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Sweet mother of pearl, this has changed a bit. Needing a new PC as old laptop crapped out. New laptop isn't brilliant. Should be back to making stuff soon, hopefully.
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I am not entirely sure if this is entirely normal behaviour but I have noticed something over the years. Most mornings, I get up, have my shower, get ready etc. I check most rooms in the house with my phone light thoroughly and I leave the house, lock the door and end up coming back within seconds to double check if it is locked. Later, going about my daily business as usual, I worry that the house might get broken into and keep having thoughts about it I also worry at night when I am asleep if someone's in the house sometimes causing me to wake up at some points of the night (mostly due to an event that resulted last year when some repeatedly knocked on the door past 2 in the morning and kept trying the door hand, this also happened to my old teacher a few weeks back). At work recently, I have noticed that I only feel comfortable asking questions to certain people at work and yet I still rarely ask my boss or anyone else who is near me I always go towards the people I know or wait for them to come back if they have gone. Now, this has been natural for me for a few years, but it has never interrupted much in the name of social activities although nowadays, I don't tend too leave the house as much. I recently lied about not being able to attend my cousins birthday as I am worried about my dad being there amongst other people I haven't met. Now I have only recently put two and two together and it feels like I am not me anymore. I have been thinking about going to see a doctor but I did that the other week in response to bad stomach pains which appeared to be nothing at all (according to the doctor) so now I am a bit anxious to book an appointment in case it appears to be nothing.
Does anyone else experience this? I know it's an odd thing to be mentioning on a forum of all places, but now it feels like I am stuck in an endless loop and unable to do much, but I also have this feeling buried deep in my head that I should just continue and think not bother other people about it. Including my own parents.- Show previous comments 2 more
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durian has said what was needed to say. It's normatively pointless to worry about the normality of your experience, especially when normality is such a ridiculous concept or standard for everyone to measure to; no-one could ever satisfy such a concept realistically.
My first thought that came to mind would be that you might have a degree of anxiety; I know several people who have it, one of them is what I would consider my best friend. If anything, they share their roots with depression (which I've had for a while), a nature of uncertainty or the inability to relate to reality or to themselves. It's not particularly uncommon, particularly considering how the world is shitty and existentially uncomfortable, especially when there aren't any comfortable individuals that can act as anchors for you. As a deaf philosophy student myself, I rely heavily on anchors myself; but then again, every 'normal' people should have anchors somehow/somewhat in their lives. Talking to a professional would help out, guide you on how you should think cognitively speaking (as durian suggested) or how you should make yourself feel affectively. They are by no means be-all-end-all solutions; nothing ever is when it comes to the mental condition of people, but it's certainly a good start to collect more mental tools and concepts to work with for the rest of your life. -
I'm also for the advice that durian gave. It's not normal to feel that way, and if it's to the level that it's interrupting your usual social activities, it's time to get some help. CBT works wonders.
I don't have the same sort of triggers that you do, but I do suffer from anxiety. So much that I'm now going on disability for it. So I know what you're going through. Hang in there. -
Oh shit! Update: Been off CBT for a number of months now. Noticed a mass improvement in attitude. I also noticed that I am a lot more motivated now, (enough so that I have actually held my job for almost a whole year). I would honestly recommend that if anyone went through the phase I went through that it's better to say something and get some guidance. Even if it doesn't seem much you can actually find a bit more of a problem within.
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Last week I had to spend a week up north as part of my induction into BT's 3 year apprenticeship course. The induction was boring as fuck if I am honest, filled to the brim with egotistical workers from the company jacking off to their successes in public, making the common man deluged with a jealous rage. This week the real work sort of began being put into our groups we will be taking part in to start off with. The group I am with deal with what I can only describe as "alarm monitoring", a process which requires the use of software to determine whether a company's EMOs network is still up and running, if it goes OCC then we must file report(s) to an engineer so that they can fix the problem quickly as these customer networks are usually part of a big company.
