So there's been some developments since my last blog post. If you follow my social media, you'll know I can have my phone in my bag at work and now have an Apple Watch. That's about 50 per cent of the needless stress and problems created by other people gone right there. Obviously, I spent a lot of time in the past arguing with people about why I won't apply for jobs that would put my son in danger and then my employer brought out that phone policy and it did put my son in danger and it shouldn't have taken it becoming a police matter for it to be fixed, but here we are.
I've also been given a pay rise. No one seems to be on agreement of what the national payrate is, but if going off a list I found on wages in the North West, with my pay rise and money I make for art and writing, I am now on the average for this area. Not only is that a bit of a weight off my shoulder gone, but it feels really good to no longer be on a graduate wage. Obviously, I lost ten years of my life to people taking their problems out on me (with these past nearly 11 months, I think people have now seen for themselves what other people and organisations taking their problems out on me have the power to do and how it can trap someone). So finally being into a normal or average pay packet has really improved how I feel about myself. It'll make clearing some of these debts a bit easier too. And if anyone tries to inflict 'help' on me, maybe that'll chase them off.
Obviously, I'm no longer looking for a new place to work. I face a lot of discrimination as it is so it does make seeking employment more difficult then losing ten years of my life, plus the five to start the rebuild, it makes it even harder. I was quite happy where I was until the phone policy which no longer affects me and with the added pay, it is pretty obvious that my employer wants me around and I am valuable to the company.
This means that I can really focus on my portfolio over the upcoming years and make it something that is really nice and special. Not only does it need to be special to overcome the discrimination, but if I want to move abroad, it will need to be super special. So I will be staying where I am at. I still have job alerts though, but that is so I can see what should be in my portfolio. Between graduation and #metoo, marketing and advertising really changed a lot so my original course of action that I was going to follow had I been allowed to work following getting my degree is no longer feasible. But this is a field that changes very rapidly, sometimes overnight, so it wasn't like I wasn't preparing myself for that when I was at university. I just didn't imagine I'd be unable to work for so long (the original plan was to freelance without my mother's notice in my bedroom and save all of that money to move out before seeking employment but absolutely NO ONE in my life wanted me to do that, as I tell my son, if people actually wanted me around, people would have let me work, at any point in those ten years someone, anyone could have decided to stop hindering me and actually listen to me and treat me with some level of respect).
So, with one problem gone, I still have one more left (other than the long term stuff which I'm so used to that I only notice when it is gone). And that is the state of my house. If you recall, this was meant to be repaired earlier in the year. Shall we say, those repairs didn't work for very long. I had a roofer here all day the other day, despite poor to no communication from the housing association. He pulled off all the old repairs and some old roof tiles and replaced everything, so hopefully that'll work. My son's room needs to dry out before I can repaint in there. Then on the 15th, a 'damp master' is being installed. I'm hoping with the installation of the 'damp master' (I don't know if that's what it is actually called, but that's what I was told over the phone and I like it so much I am going to keep calling it that) that these extra problems created for me through no action of my own will be gone. I'm also waiting for a new back door, but that's an entirely new repair and hopefully they won't find a way to mess that one up.
I'm still waiting for my medical records, but how i've been treated (or not) by the NHS is one of those long term problems. I'm so used to using home remedies for everything now anyways. I do look forward to finally getting some answers, a diagnosis (or half a dozen) and some effective medical treatment, but I am going to have to fight for it. Basically, this is one of those things that I'll only notice when it is no longer a problem. It just took the spotlight this year when a nurse screwed up and phoned me for my diabetes check, even though I was previously told I don't have diabetes.
I'm still not back on form. I am tired after nearly a full year of the bullshit again. It has also been very triggering. I am going to spend the rest of the year relaxing and unwinding from it all. Looking after my mental health is just as important as trying to prevent problems from happening in the first place. Plus, I'm a single mother. I have no one here to do my fucking chores and I work full time. There's only so many hours in a day (another thing the disordered people I had to find ways to tolerate failed to comprehend, thank whatever gods you worship for the legal changes).
I am aware that Kevin Sweeney has released Necro Sutra 3 and I know how popular these are on Story Time so I will try and do a one-off with it. Going offline in the middle of Spooky Season probably isn't the best thing, but with everything that has been going on, there's no way I could have gotten some more stories and then recorded and uploaded (the editing and thumbnails, etc doesn't take very long). There's a lot on there and people are missing out on some traditional horror with Amanda M Lyons, Em Dehaney and Matthew Cash, plus some really cool and sometimes funny erotica. I will start adjusting the SEO again to try to get more viewers. Actual viewers not the creeps. Here's the link to Youtube if you want to go check it out now without scrolling through my linktree.
I still want to finish We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams this year. I think I'm going to have to leave the cut-up project until next year. I don't know where I put my stamper for it either. I was so happy when that arrived. When I start doing conventions again (was meant to be this year), I'll have to bring it. I'm going to try to get some of the drawings I've been working on uploaded to Redbubble over the course of November though (not next weekend, I'm hoping to get a much needed massage or the weekend after because my hair needs to be re-bleached).
