Argh, it's all gone mad!

I abandoned my wee blog for ages, but then just today I thought I'd add to it again, cause I quite like writing it, actually, so here goes...

First of all, bloody Blogger has gone and changed everything so it took me ages to figure out how to even get in to write a new post.  And in other changes: I have a new job - I'm working in the Corinthian Club in Glasgow and *drumroll please* I'm going back to Uni this September.  I'm going to be doing the LLB (Graduate) degree in Law.  So I can do it in 2 years instead of three for the heart-stopping sum of £6,500 a year - that's at Strathclyde where I eventually had to accept.  I wanted to accept Edinburgh but they put their fees up to £8,750 a year, which was, frankly, well out of my range.  So, Strathclyde it is, and actually I'm pretty excited about it, though I'm not sure anyone else can tell.  

I'm off to Italy next week to visit the flame-haired dynamo ED who has been living on-and-off in Sicily for about 9 months.  I'm flying through London (7 hour wait in Luton, snore) and back through Pisa (one hour connection time, mad dash from Arrivals straight back into Departures and Security) and I've made it so I get 7 full days in Sicily with the two days travelling tacked on either end.  I'm uber excited and already have several lists of things to pack.  I'm not taking a suitcase, 'cause it would have cost me an extra £60 (screw you, Ryanair), so I need to pack smart and think of things I can double up into at least 2 outfits.  I'm also trying not to buy anything new, because I already have loads of summery clothes that I don't get to wear enough, but the one thing I do really want are a pair of sequined shorts (I say shorts; they're not much more than giant knickers) that I've seen on Asos.  The problem is, the colour I want is the cheapest but sold out in my size, so I don't know if I should go for a different colour instead or kid myself into thinking I can get into the smaller size.  I think, of all things you don't want to be wearing too tight, an unforgiving, tiny pair of shorts is about top of the list, so I might have to forgo the lovely navy and go for black instead.

I need to decide today, really, so they arrive in time for me leaving on Tuesday.  Last time I was going away to Tenerife, I couldn't find my bikini, so I bought one on Asos the day before I left and forked out for their enxt delivery and hoped for the best.  They turned up just in the nick of time, and all was well.  So I have faith in the Asos delivery system, at least!

Tomorrow is my mum's birthday, so I've booked us all a table in Brown's to go for breakfast en famille, and then we're hitting the Swarovski shop to buy her a ring she likes.  So far so good, except my dad still hasn't got her anything and seems to have no idea what to go for, so I'm now racking my brains to try and think of something else that he can get for her.  This happens every damn year, and I'm pretty fed up of it!  If anyone has any genius ideas for a mum-worthy gift, please send them my way before the shops shut tonight...

Sunday chat

Just been to the gym and for some reason it felt much harder going than usual!  Probably cause it's a Sunday, there must be some kind of built-in laziness clause.  Still I did my hour of cardio, though I gave up on the cross-trainer after 10 mins and switched to the bike.  I went running on the treadmill first so then when I hit the cross-trainer I just couldn't hack it!

I suppose I'm glad I made the effort to go cause the more I get into the way of it the less likely I am to fall of the bandwagon. (Or treadmill.)

My dad's away out but I'm hoping when he comes in I can get him to make a pot of soup - his soup is legendary, just what you need on a blah grey day like today!

I was out for a few drinks last night in Boteco do Brazil in Merchant City - one of my favourite places in Glasgow!  The food is cheap and unbelievably tasty, and the drinks are quite cheap with cocktails for £3 during the week.  I'm also happy to report that there's a really hot waiter who I've never seen before.  Maybe he's new, I think I'll have to go back again and check...!

Today I think I'll just be chillaxing and mulling things over - still thinking about going to Italy, and still thinking about doing a make-up artistry beginners course and saving up to a professional one down in London.  I think I'd actually love that but it's a bit daunting to think of breaking out and doing something so new and completely different...  So much to think about, so little idea about what would be best!?  Argh.  At least the beginners' make-up course would be funded by ILA, so I might as well do it and see where it gets me... If I hate it then at least I won't have wasted the money on the longer course in London.  Then again there's the whole thing: where would I stay when I was doing it in London, how would I support myself, would I stay down there permanently after I finished it?  Who knows!?

And, of course, if I did decide to go Italy, none of this would even matter.

My brain is now fried.  I'm off for a strong coffee and a shower before I self-combust. 

Friday Night In = Snore-times

I am not in a very good mood.  I'm fed up being unemployed and never having anything to do, and never having money, and applying for jobs I don't even want and not getting them.

ED is back in Sicily after a short hop across to stay in mainland Italy and he says he could get me a job over there with the same people he works for.  I'm so sick of being jobless here that I'm really thinking about it.  It would be teaching English, which is the first main drawback - I hated being a teacher when I first went to Spain, but I do think a large part of that was to do with the school I was teaching at and the way the classes were. 

The whole set-up was a bit ridiculous and the heads of the school were always complaining and making us do extra 'training' which usually made me feel about 2 inches tall.  Also, when the lazier students who refused to study were shite in my class it was blamed on my accent; when they were equally shite in the other (southern English) teachers' classes they were told to study harder. 

And don't even get me started on the man who apparently told his pal in the class that he couldn't concentrate in my classes because he was so mesmerised by my 'huge tits' - his words not mine.  My head teacher told me that someone had said that, but wouldn't tell me who (she obviously knew I'd go mad if I found out who it was) and the result was that I suspected every man in all my classes and was quite shocked to realise that when I mentally eliminated who I thought it was, there were only about 5 out of maybe 90 men who I was 100% sure wouldn't have said something like that.  I also noticed, of course, that the head - a woman - heard one of the pupils saying that and never reprimanded him or even let him know that she'd heard.  Instead she told me, like it was my fault, and I was the one who had to deal with it.

