More Little Changes...
The last local game for the FIFA Women's World Cup is over and it's been 8 days since I made decision to stop drinking both Coke No Sugar and Pepsi Max in favour of just plain water.
I made the decision after discovering that because it was an event largely sponsored by Coca-Cola, there was a rule banning all visible logos from every aspect of the game. This included the underside of ice buckets and logos on people's jackets.
The lynchpin however was seeing someone putting stickers on the back of Smith's potato chips packets to cover up the tiny Pepsico logo.
While I understand that millions of dollars are being spent, I really do not want to take part in this nonsense and where possible no longer support either company.
It's amazing how habitual drinking that stuff can be. You'll also notice they take pride of place in drink fridges and altertantives are difficult to find. Coca-Cola owns brands like Mount Franklin and Pump Spring Water which in my opinion is just filtered tap water.
A Career Change?
It's at this point where I have to give credit where credit is due and thank @mattclarke for suggesting that I don't work at the call centre (and boy was that place toxic!) and instead network within the industry I was already in, build a reputation and go down that path.
I had to weigh up the guaranteed consistent income of the call centre versus the sporadic nature of the event jobs from labour hire companies.
In the end my mental health won out and because I was having anxiety attacks, I had to quit the call centre job. The micromanagement was terrible and I was constantly being undermined, goal posts kept shifting and I was just made to feel like I didn't belong amongst the Hindi speaking majority of my coworkers.
I've managed to secure 10 days worth of work for the Royal Adelaide Show in the Beef Cattle section shovelling cow manure.
Last year I was called something unrepeatable by one of the cattle owners uprovoked (yes, even on a free speech platform!) and after putting in a complaint I decided to never work there again.
The literal bullshit was far less offensive than the figurative bullshit.
In fact, I found a Luigi plushie, discarded in the rain, dried it out and kept it on the headstand of my bed as a daily reminder to find something far better.
Luigi - Unconventional Life CoachSo far I haven't been very successful, but I also know where I am holding myself back.
It's safe to say that my impatience has lead me to choosing the lesser option, at least temporarily. But I cannot pay my rent with broken empty promises.
The better option, that is still up in the air, is to work for a ticket selling company at the box office during the same event for roughly the same money.
My first video interview went well, and I have feedback that one of my referees gave a good impression of me.
The second referee was probably not going to answer a call from Melbourne (why they don't have a local Adelaide recruiter to perform interviews is beyond me...).
The ticket sales job pays the same hourly rate during the day, but far more during the weekends and they will be catering for far more events. Plus, after working for them for a year they offer more pay AND promotions within the company. Sure, I've heard promises like this before, but the current labour hire company just isn't offering anything like that at all.
We'll see what happens today as it's the cut off for this month's recruitment. I hate the idea that my future is determined by the incompetence of a management who refuses to answer their phones, emails, etc.
I seriously just want to work!
Healthier Choices
Salad bar goodiesAlong with drinking more water, where possible, I have started eating more vegetables. I still have a mental resistance to them but it's a good habit to eat them daily and I know their health bemefits.
I'm lifting the 5kg dumbells again. It's not a lot, but the lighter weights mean there's less mental opposition to lifting them and I can lift until "failure'. Every so often I switch to the 10 and 15kg weights to mix things up a little.
A Swoll Shaidon?The photo above is just me messing around. I am not "swoll", at least not yet.
This is the real me:
The real meFinancially, I started to diversify my money into different bank accounts and automatically direct small amounts of money into each of them every two weeks. These are emergency accounts / accounts I won't touch. Eventually I hope to start term deposit accounts but for now my focus is on finding a steady, reliable income.
My expenditure is far too high, and the rent needs to be paid every week regardless of what I'm doing. I am ahead of my bills, and the recent work is only slowing down the decay of my finances.
This is why a consistent income, even at a lower payrate can be a more attractive option. Predictability over uncertainty.
I am slowly beginning to embrace the uncertain. New skills, new friends, new opportunities.
I have also started micro-investing with Raiz. It rounds up my purchases and when I reach a certain threshold, it invests the amount in shares, bitcoin, etc. I get to choose where. It also allows me to get paid for filling out surveys, it's not a lot but every cent matters these days. It's also a good way to teach kids about investing.
If you join using this link, we will both get AU$5 when you use my invite code: https://links.raizinvest.com.au/ET59
Invite code: XN35ES
(Australians only).
As mentioned last time, I have a list of courses that I plan on doing to improve my chances of finding work.
Those will have to wait for a spare moment, but I know the benefits of investing in myself and saying yes to new experiences.
Thank you for reading and supporting me.
Stop hamstringing yourself.
Shaidon
All photos are haven been taken by me, unless otherwise indicated and the sources supplied.
I do not use A.I. and your upvote here makes a difference to a real human.