What did you want to be when you grew up?

I was having a conversation with someone earlier about how they felt about their current job and they replied that it was nothing like what they’d wanted to be growing up. In formative years they wanted to be a fire fighter but didn’t have the physique to go with it, then in teenage years wanted to do something in mechanics/engineering but was told by their school career adviser that that would be a waste of their academic talent. Then they thought they might go into law but only lasted a term in A levels before deciding it wasn’t for them. Now they find themselves in a low paid 9-5 office admin role which isn’t terribly fulfilling.

We talked around opportunities for retraining and doing something more in line with their creative side but it seemed all the enthusiasm had been sapped out of them.

When I was little, and during teenage years I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. I still don’t. I have developed into the roles that I’ve had, adapted to the surroundings and been responsible for my own re-education. I wasn’t terribly academic at school and didn’t, and still don’t have, a real vocation in life. I work in areas that I seem to be pretty good at and had opportunities based on past performance and being in the right place at the right time. I would never had said as a younger me, “oh I want to do that job when I’m older“. I doubt whether I would even have known the job I currently do was even a thing.

Our daughter at one point wanted to be a forensic scientist and took all the necessary subjects at GCSE to enable her to take that further. Then an opportunity arrived which put her behind a camera lens. And she found her thing. She was and is effortlessly good at it and pursued it as a career option taking the subject at A level, then going on to study it at university. Sadly, making a career out of photography is exceptionally hard so she’s opted for a more conventional job and keeps her photography skills honed as her hobby. She seems to be doing pretty well in her chosen career at the moment which shows that if you are determined enough, you can progress.

I do wonder whether careers advice sessions are actually useful if they dissuade you from following your dreams and don’t actually have the full gambit of jobs in their basket. No career advisor would have told me I’d be better suited to the job I’m in, for sure.

My advice, for what its worth and what I told our daughter, is to do something you enjoy doing and the rest will come.

I’m still waiting to find out what it is I want to be when I grow up.

Chocolate Week 12-18 October

Can’t believe I nearly missed this. I was prompted by yesterday’s blog about Spoonerisms Day and wondered what was so special about this day/week.

I came across a website that lists awareness events by day/week/month. I usually only get to hear about theses things after the event.

There are some massive awareness events this month like Black History Month, National Cholesterol Month, Lupus Awareness Month, ADHD Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Go Sober for October, Baby Loss Awareness week, Arthritis week, Adoption week, and Work/Life week. But randomly thrown in is Chocolate week. I’m not sure that Chocolate Week has quite the same message as the others, in fact, does it actually contradict Cholesterol Month?

In all seriousness, there are some things that we need to elevate and become more aware of and actually do something about, whether its stamping out racism or looking after ourselves and others by being better informed.

Now that I’ve found this website http://www.awarenessdays.com I shall celebrate Chocolate Week whilst I read up and educate myself about the more serious issues that deserve our attention and action this month.

Spoonerisms & Malapropisms

Someone I overheard the other day said they were dotting the t’s and crossing the i’s. Having realised what she’d said she burst into fits of laughter. It reminded me of some of the words I used to get muddled up as a child.

I remember saying that Dad would need to put the car in the par cark. When we went on holiday I would be packing my sleeping bag and sleeping in my suitcase (although technically possible, not true). And one of my siblings used to call (and still does) the A406 road around Central London the North Circlear.

Even now when I see rabbits along verges I call them Runny Babbits, but that came from trying to be cute with my daughter when she was little.

Other random things that we say but aren’t technically spoonerisms are things like having lemming meringoo poo for pudding.

Apparently Spoonerism Day is on 22 July which I shall endeavour to celebrate next year in full. 😁

Unreserved Apology

A week or so ago I made a monumental error of judgement in one of my blog posts. This error caused one individual in particular a great deal of hurt. This was entirely unintentional however, I will put my hands up and say that I completely misjudged things on that day.

I sincerely wish that I could turn the clock back and undo what has been done, and with the benefit of hindsight, avoided such distress.

I have reflected on that multiple times over the last week and had already taken that entry down and deleted it from my social media.

I have written an apology to the person concerned, who I hope takes it in the way it is offered.

It is right that as the offence was caused through this platform, that an apology is also issued through this platform, so that the individual, and anyone else who was upset by my original post will see that I am truly sorry.

I hope that at some point, in the not too distant future, we can find a resolution, in whatever form that may take, that will allow us to be comfortable in each others company again.

Soup Season

Its definitely turned chillier which means its time to break out the soup maker.

The days of packing salad and cold meats for lunch is drawing to a close, giving way to being able to microwave soup at work. A nice tub of warm soup and a couple of slices of C’s homemade multigrain bread 😋 is perfect for an autumnal day.

As with most weekends it involves meal prep for the week ahead, so soup maker duly cleaned and ready to go, the soup of choice for this coming week is cauliflower and cheese. Its an SW recipe involving many, many cheese triangles. I didn’t put them in until after the rest of the soup had been through the soup maker, then stirred them through whilst it was still hot.

To be honest it’s not the most appetising looking soup. Kind of a very pale yellow (due to the paprika i assume and the cheese triangles). It tasted ok when I stuck my finger in it to test it but don’t know how it will be once reheated at work. Anyway, try it I shall and I have 4 tubs of it to get through in the week ahead, so eat it I will.

Therapeutic baking

Spent the day on a cake course learning how to make cakcicles and heart gems.

I’ve been to several courses run by this person. It’s always a great experience. She had been very thorough with regard to Covid precautions so I felt reassured that there was nothing to worry about there.

