Yes, it's been some time since I have updated. My life has been largely the same, in a positive way.

I have, however, embarked upon a new adventure very recently. In conjunction with my daily exercise regimen, I have also begun a very low calorie diet. Since March 17th, I have been eating no more than 1500 calories per day, and I have been exercising on my treadmill for thirty minutes per day as well.

I have lost 15 pounds in those three weeks, and I do not intend to stop now. In my work life, I was encouraged to apply for an internal promotion despite the fact that I am not technically eligible until May 17th. I was told that the department is in need of bilingual employees desperately, and that I would have a chance despite the fact that technically I should not be able to post out yet. If I get the position, and I haven't even gotten an interview yet so this is a big if, I will make approximately $10k more per year.

I haven't updated in a while - it is not really something I think about often, but I suppose I do have some things to report and record, and so I will do so now.

In my work life, things are still going well. We have been very busy recently with an influx of new clients and such, but luckily I still love my job. Added to this is the fact that once I have been there for a year I will be permitted to post out to other Nationwide jobs (such as their burgeoning IT department).

In other news, I was incredibly responsible with my tax refund this year. I got a sizeable chunk and so I spent part of it on a brand new treadmill for my home, and the other part on paying off my college fees so that I could register for classes this coming quarter.

I have in fact registered by this point, and am taking a few required classes for my major (Advanced Visual Basic, Java I, Management) and they start in March. Because these are required classes I had to finagle my schedule, notably with Java I - it is on Saturday mornings at 8am! Luckily it seems that even on the weekends I wake up very early, as conditioned as I am to do it through the week, so I doubt this will be much of a problem - though I bet it'll become an annoyance at some point!

My treadmill is wonderful. It was horrific to assemble - my fingers are still aching from all the twisting and wrenching and tightening and screwing (not in the way you're thinking). However, it was well worth the effort. I just spent thirty minutes walking on it and went over a mile, working up quite a good sweat, all while watching TV. My main problem with regular exercise is that it is so tedious and boring to me, and the TV acting as a distraction was excellent and will be of great use to me.

In virtually all ways, I am doing alright, and things are getting better by the week!

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: happy

So, I have not written in livejournal in what is probably RL years. Why is this, did you say? The only thing that previously compelled me to put fingers to textbox was force of habit, and that has long since been lost. However, I feel a profound disconnect with some of the personalities on my friends list and I miss many of those selfsame personalities greatly - as such, I was thinking that an update might help us all in being reacquainted.

I have been very happy for the last few months. I am working at a very fine job downtown, Monday through Friday hours 8a to 4:30p, at a decent wage, and I have no complaints, really for the first time in my life, about my work situation. There could be more money, but that's /always/ going to be true for the rest of my days, I think. Unless something particularly fortuitous occurs. And here's hoping!

Anyway, I work. And I rather like it. I was just offered a permanent position with the company I have been contracting for for the last three months, and I have applied for it - which means, if I get it, I get better insurance (I already have some), I get more salary (yum yum), and I also earn access to the free fitness center in the basement of our complex.

And this causes me great joy! I have been on something of an incredibly mild fitness kick for a while now - not that I've been exercising, because it always feels a bit silly and futile to do it outside of a gym, especially when one is rather large - but I have been eating more healthily, cutting out junk food, soda, and milk nearly completely, and I have lost thirty pounds in the last 6 months. I am not stopping there, however - I am determined, and have set my mind to loosing most of these extra pounds, and once I have set my sights on something, it will not elude me.

Huzzah, life! I appreciate this hand of cards you have dealt me, and at the moment I do not intend to fold!

Tags: happy
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: cheerful

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Literature Nerd
Drama Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

So, I have failed horribly in my endeavour toward keeping an up-to-date and earnest journal. Instead I have let it fester without activity, but I do have something to report now, so here goes!

For the past week I have been working at my new job. I LOVE it! The pay is great, the hours are okay, the people are nice, the bonus system is outrageous, and the owner, my boss, gave me a $100 American Express gift card just for doing a good job (this is my FIRST WEEK). They give a week of vacation after 90 days. Some people make an extra $300 a paycheck in bonuses every single time. And it's only 1.6 miles away!