So, all in all, it wasn't the most confidence-building place and I ended up really loathing it.  I was so happy when I got to the end of the year and didn't have to go back.  I think now, if I were in the same situation, I would tell them to sack it and just quit, but back then I was new to Valencia, and didn't have much money and I ended up just sticking it out the whole year.

I have heard some horror stories about teaching.  My friend worked teaching kids English, and one of them - a wee brat of a 5 year old - scratched herself on the face and told her mum that my friend had done it.  I'm not sure if she quit or was fired but either way she never returned and I'm pretty sure the head teacher never had her back in that situation either.

So, that's my teaching experience and it's not something I ever wanted to repeat.  On the other hand, I never thought I'd be unemployed for 8 months and counting either.  So now ED has told me I could go to Italy and get 1000€ a month plus live in paid-for accommodation courtesy of the school.  Doesn't sound like such a bad deal except that I still have huge reservations about teaching again.  And I wouldn't want to do it for an entire year anyway, I think 4 months would be about my limit, so not even sure if the school would go for that.

Oh yeah, and I don't speak Italian.  Not to sound big-headed though, but I don't think it would really be a problem - I can already understand a good bit of spoken Italian just from its similarity to Spanish, and I think I'd pick it up quite fast if I were actually living there.  Wouldn't have much choice, really!

I mentioned the whole thing in passing to my friend and fellow Granada-Erasmuser AM, and she actually said that if she had money for flights she'd go with me!  Now, that makes a whole world of difference.  Even if I hated teaching, having a friend there who's in the same boat and being able to just chill out after work makes everything so much more copeable. (Is that a word?)

So...  Who knows?  I still have massive doubts and so far I think they outweigh however much I want to go, but I really am sick of having no job here, and the prospect of having any job at all is massively appealing, without even counting the adventure side of it all!

I'll keep thinking about it.  Watch this space.

Red Wine Head

Last night was Feminist Film Night - really just a night every once in a while where a few of sit round and get pissed and watch a film with women as the main character.  There's a test - and, annoyingly, I can't remember what it's called - to try and find films that have two women as the main characters, but who're not be talking about men or their problems with men.  Can you think of any?  It's actually surprisingly hard when you really think about it.

Anyhoo, last night we watched Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, which I've been wanting to watch for aaaages, and it didn't disappoint.  I loved the books (along with just about everyone else in the world) but I thought the film adaptation was really well done and didn't really leave any loose ends, though maybe it helps to have read all three books before you see the first film.  Also, the horrible rape scene was bad but not as bad as I was expecting.  So it was all good!

The only thing that's not good is my sore head this morning.  Stupid wine.  I do love red wine though.  And, it's good for your heart, or something, right?

No plans for today then, I was hoping to go out for lunch with some amigas but looks like it's not happening now.  Bums.  The rain is back... call this a summer??

I'm dying to get away out to Italy to visit the wondrous ED who's out there just now.  He's in Naples now, which is somewhere I've always wanted to go, though by all accounts it's a bit of a dump where you're more likely to get mugged than not.  In the end though, I think I'll see him when he goes back to Sicily in July some time.  If I can get cheap flights!  Also, by then my friend V will be back in Italy, so maybe I can visit her, too.  She's from Rome and is moving back at the end of the week.  Sad times.

She introduced me to the film Despicable Me the other day, and I actually love it!  It's in the same vein as Finding Nemo, Ice Age, etc.  A kids' film but really for adults!  If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you watch it, especially on a hangover day. 

It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!

(Go and watch it, then you'll see.)

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

That's Amore!

And speaking of Amore, mio amico ED is having a ball out there, by the sounds of it.  Fruit picking, pasta eating, and tonnes of old ladies fawning over his lovely locks.  They don't see many red-heads down that way, I guess!

So, in light this, I'm planning a visit.  Anyone surprised?  I'm hoping to go in June sometime, when he'll be in a place called (I think) Salerno, which is near Naples.  Bit of hoof to get to, you either have to fly through London or Paris, or get a flight to Rome and hop a train down south.  Haven't decided which way is best yet, I'm thinking Glasgow-London-Naples, just because I don't want to negotiate Rome no my own at night (flight lands at 10pm) to try and hop a train to Salerno.  Imagine I got on the wrong one!

It'll be my first time in Italy, and though I've never really been all that bothered about going before, now that I've started thinking about it, I am getting quite excited!  I wonder if there's a beach in Salerno? 

La vita è bella, when you have friends living abroad!

Viva Italia!

Well, today I waved my best chum off as he set out on his Italian adventure.  Through a good bit of luck, good timing, and my eagle eye for an interesting Facebook update, I found out about a job going in Sicily, recommended Ewen, he applied et voila!  Ten days later he jumped a flight and he should be there now!

I really hope it goes well for him, I'm sure he'll have a wonderful time, and even though I'll miss him, I'm so happy for him!  Also, apparently he'll have a spare room in his flat so I see my first trip to Italy somewhere in thnear future!  Assuming I ever have enough money to go, of course.

On that note, I completed and submitted my application for the job going at Glasgow Women's Library today.  If I get an interview it'll be on the 15th May, so not for another 3 weeks or so.  It sounds like the most amazing opportunity, so I really hope I get it.  Collective fingers crossed, please.

Didn't get much sleep last night, after being out for wine with KH and then getting up at 6am to high-tail it to Prestwick airpoort to see ED off!  So, after finishing my application, I've been pretty much lounging about streaming episodes of Frasier!  Now I'm having a cup of tea and dunking a chocolate bunny in, head-first.  Good Easter times.

Not much else to report today, so I think I'll head back to my Frasier marathon.  Hope everyone's having a lovely sunny Tuesday!