“Woo!
I’m going to Gibraltar!
Woo!
Back to the Island!”
But first.. I need to pay my rent.. Hmm.
Can’t see that happening just yet – it IS payday today – and I have been paid some money.. but have I got enough for my rent?
Nope.
Hmm..
*wonders how much he can get for a kidney*
Right folks,
Apologies for the ‘half-blog’ the other day – it was just too sunny to stay in and type this stuff up! As it stands – its 815am here and the Sun is up but I dont think its warm enough to warrant going outside just yet.. watch this space! Hehehe…
Where was I?
*opens new window – checks previous blog*
Ahhh…
Right then – I emailed Kevin back telling him how stoked I was that they were still interested etc.. and I left it at that.
That afternoon I get an email from their CEO asking me to pop over sometime next week… so we arranged a time and a date and last Wednesday I rocked over to Refresh Mobile in Fulham and went and saw them..
Now – bear in mind that my vocation at the moment is Accountant. So I bowl in there thinking I’m being interviewed for an Accounts-based position..
But no – turns out they want me to not do any accounts stuff at all!
They want me to work with them on improving their software and to help in making it a better experience for the user!
The two people that interviewed me didnt seem interested in my CV at all.. in fact one of the quotes from the interview was-
“James, if we’d have got your CV from some head hunting job agency.. you wouldn’t have made it through the door – its only because you’ve met Kevin and Scott that you’re here – they speak highly of you..”
Eventually Scott comes down and we have a bit of a chat, discuss the Mobizines in more detail.. he gives me a pop quiz on the software.. which, to be honest – I dont really know how well I did on!
But at the end of the interview said:
“Right then, I should make you an offer then really.. ”
YEAH!
“I’ll email you in the morning..”
COOL!
I give Scott my personal email address (so far all correspondence has been using my my work email – which is a bit …unethical i guess.. and probably against company policy too I’d imagine – know The Mail) and then I toddle off home.. after a near two hour interview!
Thursday arrives..
All day long i’m constantly checking my email.. lunchtime passes.. still nothing.. panic.. setting.. in.. it gets to 1630 and I decide to email Kevin – “MATE! No news! Should I be concerned?! ..or just more patient?!”
No reply!
AAAAAAAARGH!
Following morning I get an email from Scott to my work address.. turns out he mislaid my personal email address.. (THANK YOU LORD!) ..I send it over and within minutes I have a job offer and contract in my inbox ready for my perusal.. I browse over it.. decide that this is probably the best thing thats happened to my carreer in YEARS and email Scott back…
“I accept!”
I printed the contract off, signed it, sent it back… and by 11am I’d resigned from the Daily Mail!
Wooooooooooooooooooo!
Do you have ANY IDEA how nice that feels?!
To RESIGN?!
Well.. thing is.. its nicer for me I guess – I was made redundant from my last two positions and I’d kinda forgotten what it feels like to LEAVE a job instead of my job leaving me.. y’know?!
I’m so excited – this job’s gonna be great..
But now.. we have a problem. (Yup. Its never simple is it?!)
Right – so – I’l try and make this as simple as possible.
The Mail pays on the 15th of every month – two weeks in advance and two weeks in arrears. So you get paid for the two weeks you’ve just worked and then the two weeks you’re about to work… With me so far?
Cool – anyway – because of my trip to Thailand I’ve used up all my holiday at the mail and it turns out I owe them seven days.. so.. they’re gonna deduct that amount from my salary.. not NEXT month’s… no no.. THIS month’s. Arse. So in four days I get three week’s money. That’s June.
Then – on July 7th I finish at the Mail.
July 10th I start at Refresh.
July 15th I get paid ONE WEEK’S (!!) money from the Mail.
Now with Refresh things are different – they do it normally – there you get paid at the end of the month for the month you’ve just worked y’dig? So moving on:
On July 30th I get paid THREE WEEK’S money from Refresh..
Then I dont get paid again until the end of August. That pay cheque will be first full pay cheque since May 15th.
Ouch.
Fingers crossed I can survive til then.. I might be eating out of bins and stuff but I guess I’ll survive!
AARGH!
So yeah – thats my news!
Good and (slightly) bad.
Goodbye and So Long to The Daily Mail!
Goodbye and So Long to my Carreer as an Accountant!
Hello Refresh Mobile!
( oh and goodbye to my social life over the summer )
___________________________________________
Ok – thats that sorted – now to bring us bang up to date.
Yesterday was a beautiful day. Hung out with mates most of the day watching various World Cup matches..
GO ON THE ENGLAND!
Ahem…
…had a kickabout.. my mate Rich broke his leg! But he’s alright.. Trooper that he is! Gonna go see him later.. see how he’s getting on..
So yeah.. there we go.
I’m gonna go have a bath now I think…
Chat soon!
J.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention – there’s a fairly large chance that I might be going to see Bon Jovi in Milton Keynes today… Bizarre eh!? Hahaahah..I’ll let you know.
Good morning everybody!
Its 10am and we’re T-Minus Four Hours until England kick-off their opening game of the World Cup against Paraguay.. Rock.