Life is going well right now!

http://www.truemajority.org/oreos/

Okay! So you're all no doubt aware that I was enormously excited about my new Java training job. Well, it's been going quite well indeed! I had nothing to complain about. The instructor is a little dull, but he said after a bunch of activities and tests that I was in the top 10% of the class. However, last night we got approximately four inches of snow all coming down at once, and it took me two hours to get home from work.

As I don't have a car of my own, I've been relying on the help of my mother to get me to work, since I usually take the bus and it doesn't go all the way out to Dublin when I need it to. But my mother has a really old car that can't withstand these kinds of conditions, and so I had to quietly resign from my position in the class, and it's really disappointing.

I've been crying about it, even. But I have a new skill now - I can code in Java, and I sent the whole instructor package to myself so I can learn the other things like SQL that they were going to teach on my own. The lectures are in my email, along with the activities. So I have stuff to add to my resume anyway, and hopefully I can find something nice that is actually downtown, and not on the ass-side of some suburb.

I can't wait to be able to afford a car so I don't have this problem - but until I can, it was naive of me to try to get a job that wasn't closer to home.

I am very upset, but I will survive. When I was waiting for this job at Accenture, I got a bunch of other offers too - it's now time to look into them, I guess.

Current Mood: crushed

So, today was my first day at work. Orientation, really - which is why it started on a Friday, and not on Monday. In fact, I was only there from 8:30am until about noon. It was the usual orientation day stuff - Employer boasts about history and successes, delineates policies. At the end of the day we had to wait for the hotel people to bring us lunch (we are being trained at a Marriot hotel meeting room).

I had a roast beef sandwich, baked lays, and a banana - the sandwich was on this bread that could cut diamonds, but despite the almost unsufferable hardness, it was still pretty good. We had to wait and eat at the end of class, rather than leaving at 11:30a. Weird!

I think I will like this - I peeked ahead at the class materials, and it seems manageable to me. I'm glad I have a solid OOP background by now! I have to score an 80 or better for the whole course in order to get the 30k/year job that I want so desperately. I am convinced, at this moment, that such a thing is certainly within my reach. But we'll see in a month's time!

At least I am working and getting paid - that is a positive thing. I will be glad to be in a place that isn't in Dublin, once training is over - I'll work wherever they send me, but it'd be a lot more convenient to have a client in the centre of the city. They are hiring several people for a C++ position, some for a SAP position, a few for Peoplesoft, and several more for COBOL - so the chances are I'll be rerouted to another training area when/if I complete the java training course - but that's okay! By that time I'd be making the full 30k/year salary.

So wish me luck over the course of the next month!

Current Mood: complacent

Well, things have been quite snowy over the last few days. All of a sudden we got several inches of snow - over the day it began to melt, but when night came, it froze over, and so the sidewalks and alleys were a blanket of ice. Predictably, perhaps, I found myself walking around for about an hour yesterday evening across the mess. I did not fall, luckily - but the weather hasn't made my pains much more bearable.

I mentioned that I've been having shoulder and neck pain - well, it continues. While not as intense as it was several days ago, there is still a very nagging ache in my shoulders, neck, and back - and I've started to blame the weather, among other things. Yes, that's it from me - for more, wait until later in the week when I start my new job!

Today was relatively uneventful in the grand scheme of things. On a bright note, I got two of my three textbooks already, so that is pleasing. One more to go, and as long as I get it by Friday of next week, I'll be okay, assignment-wise. My neck and shoulder are still aching tremendously - I took a muscle relaxer earlier in the day and found myself asleep from 7 to 10pm, so I may well be awake for some time.

My puppy is growing bigger and bigger. She is horrifically hyper, and can't stay in her crate without howling up a storm, which can be rather annoying - but I love her, and am glad to have her. She is about 9 weeks old now, and I've pictures, but can't upload them at present due to a lack of appropriate sized cord. Doh!

I am very excited to start my new job - a week from today I will have done that very thing! I need to get my hair cut before that starts, and will have to arrange that in the next few days; and I'll need to buy some new dress shoes - the ones I have are so tight that they make my toes numb and blister my heels. Not a very fun scene.