According to the website of one of the temping agencies I’m signed up with it’s a big no-no for women to turn up to job interviews without any make up on. This agency isn’t interviewing for make up artists, counter sales people, or models, so I don’t see how my make up less face is a big deal.

To be honest, I do wear make up. But it’s minimal. A bit of tinted moisturiser, a touch of concealer, a swipe of bronzing powder, and maybe some eye liner on a special occasion.

Does this make me unemployable?

I’m currently revisiting an old workplace, helping out with the job I used to do in order to pay the bills and save some money for a summer holiday. It’s data entry work, hardly riveting, but I am getting paid for it nonetheless and therefore should be working.

Instead I am writing this post. It just popped into my head and I felt I had to start straight away. I’ve been here for almost two weeks and have tried to put a self imposed ban on twitter and my personal email account. I tried to give myself an allowance of checking it once per hour, it worked for a couple of days, and then it didn’t.

I have FOMO. And an unfocussed mind. I forget things if I don’t act on them or record them straight away.

If I’m on a computer I see no need not to be connected to everyone all the time. And it has destroyed my work ethic.

As a further experiment I decided to record all the random thoughts that popped into my head throughout the day that I would usually act on immediately so as not to lose them. Many points I still acted on right away, others were good to record so I could move on from the thought and continue working. But all showed just how attention deficit my brain is.

Just now I took a break from writing this to check twitter.

I have a problem.

***

Almost 7 weeks after writing that I am back at the same job for a couple more weeks and I’m finally publishing this post.

What is wrong with me?!

It’s hard to get out of my extreme lazy habits. Almost like I take it as a challenge to see how little I can do in a day and still manage to survive.

The last few months have been different for me. Business slowed down because I wasn’t paying it any attention and despite my savings I decided it was time to do some temping. I don’t want to have a full time permanent job that I hate ever again, so temping has been a nice compromise. Even nicer that I’ve managed to make the jobs I’ve worked so far part time hours.

After 6 hours in an office all I want to do is chill out. I don’t want to *have* to do something. So while Brend is getting up for work at 5.45 am and putting in 8 hours on his feet then coming home and either writing, playing music, prepping lessons for his new music students, catching up on the news, tending his plants or any number of other things that make him look like an on to it if not moderately stressed out man, I’m sitting on the bed waiting for him to finish so we can watch the next episode of The Wire.

That’s why I need deadlines.

After working for myself for over a year I’ve realised exactly how I work and how to make myself get things done. It’s a combination of doing things straight away so I don’t forget them. And giving myself deadlines that will make me look like an egg, make me miss out on something, or make someone angry if I don’t meet them.

It’s unfortunate. But it’s me. I’m trying.

Your money is a grand thing. It helps people like me, who don’t have formal qualifications but quite like sitting in front of a computer all day and are good at it, do the things they like. Buy the things they like. Travel to places far far away from you.

In your offices overhearing 30 minute conversations about why the printer is taking so long can be quite entertaining. Finding words like synergies and inter-dependencies in documents give sane people like me a bit of a laugh. (Hearing them said out loud however makes it hard to choose between laughing in your face and punching you in the face for being a pretentious dickwad.) And the free fruit helps to battle how gross I feel sitting in air conditioning 5 days a week.

Seeing how much money you waste though pisses me off. Giving temps, like me, work to fill only half their days is a huge waste of money. Money that me, my friends, and my family pay to the government in taxes.

And seeing how much power you give to Middle Managers that have no fucking clue pisses me off. Don’t you know it’s the little people that do all the work? They’re the ones that will leave and find another job quite easily when you won’t listen to a word they say. Sure, Middle Manager, you’re the one that will take the flak if shit hits the fan. But the little people you manage aren’t that concerned about that flak when you treat them like shit.

But do you know what’s great about coming back in to the office after a year away?

It’s reminded me why I left. Why temping is definitely the right choice for me. Why this is a money earner, not a career. And most of all, why focusing on my own business is important.

I want to try harder. I’ve been very slack the last 8 months. I forgot why I was running my business and how amazing that opportunity is.

Now I just have to wait for this assignment to be over so I can try again.

Thanks for being shit.

xo

Kim

Walking down Cuba with my friend Kelly yesterday afternoon we talked about our frightening realisation that we may never work “normal” jobs again.

Until a year ago I was quite happily resigned to the notion that I would work in an office my whole life. The weekends would be for living and weekdays for working. I planned to be well paid with little responsibility, never having to think very hard for myself. This lazy work life would lend itself well to a fun social life, including marriage, travel, and a mortgage. The prospect of this existence didn’t make me want to curl up and die, it didn’t even feel like my only option. It’s what I wanted!

And then everything changed. I no longer wanted someone telling me what to do. I didn’t care about earning a lot of money, as long as I could pay my bills. My relationship broke up. The thought of being tied to a mortgage became scary. And I realised that I wasn’t the same person any more, I was free of all that. I could live in the moment.

The problem for me and Kelly is that this path is not a usual one in our families, so there is no blueprint for us to follow. We’re making our own rules and it’s quite daunting.

And exciting.

A couple of weeks ago I finally managed to get a meeting with one of my managers after weeks of waiting and appointments being changed.
Unfortunately it wasn’t good news, apparently there are rules for Crown Entities right now which restrict their head count to the number it currently sits at. That means I can’t leave one job for a newly created position within the organisation because that would mean hiring someone to fill my current position.
Sounds like a poor excuse to me but one I can’t argue with. Maybe they just wanted to get rid of me, although they say the opposite.

I cannot work for a woman as vindictive and stupid as the one I have to report to anymore, so as many of my readers know I’ve handed in my resignation.

I’m going to be working from home on my little jewellery business, doing lots of writing and scheming. And a bit of cleaning, cooking, and exercising. Hopefully a lot more sleeping too.
I’m going to have ample time to collaborate with others. Lend a hand to their virtual, or otherwise projects. And hopefully meet some new inspiring people.
If you need some help with your projects let me know!

It’s a really exciting time in my life. And I’m so thankful for The Boy offering to be my sugar-daddy for a while. Even though I love the content management job that I’m seconded to 50% of the time it’s time for something new. They really do need a content manager though!

This is their idea of how to set up a table in html. Apparently you just press the space bar till it lines up.

1. 2. 3. 4.

• Create the already thought out design for Cupcakes and Mace
• Read books often
• Spend more time writing posts
• Name, tag, and upload all of my photos
• Write to do lists
• Exercise
• Bake
• Write letters
• Find the best thrift stores and ask when new stock is put out
• Plan outfits
• Get more sleep
• Listen to music lots
• Clear out my old clothes
• Bask in the glory of having no boss
• Breathe more fresh air
• Make jewellery
• Have fun with my “Wreck This Journal”
• Attempt to alter clothes
• Play my bass
• Save money on food
• Use recipes
• Tweet constantly
• Find the best photos on Flickr

With the news that Real Groovy has gone into receivership I’m welcoming the arrival of JB Hi-Fi with open arms. Real Groovy has been great for imports, second hand CDs, and vinyl; but pricing on the popular music they stock is expensive compared to places like The Warehouse, often costing an extra $10.

I’ve been waiting for JB Hi-Fi to come after I first visited one of their stores in Auckland last year and scored some imported CDs at a great price. The site is the recently closed LV Martin and Son in the BNZ Tower in Wellington. They are currently advertising for ALL staff, so if you’d like to work at JB Hi-Fi pop over to their website and fill out an application form.