And on that thought, I am going to go try to get my Christmas story finished before dinner.
Basically, don't expect regular posts again until the New Year, even with the 50 per cent reduction in my stress.
I've also been given a pay rise. No one seems to be on agreement of what the national payrate is, but if going off a list I found on wages in the North West, with my pay rise and money I make for art and writing, I am now on the average for this area. Not only is that a bit of a weight off my shoulder gone, but it feels really good to no longer be on a graduate wage. Obviously, I lost ten years of my life to people taking their problems out on me (with these past nearly 11 months, I think people have now seen for themselves what other people and organisations taking their problems out on me have the power to do and how it can trap someone). So finally being into a normal or average pay packet has really improved how I feel about myself. It'll make clearing some of these debts a bit easier too. And if anyone tries to inflict 'help' on me, maybe that'll chase them off.
Obviously, I'm no longer looking for a new place to work. I face a lot of discrimination as it is so it does make seeking employment more difficult then losing ten years of my life, plus the five to start the rebuild, it makes it even harder. I was quite happy where I was until the phone policy which no longer affects me and with the added pay, it is pretty obvious that my employer wants me around and I am valuable to the company.
This means that I can really focus on my portfolio over the upcoming years and make it something that is really nice and special. Not only does it need to be special to overcome the discrimination, but if I want to move abroad, it will need to be super special. So I will be staying where I am at. I still have job alerts though, but that is so I can see what should be in my portfolio. Between graduation and #metoo, marketing and advertising really changed a lot so my original course of action that I was going to follow had I been allowed to work following getting my degree is no longer feasible. But this is a field that changes very rapidly, sometimes overnight, so it wasn't like I wasn't preparing myself for that when I was at university. I just didn't imagine I'd be unable to work for so long (the original plan was to freelance without my mother's notice in my bedroom and save all of that money to move out before seeking employment but absolutely NO ONE in my life wanted me to do that, as I tell my son, if people actually wanted me around, people would have let me work, at any point in those ten years someone, anyone could have decided to stop hindering me and actually listen to me and treat me with some level of respect).
So, with one problem gone, I still have one more left (other than the long term stuff which I'm so used to that I only notice when it is gone). And that is the state of my house. If you recall, this was meant to be repaired earlier in the year. Shall we say, those repairs didn't work for very long. I had a roofer here all day the other day, despite poor to no communication from the housing association. He pulled off all the old repairs and some old roof tiles and replaced everything, so hopefully that'll work. My son's room needs to dry out before I can repaint in there. Then on the 15th, a 'damp master' is being installed. I'm hoping with the installation of the 'damp master' (I don't know if that's what it is actually called, but that's what I was told over the phone and I like it so much I am going to keep calling it that) that these extra problems created for me through no action of my own will be gone. I'm also waiting for a new back door, but that's an entirely new repair and hopefully they won't find a way to mess that one up.
I'm still waiting for my medical records, but how i've been treated (or not) by the NHS is one of those long term problems. I'm so used to using home remedies for everything now anyways. I do look forward to finally getting some answers, a diagnosis (or half a dozen) and some effective medical treatment, but I am going to have to fight for it. Basically, this is one of those things that I'll only notice when it is no longer a problem. It just took the spotlight this year when a nurse screwed up and phoned me for my diabetes check, even though I was previously told I don't have diabetes.
I'm still not back on form. I am tired after nearly a full year of the bullshit again. It has also been very triggering. I am going to spend the rest of the year relaxing and unwinding from it all. Looking after my mental health is just as important as trying to prevent problems from happening in the first place. Plus, I'm a single mother. I have no one here to do my fucking chores and I work full time. There's only so many hours in a day (another thing the disordered people I had to find ways to tolerate failed to comprehend, thank whatever gods you worship for the legal changes).
I am aware that Kevin Sweeney has released Necro Sutra 3 and I know how popular these are on Story Time so I will try and do a one-off with it. Going offline in the middle of Spooky Season probably isn't the best thing, but with everything that has been going on, there's no way I could have gotten some more stories and then recorded and uploaded (the editing and thumbnails, etc doesn't take very long). There's a lot on there and people are missing out on some traditional horror with Amanda M Lyons, Em Dehaney and Matthew Cash, plus some really cool and sometimes funny erotica. I will start adjusting the SEO again to try to get more viewers. Actual viewers not the creeps. Here's the link to Youtube if you want to go check it out now without scrolling through my linktree.
I still want to finish We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams this year. I think I'm going to have to leave the cut-up project until next year. I don't know where I put my stamper for it either. I was so happy when that arrived. When I start doing conventions again (was meant to be this year), I'll have to bring it. I'm going to try to get some of the drawings I've been working on uploaded to Redbubble over the course of November though (not next weekend, I'm hoping to get a much needed massage or the weekend after because my hair needs to be re-bleached).
And on that thought, I am going to go try to get my Christmas story finished before dinner.
Basically, don't expect regular posts again until the New Year, even with the 50 per cent reduction in my stress.