Lookin good – I haven’t spent any time examining the team sheet or panicking over Stevie Gerrard’s Hip/Back problems.. the guy’s younger then me for crying out loud – he’s probably still growing! Give the lad a chance..
Enough World Cup chat the time being.. Lets have an update shall we?!
ALRIGHTY THEN!
So – last time I posted I had just been to an interview at an Agency and I was off to www.refreshmobile.com for an interview the following day…
Well – Refresh Mobile make these things called Mobizines – www.mobizines.com – its a pretty damn cool piece of software for your Mowbli and its dead easy to use and dead cheap and and and.. you get the idea – just click the link and go see what I’m talking about..
I digress..
Three months ago I downloaded the aforementioned program for my Nokia and I couldnt get the bugger to work.. One of the Mobizines they do is BBC Headlines – and that’s the one I wanted – more info HERE – so I mailed them (‘them’ being the useful people at Refresh – NOT the BBC) and told them..
They were really cool and eventually between us we got it working. In the meantime a certain amount rapport built up between me and the guy I was dealing with – and when the phone was all sorted and stuff Kevin at Refresh asked me if I’d like a cheque for £20.. because I’d uncovered a problem with the software etc that no one had found and at the time they had this reward scheme in place that gave ‘prizes’ for any user that did such a thing..
“Hmm” said I. “£20?” ..
“Yes” said Kevin “Or something from this list.. “
Kevin sent me this link which had a list of boys toys and gadgets on it.. which were all pretty cool – my favourite of which was a ‘Fog Gun’. A FOG GUN! BRILLIANT! You hold the trigger down and it makes fog! Hours of fun…. “Tonight Matthew…” (holds trigger down) “…I’m going to be Batman!” Brilliant.. sorry.. got carried away..
So yeah – I nearly opted for the Fog Gun. Kinda glad I didn’t now really!
At the bottom (might’ve been the top – cant remember) of the list was a small line saying “Or come to the office and meet the team! ..and..if we like you.. you might even get a job interview! Refresh Mobile are always looking for new and exciting members of staff… etc etc”
So I emailed Kevin back – “Er.. I think I’d like the job interview and the tour please!”
“Ok mate – sure – send us your CV and we’ll arrange something..”
It was all a bit crazy and I’ll tell you for why!
1) I had NO IDEA what I job I was going to be interviewed for.
2) I had no idea what on Earth they were gonna think of me.. think about this for a second.. I turned down HARD CASH just so I could come down and meet the team and then maybe get an interview.. I thought ‘They must think I’m weird..”
Anyway – went along, met Kevin.. lovely chap.. he gave me the tour of their offices etc.. I met various members of staff….and then he introduced me to this guy called Scott. He’s the CEO of the company and dead nice.. anyway – we had a good talk and we pretty much just geeked each other out for about 45mins or so chattin’ about mobile phones and stuff and it was really, really interesting.. He showed me how the Mobizines worked etc and I told him what I thought and so on.. it was cool.
So then it turned to what I do for a living (at the time I was a Management Accountant for The Daily Mail – Yeah – I know..) and I told him and he was like ..”Ok… ….we’re not looking for any of those at the moment but if anything comes up we’ll be in touch”.
And it pretty much ended there..
So – fast forward to last week – remember my blog and how much I REALLY hated my job? Yeah – I emailed Kevin at Refresh just saying “Hi! How are ya?!” etc etc.. “just a friendly reminder email I suppose reminding him that I was still there etc and still interested….”
I got an email back from Kevin the following day saying:
“Hi James, we’re still interested – more soon..”
…and that’s where I’m leaving it folks..
For now anyway – the day is too beautiful for me to be stuck indoors typing!
Rest of the story to come soon.. PROMISE!
Heheehe..
So I’ve just spent the best part of two hours catching up on emails and stuff..
I’m knackered – had an interview at my agency today – that went well
Refresh Mobile tomorrow..
We’ll see how it goes..
*yawn*
Just here to post some pics really..
Hopefully they wont be TOO big..
This is Bophut – where I spent my last night in Koh Samui..
Here’s me and a Ladyboy..
Yes. That is a Man.
So’s the one on the left.
Yeah – thats all I can be arsed to post..
I’m shattered..
NEED BED.
More to come sooon..
Oh.. ok – one more..
Me. In a small room. At work.
Yesterday:
Bed Now PLEASE.
Just checkin to see if I can tag pictures here..
Let’s try with my recent photo of me..
Rock.
It works!
Expect more dudes..!
Afternoon all..
I don’t know why but ever since Thailand I’ve got into the habit of putting my place of typage in the subject heading of my posts.. What do we think about that? Anyone?
Answers on a postcard… (or just click ‘add comment’ – either or)
Anywhoo – remember how I was saying how much I disliked my job?
Well I’m doing something about it. I called my old job agency yesterday and emailed them a new and updated version of my CV.. they called me back this morning and have asked to see me next week. So thats all good.