And I am enjoying it so far, despite the week mostly consisting of meeting groups of people and sorting out a few odds and ends. It feels absolutely mother fucking fabulous that I finally managed to progress onto something that I want in life, and that I don't actually mind waking up to and leaving early, travel's a bitch but that's the only downside so far. As I said, this is only an apprenticeship but this time I finally feel motivated to actually achieve this (unlike school, college and other jobs) and it brings me closer to having an amazing career within a company that is essentially a household name.
Last thing I really want to end off with is if you feel it is too late to get a career that you want in life, it isn't I am 21 now and had a relatively mediocre educational background. I have had to go through the pain of unemployment, countless hours wasted away looking for pointless jobs just to earn money, countless interviews turned down and even a Foundation Degree smacked out of my grasp due to Student Loans not being paid off thanks to my (and my Mum's) bank cards not working (for some odd reason). The point is if you want something, fucking go for it, look at the things that you need to do in order to achieve that snazzy new car paid from that career and just fucking do it with an attitude that makes people think that you really want it. At the end of the day life is mainly consisted of work, eat, sleep, little bit of time off, work again, possibly more work, etc. Life has a lot of work in it and you might as well have some fun whilst working and enjoy that career.
Impossible you say? Impossible is just a word, impossible means that you definitely won't get it if all you think of is that word, as a famous sports brand once said; "Impossible is nothing". My only regret is that I didn't apply for this straight after school as I would have had this job by now, but shit happens I managed to turn it around and hopefully this blog will motivate others to achieve their dreams.- Show previous comments 2 more
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Congrats, unemployment is a bitch and I'm glad you got out of it. It is very important to do work that you enjoy and are not just there to get a paycheck.
I've been interning for Running With Scissors for a few weeks now and I'm finding it to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience so far. Of course, I'm only taking this step-by-step for now and am currently only doing it out of love for the game dev process and to contribute to one of my favorite games, but I could very well turn this into a side-career if I stick around long enough. -
Dannebubbinga said:
Congrats. It's always nice to see that people are still able to find jobs.
Cheers, it is quite difficult to be able to get a job here especially when it's a line of work that you really want to partake in, but it's certainly a great feeling that something has gone my way work wise, even if it is technically just an entry level with some education on the side I can still learn on the job and get paid, and to top it all off, I am 90 something per-cent guaranteed a job at the end.
The Cupboard said:Not bad. You demonstrated ownership, drive, coach-ability, and you like to get paid. Don't hate that at all.
Thanks, put it this way; I feel like a 40 year old house wife at a Take That concert. You certainly need those in order to get what you want for a career because without them, you will most certainly get anywhere nearer to what you want. Considering my educational history has been flooded with lack of motivation I am pleased that I am able to get a step closer to a full career in what I want to do.
Sodaholic said:Congrats, unemployment is a bitch and I'm glad you got out of it. It is very important to do work that you enjoy and are not just there to get a paycheck.
I've been interning for Running With Scissors for a few weeks now and I'm finding it to be an enjoyable and rewarding experience so far. Of course, I'm only taking this step-by-step for now and am currently only doing it out of love for the game dev process and to contribute to one of my favorite games, but I could very well turn this into a side-career if I stick around long enough.Yes I definitely agree that unemployment is a bitch but then again most things in life are.
Nice too see you managed to get some work with RWS going. I assume this is an apprenticeship? Or do you guys call that something else? -
Springy said:
Nice too see you managed to get some work with RWS going. I assume this is an apprenticeship? Or do you guys call that something else?
We're calling it an internship. I joined a tad late during Paradise Lost's development, but not too late that I can't get a few assets made for some of the levels.
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Pretty fucking stupid, huh? Until around 3:00am they were here and I came home to find one end of crime scene tape on my fence. So I was told by their neighbour that it was something to do with weapons, but then it turns out to be air rifles... One thing I admire most about the American cops is that this would have been dealt with ages ago. The bloke's kid was seen taken by the police and he is a 42 year old from Luton who does not even live there, (it's his 18 year old girl friend's, apparently). I had to ask a police officer if I could go into my house. Worst of all, these cops had to waste their time by travelling from Bedford (only a few community support officers here). This is just an absolutely ridiculous way of dealing with this, in my opinion.
