Good news, bad news…

I’ll start with the good news. It’s Monday after all and it’s nice to look positively on the week coming.

I had a really nice time with JJ on our anniversary dinner. ‘Sam’s brasserie’ is a nice place to go and enjoy dinner. The prices and its formal ways make it not an everyday destination but perfect for special occasions. He was ecstatic about the plane trial flight. He got me a really nice design, leather bracelet I saw and loved from ‘Tateossian London’. I am not a jewellery or accessories person, but this bracelet is really really nice…

Thank you all for the wonderful comments you left me (us).

Because I’ve been a good boy this year, Santa will be extra nice to me and will bring me a new laptop. I know I shouldn’t, but I plan to abuse my savings (a little bit) and replace my old laptop with a new one. I’ll give my current one to my parents because their laptop is even older than mine. They will also help me financially with the purchase. I found what I need and I’ll order it later on this month. I don’t want to receive it before my upcoming exams because it will completely distract me. I hope to receive it after I’m back from my Christmas holidays.

That might mean that I’ll have to survive for some days without a laptop or PC in my house...

On my very good news list, we’ve decided with ‘JJ’ for my birthday in March to go to Venice. I’m turning decade in life, becoming 30, and I want something a little more extravagant. Everybody’s saying how nice it is and I haven’t been to that side of Italy. We’ll just try to find a cheap flight and a nice apartment for 3 – 4 nights. I hope we’ll manage to do that…

On the grey area of my news are my exams. I’m taking them on the 18th of December. I’ve been trying to study but I have been having some difficulties concentrating. To give you an idea, I spent most of this weekend at my place but in order not to sit down and I study, I even scrubbed my over! I have been noticing details though that I hadn’t noticed before and I feel like I’m grasping the subject better this time. I am getting quite stressed about it though since it will be quite a blow for my confidence / self esteem if I fail again. I’ve never failed in exams twice in a row in my life.

I put the exams on my grey list of news since right after the exams I’m having my X-mas holidays and be free to get back to my normal life. I’ve only been running twice in November and I’m not going to the gym more than once a week. This lack of exercising is something I don’t like. I feel less energetic and I can see the extra weight accumulating. I try not to, but I take breaks from studying nibbling on not so healthy stuff… It’s weird for a geek boy like me, but I do miss exercise!

The first on my bad news list is related to work. I haven’t had the chance to set any new interviews and my job agents are very quiet at the moment. I know that we’re approaching mid-December and no one is really recruiting at the moment. However, I can’t stop feeling restrained in a job role that doesn’t offer me anything anymore. I’m mostly working and getting expertise on a programming language that is not commonly used which I also believe will die soon. Since I started sending CVs around in July, I’ve come across only one vacancy related to it for a utility company, but they demanded more than 5 year experience on other software packages they use. On top of that, the financial situation of my company was such that this year no bonuses and no pay rises are given. I can only see that as a pay cut since my rent went up, transportation costs are rising and the VAT will go up as well. So, I’m trapped in a job position where I’m not learning something useful or earning any decent money. That was why the whole learning Java plan came to life. However with the current unemployment rates and the fact that I don’t have any commercial experience at it or a software engineering degree, I am not the most appealing candidate…

I know that I might sound like an ungrateful brat at the moment. I’m getting a new laptop and also planning on going to Venice in March (if we manage to do that) while I’m complaining about work and money. I do try to keep my every day expenses low to find the money to do all that. The frustrating thing about my current role is the fact that I can’t see any future in it. I need to be in a more challenging position where I work towards improving my career. I am grateful for everything that is happening in my life, but I can’t help being a bit ambitious though.