And also, I emailed that mobile phone software company that I had a chat with a while back, (those of you who know me know about this – if you dont – sorry, cant be bothered to explain – mail me about it if you’re THAT interested – hehehe), to see if they were still interested in me etc.. I just wanted to let them know that I was still available and I hadnt forgotten about them etc… they came back to me almost straight away telling me they were still keen to generate a role for me and they too have asked to see me next week!
So the wheels are in motion!
All I want to do is get a decent job where the stress and pressure is minimal so I can crack on with clearing my debt, sorting my life out, getting my TEFL and then buggering off to see the world. It’s gonna take time but I’ve never had long term goals before.. bout time I started eh?!
Keep smiling all –
J.
So yeah..
I’m BORED with a capital ‘B’.
I’m dreaming of Thailand.
Work doesnt really seem important anymore. Its kind of wasting away into the ether. In the greater scheme of things, work really doesnt matter at all.
I’ve got SO much to do this week and its just not happening for me really.. cant bring myself to care about it y’know?
Its difficult.
I think I’m gonna start looking for another job. Something that I dont have to commit so much time to mentally y’know? Something that doesnt put so many demands on my time and my effort. I know work keeps the brain ticking over and stuff but there are plenty of other things I could be doing right now instead of this. I’m not enjoying the pressure. I want to walk away from it.
I’m only realising this as I’m typing it… Jeez. Thailand’s really changed me. Wow.
Watch this space I guess. I need to sit down and work things out tonight. Sort out what I’m going to do with my life and stuff. Heavy man.
I think a TEFL will be the way forward. I need to sort myself out money wise.. a second job might not be a bad idea. Just for the summer. Get some cash behind me.. Then I can think about buggering off somewhere else.
Hmm.. *ponders*
… … …
In other news – I got my Gurpa back! Well.. I havent got it back yet – but I will have! I didnt have time to pick it up when I landed at Heathrow the other day so I just left it.. Then yesterday I called them to see what the score was and they didnt have it.. GREAT I thought.. and THEN they called me back today to say they’d found it and they’d put it in the post for me asap. Brilliant! I cant take it on the plane but they’ll send it through the post! Hahahah..
Excellent.
So yeah – thats me updating my blog.
One more thing – I ate some chocolate today.
Only three tiny pieces. But now I have guilt..
(it did taste good though – YUMMO!)
Speak soon folks..
Afternoon all,
At last my work internet has allowed me to bypass the firewall and I can access my blog again! Wooo!
Anywhoo – moving on…(to my plays)
Middle performance of Alone last night – it was… ok. Everyone else said it was better than the first night but me.. well I disagree a bit. I didnt walk off very happy with my performance. I dunno why – it just took me a while to find the character, y’know? Couldnt find the centre.. :o/
I got there eventually – but it really felt forced for me. Not natural.
Admittedly the character I play is a complete loon and I can get away with a fair bit physically.. but vocally I didnt think I sounded like him y’know? Oh I dunno.. so yeah – everyone said it was cool. So I’m just gonna have to take their word on it I guess… and then kick the crap out of it on Saturday night! :o)
Tonight however is the final showing of Mum’s Legs.
Every night its gone down REALLY well with the crowds and I’m hoping tonight will not be any different. Jim and I are gonna go for the big laughs so fingers crossed it’ll be awesome.
I’m sure I’ll tell you about it later.
First Night (Take Two)
Today was tough at work – started at 7am and had to have my work complete by 2pm.
DAMMIT!
BUT – I did manage to get out of work ON time and I made it to The Cornerhouse in time for tonight’s premiere of ‘Alone’.
It went really really well, my mate Louisa came to see it and she said it was cool… and that’s all I’m gonna say really –
Basically I got a LOT of compliments tonight about my play and also my range..
Alone is a completely different style of play than Mums Legs and everyone was really impressed.. but as I said – I’m NOT going to go on about it!
I’m taking my vidjo camera with me tomorrow and hopefully get some good footage that I might post on YouTube or something.. So yeah!
I’ll let you know!
Ooo.. one more thing:
ONE WEEK ‘TIL THAILAND BABY YEAH!
So yeah..
I nearly quit my job today.
I got REALLY fed up with my boss taking me for granted. I was so close to just telling him to stick it.
I really surprised myself actually.
I’m really not that kind of person at all but for some reason today he really got to me Dammit!
Basically, the first week of every month we sort out the accounts for the previous month. It takes five days (at best). We’re given four and a half.
So this week, not only have we lost a day due to the Bank Holiday but also when I turn up to work Tuesday morning my boss doesn’t even give me a chance to tackle my monthlies.
He’s like: “James, I’ve got two jobs that need doing. One to be done for tonight and one for tomorrow…”
Needless to say, I’m STILL working on these two jobs and I’m yet to even start my monthlies! I mean.. what’s that about?!
And the most annoying thing is – he expects me/us (the other folk in the office) to work earlier/later to get it done.
No.
He doesnt expect..
He takes it for granted that that is what we will do.
And THAT hacks me off…
So yeah – I didnt quit. But I’m not enjoying work at the moment…
Think I might start looking around again.. or failing that – what’s to stop me staying in Thailand?
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it…
whatleydude.com 