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NOTE: This isn't an actual tutorial on robbing yourself but there are steps that you can take from this which was demonstrated by my uncle.
Last week we received a call from my uncle whom I haven't seen in a good few years. He requested that we come down on Saturday as we hadn't seen him since he last moved house. The journey was long and consisted of a few train journeys which so happened to include the typical poncy workers going to work with their ties done up to 11, toilets that were disgusting and of course windows that wouldn't shut because that's First Crapital Connect for you. Anyway, we made it to his house in South East London, had the BBQ and I was offered a chance to stay to which I accepted.
And what a fucking night it was...
We had a few, it's true and my uncle gives Nick (his partner), who so happens to be in the same state as a typical bus shelter dweller, the keys to his house with one request; put the keys in the lock box. Me and my uncle stay down the pub for a few more then head back at 1:00 in the morning and what happened? Keys weren't in the lock box. My uncle bangs on the door for a good half an hour then we give up and back to the pub we go after that, we go back (again). Same thing happens so he knocks on next doors door goes through into the house and climbs onto the roof, attempts to climb through the bathroom window (which so happens to be extremely tiny). His neighbour (some old twat with crutches), rudely lets me in so I am stood in their garden pissed as a fart and what do I see? My uncle half way in (or out) of the window to the bathroom, wriggles a bit and finally falls in and proceeds to let me in. In the house now and Barry tells me he found the keys, he goes upstairs and all I hear is "I told you to put those BLOODY keys in the lock box!"
To summarise; put your BLOODY keys somewhere safe, don't end up giving them to a friend and/or family member when they're in a state like that. As funny as it was, I am just glad my uncle's partner got home safe.- Show previous comments 1 more
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Phml said:
So you go home drunk in the middle of the night, bang loudly on doors, wake up a handicapped old man so he can act as your doorman, and call him a twat because he doesn't bow down low enough to kiss your feet.
Nope, I wasn't the one who requested to go in in the first place. There's a bit more to this story but I didn't want to bring it up. No words were exchanged that night, apart from some homophobia and a comment about how they wished next door didn't die, which were both aimed at my uncle. My uncle phoned them first, who said they would help him out if he came next door, yet he was rude to me when I was standing outside waiting for a response from my uncle's house (hoping Nick would answer it). As far as I am concerned, if you offer to help someone out, then help them out without the comments. The neighbour phoned at gone two in the morning to apologise for the comments, which my uncle did not accept due to the fact that he could hear what we were saying about that comment through the wall. Hence why I used the phrase old twat, despite not actually insulting the person in question because I am not like that. I suppose I could have explained why said neighbour was a twat in the first place. I can understand it is not acceptable to bother people at that time of day but when you offer to help, at least act like you want to.
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After a fuck load of interviews and lazy weeks of watching Breaking Bad to ease the pain of waiting for companies to get back to me, it finally paid off. A few weeks ago I finally got an email confirming my placement with BT (3 year apprenticeship for Transimission) which will enable me to become a full time engineer provided that I complete the programme to an immense level of greatness. Luckily for me, this is something I have always wanted to do as a job, but I didn't think I'll even get the chance to even get a start in due to bad grades in both college and school, yet I managed to get one step closer to a career I very much desire. The apprenticeship starts in October and I managed to send off the rest of the paper work ready to begin. It just goes to show that you should never give up trying or give up hope, regardless of how well you done. This time though I will try a lot harder than I have done before as this is one chance I don't want to blow.
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So, I have decided that it is about time to pack up smoking, I noticed that my parents started and that they had this new E-Cigarette thing that cost about 15 quid. Having used some before to try and pack up and not succeeding I decided to give my view point on them, they're shit and to be honest, I would rather just continue with roll ups than smoke that load of shit. My parents responded by saying that they work quite well and I have noticed a dramatic drop in how much they smoke now. Curiosity struck me on this so I decided to buy one.
