latest

Well, lots of things happening around the place now.

Kate spent half of last week helping her friends open a new restuarant, and I have been updating my website and what not. Sandrine has recieved a job offer and we are all VERY excited for her! I start my new casual job next monday, and I am hoping to go along to the international motor show next sunday.

I am currently at a Job Network member looking for work - i have applied for two more graduate programs since have been here, and now wainting on the printer to come to life... the PC I am on seems to be possesed... the CD drive keeps hissing, and randomly opens and closely... great stuff.

This morning I had a big blood test - it had been a while so I figured I was due for a check up. It was a comedy of errors the first time around- the pathologist could not read the Drs handwriting, and some of the tests ordered are no longer available... on and on, back to see another Dr, new test request, then I couldnt do it as some new tests required fasting... Anyway! Today i had the lot done (9 vials in total -- vials or viles?)

Better check on this printer.......

jobs jobs jobs

Yesterday I had a first round interview/assessment for another Graduate recruitment program for a Government department. This one was for a NSW Department - meaning all of their offices are in and around Sydney - meaning if I am successful I could remain in Sydney. It sounds like interesting work, and I think I should have a reasonable chance at it. The assessment involved a writing test (based on the Graduate Skills Assessment format - which I sat in July) and a cognitive and abstract reasoning test. I generally do well on each of those kinds of tests, so hopefully I will recieve a formal interview in the next round.

Today I also interviewed for an Investment Journalist position. The company is interesting and I will hear about the next round of interviews in about 2 weeks.

I also got some casual work today, so thats good. It starts in 2 weeks, and will tide me over until I start in Full Time work.

yeah.

Do I really want to be a Journo??

The more I look at becoming a Journalist - or anything related to the media industry - the more disillusioned and disinterested I become. Nowhere else seems to have such low starting salaries and the long road to finally doing interesting work. And it seems it is never well paid - unless you get one of the coveted positions as an editor/Senior Writer for a really big publication - or get a name for yourself...

I have interviewed for a few positions - ones in journalism but not anything near the area I am interested in - and gotten nowhere. The entry level positions pay rubbish, and I can only ever get a look in for Finance type positions because of my Economics degree. (And i am NOT that interested in working in that kind of field). It seems even in 5-10 years I couldn't expect to be earning a reasonable wage to start a family etc - I saw a position advertised as an editor, which required experience as an editor and Journalist (meaning 5+ years in the industry) and it only paid $45k anyway! Come on! I can get that straight out in a Communications position in a graduate program! I wonder how different it would be to become specialised in Copywriting and Organisational comms work (including PR stuff) as opposed to straight Journalism - and how the avenues into Arts writing compares....

hmmm.

I don't want to think of only money - of course an enjoyable job is more important than incredible money - but enough money to live and plan the future on would be nice!

what to do... what to do...

Maybe it is just the frustration of being knocked back for positions I feel capable and qualified for (even over-qualified), but its getting annoying. I am really glad to have gotten the offers and opportunities I have to date - but trying to envisage the best path to where I want to be in the future is very difficult. My dream job is writing about film, the industry and film criticism, for a good magazine, and being respected as a top critic in Australia. WIth that, of course I would hope to earn a suitable wage to live comfortably and raise a family. So how to get there? Start making coffee in a film studio? Answering phones and filing at an arts magazine or a junior journo at a mortgage magazine - or as a copy writer or communications consultant for a state or federal agency? Which one will facilitate a smooth (or the smoothest) transition into this? And is this a realistic goal given the limited number of positions such as this going in Australia - or in any major city...? Perhaps being a critic would be really annoying - having to sit through and review films that I normally wouldn't bother with... maybe it would take the joy out of film appreciation... who knows? I Guess I will keep applying for positions that grab my attention now, or seem to offer an interesting career path, and see what offers I accumulate by the end of the year then pick.... And hopefully my skin with continue to thicken in regards to the humbling tide of rejections.

new wine fridge

So, after a lot of thought, I went and bought a wine fridge off ebay the other week. I finally arranged pick up for today - quite an experience! It was up in Elanora Heights, which too about 75 minutes to drive to from our place at that time of night. It was lots of twisting roads and no traffic, as well as highways and peak hour.

When we finally found the house - the seller was not home - he was out to dinner! So he had left the fridge in his courtyard, and asked us to just wander in (to a block of flats that were hard to access behind a small set of local shops) and help ourselves! We rummaged through his courtyard and garage to find it, amid a bnuch of other junk (and a cute bunny in a massive cage). We finally found it, tested it in his outdoor laundry, and slid the money under the door.

