Change

If this year has a theme for me, it is "change" and so much has changed for me. My parents have split up and both left Melbourne, where I am. I have had to find a new place to live, and I have now moved out of the family house of the vicar and moved into the house where I'll be staying. Tonight will be my third night sleeping here. I've also, within the last week, successfully got a new job but it in sales and commission-based. It was not my ideal working situation but even in the last couple of days, I have learned heaps and I'm sure that this job will give me HEAPS of experience and help me get another job in the future if this one doesn't turn out ok. Having said that, I'm not actually minding it too much at the moment. I don't mind the work, the issue is whether it will make me enough money to live on, and that depends on my own performance.

Today was my first "official" day where I first started making sales, and I made my first sale.

One of the issues I'm worried about (other than money and long hours) is that doing this kind of job might change a part of me that I like about myself. I don't even know what that part would be, but, as at least one friend has warned me to be, I'll be careful.

Interviews, Houses and Earthquakes

I had a job interview today and even though I was late, have no experience in the area, and basically admitted to being "not very outgoing" (it's a marketing job) I've been invited to a second interview (the first time since I've been invited to a second interview since I've been looking.)

Also, if all things go to plan, I'll be moving into my new place in about a week's time, maybe a week and a half.

There's also been an earthquake in Christchurch, I've heard. Buildings have fallen down and bodies are being pulled out from them.

I really like staying with the people I'm staying with at the moment, although at the same time I am also looking forward to moving to the new place, (although I'll still see the family I'm staying with now quite often) and I'm not quite sure whether I want the move to happen soon or if I wouldn't mind waiting a bit longer.

My Friend's Giveaway Thingy

A friend of mine from another blog is doing a giveaway/review thingy with this other etsy person.

Details of the giveaway:
Mommy's Monster

Etsy shop in question:
OneTrueTree

Check it out! Or not. I'm just blogging about it to improve my own chances of winning. :)

One Step Closer

I've moved house again - but not finally. The house I'm supposed to move into is not ready and the house where I was staying, well, my agreed stay-time was expiring (and I wasn't in the mood to ask for an extension.) Fortunately, one of the people in charge of organising the house who told me that the house is being delayed knew that the place I was staying before was temporary and offered me a room to stay with her family if it put me in a tight spot (which it did). I accepted her offer and so I've moved in the area staying with ANOTHER family but not yet into the house. I'll be moving again before the end of the month.

I am grateful for the previous family for giving me a place to stay while I was in waiting, but at the same time, I am relieved to be out of there, even if it is with yet another family. Even from the beginning I felt tense with Eel, (the mother in the house), who cared about different things than I, (which was fine), and seemed to think I should care about the things she cared about instead of the things I cared about (which was less fine.) It kind of got a bit worse a bit later, and some of that was my fault as well, but I just felt tense around her and I think she was getting a bit tired of me, too, by the end.

Anyway, I feel much more comfortable with this new family I'm staying with, whose company in the house I'm actually enjoying and who seem to be making special effort to make me feel welcome without making it look like they're going out of their way (either that or they're just naturally good at it.)

My mum came to Melbourne on Saturday and even helped me move into the new temporary house, and only then found out that she actually knew the husband of the woman who I was in contact with about the house! Talk about coincidence. (Although not that much of a coincidence because this always happens within Christian communities, I've noticed.)

So there's Vicar, the male adult (who I've named after his occupation), his wife Fin, the female adult, and their children; Star, who is friendly, polite and helpful for a teenage boy, and the daughter (also an adult, but just not one of THE adults, in her early twenties) Shimmer, who I only just met less than an hour ago because she wasn't around the last couple of days since I've been here, but has made a good first impression by being friendly and sociable.

I feel a lot more relaxed than I've been in the last few weeks. I'm also trying to get to know the area a bit since, even though I've not yet made it to where I'm going to be living, I'm only a few blocks away from it. Being closer to the city than I was previously, there are plenty of places nearby that I'm quite happy are nearby.

Marysville

Today I went to Marysville with a bunch of other people from church to a trout farm where, every now and then, a group of people from church go to help rebuild in the aftermath of a devestating fire a couple of years ago.

This was my first time going.

So today I got in some good, old-fashioned physical labour (mostly moving dirt), I learned how to gut a fish, and I celebrated friends' engagement within an hour of the proposal with sausages and champaigne. He threatened us not to put it on facebook but I'm pretty sure no one reads this blog so I'm safe. At least, no one who knows who I could be talking about.

Tomorrow I'm going to a birthday barbeque, and then I'll be going to church (in the evening) to what will be my last service as a member (but I will probably still visit but as a guest).

I'm currently reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne which is great! I'm reading it on my kindle.

I may have missed an opportunity out of shyness.

Pizza and Pancakes

Pancakes were good, a lot of people turned up and they seemed to be enjoying themselves and their pancakes. Um... I hope, anyway?

So what did I get for my birthday? As mentioned before, I got a kindle, I also got this nice, green jug thing which would be good when I move! Also these ice cream cups designed to eat ice cream out of (I've already used them twice), and a pillow and a notebook and a whole lot of gift cards, a book called "The Writing Class", and a desk calender with encouraging notes written on them.

I think that's it... thereabouts.

I've also decided that I definitely want to see "The King's Speech" and that I want to see it with a specific person, although that specific person doesn't know it, yet.

I'm at my mum's place in the country at the moment. She came over for pancakes and I decided to go with her to stay with her for a couple of days, and she's making pizza at the moment.

Library in my Pocket

It was my birthday yesterday, and jestar took me out to see a movie - "Tangled" - and then bought me lunch. She also gave me a kindle, and I have to admit - I really love it! Since yesterday I've downloaded and read The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis - a book I've been meaning to read for years now but never got around to buying. I've also downloaded Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (for free), The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain (also free), Household Tales by Brothers Grimm (also free), The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (99c), and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (free).

I've also downloaded free samples of books to decide later if I want to buy them - American Fairy Tales by L Frank Baum, Complete Works of Jane Austen (I've never read Jane Austen and this is a good opportunity to find out if I like her writing), Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know, plus a couple different versions of the Bible including The Message. (I intend on buying one for my Kindle but am undecided which version I should go for. I was also experimenting how easy it would be to look up specific bible passage with the different versions on kindle.)

It's like having a library and a bookstore in your pocket all in one. Also, for people who like the touch and smell of books (who doesn't?) and thinks that an electronic book doesn't have the same soul, well... strangely enough, the kindle actually smells a little bit like ink.

I'm also pretty impressed at how easy on the eyes it is to read, and bright sunlight doesn't create glare. I've heard a lot of people say that the ipad can do everything the kindle can do but more, plus it's in colour. But there's no way I'd stare intensely at an ipad screen for hours at a time reading text without getting a horrible headache and probably ruining my eyesight at the same time. I could play games, browse the internet, look at pictures, etc. but those things don't require the same optical concentration and endurance as reading a novel does. The Kindle isn't meant to be everything an ipad is - a kindle is for readers. You might be able to download books on an ipad, but it's not the best way to read a novel.