Discerning thieves?

Someone stole my apple and orange off my desk last night.

I am very cross because I specifically didn’t bring fruit today, knowing that I’d left yesterday’s fruit here. However, my vitamins lying right next to it are still there.

I think I'd have more respect if they took everything. Grrr.

Update

I've been a bit quiet but everything is still fine, well even.

baby news
my sister's baby boy was born yesterday. both mom and baby are doing very well. i'm so happy for her. she is a little sore from the caesar but everything else is fine.

no, i'm not jealous. really.

weird cycles
i've been having weird cycles the last two months. in the past i used to have 5-day cycles with day 1 quite light and then days 2 and 3 very heavy and painful, days 4 & 5 easing off to ...nothing!

the weird cycles go like this - i start bleeding (like the old day 1) for 5 - 7 days, then I have heavy, painful days for another 2 - 3 days, and then the easing off. as a result, it's been 10/11 days, and then a break of only 21 days and then it all starts again!

gynae
so I went to the gynae this week and she said that it sounds like I may not have enough progesterone. sent me for blood tests and prescribed a course of progesterone which i'm to start on day 14 of the next cycle.

can you believe i forgot to phone them for the results??? i can't either. so i will phone them on monday!

business
business is picking up slowly - had two requests for coaching this week. although i had to cancel a workshop i was going to do due to no interest. had 3 phone calls for the forms and bank details but no actual bookings.

weird thing is i have lots of requests to do joint ventures with other solo-preneurs (love this word) and they seem to generate lots of pr but no clients out of that. strange and very annoying.

blogging
read a beautiful poem posted by bohemian girl a day or two ago which so echoed what i feel.

i am blogging regularly on the other public blogs which is taking up all my time so i seem to be neglecting this one.

i have thought of just deleting this whole blog but something keeps holding me back. i think it's because i like the anonymity of this one.

will post the blood test results on monday.

Friday's feast #8 - 18 May 2007

Appetizer
List 3 emotions you experienced this week.
Gratitude - I got a coaching client and a request for more info
Excitement - I saw another job I applied for. It's a virtual position so that could be interesting.
Happiness - finished another e-course this week and I had a 98% open rate on my last HTML newsletter. Apparently this is very good?

Soup
Name a car you’d love to have.
I'm not like that with cars. I buy what I want at the time and when I'm ready for another, I'll buy another one. But! I don't buy expensive cars because cars are not assets.

Salad
Describe your typical morning routine.
I have it down to like 20 minutes because I do everything possible at night. I am not a morning person. And that is an understatement.

Wake up, stumble to bathroom with eyes half shut, wash, weigh (!), get dressed. Then I grab my lunch from the fridge, set the alarm, grab my handbag and I'm outta there.

You can see why I do everything possible at night!


Main Course
Have you ever emailed someone famous?
If so, who, and what did you say to them? Did they reply?
You mean famous bloggers? That's about as famous as it gets with me. The nicer ones did ;)

Dessert
Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which ones?
Yes, I do - not regularly, but when the topic interests me.
I listen to www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

Speaking of work...

I realised the other day that my business is really not doing all that well.

Somebody who reads the blog (the business blog) emailed me and asked me to give her some tips on starting her business. So we were e-chatting and I told her that mine is very part-time at this point. And if I were to go full-time it wouldn't even pay 10% of my current salary.

So then I got to thinking - oh my word. I'm spending hours on the business every week. Now don't get me wrong - I love what I do - but I wonder if it should just stay a hobby and I should carry on in the corporate world forever.

I'm hoping that it's just a transition and that things will pick up. I bought an online success book and am working through all the steps. My numbers on my list are growing but I can't say the clients are really growing. So because I don't have many clients, I design products, write articles. If you look at the stuff I have out, it looks like everything is going well and sometimes I feel like a fake.

Oh well, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Friday's feast #7 - 11 May 2007

Appetizer
Tell about a time when you had to be brave.
Whenever I have to do something outside of my comfort zone. Now I don’t mind confrontation (in fact, I quite like getting things sorted out) so people stuff like that don’t bother me.

I suppose it’s when I have to do something that may potentially embarrass me.

Somebody’s asked me to put together a product with them and we need to do some audio for that. So I suppose if I accept I will have to be brave. We are in different countries so I wonder if her people will understand my accent!

Soup
Which upcoming movie are you excited about seeing?
The next romantic comedy to be released. I haven’t really looked at the papers for awhile…

Salad
Name an item you try to always have on hand.
Me personally? Water and an apple. I always have these with me. And it’s a Granny Smith apple – sour, crisp and deliciously crunchy.

And a notebook and pen.

Main Course
Imagine the most relaxing room you can think of. Now describe it!
There is a soothing pastel colour on the walls, like mint-green, pastel blue or pastel yellow. Or a nice shade of brown. Definitely wooden floors and lots of space. Comfy chairs with throws and reading lamps where I can just sit and read…….

Dessert
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest), how spiritual or religious are you?
I would say it fluctuates between 7 and 8. I’m born-again, but not religious. Does that make sense? It’s about a relationship with Jesus, not doing rituals just for tradition’s sake.
I always have to work at the Bible reading and prayer but worship and listening to God come quite easily to me.

Go here for more feasts

The job - part 2

Here is part 1

Anyway so with this interview I was my usual self and they were very controlled with their responses. I could tell the one guy liked me straight away but couldn’t tell with the other two. I mean they asked why I wanted the position and I said… I don’t know that I do. I’m very happy where I am – my current position suits my personality (and explained). I had a real “whatever” attitude and it wasn’t fake – I really didn’t give a toss. I also realized that this is not the type of work I want to do (more product development and I’m good at relationship & operational stuff). And of course, I hate the traffic so the commute wasn’t calling my name. But I wanted to take it through to the end to see what kind of package they would offer me.

