• They’re in Albion Park Rail! This means I can drive there in 25 minutes. BIG DEAL, since my last job had me catching a train for 90-100 minutes, then hiking to Glebe from Central station.
• They sell tangible products! Not NLP which I find highly dubious.
• I get to be part of a team, instead of having everything IT resting on my shoulders so I feel like I’m constantly under massive amounts of pressure.
• I’m treated with respect. That’s a key thing that seemed to be lacking before.
• I’m making about the same as before, only I don’t have to spend $57 a week on a train ticket. It’s closer to $25 a week in petrol. Oh and I get more perks because I’m an employee instead of a contractor… and they’re already deducting tax, so I won’t have a nasty surprise at the end of this financial year!

OK, so what else do I have to report? Well, what don’t I?

God knows how many goals I’ve achieved. I’ll have to do a full rundown in another post as this one will get too long.

I’ve done tons of drawing with my Wacom Cintiq (have I blogged about that yet??). It’s made it SO EASY to make cool looking drawings. I love it to bits. Look in the sidebar on the right to see a few links to images I’ve created with it.

A couple of days ago I registered the domain www.atherandearth.com. This is where my comic will live. I am still working on it, but I’m confident I’ll be able to start getting things done with it once NaNoWriMo this year is over.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I will be participating again in one month’s time. It will be AWESOME. I already have a fully developed plot!

Site Flight Web Design is over. I just never could get the hang of running a business. Don’t worry though, I’m not sad about it. It’s just me, I’m not cut out to be self-employed. Not enough motivation for things like that. It’s a problem I’ve had since I was about 10. Started out as a distaste for homework. Now it’s a distaste for doing things for other people while I’m at home. It feels like my personal space is being crushed, I guess. I’m happy to work while at a workplace, but I just can’t take that work home with me. Hence why I couldn’t handle working from home.

So it’s been a funny old ride, this year. It started out with me as enormously cashed up, buying cameras and expensive graphics tablets, leaving my Woolworths job, moving house, working in Sydney, ending each day feeling more drained of my sanity than the day before… then, I was unemployed, enjoying all the sudden free time but feeling lazy and sluggish and kind of doing that thing that George Costanza in Seinfeld did during the “Summer of George” – spending all my time “decompressing” by sitting idly. It got to the point where my sister tried making me do things by giving me lists because she was so upset that I seemed to be doing nothing. But I found my way.

I applied for a fateful job in late August, I got an interview, and the following Wednesday I was offered the job. I was nervous on my first day, and a bit spooked by the whole ordeal in the first few hours, where I had a whole lot of tasks bounced off me, and I was left worried about what I’d got myself into. But now that I’ve settled in, I’ve learnt that these things are doable and it seems like I’m appreciated in that workplace.

Because of my unemployment coinciding with my car needing a bunch done to it, I’m still in a bit of debt, but my job will take care of that within this month, and that’ll be a big weight off my shoulders.

Thanks to working close by, I will be able to not only join the gym next to my workplace and work out every day, but also work on my comic AND do NaNoWriMo without any problems.

This is it! This is the point in my life where everything works for me!

That is one of the many reasons I decided to leave that job. My last day is Wednesday, and BOY am I excited. This company really is crumbling, and even though I quit 7 weeks ago, after only a few other people quit, now I’m one of the only ones left after everyone else quit in the meantime. I wish I hadn’t agreed to stick around this long (the boss realised how badly she needed me and asked me to stay). Every day it gets harder and harder to get out of bed and face this place. Back on the day I quit, Boss Lady decided I was to blame for all her problems. I’d had a really terrible and stressful two weeks before that, having a lot of pressure put on me while the other web designer was away, so I just snapped when she began to tear into me. Normally at times like that I would retreat, but by then I was just fed up. I stuck up for myself, and showed a side of myself I haven’t let out in a long time. I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t be hasty in doing it again.

So I have a holiday coming up in July. Much needed. But also needed is a source of income, so it’s straight to Centrelink for me. That’s okay.

