Woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat and aching sinuses. Didn’t sleep much last night because I was always waking up to blow my nose and the sinuses have been shocking. I hate colds. 
Nothing terribly new to report. My life is pretty boring at the moment. I’m still tossing up whether or not I should go to the second Michael Buble concert in Brisbane. There’s a ’situation’ there so… yeah. Decision needs to be made.
So I’d sort of been deluding myself with this AWESOME tour (with Trafalgar) I wanted to do next year but just had a feeling that it was going to be too expensive.
Well, today I applied for a loan to help pay for it. But not only that, also to consolidate my other debt and get rid of the damn credit card that’s been bloody dead weight I couldn’t get rid of.
The girl I spoke to with Suncorp was really lovely and very helpful (I’m so pleased I got her and not some other person!). I’ve been told my application has been sent to the Credit Department for checking because I SHOULD be able to service this loan even though my financials say I can’t (it’s this whole ‘being named on the lease where I rent’ thing. I only pay a third of the house rent but I’m liable for 100% as I’m named on the lease. I explained all this to her and she was more than understanding).
ANYWAY. Please please PLEASE cross your fingers that I get this loan approved. Not only would it mean an absolutely awesome trip but it would mean getting rid of my other debt and I’m not entirely sure which I’d be more happy about. 
*is trying to think lots of positive thoughts at the credit dept*
It can’t possibly be 6 days ’til Christmas. Are you serious?? I never really wanted this year to hang on (in fact I’m glad it’s almost over) but there’s a very real feeling of I’ve blinked and missed something… 
I made a decision today. Regarding travel.
I randomly picked up a Europe travel brochure from TrailFinders yesterday and actually had a look on the train in this morning. I found the tour I want to do.
The “Traditional Grand European” tour (which they say is offered by Globus). About 8 countries in 21 days. It goes through all the ‘major’ destinations in those countries (which, off the top of my head, included England, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and I can’t remember what else.) Jess and a few of the others at work had a look - there was much “ooh”ing and “aahhh”ing and “Sarah, you are going to LOVE that.”
My decision has been made. I’m travelling around Europe for 3 weeks next year. It’ll probably be the latest tour I can manage, around October or so I think? Mostly to give me ample time to save for it but there’s also the factor of not wanting to go in the middle of a European summer. 
Now that I’ve made the decision, I’m REALLY looking forward to it.
ETA: For those wondering, this page has a pretty good replica of the map in the travel brochure. Not sure it’s EXACTLY the same tour as I’m not sure how old this page is and I’m sure some minor adjustments have been made in the brochure I have sitting on my desk at work. (eg I’m pretty sure the sidetrack to Bay of Naples wasn’t in the book!) But it gives you an idea at least.
So I haven’t posted in a while, but I have exciting news. I’m going to see Michael Bublé next year! 
I ended up going the Preferred Seating route for the first Bris show (June 2) as I’m one in a group of FIVE going (me, Mum, Kazz, Debs & Janey)! I didn’t really like my chances trying to buy 5 tickets through Ticketek - pre-sale or no. LOL Due to bank issues, we still had to buy the 5 tickets in two lots (a pair and a triplet) but hopefully we’re not all sitting too far away from each other - and that the tickets turn out good! (That’s the only problem with Preferred Seating - you don’t know where you’re sitting until you get the tickets! 
)
Anyway, the day the tickets went on general sale (which was 6 December, 3 days after I purchased our tickets), Elisa was trying to buy hers through Ticketek. She only needed three - for herself, Doug and her sister. When she got to Ticketek (at 8:30 QLD, which was 9:30 NSW time) there were only single seats left.
“What do I do now??” she asked me.
“The only thing you can do is to try the Mastercard site or go through Preferred Seating like I did.”
So she went to Preferred Seating only to see the announcement Second Brisbane Show Now On Sale!
“There’s a second show for Brisbane! The next night!” she said quickly.
“Get to Ticketek NOW!”
So she scrambled for Ticketek while I thought I’d have a look. To be honest, I was incredibly surprised the site hadn’t shut down like it does on ‘Red Sale’ days! Just for the heck of it, I thought I’d see what kind of ’single seats’ were available. It looked good. So I bought it.
Yes, I am going TWICE - both of the Brisbane concerts. Monday 2 June will be with the aforementioned 4 in my group (plus Jess will be there with her hubby, I believe!) and Tuesday 3 June I’m going by myself (but I don’t care! :D) and Elisa, Martine, and Eve should be there as well with their respective partners/groups.
Now, see ticket below.
I feel like framing the damn thing. LOL
Now have a look at the seating chart(s) to see where that seat (probably) is. I HAVE A THIRD ROW SEAT!!!!! 