It's called the "Cloud 9 vaporisor", (what a shitty name, ey?) It's rechargeable and it works by buying a small bottle of liquid called "K liquid" that goes for a fiver (no, it's not Vitamin K liquidised before anyone asks, heh) which you have to fill the device up with and it comes in a variety of different flavours, "classic Virginia", "golden Virginia", "Blueberry" and even a "energy drink" flavour. I have been using it for the past week now and I have noticed a drop in the amount I smoke now (now 50 grams of Drum Blue lasts a lot longer than just over a week). Hopefully now I can pack up for good by the end of the year.- Show previous comments 4 more
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Thanks guys. @GreyGhost: I definitely agree with what you said about difficulty as this isn't the first time I have attempted to stop. I tried using patches before but no cigar pardon the pun (though you really shouldn't). I have used E-Cigs before but this one seems to be a much better brand and I can definitely feel a difference.
@Ed Very true about the nicotine in all honesty and that's a very good tip to take into consideration so thank you for that. If they have a marmite flavour I may have to invest in it. -
As I understand it (without having any personal experience on the matter) the most reliable ways to quit right now are e-cigs and cold turkey. E-cigs are better than pills, gum and patches in that you don't have to change your behavioural habits, which can be stronger than the actual chemical addiction. I've read accounts of people who continue to "smoke" e-cigs with zero nicotine in the mix because that final hurdle is the most difficult (and also completely unnecessary) to cross.
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So, today I had another interview regarding benefits it was all going well, until the bitch next door comes along. I have for the past few years worked in a cash in hand job once a week which of course, is against the law. She spoke to my advisor and they both kept glaring at me (she was most likely telling her this) to which I had to put down details regarding this. I had to lie of course in order to prevent the business for who I work for being jeopardised. He is currently in hospital sadly along with his wife so I had to tell the next person in charge (who also runs a stall) that I will have to quit tomorrow thanks to this stupid load of shit that's cropped up thanks to fucking benefits. I shouldn't have applied in the first place and continued to defy my family by not applying (which I did for a long time). The only benefit from this is a few meetings to help me with some things and some travel money but I kind of wish I was back at school now, instead of doing the same applying for shit daily and not getting an answer back. Oh what a wonderous couple of years it has been.
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So, unfortunately my step dad kept telling me to apply for benefits and sadly I have to resort to that for now until I can somehow get another interview (and hopefully a bloody job). I went off to the job centre about an hour ago following the address from the text, which might I add, included the address for the Biggleswade site. I arrived, I told them I have an interview and what happens? Apparently I am supposed to be in the job centre in Bedford yet they have given me the Biggleswade address, so I show him the address to which he responds that it's a "common mistake", how fucking stupid. I mean, I don't want to be on it at all but I could do with some travel money and some help to get an actual job then this "common mistake" occurs. If it's so common for this to happen then sort it out son.
It doesn't help matters that my step dad keeps telling me how easy it is and says don't just apply for any old job. Another thing that takes the piss is that at the end of last year I found a nice little IT job that I thought I would like in "today's local jobs", I go home to apply only to find it was removed from the site (had a closing date for the 4th of this month and this was in December), I know these things happen but that's twice that's happened now. Last year I also applied for both of the recruitment agencies and they never got back. My friend went with both and he managed to get a call back from one of them though they stopped calling him. It really hasn't been the best start to the year but I guess I have just got to keep powering on despite my lack of experience. I now feel that going to college was a complete waste of time now if I can't find anything at all.-
This is a tough time of the year. Many places are cutting hours for a lot of people and are not hiring. Typically it's the summer time and late autumn that places are looking for help. You'll have trouble finding anything really valuable but keep looking, and it might be worth taking something kinda sucky while you wait.
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40oz said:
This is a tough time of the year. Many places are cutting hours for a lot of people and are not hiring. Typically it's the summer time and late autumn that places are looking for help. You'll have trouble finding anything really valuable but keep looking, and it might be worth taking something kinda sucky while you wait.
The last bit is a very good point, I am deciding that I might as well go down that route. I have applied for jobs like that (shops etc) and never heard back. Just got to keep at it I never really wanted benefits seeing as I can see myself not wanting to come off of them but I know better than to do that.