They were supposed to only notify me on the Tuesday afternoon earliest BUT I’d only been back at the office for an hour when I got a phone call that I’d been shortlisted again. Oh no! They wanted me back the next Wed; I said I couldn’t do it until the following Tuesday. I mean – can you believe the chutzpah? (My husband says people like me make him sick – normal people have to look for ages for decent jobs and these things just fall into my lap. Well, not really but I know what he means).

But then God started dealing with me. I felt HUGE unease and I’m not the best Christian under the sun with regular praying and so forth but I do know when the peace of God leaves me. And it left me – BIG TIME. E.g. I don’t EVER have trouble sleeping. And I mean EVER. But suddenly I was tossing and turning at night, mind racing, etc. Stuff that just doesn’t happen to me. And the pit in my stomach – not nice at all.

So I had a nice chat with my DH and he agreed that I shouldn’t go ahead. Because I know once they start waving mega bucks in front of my greedy little eyes, I’ll start dreaming about IVFs, handbags, holidays and so forth. And then I wouldn’t be able to make a proper decision.

I wrote one of my nice emails to them withdrawing my application (this is not the right time in my life), thank you and sorry for inconvenience. And then I spoke to the HR guy who was very disappointed. But I told myself, “do not justify anything” so I bit my tongue and shut up until we ended the call.

So that’s my job story. The peace is amazing and I slept like a baby afterwards!

The job - part 1

I’ve been trying to find time to blog this since the weekend. And now finally I have a chance.

One of my clients sent an email out to a number of her contacts asking if we knew of anyone who was interested in applying for a position at her company. Personally I feel like she wanted us to apply but didn’t want to be seen to be “poaching” us if we got the job as we have some joint ventures with this particular company. Anyway, so I applied. I thought, “let’s throw it out there and see what happens”.

This was in February. So I hear nothing for a month and thought nothing of it because I’m not really looking, you know. But then a by the way at the end of one of our conversations and she says, “you have been shortlisted”. Okay….

Then again weeks go by and nothing. Then one afternoon I get a call from her. The HR person has been trying to get hold of me and can’t seem to get hold of me. I’m like, “really? That’s strange. Because if I don’t answer, my cell phone goes to voicemail.” Anyway I confirmed all my details and that was that.

So finally he phones me and we make the interview for Thursday 26 April. I arrive at the interview 5 minutes late (they have a gazillion buildings and I went to the wrong one first). Interesting thing happened though. I was at the correct reception eventually and the HR guy sees me and calls my name. He recognized me from my photo on my CV (I totally forgot that was on there and it is very out of date – 2 years old – but I’ve been told the photo makes me look older. I only left it on there because it’s the only one of me in “work clothes (a suit)”.

Now I don’t mean to boast – I really don’t (hear my heart please) – but I do very well in interviews. I’ve always been a confident, self-assured person and I have no trouble at all being interviewed by one or a number of people. In fact I prefer panel interviews (my view is I get all the people over and done with at one time) and this time it was one of those – there were 3 people.

Another thing – in all my years of working I’ve only been to one interview where I wasn’t offered the position (and that was an internal position so company politics prevailed). I’ve heard that your CV (resume) must make you stand out from the pack so mine looks very different - first of all, it’s not the same, boring things like the other 101 people applying for the same position. And secondly, I have the picture and some interesting things on there. They are either going to love me or hate me and if they still want to see me, we’re going to get along great.

So then the interview. I am always brutally honest – some would say to my detriment. You know all the things you’re not supposed to do in an interview? Yeah well, I do them. My view is that if there are issues, they better come out now. Because if I start working with you, if something was irritating you about me, it is going to get worse J And also I interview right back. At the end when they ask if there are any questions, I always have a couple and I go for it. I check what type of personalities the boss has (I can’t stand controlling, micro-managing people) and what the team culture is (hate the clock-watching type of companies) and so on.

I'll post part 2 tomorrow.

But in the meantime, what are you like in an interview?

Friday's feast #6 - 4 May 2007

I've been away for a mid-year break but I will post more this weekend. For now, enjoy this feast.

Speaking of feasts, I need to seriously lose 4 kg because I've been eating and eating over the last couple of months and the jeans are getting tight again!


Appetizer
Name something you would not want to own.
A dishwasher. I have a thing about hand washing dishes. For me, it seems like you get to the dirt better.

Soup
Describe your hair (texture, color, length, etc.).
It is dark-brown but I started going grey quite young (25) so I colour it with brown-red highlights. My hair's shoulder length but because it's so curly, it looks like it's in a bob half the time. I remember reading on your blog, Becky, how you flat-iron it every day to get it straight. I'm getting there... I do straighten it about once a month.

Salad
Finish this sentence: I’ll never forget ___________.
I'll never forget when I first realised what it is that God had created me to do. It was awesome - talk about a penny dropping!

(to inspire other people to achieve their goals)

Main Course
Which famous person would you like to be for one day? Why?
No, I'm not interested in being other people. Let alone famous. Even for one day.

I love my freedom too much and I wouldn't be able to handle the invasion of privacy. Unless it's internet famous - that I can handle.

Dessert
Write one sentence about yourself that includes one thing that is true and another thing that is not.
I love doing puzzles/ playing board games and speaking to large groups of people.

Can you guess which is true and which is not? Tell me in the comments. This should be fun.

Edited to add
Puzzles - not true
Speaking to people - true ;)