Posts Tagged ‘school’
Happiness vs. the common cold
For the past three or four years I have noticed that I have been sick a lot. As soon as the first day of winter hits, or someone so much as sneezes within a one hundred meter radius of me I immediately fall sick with a cold or flu and then stay that way until the first hot day of spring. That is until this year.
I haven’t really been avoiding sick people all that much, a girl in my class has been sick for four weeks with the flu and she sneezed on my face (by accident of course, it was grosse then but kind of funny now). Even Ben has been sick lately, but not me!
I don’t know why. I don’t think I have any magical immunity or great secret. Although I do stand by my mums excellent advice of keeping my feet warm all the time. I just think I am too happy at the moment to bother with sickness.
The mind is a wonderful thing and if I can stay happy, and there is nothing stopping that, then I believe I will continue in my non sickness ways. I have so much to be happy about at the moment and I have plenty of warm socks so I am set for the rest of winter!
I found out yesterday that Universal Studios Singapore is holding their audition tour again in a month. I auditioned last year, quite successfully I thought seeing as I was onboarded but then missed out on a job. It was a really hard thing for me to do and i got a lot furthur than I ever expected I would. I was lacking in confidence when I went and did it more due to my circumstances last year than any undying passion to work at a theme park. This year though I’m not sure it is worth me going through it again.
Last year I was in a place where I didn’t want to be. I was in a large amount of financial debt, I was working at a school I didn’t particularly like, dealing with people and situations which were putting too much stress on my already stressed out mind, I was constantly getting sick and I was dealing with my own personal demons of thinking my life was heading nowhere. In twelve months a lot has turned around.
This year I am in a place I mostly want to be. I have cleared up most of my debts including my huge personal loan, I work for three different companies performing jobs that I have a lot of fun in, I have new friends at WAAPA who I enjoy spending time with and learning new things with, I haven’t been sick in a long time and I finally feel like I am headed in the right direction with my performing. I am learning a lot about who I am and I get to spend my days doing things like singing and learning French, which makes me incredibly happy.
Even though Universal is still there and will continue to be there I’m not going to audition this year. It would be an amazing job and a great opportunity but I am in a different place now. I have chosen a path which is going to lead me in a different direction to the one I thought I was headed for last year.
I am still disappointed that the job didn’t work out last year and I didn’t get to spend a year working and singing in Singapore, but I am happy that it took that moment to get me to reexamine my life and make decisions like going to WAAPA and quitting my teaching job, decisions which were very difficult but have proven to be good for me. I am much happier than I was and with a little hard work maybe one day I will get a contract as good as the one I missed out on last year.
Image taken by Ben of a very happy Emma, a huge change from the dark and stormy 2010 version.
Another funny school story. Please be aware that this story is a little crude which just shows you what kind of a girl I really am.
I haven’t been feeling very well as of late. My tummy has been a little bit up and down and as a result I have had the worst farts. I am talking majorly smelly, would kill the cat if it was stuck under the blanket at night when I let one of these sneak out. The good thing is that unlike most of the students that I teach I can manage to hold my bodily gases in until a suitable moment when I am either alone or at least outside. There is nothing worse than being stuck in a room with 32 year nine students as a fart creeps around the room.
Anyway, today in English I couldn’t hold it in anymore. My tummy was hurting so bad and with one minute until the bell was due to go I decided something had to be done. I have a particularly disgusting boy, Jack, in my class who finds it highly amusing to fart during class as loudly as possible just to draw attention to himself. Today was payback. I took a casual walk around the room tidying up chairs as I went, picking up a piece of paper or two and then as I approached his desk I let the silent little fart slip and continued on my merry way.
Within three seconds the boys in that corner were all blaming Jack while covering their mouths and gasping for air. I had to try so hard not to laugh as to reveal my guilt. It was too good.
It just goes to show that any situation can be made positive. I had a sore tummy and managed to get not only payback but a laugh out of it too.
My past has come back to bite me in the arse and it hurts. Sure I have made some pretty crappy decisions in the past, decisions which have left me with huge debt and not much to show for it. I think there are a lot of people like me out there and while it sucks to owe people money the real problem is that it has also restricted my freedom to a fair extent.
Take for example my current predicament. I have been offered a position performing in a children’s show in Singapore. Sounds fantastic right? It is. They pay for accommodation, food, air fares and I get paid per show I perform in. So what is the problem? The contract is only for three weeks, starting on the first of June, which would mean I would have to quit my job teaching at School to be able to take it. I can’t quit my job at School and go to Singapore without having another job lined up right after coming back due to how often and how much I owe on my loans. I’m also supposed to give a terms notice for quitting from a school.
There is also the fact that not only does School offer a steady paycheck but when it comes down to it, it is quite simple work, I plan everything in advance so I don’t have to take anything home, I usually get home by 4pm and when I am being truly honest with myself I do enjoy the work.
I guess it is about being patient and hoping that the opportunity presents itself again even though I really really want to take the job now.
Image by Enea (Flickr)
I have a new job!
It is amazing how quickly my life has turned around. Two weeks ago I was miserable. I didn’t want to go into work at all. I used to bitch and whine and generally carry on about how unhappy I was. The I decided to do something about it.
Thinking it was too late to get a job as a full-time teacher (most teaching appointments are done a term in advance and at this point it was a week until school went back) I sent off my CV with a cover letter to every school in the area asking for relief work. I fixed up my teaching portfolio to demonstrate more of my skills as a teacher. I also checked the Catholic Education jobs board, the government schools jobs board and websites like seek.com. I was determined that if anything was advertised I would apply for it and I would get it.
It happened that a job was advertised.
At first I was hesitant. Was this really what I wanted? Then I thought about how miserable I had been at work lately, how happy I had been at the prospect of teaching again, and how excited I had been at re-writing my teaching portfolio. This was the right decision, every part of me was saying so.
I went to the interview and nailed it. I had a bit of a self sabotaging session on the way to the interview which thankfully Ben was able to drag me out of before I ruined this opportunity.
So here I am two weeks into teaching at a new school. I still can’t believe it has all happened so fast. My life is starting to turn around slowly and I am starting to feel happy again. The best part of it is, is that it has been me who has made this change. I had the determination and I did it!
I even get paid maternity leave at this job, if we do try again!
Image by SuperKimbo in BKK (flickr)
