I woke up briefly around 10pm only to have Olli diagnose me with a fever. I tried to deny that (because I’m stubborn like that) but soon had to give in and went to bed, where I proceeded to sleep until the next morning without a hitch. That should be a dead giveaway then, right? Waking up in the morning, I still felt rather horrible, so I had to call in sick at work. During my first month trial period, too – sucks so bad. But thankfully I was supposed to have my bi-weekly day off today, so I kind of just switched those days around.

Yesterday I slept till 1pm or something, and then I laid blearily on the couch all day and watched daytime TV. Thankfully there was no fever, and while I still don’t feel 100% today, it’s back to work with me. Here’s to hoping that by now the fever has burnt away that lingering cold that I had since Graspop. It would be nice to be in full posession of the possibilities of my brain again.

It’s a good thing that I really really like what I’m doing and that I know for a fact that even with my poor knowledge of the software I’m still a better trainer compared to what my manager has been doing so far (she doesn’t have much patience, or empathy, for the students) – but this is really running me in the ground this week. Having to give a training of software that you essentially know for three days is quite daunting. Hi lions! I’m about to train you today. Even though my manager says I work here for weeks now, it’s really only been days.
Good thing that I got balls of steel, I suppose.

In the current heat it was definitely a challenge today. By the time I got home (of course the bus was too late, so I wasn’t home till 6.30 pm while I had left home at 7.45 am) I was about ready to cry with fatigue. After dinner I went for a nap and I was still training people in my sleep. Go figure. Thankfully it’ll get easier sooner, once I’ll have all the documentation a bit more structure. (Ha! Structure! Me! Never thought I’d say that! :’)) Oh, and soon enough I’ll know the subject material better, and then I’m going to kick even more ass.

Meanwhile, all of the Netherlands is orange in anticipation of the world cup final against Spain (who would have thought this would happen? Surely you’d be either clairvoyant or insane to predict this!) and I’m still madly in love with Soilwork.
Good times, good times.

It leaves preciously little energy to deal with other things, though. So sorry if I can’t be there for you the way I normally can and if I seem distracted and/or impatient. I’m training people in my sleep at the moment and I’m having a tough time adjusting… I still love you all. <3

We dropped him off at the dog pension this morning because we’re going to Graspop tomorrow afternoon. It was a complete bitch to leave him there, because he was really scared and refused to go inside. Thankfully the people there were really nice. I hope he likes his bench mate, but knowing Bodhi he’ll probably have a blast. Now all I have to do is resist the urge to call every day to ask how he’s doing. :’)

In other news… I had a training day at my new job at C, and I already found some things that I know I’ll do well on. I get along well with my direct colleague P so far (she reminds me of my mom, heh) and for the rest the company seems really fun and the people are young & sociable. And the commute is doable, 40 minutes from door to door. So far so good!

Tomorrow it’s 24 June, which means that Olli and I will be married for five years. We wanted to plan to do things, but with us leaving for Graspop and having to pack and clean and everything we thought we’d just take it easy tonight and have some fun together. We’ll do the official things like planting our tree and going to dinner later. There’s other things to do first, like rocking out and throwing the horns during great gigs and stuff. I can live with that as well.

If I’d be any more excited, I’d probably explode

Interestingly enough I’ve already worked with this database in 2007 (oh, the coincedence!!) so we mostly chatted about upgrades and tweaks since then, and traded some experiences on IT recruitment (she’s an IT recruiter as well). So all went peachy, and I can’t wait to hear back from the client.

I think we have a real good match here, and if I manage to get along with everyone at the client’s site, and all goes well… well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Instead I’ll present you with a mugshot I made of myself in my pretty outfit while waiting for the interview to start (this for the people who haven’t seen my phototweet). Don’t I look all professional and stuff?

Last night I suddenly thought of that suit again. And what do you know, I look AWESOME in it. Especially now that I’m so ridiculously tanned. Here’s to hoping it’ll bring me luck this afternoon. Of all the jobs that I’ve hunted in the past month, this is the one that makes my heart the most aflutter… so these are exciting times

It made me think of unemployment. Unemployment kind of numbs you down. It slows you down until you settle into a life rhythm where walking the dog, washing the windows, checking Popo, watching a movie and getting some groceries feels like an accomplished day. It isn’t, of course – not really. But you still feel like you’re busy all day with not that much at all. In my case these days are interjected with socializing and hanging out with dear friends. Lie had vacation during my first week of unemployment (just like last summer btw, I’m beginning to see a pattern here!) so we hung out a lot. And of course there was Pinkpop, and the day at the beach. Lie’s birthday party. I mean, I know how to enjoy myself. I also happen to have some way excellent sweet friends that I can spend time with and those times I treasure like an idiot. The day at the beach that we ended with tapas and sangria was made of awesome. The fact that it took place in the first week of June makes it even more insane/awesome.