The classes are always informative, friendly and relaxed. For me, attending these courses gives me some me time, some space and time to focus on something else. And the great thing is you get cake at the end of it. What’s not to love?

There were only 2 students, the third had cancelled last minute. Everything was prepped, weighed out and tools ready. Nothing rushed. Colouring and sprinkles options chosen. Chocolate tempered, moulds filled, chilled and decorated. Plenty of time to chat and get to know yhe other student.

Thoroughly enjoyed my bit of me time. Even the hour long drive there and back.

Weigh in

I’ve been trying to follow a certain weight loss programme for some time now. After an initial loss of half a stone I just seemed to hover around the same area for a very long time.

This meant that psychologically I felt that the programme wasn’t working for me, so returned to some bad eating habits. I haven’t put any more weight back on so figured that that wasn’t a contributing factor.

Recently my sister sent me a planner book from said programme that she goes to a group for, I do it on line so don’t get access to all the stuff the sell or handout at group. This has prompted me to seriously try and stick to the plan, as much as my lack of fruit eating will allow.

I have been much more conscious of tracking everything I eat, have made conscious decisions on not buying those crisps or sweets on the way passed M&S at work. Then I have written it all in the planner of an evening.

I’m even going out somewhere today that requires me to take my own lunch. It would have been far easier to grab a sandwich, bag of crisps and drink from the shops, but I’ve packed my ryvita, cheese triangles, celery, radish, cucumber and sugarsnap peas instead, with my refillable water bottle.

Weigh in day was today. An epic 4lb loss in a week. 😁 Rather chuffed at that. So, thank you to big sis for sending me the planner and prompting me to take back control.

Podcast binging

I only recently really got into listening to podcasts. I started off with one “By the Book” which was recommended to me. Then I picked a few off the “you may also like this…” list my app presented me with.

My only real opportunity to listen to them is when I go on my lunchtime walk for half an hour, or on the 15 minute journey home from work. (I listen to the radio on the way in as it requires less concentration first thing in the morning).

However, I am starting to feel a bit of a podcast junky. I currently subscribe to 21 ranging from business, personal development, history, comedy and popular culture and #bellringing.

I currently have 303 episodes sitting in my queue waiting for me to listen to. The trouble is I have to listen to them from the very beginning. I can’t start listening to a new podcast several episodes in or just jump in and out of episodes. And some of them last over half an hour so it’s not easy to fit a whole episode in during my walk. And of course, they are all adding new content each week so my queue just gets longer.

When I see a recommendation for a podcast that might be of interest I download a couple of episodes (from the beginning) and make sure that I give it a good chance before deciding whether to unsubscribe or carry on. I think I’ve only ever unsubscribed from about 2.

I have the listening speed set at x1.5 but at this current rate of listening I’ll catch up sometime never. 🤣

Anyone got any other recommendations? If you’re interested, here’s what’s in my queue…

By the Book, CIPR, Fun with Bells, Happy Place, I Weigh with Jameela, Older & Wider, On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Postcards from Midlife, Something Rhymes with Purple, Table Manners, The Brendon Show, The High Low, Marie Forleo, Rachel Cruz, Rachel Hollis, The School of Greatness, Tim Ferris, Trebles Going, Tudor Dynasty, We Love You (and so can you).

Good news: watching cute animals is good for you

Those of us that are connected to multiple social media sites will not have failed to have been spammed at some point by video clips or memes of cute animals doing cute things.

According to goodnewsnetwork.org a study by Tourism Western Australia and University of Leeds we don’t actually have to see the real deal in order to feel a sense of reduced stress levels.

To be fair their sample size was only 19 participants who were students and academics at the University and about to sit exams or had declared feelings of stress at work. They were shown a 30 minute slide show of cute stuff.

Heart rates were reported to have dropped and blood pressure went from 136/88 to 115/71. Anxiety levels dropped by 50%. One of the conclusions was that video was better than still image and therefore the expectation would be that physical closeness would be even better.

Quokkas found in Western Australia are little rodent type critters who have a cute smiley face and now apparently have their own TV station where you can watch them all the time.

I think the nearest thing we’ll be allowed in the office is a few posters, although we did have a visit from Sam the Therapy dog once.

Self portrait

I’m going on a course soon to do with work and as part of the preparation they’ve asked me to send them a short bio and a photograph of myself to go in the course pack.

I HATE having my photo taken. There are very few of me about, I’m not photogenic and why the heck would any one want my ugly mug staring at them.

Also, the request for bio information stated “send a brief profile write up mentioning your role, hobbies and anything you’d like the other participants to know“. The first two bits are easy. I know what my job is and, well basically its bells and baking. But how would I know what other people might want to know about me. How far do I take this?

My favourite colour is burgundy, I like orange Smarties. I drive xx car, I have un frere et deux soeurs (as we used to trot out in French classes). Married, daughter, home…

How much could anyone possibly be interested in?

I turned to trusty old Google and typed in “what should I write in a short bio”. Google suggested that I should include my goals and aspirations, the 2-3 most impressive and relevant achievements and a quirky fact about myself.

OK, so the Smarties thing is in. Hmm, goals and aspirations. To get through life as best I can, you can’t see what’s coming round the corner. 2-3 impressive and relevant achievements. I don’t know. I’ve done some stuff and some of it has been OK but I’m not sure that it’s relevant to the course context.

I’ve kept my bio very short. It’s of little interest to anyone else I’m sure. It’ll be interesting in itself to see how much and what things others have written.