Time is ticking

I can’t believe it’s

8 days till I go to the Gold Coast
27 days till Christmas
33 days till my birthday / New Years Eve
34 days till 2008
52 days till my leaving party
58 days till my last day of work
64 days till I leave NZ

ARP! Honestly, where has this year gone?

Just one of those days

Yesterday was not my day. (Yay another list!)

• I got a blood nose as soon as I got out of bed
• I went for a run and overdid it a bit by nearly fainting afterwards, even had to sit down in the shower at one point
• Discovered I had a bruise and lump on my forehead from the when the lay-z-boy attacked me the night before
• Got another blood nose
• And another blood nose
• Was too drunk and txt someone I shouldn’t have
• Managed to twist my ankle – which has only just recovered from the last time I sprained it
• Got the dreaded spins come bedtime

Lets all point and laugh at Tui’s misfortune yesterday, even if some of it was self inflicted... Thankfully today has been better (apart from having a bloody sore ankle!).

Baby vs Big Daddy

Ever since leaving school four years ago I've been working for the same people, slowly making my way up the ranks, beginning as Receptionist, then Secretary, then Loans Officer and now a Loans Analyst. I think I’ve handed in my notice about 4 times and each time have been lured into staying by offers of more money, more responsibility, telling me to properly think through my decision (see number 3. in Duh!) or all of the above. Next time will be the last time though; no amount of money or responsibility can make me stay this time.

Anyway, what I’m getting to is that not long ago the little sized company, never having had more than about 8 employees, was sold to a big daddy sized company. This meant the little baby boutique that I’d come to know and love was to merge into becoming a side cog of an already big, well oiled machine. Once upon a time I think I would have been excited about working for a big company but that was before I knew big companies tend to come with big rules and regulations that dampen the excitement somewhat.

Here is a list (because in case you didn’t already know, I like lists) of some pro’s of working for both small and big companies, at least in my limited experience anyway:

Pro’s of working for a little baby boutique company:

• You get your own office compared to being shoved in a cubby hole so small you bang chairs with the person next to you if you move back at the same time
• You can personalize your desktop picture instead of having black nothingness
• You can save shortcuts/documents to your desktop that won’t disappear every time you log off and on
• ALL internet sites are accessible
• Speakers on your computer are allowed
• USB ports on your computer are actually usable
• Your computer has a CD drive
• The view from your desk is of the Auckland harbour rather than a grey divider
• Your bosses actually know you on a personal level
• It’s fine to email asking for leave a few days before rather than sending in leave applications with up to four weeks notice

Pro’s of working for a big daddy company:

• There are morning teas for someone’s birthday almost weekly
• On your birthday you get shouted a cake compared to having to shout the staff morning tea
• IT staff are on site most of the week
• Gold Coast is the Christmas function venue
• There are more than 3 people at Friday drinks
• There is more than just Chardonnay to drink on a Friday
• Team building events involve going out sailing for the afternoon

I will however concede that I was pretty fortunate in getting to work for such awesome people at the small co. And I suppose the big daddy co is not really as gruff and mean as it may seem.

Duh!

The other day my dear friend Jessie asked me “What is the stupidest thing you have done this year?” Which made me stop and think, shit, what is the stupidest thing I’ve done this year?

Here are some options:

1. Forgave my ex for being a dirty cheat
2. Became a cellphone geek by having one phone for each network
3. Tried to resign from my job a day after my three year relationship had ended
4. Thought it’d be fine getting involved with someone who was heading overseas shortly
5. Created a blog
6. Agreed to mountain bike out to the blue and green lakes with my parents

Place your votes people!

Countdown

Because I’m excited about traveling but also starting to fret a bit about things I have to do before I go, I decided I’d share my load a little by telling you all what I have left to sort out. Those of you who are more experienced travelers than myself feel free to respond with anything you think I might need to remember to get/do that I may have overlooked.

• Go to the doctors to get my vaccinations and sleeping pills
  
• Sit my full license so I’m allowed to drive overseas (yes I know, shocking that I’m still on my restricted)
  
• Fix and then sell my car (any takers?)
  
• Ship my winter/work clothes over to London
  
• Get a new credit card so mine doesn’t expire a month after I leave NZ
  
• Open an HSBC bank account
  
• Get travel insurance
  
• Apply for my UK visa - which I excitedly discovered can now be done online
  
• Book my Bangkok accommodation – any suggestions Andrew?
  
• Buy a pack

Hmmm what else? I’m sure there is tons of other stuff I’ll need to buy but that’s a start. Ooo and I picked up my tickets a few days ago which made it all a bit more real actually having the words Auckland, Melbourne, Bangkok, London printed on a ticket in front of my eyes!!

Also, keep the 19th of Jan free for my birthday/leaving party. Anyone got any ideas for a venue/bar that will be able to accommodate an extra hundred odd people?

Less than 12 weeks to go….

Yuppie Yachties

A bunch of us at work had been told that we were to do some team building yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t exactly enthused by the idea of it to be honest since in my mind team building consists of cheesy introductions, playing “trust” games and being forced to pretend to like the oddballs that normally you would try to avoid in the staff kitchen.

The only details we had been given was to make sure we wore casual clothes and footwear suitable for the outdoors. After the inevitable cheesy intros we were finally put out of our misery and told we were to split into two teams of seven and have a yacht race out on the harbour against each other.

On a regular Auckland day it would be a bit of a gamble with the weather but we struck lucky being blessed with clear blue skies for the afternoon. It was even almost too hot sitting in the cockpit of the boat as our instructors gave us the mandatory safety lesson. As we soon discovered though the wind on the harbour was almost non existent which made for an interesting afternoon since wind tends to be an integral part of yacht racing! Funny that.

Basically our afternoon was spent bobbing around the harbour for two hours trying to get enough speed up to race around a yellow buoy. The problem being that it seemed to only get further away the longer we stayed out there as I swear we were going backwards at times.

Being a team building event you would assume that the teams would work together to maneuver the yacht and hopefully win the race. Our team didn’t seem to take to this idea too well though. I actually think I didn’t touch a rope or winch the whole time we were onboard and I know I wasn't the alone there either. It soon became clear what the females main objective onboard was - to maintain maximum sun exposure to themselves throughout the "race". I even took to swapping sides every time we tacked so that the sail wouldn’t block my precious sunrays. I know, what a girl! In saying that, the guys weren’t much better. We kept joking that if only we had known we were going sailing and we could have brought along the champagne and beers. No matter, it turned out there was more than enough drinking post racing.

Eventually we got the call from the other boat to say should we give up so on came the motor and we headed toward the buoy. The motor was turned off to make our way around the buoy before heading back. Team two didn’t manage to maneuver around the buoy which made for plenty of debate as to who should win the trophy. A.) The team who used the motor to assist temporarily during the race but got around the buoy or B.) the team who didn’t use their motor to assist but never got around the buoy. I think it will be an endless argument, well between those who actually cared about winning anyway.

A few after race drinks in the viaduct somehow turned into several with a bunch of us enjoying the clear, surprisingly balmy evening for a solid 5 hours or so. Once again chatty Tui was out to play which can be a little dangerous while drinking with bosses who don’t know about my travels. Thankfully I managed to keep my mouth shut at all the appropriate times so as to not give myself away. It was not an easy feat I must say!

Bring on the next team building event if it is going to be anything like cruising the harbour followed by hours of drinking in the viaduct…