In the center!! Okay. Calm. *breathes* Granted, the seating can change between concerts, but this was two three entirely different seating charts & concerts and they both all had the same thing (the third was an ebay sale)… AA was Row 1. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! *is super excited*
We’re getting house calls now?!
Okay, so it doesn’t sound like it’s Telstra but STILL. Same freaking questions!
“Do you have the internet connected? How much are you paying? What do you get for that?” etc etc etc.
ETA: Whoops. I just went down and gave the guy a serve. When Mum tried to explain what we get in our package, he sounded like he didn’t believe that we DO actually get 80GB combined (I swear, he actually said “Oh, I don’t think so, ma’am.” WTH. It’s OUR internet. I’m pretty sure we know). So I laid it out. 80GB/mth. 40GB peak. 40GB offpeak. Phone included. And VOIP. NOT. INTERESTED. IN OTHER. COMPANIES.
Mum said that I was pushing the line on rudeness but I’m just so sick of door-to-door people and phone/internet companies calling at all hours. Grargh. There isn’t a ‘Do Not Call’ register for door-to-door people, is there?
Holy crap I am SO. SORE. I had my first pilates class at Pure today and jaysus. I knew I was out of shape but aasdklfjsdlfk. I don’t feel quite so bad though because Elaine went with me and she was the same. LOL My lower back was CANING through the latter part of the class (honestly felt like some sort of hard ball was digging into my back). I have an inkling I’m going to be REALLY feeling it all over tomorrow. Eep.
Mum convinced me to book in with the physio tomorrow. I wasn’t going to but I think I need it. Lucky for me I have Eric, who is awesome. What’s even better is that he’s actually one of the pilates teachers for Lifestyle Therapies so I can ask him about stuff - namely what I can do to NOT feel so much pain when I’m doing the exercises.
Loooong day at work today. Started at 8:15 and didn’t finish until 5:30, though that was mostly because I was waiting for Mum. She was by herself (M wasn’t in) and absolutely run off her feet, so she worked back to get everything done. I didn’t mind too much - I had PLENTY of work to keep me busy, plus working that extra half an hour made up the extra time I took at lunch for my class.
Oh, and something else I meant to mention re: Pure. I did my actual sign-up with Emma (the manager) right after the class and two interesting things came out of it.
1) She had a look at my quote/enquiry form from last week and apparently Genevieve (who I spoke to last week) didn’t put down a quote for my joining fee (though she told me $49 at the time) so Emma said she’d just leave the joining fee this time. 8-O And the joining fee for 6 mths is usually $149!! *is very grateful*
2) I asked about what happens towards the end of my 6 mth contract when I move away. Emma said my best bet was to transfer the membership. YES, THEY ALLOW TRANSFERS TO OTHER PEOPLE. How great is that? Rather than copping a cancellation fee (which I think works out to be the remainder of your payments) they will allow you to transfer the membership to someone who wants to finish it off. Excellent. Fingers crossed I can find someone.
Now I’m going to sit here (rocking chair + laptop) and watch this week’s Life & Pushing Daisies, which I haven’t yet had a chance to watch. Can’t wait!
So what did I do today (other than, apparently, trawl news websites)?
Well, I got a job and I bought a laptop!
This one, on the left. Yeah, yeah, say what you want about Dell but I wanted it (reasonably) cheap-ish and as if I’m gonna pass up free upgrade to 2GB RAM! The laptop will be faster/better kit out than my desktop, which is only 18 mths old. LOL
I also made a decision to start pilates and/or yoga, to help with toning my body but also to help my back. One of my last trips to the physio, Stephen mentioned that pilates would work well on relaxing and strengthening the muscles. So it sounds good to me. The place I have in mind is Pure - which has been highly recommended to me by someone who used to go there for pilates, PLUS it’s right around the corner from where I’m going to be working. Bonus!
Received a recommendation from an online friend (Brisbane-based) that LINK Recruitment are apparently very good. She couldn’t speak of them highly enough. So I had a quick look around the website and found this ad - sounds good to me!
I ended up doing a sort of ‘letter of introduction’ to accompany the resume, to explain what I was looking for and my recent background with the govt departments.
Dear Bree
Please consider this cover letter and the accompanying resume as my application for the temporary pool advertised on the LINK Recruitment website.
I am currently interested in both short and long-term temporary full-time roles with government departments. As I live on the Bayside and only have access to public transport, I would prefer roles that are based within the CBD itself.
Whilst my resume highlights essential skills, knowledge and experience I possess, I would like to take this opportunity to expand further upon my skills and background.
For the past 16 months, since moving back to Brisbane, I have been working within the Queensland Government as a Human Resource Officer at the AO3 and AO4 levels. The majority of my employment was with the Recruitment Services Team in Shared Service Agency (formerly Corporate Solutions Queensland) followed by a short stint with Corporate Capability within Department of Mines and Energy.