So anyway, many things have happened these past months, the most obvious of which for those that see me would be my tragically rapid weight gain. Good god, I need to get this sorted. Office work is really taking its toll. Not to mention the weekly pizza they feed us here, and the many places to buy junk food on the way to the train station. This job is poison in my life. I thought it would be great. There aren’t any food places really close to here except for a liquor shop, I was going to walk to and from Central every day, which is a 25-30 minute walk each way. I was going to be active on the weekend. I was going to keep my life in order with a set routine that included Wii Fit and the Biggest Loser Wii game.

What happened to all that?

Let’s analyse.

• The liquor shop nearby has soft drinks, and it has chocolate bars. When I’m really hungry, they seem like a great idea.
• The weather got colder, it started to rain more, so I started catching trams and buses from Central. Especially since the MyMulti travel passes came in, I’ve been getting buses.
• I’ve been so tired constantly of late that the thought of playing a physically active video game is one of the least appealing things when I’m at home.
• I’m a comfort eater, and work in general (the volume of work combined with having to travel 5 hours a day) has been stressful. Stressful to the point where I have had a recurring apthous ulcer in my mouth since April. I have never had an apthous ulcer (aka canker sore) before.
• Since I get home so late, I either buy my dinner or just eat the most convenient thing at home, which is often something bad for me.

So, as you can see, I don’t have a lot going my way in terms of weight loss. So I hope to turn things around when my holiday starts, at least in terms of activity and physical exertion.

So, hopefully I will get the chance to update you on the goals I’ve achieved since my last post, but I can’t right now, so see you later.

Well, I had but four remaining shifts to get this – yesterday I managed it. I don’t know how, but it probably had something to do with:

1. I was sent on my break early enough that I wasn’t yet tired and pissed off
2. For my last two and half hours I was cleaning, refilling bags and stocking the drinks fridges… i.e. not using a checkout.

Phew, I was beginning to think I would have to rewrite that goal.

Today I put in my resignation at Woolworths, thanks to working full time with QC Seminars (for now at least), and made pancakes to celebrate.

On Australia Day I had a picnic on the grass with Allyson.
When I made this list, I quite playing bejeweled right away. Now that it’s been almost a month since then, I think I can safely tick it off.

See, we signed a 6 month lease, which runs out on that date. The owner, who had just bought the home, used her First Home Buyer’s Grant, which has a catch: you must live in the home for 6 months in the first year of ownership, or else you lose the grant. Hence why we’re getting kicked out.

We are going to miss that place.

But it’s not all bad news. This time, we are going to move away from Warilla, to somewhere closer to Wollongong, so that if either of us get a job in Sydney it will take significantly less time to commute.

Looks like 2010 is going to be a year full of change. Just like last year was. And the year before. And… the year before that. Yes.

Anyway, we’ve spent the past 5 days or so going crazy with looking at places and submitting applications. The earliest response we’re going to get is this afternoon. If it’s good news that would be awesome. For that place, in Figtree, right near Westfield, would be a really good place to live.

We can also expect a response on Wednesday for a place in Mangerton. It is an average location, but the house itself is FAB. I’m talking dishwasher, lots of space, split level and quiet as. If we were to be offered both, we’d take Mangerton, even though it’s 2 bedroom and the other one is 3 bedroom. However, should we be offered Figtree but not Mangerton, we’d still be very pleased.

Those are our two top ones. There is another terrific one in Unanderra, but there were too many people at the inspection – it wouldn’t be likely we’d be offered it.

The units we looked at were all very so-so. There was one in Wollongong that had absolutely amazing ocean views and was only $260/week… but the apartment was filthy and not very big, and the doors were all unpainted and ugly. Also there wasn’t any storage space.

We have a bit of time, but obviously we don’t want the 17th to creep up on us, as time likes to do when I’m in a hurry.

Given that today is the 7th of January, the week is nearly up so I’m getting in right away!

You might also have notice I still have not updated some of the pages on this site… I really need to get that done but first, I have to finish off some client websites. I was told off by one client for taking time off during the holidays. Heaven forbid I get a break in my work schedule.

Yeah, you might be able to tell I am having a lot of troubles with my business. I didn’t realise people could be as fussy as they are, and I never realised just how hard it could be to communicate. But that’s not the worst part. I am just not cut out to work for myself. I haven’t got enough of a work ethic to pull it off. I can work for a boss, but I am a terrible boss of myself. Does that make sense to anyone else?

