July Madness – And a new chapter in my life

Posted on by gizzajob

The Twelfth was last Friday – the day celebrating the Victory of William III over James II in 1690. As eggs are eggs, there are sectarian conflicts then. A Catholic man was savagely attacked in Kilkeel; while a Protestant Couple from Castledawson were chased out of their home by a Republican Mob. Most in Northern Ireland holiday away during then. I stayed at home. Although I bought groceries at Springisland Store that morning.

On Sunday, I went to People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire for a picnic with a Meetup group. The Meetup itself was run by an American woman who Lectures at a Protestant Theological College based in Carolina. (not sure which one, though) She said she has done missionary work in Africa and is in Ireland to do consultancy for the College.

Yesterday – Tuesday – I signed off the Condition Management Programme. I have now progressed to Antrim New Horizons. If I don’t start with them next Monday, it will be a few months later.

Last week, I was at the Apple Store in Belfast, as my MacBook Pro has a broken r key. Turned out that the MacBook Pro is too old to be fixed. However, I was advised to buy a remote keypad. Then, I ordered a Logitech keypad from Amazon. It arrived on Thursday. Then I had to use DuckDuckGo to learn how to open the battery latch. (Bluetooth didn’t work on my MacBook Pro)

Also, last week, I got to see my Cousin’s kids from Dubai. They were with the seven-year-old son of my other Cousin, and they were playing Minecraft on their Tablets. Being modern kids, the boy from Dubai called his Cousin a, “Douche!” while the girl said, “OMG!” I got some laughs out of that.

 

Tunes:

 

The long and arduous process of finding work in Northern Ireland

Posted on by gizzajob

Today I had to phone a Doctor’s Practice in Plumbridge, County Tyrone – other side of the Sperrins, and I wanted to spell my address using the phonetic alphabet to act as an icebreaker in case the receptionist didn’t get my accent. However, she asked me to keep repeating it. That triggered my anxiety and I was getting restless; bearing in mind that first impressions count. In the end they said they will post the form on Monday. (probably second class) But I feel that I made a boo-boo of it.

After paying the landline bill, basically line rental plus VAT, and the cost of getting my car through the MOT I felt a huge sense of ‘poor me’ syndrome. I also have to spend a small fortune on the MacBook repair from the Apple Store at Victoria Square following the damage I caused to the keys with my lightning-fast typing. (note to self to do Admin stuff on Ubuntu and use the MacBook Pro for graphic design only) I feel that, as a bloke applying for jobs associated with women, no one is there to answer my cause.

Today I wrote three letters; one to my ex-Careers Teacher, one to God and a final one to me as if God’s writing back. The message I get from this is to promote my blog in the local papers. From little acorns do mighty oaks grow. 🙂

Here’s hoping.