Much of my work involved a heavy client focus and gave me ample opportunity to speak to a broad range of clients, both internal and external, at all levels. The customer service I provided included, but was not limited to, recruitment and selection advice (referring to relevant legislation and government policies), answering payroll enquiries (and liaising with payroll as needed), responding to general enquiries from non-government clients, and liaising with other government department, branches and regions as required.
While my previous roles as a HR Officer required little in the way of general administration, I am not unfamiliar with the duties associated with Administration Officers and Assistants and would feel confident undertaking any roles of this nature.
My general computer skills are considered Advanced. I have been using computers daily for well over 10 years. I am largely self-taught, through genuine personal interest, and feel extremely capable using any programs based on the Windows platform. As well as constant use of the MS Office Suite, my computer skills encompass extensive experience with email (Outlook/Outlook Express), internet/intranet (Internet Explorer, Netscape and Mozilla Firefox), Adobe Acrobat Reader, FTP, HTML, CSS, and Windows 95 through to Windows XP. I have also had extensive experience with the Aurion and SAP Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) used by Queensland Government departments.
I am available to start immediately. I’m not afraid of hard work and I love the thought of a job that will get my brain working and foster my need for professional and personal growth.
If you are looking for a person who can move quickly into a position and has a broad range of skills available to call upon, I would love an opportunity to speak with you. I can be reached on xxxx xxx xxx.
As a matter of interest, LINK Recruitment was recommended to me by a friend. She had used LINK Recruitment previously and couldn’t speak highly enough about the company and her consultant, hence my application.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Fingers crossed something comes of it!
I had an appointment with a new consultant at Select Appointments earlier this afternoon. I originally re-registered with them back in early July but the first consultant I got was HOPELESS (Bridget). She only got me an interview for one job (which she never actually confirmed with the place 
) and then I never heard from her again. WTF??
So I got a card from a former Select temp at DME before I left there. I gave that chick a call - she was no longer working there but I set up an appointment with her replacement.
A few things became apparent when I came in today. Martine (the consultant) was quite nice, though I thought her a bit standoff-ish at first. She asked me if I’d filled in all the registration forms out the front when I first came in. This is a paraphrased version of the conversation.
Sarah: But… I already filled those in. I re-registered about 2-3 months ago…
Martine: Really?
S: Yeah, it was in July.
M: Oh. That wasn’t all that long ago…
S: No, not that long at all.
M: *taps on the keyboard* Ohhhhh. Okay. I think I see what happened. When you came in last, they didn’t update your records to show you were active again. So it was showing your original registration date. (Note: I originally registered with them back in Feb 2005…)
S: *mentally headdesks*
S: Oh. Right. 
So that TOTALLY explains why Bridget and NO OTHER BLOODY CONSULTANTS have phoned me in all that time. For frell’s sake! 
Anyway, the rest of the meeting seemed pretty good. I only had to redo the WH&S questionnaire thingy and she got an idea what I’m looking for - general admin, but HR stuff is okay considering I’ve been doing it for the last 16+ months and know it pretty well. I also specified I’d prefer to stay with govt departments.
Fingers crossed I get something out of it now that my records are updated! 
Mum asked if Martine would be calling me or if I had to call her - I said I’d wait for Martine’s call this week, but if I hadn’t heard anything by Friday morning I was calling her back. *nods*
While I used all last week as time to veg-out and de-stress and whatnot, I wanted my last (well, at this stage this is my last) week of holidays to be getting out a little bit and doing holiday-ish type thing. The original plan was to spend a few days down the coast with my grandparents but we didn’t realise my Gran’s knee operation was coming up so quickly. Long story short, now isn’t the best time to be staying with them, which is TOTALLY understandable.
Anyway, it left me at a bit of a loose end so I’ve decided to get OUT of the house and do something I’ve never done before… I’m going whale watching on Wednesday. Can’t WAIT! In all the years I lived in Kingscliff (about 15 years, give or take a bit) I never saw a whale go by during the migration periods - can you believe it? And I’ve wanted to do the whale watching thing for aaaages so I thought “Right! Perfect opportunity!”
Wednesday is really my only spare day, other than today… but I’ve left my run a bit late to do anything for today. LOL Doesn’t matter - I have Season 5 “The West Wing” eps to keep me busy.
So far, the week is filling up:
Next week I’ll be back to looking for work but at this point I’ll just be happy with some casual temping stuff, which means checking out Select, Kelly Services, Hays, etc. Thankfully, my termination pay from DME was enough that if I don’t find work immediately next week, I’m still covered for rent and stuff. Phew!