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So, earlier this year I left college and have had about 8 months of unemployment and finally a company called me on Friday. Is this good? In a way yes but the job I applied for was only because I was desperate. The interview is tomorrow in Hitchin (heh), for a call centre. Don't get me wrong, I can take insults seeing as they're just words but out of all the companies I applied for, it just had to be the last resort one.
It wouldn't hurt to have got some form of contact from the other jobs to see if they got my application or what, I mean, what's the deal here? Companies are too tight to part with paper or sending an email is what the deal is. If I get it, then good, if not, then oh well at least I get to improve my interview skills just like my old apprenticeship placement I applied for a good 2 or 3 years back, (I respect this company for actually getting back to me and it has given me some form of hope). Well, at least I get to don a suit for the first time in ten years (suit for a call centre?). So I suppose there are some upsides.
Edit: Sorry if there's any typos, on my phone.- Show previous comments 10 more
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Maes said:
In other words, the interview process doesn't give any progress feedback until you're definitively hired or rejected
Well, the point there is that you don't want to prejudice the interview: if you know the "answers" then you can guide the candidate to them, perhaps without even meaning to. It's actually very easy to do this: ie. lead the candidate along a path without them realising you're doing it. If I'm interviewing someone who is really stuck I sometimes intentionally do this so that we can make some progress with the question.
By the way, referencing my previous post, this whole "test call" thing seems like a great example of a dumb hiring process. What's that all about? If they want to test how you speak on the phone, they can just conduct a phone interview. If they want to take you by surprise, then why tell you that they're going to call you? Seems like another gimmick to keep you on your toes waiting on their call, maybe some kind of silly psychological game. It's disrespectful and certainly does nothing to judge your suitability for the job. -
fraggle said:
By the way, referencing my previous post, this whole "test call" thing seems like a great example of a dumb hiring process. What's that all about?
Probably to see if you could be alert and available "on call" at any moment, like you'd -probably- be expected from the job, and be able to handle the call professionally, without breaking up etc. Moreso since you had actually been alerted that it would happen, and since in theory you're a determined job hunter who wants to work for them (amirite?) you'll probably have nothing better to do than wait for their call. No?
I think I can actually understand the logic here: if you manage to miss TWO calls for which you were also given ample warning about, then maybe you are not really serious about the job (BTW, missing calls when job hunting, even if they are not part of an explicit "field test" like in this case, is a big faux-pas). Or somesuch. -
Maes said:
Probably to see if you could be alert and available "on call" at any moment, like you'd -probably- be expected from the job, and be able to handle the call professionally, without breaking up etc. Moreso since you had actually been alerted that it would happen, and since in theory you're a determined job hunter who wants to work for them (amirite?) you'll probably have nothing better to do than wait for their call. No?
I think I can actually understand the logic here: if you manage to miss TWO calls for which you were also given ample warning about, then maybe you are not really serious about the job (BTW, missing calls when job hunting, even if they are not part of an explicit "field test" like in this case, is a big faux-pas). Or somesuch.I agree on that first part. The two calls however was the lady phoning me in regards to the application in the first place and the second one being the reminder of the interview, which was due the next day. The "test call" was the third which I missed today (how I somehow missed it I don't know) I knew it was due, my phone was on loud and vibrate even when I went to the job centre I was checking my phone regularly. To be honest though it's not a job I really see myself wanting to do all of my life all I want is any old job at the moment (so I am actually doing something) realistically, I want a high paid IT job but I lack any work experience whatsoever (I only have education).
If I'm interviewing someone who is really stuck I sometimes intentionally do this so that we can make some progress with the question.
That seems like a good idea, do you have to take a lot of people for interviews?
By the way, referencing my previous post, this whole "test call" thing seems like a great example of a dumb hiring process. What's that all about? If they want to test how you speak on the phone, they can just conduct a phone interview. If they want to take you by surprise, then why tell you that they're going to call you?
Yes, if it was to take people by surprise then you wouldn't tell them. The only thing I can think of is that this is used to see how you interact with others on the phone BUT the person who is doing this has already experienced how I sound on the phone. I don't act when I'm on the phone I just talk like I normally do.