But in the back of my mind there’s always this nagging doubt. What if I can’t find a job? Dammit, if only I could have built my CV a little more, so I wouldn’t be in this transition period between recruitment and training – I’m overqualified for recruitment now, and a bit too junior to be a full-fledged trainer. And guess what is hard to find jobs for at the moment. *sighs* Today was a day where I was feeling the bitter taste of despair. I got rejected last Friday for an IT Recruitment position that I went to interview and although the weekend did a great job of distracting me from that, going back to the drawing board on Monday utterly sucked. It was not a good day for job hunting today, I noticed quickly when I found NO interesting jobs AT ALL. And that bitter taste made me feel horrible. I mean, yes I sent out my application for unemployment services and everything, but still, I’m supposed to work, dammit.

And then some job agency called and they got a trainersjob in Delft that looks perfect to me. <3 I’ll go interview with them on Wednesday, and hopefully they’ll push my CV toward their client… but I think they will. On paper I’m such an ideal candidate that I’m sure the recruiter was cheering when he got me on the phone. Oh, and I charmed the socks off him, too. I tend to do that, when I’m in recruitment processes. I become this charming cheeky Lannie that’s so much more awesome than I usually am. It’s weird, really. Especially because sometimes I wish I could be like that all the time. Anyway! Job interview on Wednesday, will you keep your fingers crossed for me?

Oh, you wonder how I’m doing? I’m doing good enough I suppose. I had my last day at work yesterday, which was mostly spent packing boxes for their impending move. I left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth regarding boss G, but I had a lot of fun with colleague S. And now it’s over, I’m never taking that train to Zoetermeer anymore, and GS and I have parted ways.

The search for jobs has begun in earnest. I got a job interview at one of the positions I really like, but they wanted me to interview when I’m already sitting with my butt on the beach, and I’m not sure whether they can wait until after Pentecost, when I get back. Fingers crossed!

For the ones among you wondering where exactly we’ll be going: HERE. Looks like fun, doesn’t it? Close to Ravenna, and on day-tripping-distance from Bologna, Rimini and Venice. I’m very muchly looking forward to it. We already brought Charlie to stay over with Lie, and we’re taking Bodhi with us. Because the camping in question is run by Ol’s parents, who have brought their dogs, Bodhi will have a friend to play with. Good times, good times.

The lease on the building where I work is terminated per 1 May. They hardly had the money to pay all of our salaries this month, so 1 June I find myself without a job & income. Vacation money is not going to happen for a while… not until GS finds the money to pay me. And even then it’ll be in bits and pieces. It’s all rather devastating for all the people involved. I knew things were pretty tight, which is also why boss G freaked out so much after I hit a rough patch with my client. He already saw things collapse, of course… no wonder he didn’t have any time to teach/train me any further. Ugh.
After the news broke we all had beers in the square before the building at work, sitting in the sun and trying to talk of other things – joking a bit about what we’d do now. It was all rather surreal.

Anyway, my CV is all fluffed up and on all the jobboards, I’m applying… and well, it’s going to be a long summer I suppose. I’m ever so grateful that I’m on vacation in May – at least I still have that.

And to top off a very… interesting… day, a mishap while walking Bodhi ended up with me slamming my knee against a steel fence and now I’m rather unable to climb any stairs. Good times, good times.

In the evening Wendy and Brenda dropped by to sleepover in preparation for the Fantasy Fair. Wen had brought her makeup stash and we practiced the makeup looks that we wanted to rock at the Fair (during which we decided not to use the blond wig for my outfit, but to dye my hair amber instead – which was much better), apart from catching up and celebrating the fact that Brenda has a new job. The alarm went waaaaaay too early the next morning. Still, we got dressed and prettied up, Lie and her friend Ruud joined us, and we prettied up some more before we hopped into the car and went to Castle Ter Haar. It was a gorgeous day and we saw many wonderful things, as always. Absolutely gorgeous outfits and sights were to be seen, and because of the brilliant sunshine it was all the better.

Lie has everything collected in her Picasa album, so be sure to check out the pixors

In the evening we went to a japanese restaurant here in Nootdorp, Isamura. They had absolutely delicious food, but it took them four hours to get us fed – by which it was midnight already. That was a definite shame, but it’s a good thing the food made up for it. I’ll definitely go back there with Ol again at some point, but we’ll make sure to schedule in more time then. All in all it was a late night, and in the morning only Bren was remaining with us. We sat around in the sun in the garden, drinking iced tea and watching Bodhi frolick about. Bren left a little after noon, and Olli and I went to the Boogaard to buy some much-needed new outfits. I needed new job interview outfits (check!), a new summer coat (check!) and Olli also scored some nice clothes. So we did well! And then the weekend was already finished and it was back to work.

Speaking of work, I’m still busy finding new jobs. Applied for a couple of positions by now, so I’m very curious. Only one of them I’m REALLY enthused about, but who knows?