Well, I don’t have much time right now as I have to get ready for work soon, but suffice to say that there is A LOT to catch up on!

• The largest change has been my change of address. I now live with my sister in a 2 bedroom villa. It’s not that large but it’s cosy and a good size for just the two of us. I have a queen size bed now which is awesome.
• Business is still chugging along, though it stalled for a while there. Not making much money at this point, but what the hey. I’m making a little. Just working out kinks in my process. Working on four sites currently.
• Comic has been on hold since Script Frenzy. Haven’t felt like it but I plan to start drawing at that moment of inspiration. It will come eventually. :-/
• I skimmed Drawing the Line a couple of months ago, and decided that it sucked beyond repair. I consider it my practice novel and nothing more. The plot is just too pathetic.
• Next month I’ve booked a trip for my sis and I to go to Melbourne. I paid for it all since I owe her money.
• I own a laptop again. Brand new from Catch of the Day. I made sure it had a dual core processor so I wouldn’t get frustrated with how long it took to do ANYTHING such as even load a browser, unlike the Compaq Presario I bought off Dad for $150.
• I am a member of Contours gym. It was really tough for the first few weeks. I got so sore all the time. Now I don’t get sore but do get muscular fatigue for about 4 hours after I go, so I make sure I do it in the late afternoon so I can focus on working during the day. I’m seeing an improvement in my strength, but my weight hasn’t decreased at all. Hopefully it’s due to my big, heavy, bulging muscles.

So that’s a quick update on my life right now. Will try to fill it greater details when I have a bit more time

Later!

Sure they’re not getting me much money, but the more sites I do the more my name gets out there, and that can only be a good thing.

Dad signed me up for Barter Card a few days ago – and that’s what brought one of my clients to me. It’s not “real” money, but it doesn’t matter, so long as I find things to buy with my BC credits, and others see my little icon at the bottom of every website I build so that cash customers find me.

Not only that, but the more clients I get, the better it will be for my whole system. I’ll learn the ins and outs much quicker since I’m a Barter Card member and attracting more jobs. Barter Card isn’t for everyone but I think it can certainly benefit me in those ways.

So… I’m pretty happy with business right now. Never mind my lack of actual money form the business. That’s what NEIS is for anyway.

Never mind though, because this new computer is giving me a geekgasm. Check out the sexy spec.

• Processor : Intel® Core™2 Duo ‘E8400′ (3.0GHz, 6M cache) ;
• Memory : 4GB DDR2 Ram ;
• Hard Disk : 1TB SATA Hard Disk; 32MB cache ;
• Video Card : 512MB nVidia® GeForce 9500GT with TV-out & DVI ;
• Monitor : 24″ wide LCD w/ Speakers; 1920×1080 res; 2ms response time wide ;
• Network Card : On-board gigabit LAN ;
• Wireless LAN : 54 Mbps Wireless-G adaptor ;
• DVD Writer/Blu-Ray : DVD +/- RW Dual Layer Drive ;
• Firewire : 3-port IEEE1394 PCI Card ;
• Sound Card : Onboard 6-channel High Definition Audio ;
• Keyboard (Mouse) : Keyboard + Optical Mouse (Logitech) ;
• Card Reader : Internal Memory Card Reader/Writer (CF/SD/MMC/SM/MD/MS) ;
• Operating System : Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional ;
• Warranty : 2-Year Return to Base Limited Hardware Warranty
  Monitor 3-Year Manufacturer Limited Warranty ;

… All for $1600.
On top of that, I’ve spent a few days setting up a home office in my bedroom. It’s looking good but not yet finished. I’ll try to remember to post a photo once it’s ready.

Click the thumbnail to have a sneak peek.

Edit 4/2/09: I have changed it a bit. Turns out the style for the .lightbg div was lacking the capability of expanding with my left and right main columns. This is an experimental fix. I have Firefox 3, IE7 and Opera 9 and it works on all of them. I need to find out, however, if it works on other browsers. Can anybody help me out?

The main reason I ask is because it made Dreamweaver 8 go a bit bonkers. What I did was changed the  float property of .lightbg to “left”. I couldn’t find any other way of fixing it.