Thursday, August 19, 2010

Back to life and back to work

Four days in, and I am a walking zombie. I have driven 84 miles per day for four days in a row. I'm not even doing a huge amount at work yet, just getting set up with various systems access and trying to make sense of training manuals explaining the company's accounting model which is totally complex compared to anywhere else I have worked. The people in the office are lovely. I'm sure already that I will make some very good friends there. Already I have been to a colleague's leaving dinner. They are a really nice inclusive crowd. One of the girls told me her boyfriend works in the same company as John in Limerick, and he is learning to surf. So we're going to set up a play date for the boys in our lives soon.

I get paid tomorrow - yay! Money is coming into my account after months of a hemorrhaging bank balance. Even if I hardy know my own name I'm so tired, it's still been a good week. My alter ego surf chick will ditch the work suit for the wetsuit on Saturday as I take to the waves once more. I haven't looked forward to a weekend this much in ages.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

A great big chink of light

Remember this job that I didn't get, and how gutted I was when I found out two weeks ago? Well, guess what? I got an email from one of the directors of the company yesterday, looking to speak to me. Now last week I managed to track down one of the people who interviewed me, and he was kind enough to take the time for a chat on the phone and gave me some very helpful feedback. Basically he said my CV was impressive, and I had interviewed really well, but that I had been up against other candidates who had previously worked for their parent group, so they had the competitive advantage in terms of having experience of their accounting systems and general way of doing things. That made me feel a bit better. So I emailed him a quick thank you a couple of days after I spoke to him, in the hopes that if another vacancy came up in the near future, I might be kept in mind.

And feck me pink, if that's not what happened. I phoned back the lady who emailed me, to be told that one of the team who they had previously been recruiting for had decided to hand in her notice and move back to the UK, where she was originally from. So they now have another vacancy, which they want to offer to me. And it gets better. The salary is almost nine thousand euro more than my finishing salary in my last job. As you can imagine, when I hung up the phone I danced around my kitchen. My next door neighbour must have been wondering what the fuck was up with me, I was squealing so loudly!

So that's it. They want me to start whenever I can. I think I'm going take another week and a half just to get organised, get my house spick and span and go shopping for a new work wardrobe. AND.................I'm going to get a new car! I'm sooooo excited about this. I'm still driving the first car I ever bought, which I have had for six years now. I bought it off my sister in law when I moved down here, with the intention of learning to drive in it and hanging on to it for two or three years maximum. It's now fourteen years old, and has served me well. So I'm looking at doing a scrappage deal and getting myself a shiny new set of wheels.

In ten days time I'm going to be a Finance Analyst. Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go.

A small chink of light?

Thanks to you all for your support and comments on my last post. It was one of the lowest points I had hit in quite a while. Sorry I didn't reply to your comments, but as you can imagine I wasn't my most communicative for a while there. But I'm back with some good news.

I got a call last week, from our RE in Dublin. My autoimmune bloods results were back, and they threw out what may be the answer to the last four years of shite we have been wading through. My level of antithyroid antobodies are off the scale. A normal range would be 0-4. Mine is over 300, which is more than likely the explanation for four of my pregnancy losses. I just wish we had gotten this information years ago, but we have it now and that's the main thing.

The better news is that it's an autoimmune disorder that's treatable with steroids and injectable anticlotting agents. So it might make me as hairy and burly as a German shotputter, but it just might be the treatment that helps me carry a pregnancy to term. I'm still waiting on my AMH results, which I should have in the next day or two. Once we get an idea of how many eggs are left in the basket, we should be able to start formulating our next plan of action.