no subject

[taimatsu]

My stomach was somewhat improved by noon, but as I was starving by then and made the mistake of *eating something*, it has all gone wrong again.

I don't like this at all. :(

I also need a new job or a magic lottery win, as dead-end terminal pointlessness of the current employment is also getting to me. I want to do something that isn't office admin, but all my work experience is specifically in office admin. Suggestions welcome...

Comments

[j4.livejournal.com]

Are you taking anything for the stomach problems?

I really, really sympathise on the work front. :-/ Your formal work experience may all be in office admin, but what about the things you've done outside work? If you don't have the experience you need outside work either, is there any way you could get it by doing e.g. volunteer work?

Also, "admin" doesn't happen in a vacuum -- what fields have you done admin in, what companies/organisations have you worked for? Is there anywhere you could go (or want to go) in any of those fields? (If so, admin experience within them may help for general knowledge of the field, IYSWIM. If not, think about looking for admin in a field you do want to get into... it may take more than one 'step' to get where you want to be!)

Do you have any ideas what you want to do, beyond "not office admin"?

BTW, email me and let me know what you want to do about the weekend...

[taimatsu]

I have an anti-spasmodic (mebeverine) which I take 20 minutes before meals when in a bad period. That would have helped this afternoon, but not this morning, as the pain happened before I had eaten anything! I also have a revolting fibre supplement I can take, and I think I might try that again. It can't do any harm. (About a year ago I had a bad period of IBS and got diagnosed and given the tablets and so on. Over the last six months it's mostly been okay, and I stopped needing the medication. Unfortunately it seems to be back and I need to get into the routine again.)

I don't have very well-formed ideas on what I want to do other than not-admin. I enjoy page layout/graphic design/desktop publishing tasks (and don't mind short deadlines for that sort of thing); I enjoy pedanting and proof-reading, though I probably wouldn't want to do it all day; I enjoy making things/music/languages; I quite enjoy, and am good at, writing clear procedural documents; I enjoy, but am less good at without DreamWeaver or similar, writing web pages. I don't like working in the commercial sector. Ideally I want a job which helps people in some way, even if not directly. I need something I can get to on public transport, and ideally something with flexible hours and/or part-time. I am extremely reluctant to do work which is mostly phone-focussed as it gives me The Fear.

Fields in which I have been an administrator/receptionist - lots. I have worked at a computer consultancy company; Enron; a small tutorial college; a university teaching osteopathy clinic; a company working on the National Scrapie Plan to eradicate scrapie in the British sheep population (using selective breeding); a university library (two different ones); and now a property consultancy.

In the past I have thought about teaching, youth work and being a nun. Recently people have suggested I could be a magazine editor of some sort. Journalism is another potential field but I have this idea that one has to be go-getting and hard-nosed to do well in it, and I'm not. And it wouldn't quite fulfil my social utility criterion.

I think that's most of it. :) Let me know if you make anything of it...

One reason this is coming up at the moment is that I keep heaing of friends getting or being offered jobs which sound very interesting, and I have no idea how one gets into those fields (journalism, curating manuscripts, writing children's books, etc.) I just need to ask them, actually, and I'll probably make a post for that purpose later today :)

Email will be sent shortly :)

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Don't you have buckets of crafty-skills you enjoy using? Is there anything (other than time, effort, inclination and the like) stopping you from hawking your wares, either online or in receptive communities?

[taimatsu]

1) the inescapable conviction that my stuff isn't good enough for people to pay money for

2) the fear of having to deal with my own taxes etc. rather than enjoying the wonders of PAYE

3) having seen claire_wain's struggles with this kind of thing, and knowing I wouldn't be as dedicated and hard-working as she is.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

In completely unrelated news, I saw you coming out of the train station on my way home from work this evening, but was on a bus.

Just thought I'd share.

[natsukaze.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I don't know if this would work for you but... I was an office admin/bitch for about four years, and, after tiring of that, started work in a call center operated by General Motors. I've been working there since October and rather enjoy it. Again, I don't know if it would work for you, but it may be an option to look into ^^

[taimatsu]

Unfortunately, telephone/call-centre work is about the one thing I would like *less* than office bitchitude :/ I have a tenuous truce on with the phone work I currently do - anything which was only phones would give me sky-high stress levels.

Thanks, though :)

[ifimust.livejournal.com]

Uni office admin is still office admin but there are times it's more varied.

And if you have those skills, have you thought of teaching them to others? Even just on a volunteer basis (to begin with) it's an entry on a cv... :)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

What kind of IBS do you have? The diarrhoea-ry sort or the constipated sort? Or both, at different times?

I have plenty of Geek Answer Syndrome for the diarrhoea type but none at all for the constipated type, because I get that only very very rarely.

[taimatsu]

Both at different times, but more usually the diarrhoea-y sort. Main symptoms are stomach pain, excess wind, bowel urgency, loose stool (but not lots of it in the way I usually understand diarrhoea). Geek Answer Syndrome would be very handy. Do you have any thoughts on the usefulness or otherwise of psyllium/ispaghula husk and/or the best form in which to take it? I can't stand Fybogel, but I have some psyllium capsules which I haven't yet tried.

OT: Sunday

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

(I won't be able to check my home email between now and Sunday, so...)

If you can do the evening rather than the afternoon, starting 5ish, it all works. If not, it doesn't :(

You'd think having a diary would prevent me getting double-booked, but nooo...

Re: OT: Sunday

[taimatsu]

We could theoretically do the evening, but on reflection it sounds like your madly busy and I've realised I have to sort all my Shards kit a week in advance, before we go to Scotland next weekend, so if you don't mind horribly I will be sewing trousers and mending tunics instead. Just be prepared to sing a lot when we make it to Candleston :)

Re: OT: Sunday

[taimatsu]

The 'your' was a typo rather than a grammar error. I am nevertheless mortified.