RAMWrites

Tag: work

  • RAM Writes the Fourth

    What a few days it has been! The week has been a busy one, so the blog posts have suffered, I apologise – yet again…

    I got the job! Received and accepted the offer early in the week. I am so happy. My new job is local, an 8 minute drive from my house. I will regain 4 hours a day from my commute. I can join local clubs and classes, finally get a social life and make new friends.

    I handed in my notice on Tuesday. I wasn’t nervous about it. I’ve always had a good relationship with my manager, I’ve never felt uneasy about approaching him with office problems or process improvement ideas. And, he was aware that I was struggling with the commute and would likely look for work closer to home.

    He was happy for me, but did say devastated to lose me. And the timing wasn’t great, as my two weeks annual leave was about to start, and he’s also about to start himself – he’s going to get married so alot on his mind, and then I spring this on him.

    But I have to do what’s best for me.

    The day I leave will be 6 weeks shy of being 6 years there. A long time there. I have had a good experience there: had alot of progression opportunities, I had great mentorship from my manager, and other colleagues, I was able to improve my education, worked on internal process improvements, and liaised with external stakeholders. For me, my time with the organisation has been positive.

    And I stated as such in my resignation notice to the CEO. Throughout the remainder of the week, the news trickled across the teams, as it often does. A few colleagues and team managers reached out to me, expressed they’re sad to see me go but delighted for me also.

    Since I submitted my notice, I’ve been looking forward. Considering the new things I can do, the hobbies I’ve wanted to get into but couldn’t commit to because of my commute. I feel I will be more energised without the commute, so am ready to take on new things.

    Theatre – I want to get into performing, auditioning either for the local theatre, or singing group, whoever has auditions first I guess. Now, I’m no Beyonce. But I do enjoy Car Karaoke – hitting high notes is not guaranteed, words and conditions apply*. But I don’t need to be centre-stage. I just want to have fun.

    Gym – I need to get back into focusing on my fitness. Pre/Mid-Covid, I was on my fitness game, hitting the gym 3 to 4 times a week, sticking to the calories, cooking delicious low-carb meals. I want that again. There’s a hotel right beside my house that has a gym/pool facility – I miss swimming. There’s also some lakes nearby that I’m planning to swim in. But not without the proper gear – I want those swim shoes to protect my feet, and a wetsuit of sorts (not the heavy thick ones) for better cold/sun protection. But I also still wanna look cute! Priorities.

    Spanish classes – My partner’s first language is espanol. I understand un poco (a little), but after 4 years together, I think it’s high time I knuckled down and started learning. Now, I know there’s mobile apps for learning languages, but owls can only teach you so much, and at some point, the need to say I want apples is outgrown. So getting official lessons, for conversational Spanish, reading Spanish and writing Spanish. I’m better at understanding than creating – so with my MIL here at the moment, when they’re talking to each other (at the speed of light), I can understand the general conversation, picking up words here-and-there. But I cannot engage beyond words. I’m struggling to make sentences. And I want to be able to.

    Weekends – I want my weekends back. Before I was commuting, my partner and I would go somewhere most weekends, spend time together outside of the house, exploring places locally and further away. I want that again. Since the commuting started, I just didn’t have the energy for all that when the weekends came around. And sadly, it definitely affected our relationship. We bonded over these trips when we first started dating. And I feel to blame for losing that. We are a strong couple, we have fought and survived many, many obstacles in our time together. So it’s a priority for me to get back the thing we bonded over.

    Now, I’m just about to start the new job. So I’m not about to dive head-first into all these things. I do need to settle in the new position. However, with the summer months, I will dabble in a few of them. I guess I want to challenge myself a little, with the goal of health improvement and making friends. But I don’t want to over-challenge myself.

    But I’m excited for this next chapter. And I will bring you along with me, if you’re interested.

    Today is June 14th, first day of my Annual Leave, and count down to my last day in work before the new job. Let’s see what happens.

  • RAM Writes the Third

    Alot has happened in the last few days, hence the lack of posting. I apologise if you were hanging on with bated breath. Let me regale you with the tales of my last few days.

    I will start with the earliest piece of news, but first, some background. I used to live and work in Dublin. With Covid-19 and extortionate rental prices in the city, my partner and I had no choice but to relocate to a commuter town. What was an 8-hour work day with an easy commute, became an 8-hour work day, plus 2 hours commute either way. I have a hybrid arrangement, and work from home two days a week.

    The three days I commute, I am out of my house more than 12 hours – I leave my house at 6.30AM, and walk back in my door around 7.30PM. Needless to say, I am absolutely exhausted on my commuting days – no energy for socialising, exercising, adulting, none of it. Needless to say, I want to work locally. And have been applying for about a year, had some interviews, with no success. Until recently – and we’ll leave it there, until contracts are signed.

    Next of the news to share – my mother-in-law (MIL) is here visiting for the month of June. She arrived on the sixth. She connected through Paris – she disembarked her flight on time. But, Charles-De-Gaulle airport is like a maze. And she doesn’t have English or French. She got lost in Terminal 2 for more than 3 hours. By the time she made it to her connecting flight terminal, the connecting flight had taken off. We had to emergency purchase another flight 2 hours later. It was 3PM when she walked out of Dublin Airport, when she should have been her by 12PM.

    The next thing to happen was my partner’s car got vandalised. Someone keyed his car – 3 out of 4 sides. We drove the car Tuesday, no scratches. Friday, scratches. And the only car to be keyed. Feels deliberate to me, targeted even. So, we called the police, they asked me to go to the station to make an official report, which I did. I have never interacted with the police before this way. My experience with the police is crowd-control, patrolling and traffic checks. I presented my evidence, told the story, the reason I think it happened. The policeman said he would swing by on Monday to have a look at the car himself, but if there is no CCTV footage, we are unlikely to find out who did it.

    Today, day 2.5 of having my MIL, we went to an Irish heritage site nearby. It was extremely interesting, alot of stories about Tuath De Deanann, Eiru, all sorts of old Irish folklores. It was a great day, alot of walking – if you live in Ireland, or are visiting, I recommend looking up some of the heritage sites, found all over the country. A rental car is recommended, as the public transport here will get you to towns, not really to these sites.

    So yeah, it’s been an eventful few days. Today is June 8th, and I will keep you updated on the job front and the police report, as/if they progress.