It is hard to capture how surreal parts of the journey felt -but it was interesting! Luckily Sandrine came with me to help navigate - or it would have taken me hours!

Top soil in danger

So, after some success on the job front - and lots more rejection, the heavens have opened up this week. I had a face to face interview on Tuesday, and have 4 face to face interviews scheduled over the next 5 days! Friday is a second round group interview in the city, Sunday morning is second round written assessment for a graduate position (very interesting - more details when available), Monday is for a Cadet Journalist spot, and Tuesday for a comm's position at a outsourced centre in Martin Place. Actually, all of these are second round interviews - having had a preceeding phone interview.

I heard a stat today that, when looking for a good career focussed position, it is average for university graduates to apply for 200-300 jobs before getting the one they want. This is something like 15-20 applications to get interview, then 10-20 interviews to get a position. This could be total bollocks, but it wouldn't surprise me!

When it rains...!

Making Juice

Last visit to Young Grandad sorted us out with a range of fresh fruits and vegetables to bring home. We had long since finished all the vegies, but still had a huge amount of fruit left (I guess we got abut 10kg to begin with!). So i bought a little plastic juicer to make some fresh juice - top idea right?

So I squeezed all of these oranges, tangarines, tangellos, lemonades etc etc by hand. It took a fair while and I made a considerable mess in the process. But hey - cant put a price on good health and nutrious fresh juice right? (Well actually, it would be about $5 per 2 litre bottle I reckon). Anyway, for all of that fruit - I only ended up with this much juice....!

That is about 1 litre. It reminded me of my beloved grandma, who ALWAYS had freshly squeezed juice in the fridge, made from grandads fruit. There was always at least 2 or 3 variations going - with 4 to 6 litres cold in the fridge at one time. Every possible combination of fruits where trialled in that kitchen, and I am in awe at how she managed to keep the supply up!

The time has come, I had better go try some................ Well. It is yummy. I am glad I only put one small grapefruit in it, because the tang of the lemonades marches home strong at the finish. But its good, and very very pulpy (lumpy). Healthy, delicious and.... fruity.

petrol

I filled up today for 105.9 today! From the Rockdale woolies outlet - that was with the 4c per litre discount, but pretty good eh!

updates

hey, so i found out today that i did not get the journalist position i was in the running for in St Leonards... that's really disapointing. Oh well.

I have decided to put up the recipes of some of the dishes i make on my other blog (see the sidebar) - because they are low fat versions which took a while to modify properly... someone may be able to use them.

Good day

Hi, we went to Chatswood today for lunch and a wander. I set a personal best record for getting ready - i got undressed, showered, brushed teeth, washed my hair and face, dried, dressed and did my hair in 3 minutes 24 seconds... not bad hey! Pointless, but i was impressed with myself.

We had a good time at the mall - great yum cha lunch, and the girls both got some nice things to being back.

What else is new... i am starting Job Search Training with Centrelink this week - to learn how to find a job... kind of ironic, but it's a requirement of recieving their help. Hopefully i find employment that begins immediately soon!

more job news

My housemate sandrine may have an inside track to a law job in Sydney, and one smart little Chinese woman (Katie!) just got an interview for a graduate position with just about the biggest Logistics company in the Asia Pacific! So it is all happening! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Job Offer

Great News! Today I received a graduate position job offer! I won't go into too many specifics until all the details are finalised, but I am really extremely happy to have gotten this offer. It is a graduate communications position with a national employer - apparently they had 1200 applicants for 56 positions, and there were only 3 communications spots going nationally - and I got one! It is especially encouraging as the group of applicants I interviewed with in Sydney were all very impressive people.

I will let you all know more as it is all finalised - but its great to have some offers! I just wish they started before 2007!

floriade

Here are a few pictures from our visit to Floriade yesterday. It was really good fun - and beautiful. Seeing I don't know the flower varieties, I won't bother labelling the pictures - its all flowers and stuff!

Back in Young

It is now sunday night, and we have had a great weekend at home with the family. On Friday we just wandered around town, hung out at home and I did some mowing. Saturday we all went to Canowindra for the Spring festival to see my friend andrew compete in a busking competion - it was good fun, and he won a cash prize! There were some vintage cars on display, a craft market and horse rides - it was a fun day. And talk about a small town - Canowindra makes young look like a city! The golden cocker spaniel belongs to the family Andrew lives with... cute huh!




On the way back to young we stopped at the Japanese gardens at Cowra. It was nice and relaxing, just as i remember it from my childhood!

Bonsai and cute baby ducks!!

Tomorrow on the way home to Sydney we are stopping at Canberra to see Floriade! Undoubtedly that will give some more nice pictures to upload soon!