!" when they played Idlewild because no one ever EVER plays Idlewild. I want to steal the DJ, shrink them down and imprison them in my iPod to spin tunes forever. The fantastic tunes combined with the BIG FUCK-OFF BALLOONS and stupidly huge discoball made the whole night fantastic. Although the 10 minute queue for the cloakroom at 12.15 was a bit of a ballache (and this mostly consisted of people putting their coats IN) and then off we went for the last tube back home. Had some chicken from Sam's, then bed times.
Have some pictures:
Beautiful Christmas Present shoes of infinate comfyness and lovelyness
Email 2 minutes later from our line manager - Due to workload and patient turnaround times etc. today will be treated as a normal working day. If you are at a loose end come see me, I have a list of jobs that need doing. Bonfire + Piss = DENIED. (It later turned out our line manager had asked the big boss if today was going to be a "half day affair" and he said no - normal working day. So he'd sorted the schedule etc. out as a normal working day and then the boss changed his mind without telling him).
Anyways, we all decided to order in a Chinese and had a nice dinner. Line manager puts the word around at about 1 - when your work is done you can go. Great, apart from the fact that my test takes 7 hours and was due to finish at 4.50. A whole 10 minutes before our normal leaving time. Super. Off tootled everyone else at half 2. Fanny Ann here was stuck in work til 5. BUT - some good did come of it, the line manager also had to stay for his test, and we had a wee bit of a chat. He's trying to sort out my contract, so that they can keep me. Apparently he's really impressed with me, and they want to keep me. He knows that been as it's only a one year contract that I'm obviously going to be on the lookout for a permenant gig, and told me that if I see anything I have to tell him so he can harrass the people above him to get the contract thing moving so I don't go. No promises or anything, but I know from our last staff meeting they're getting a big European HIV survey contract in the New Year from the World Health Organisation, which I'm pretty sure they are going to need at least 1 full-time member of staff for. As I have experience with the GUM clinic HIV anonymous survey in Cardiff I would hope that I could get in with that. That would be pretty much what I want, research work (well kind of!) and some financial stability. And he also said that because I'd had to stay behind I could take the 2.5 hours whenever I wanted, so that will come in useful next time I go to Cardiff or whatever on a Friday afternoon. But the best thing about this afternoon? I had the radio on in work - singing along in the lab to Bon Jovi - Living On A Prayer like my life depended on it, then Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah and New Order, Regret. Funtimes.
Fuck New Year's Eve at Koko last night was immense. That venue is awe-inspiring. Was a bit concerned that it would be a bit of a haven for the self-concious cool, but wasn't. The odd twat granted, but no more than your average night out in your average club. Which this was not. Free badges on the door set me off straight away (one of a little spaceman with angel wings & one with F*ck NYE on). Koko is a beautiful building. Absolutely lush (toilets are well ghetto though. We're talking bus station rough). Their drinks "offers" made me piss my pants though, most places are BOGOF or £1 shots or whatever. Koko - Bottle of Champagne ONLY £95! Bottle of Fosters ONLY £2.40! Bargains! Pfft. After paying £4.20 for a single vodka & lemonade, I was on the tap water all night. To be honest, I didn't feel like drinking and didn't need to drink really. I was mentally preparing myself for an evening of social anxiety abound, but felt very comfortable in there and danced my little feets off perfectly sober. One girl had obviously been before and noted the drinks prices because she was munted when she arrived. We're talking comedy TV stereotypical drunk here. Looked completely lost and I was actually fearing for her safety after she nearly fell over twice within the space of a minute, and I was relieved when her friend rescued her. One girl was sporting this T-shirt:
which instantly made me want to be her friend.
The DJ was playing some stonking tunes, and I actually jumped up and down and shouted "YES YES YES!" when they played Idlewild because no one ever EVER plays Idlewild. I want to steal the DJ, shrink them down and imprison them in my iPod to spin tunes forever. The fantastic tunes combined with the BIG FUCK-OFF BALLOONS and stupidly huge discoball made the whole night fantastic. Although the 10 minute queue for the cloakroom at 12.15 was a bit of a ballache (and this mostly consisted of people putting their coats IN) and then off we went for the last tube back home. Had some chicken from Sam's, then bed times.
Have some pictures:
Beautiful Christmas Present shoes of infinate comfyness and lovelyness