ceramic hedgehog

August 25, 2005

last weekend, isabel received a ceramic hedgehog as a gift from a friend of my parents. it had some writing on the box, which i read out to mattgreen:

alicey: "landlady of the rose and crown, mrs hedgehog is always up early to sweep the floors, dust the bar and polish the glasses before opening time. when she is not helping her husband behind the bar, she is busy in the kitchen preparing meals and snacks for her customers".
mattgreen: (carrying on without a pause) "by night, she led the women's armed resistance, tumbling silently across the burrows and rooftops of the small hamlet".

later:

isabel: why does mrs hedgehog looked so sad?
alicey: oh, probably because she has to spend all day doing the washing up because her husband won't even do it for her.
isabel: (glancing at mattgreen kipping on the sofa, then noting matter-of-factly) our husband is sleeping, isn't he?

future career

August 23, 2005

i have had back the results of my psychometric careers testing. it is all very interesting.

first of all, they warn you that most people fall in the "average" category. on the next page, it shows how you did:



pretty good huh? i was surprised at how well i did at the things i expected to be weak at, like numerical and mechanical ability. by the way, 'verbal skills' also includes literacy e.g. writing and comprehension. also, notice the way they make the ends of each score into arrows to try to fool you into believing you're not really a dumbass. heh. my spatial ability is barely scraping out of 'average' yet the way they present it, it looks like its well into 'high'.

the report is sixteen pages long with comments on every test, and then at the end they tell you the twelve careers your abilities and interests are most suited to.

in my case, these were:

teacher
journalist
educational psychologist
advertising copywriter
public relations officer
editor
solicitor
civil service: manager
technical writer/author
publisher
university/college lecturer
media researcher

interesting, huh? there is a bit of a theme going on there i think.

of those, the ones i like the look of are:

teacher (was already on my shortlist)
journalist (but i am not sure i have the skills to really excel, and i can't bear the thought of writing about lost cats for the local newspaper for the rest of my life)
editor/publisher (i know i could do this - i used to be an editorial assistant - but i'm not sure i'd feel like i was making a difference)
media researcher (fearsome competition but a very interesting job)
educational psychologist (woah there! you have to be a teacher first)

so... what to do next? well - every single one of these requires a degree. so it looks like i need to do another course next year. there are two open university courses i like the look of: exploring psychology and understanding media. unfortunately the open university don't do any english language courses that i think i'd enjoy, and they don't do journalism courses at all.

i could go for a psychology or social sciences named degree with either of those choices, but really that would only be useful for teaching. or i could join a traditional university at the end of next year and complete a full-time degree in two years.

so, what am i going to do?

i still have no idea but i feel like i'm getting closer to finding out.

minesweeper

August 16, 2005

okay, okay, i'm just procrastinating because i can't face any more rocks, but you have to admit this is a pretty good score:


disaster

August 11, 2005

my course is going from bad to worse. who knew that anything could be worse than physics? well, the truth is out there, and it's GEOLOGY.

now, geology doesn't sound too bad, does it? i mean, a little bit of climate, a few volcanoes, maybe some plate tectonics? not any more. THIS is what i have to contend with:



earlier, i asked mattgreen to help me. he told me that it wasn't even written in english. he couldn't even work it out. what am i meant to do if even mattgreen can't understand it?!

alicey: i think i'll just cut my head off and send it to my tutor in a bag.
mattgreen: the open university have probably got a special guide for that.
alicey: (as if reading from a pamphlet) 'please ensure you put the correct postage on your head'.
mattgreen: 'tutors can only accept heads received before the cut-off date'.

in other news, we are having a barbeque on saturday. i planned it at least a month ago. i figured it's the middle of summer, the hottest month of the year, we're in the grip of global warming, what could possibly go wrong?



dammit. nevermind, i'm sure there's, er, plenty of room for 12 adults, 2 children and a dog in our lounge.

p.s. i bought the coat. i fucking deserve it.

dilemma

August 05, 2005

i made the mistake of opening the new boden catalogue yesterday. i know i can't afford boden clothes, but i lust after them, and reading the catalogue is a form of self-flagellation that i should avoid.

it's too late. the damage is done.

i found the perfect jacket. i've needed a jacket i can wear with jeans since time began. i love the style, it comes in black, it's just exactly what i want.

the problem is: we so can't afford it. we're currently even more broke than usual and i just cannot justify spending £90 on a jacket when we're already in debt.

the other problem is: if i don't buy it, it's going to haunt me forever. for example, three summers ago i saw a white dress i liked and tried it on. it looked great. we couldn't afford it so i didn't buy it. i still regret it. i still think, "i could've worn that dress today... IF I'D BOUGHT IT".

do i put it on my credit card and leave it there until i can afford to pay for it? or do i resist temptation and face the inevitable regret later?

your comments please.

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