What do I believe in, what are my passions? Part 2

Since I tend to ramble a bit whenever I write I felt the need to split this post into two parts, I felt I could have written a whole book in the first post.

Right so were was I?? Khan Academy yes, I feel like this is a great resource for a lot of people, especially me. It seems like I didn't learn anything in school because everything I see on this website seems extremely foreign to me, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention, you can blame the ADD on that.

I made it through all of the Crash Course:World History videos, I know for sure that it was beneficial, it gave me a lot of new topics to research and there was plenty of humour in it too which helped quite a bit with getting through all of the serious stuff.

After that course I decided to try and brush up on my mathematics skill which I found to be severely lacking. I didn't really need to learn how to add 1+1 but I wasn't far off it. I didn't get to any material that I couldn't manage. Sure I saw some stuff that was a bit of a challenge but I managed to comprehend some of it in the end. Whether I can remember anything I learned is another matter though, That's my main problem when it comes to learning new skills or trying to learn some new information, my level of retention isn't that high. I don't know if there's much I can do to combat that, I wouldn't know if I was getting any better at it though.

I have plenty of notebooks at my disposal but I never bring them with me or write in them frequently enough to make much of a difference. Notebooks or notepads can definitely be beneficial for me when it comes to work and doing the PFS for Tesco. There's plenty I need to learn about that job before I could be considered knowledgeable.

Since i've procrastinated for so long I think this could end being a 3 part post, unless I just ramble on for another 10 minutes or so which could be very likely, i've been known to do it in the past.

What do I believe in, what are my passions?

So what's new in my life since I last posted over 10 days ago??? Hmm, let me see, oh yeah not a whole lot! After a tough few weeks of work I had the weekend off to relax and this week shouldn't be too bad work wise so I can at least have some time to myself and maybe actually get a chance to go to the gym or read, I haven't made much time for myself to read lately and i'm getting even further behind when it comes to all of the magazines i'm subscribed to. Hopefully I can get up to date on everything I read but that sounds unlikely at this rate!

Apart from work I haven't done a whole lot since last time. I finally had another night out with my friends, it seems like i'm only out for special occasions like birthdays or engagement parties, I guess that what happens when you get older and your friends and family start to plan for the rest of their lives beyond university and the day to day things. I did have a good time out on Saturday with my friends, even though it was sort of a typical night out I will still appreciate those types of experiences with my friends, just going out to a bar and having good conversations with people and listening to music. 

Is that all that has happened in my life in the past 10 days??? I got new glasses! My vision is getting worse again so I had to get another eye test where I found out that I needed another pair of new glasses, the change was quite noticeable though. The optician showed me what my old prescription was compared to the new one that I would have, there was a definite change and I knew it wouldn't be fun walking around for another year or so before I could tell it was getting bad enough for me to make my own appointment for an eye test rather than getting the reminder that I was due for one.

Now that the day to day updates are done I think it's time to get more serious. I know I probably don't think or talk about current issues enough, there are a lot of things I don't have an opinion on or maybe I just don't know enough about a subject to have anything new or worthwhile to say about them.

I guess I should really start by talking about what does interest me and what subjects I want to know more about.

I know when I was younger all I really read in my free time was Military Fiction books about war or action and adventure. I know I was barely touching the surface when it came to good literature. Those fiction books wouldn't win any awards, they were easy reads without a lot of depth, I was comfortable with what I was reading so for a long time I didn't try to branch out into anything more complex. At some point though I started reading less Military Fiction and more true stories about the military and real battles which actually required me to try and make sense of what had happened in the world before my time.

Looking back over 10 years ago my bookshelf was mostly filled with Military fiction and non-fiction. I guess military non-fiction is still classified as history so at least I was getting some understanding about the world. 

I don't know how but after a while my interests changed to general history and even science. I knew that I would never have a great understanding about all of the topics that I was reading about, that's still the case now, however I knew that what I was reading interested me and I always felt that there was more and more to read, more fascinating new topics to learn about. I read books about archaeology, nature, physics, space, you name it I probably would have read something about it. Here's where the problems began. I would always move on far too quickly from subject to subject, I started leaving books unfinished because I saw another one that interested me, I still have this problem, I know that there are quite a few books in my library that I haven't finished or even started!!

Basically me when I was younger, this video perfectly describes what I was like when it came to books in my teen years. it's still a fairly accurate representation of what i'm like to this day, i'm 28 now you would think I would be able to narrow my focus to a few topics that interest me, but no, I still find myself going from topic to topic without getting a good enough understanding of the fundamental issues and the basic concepts of things like science or nature. There is one video series that I actually made it to the end of that I found very interesting, Crash Course World History, like the title suggests, it's a crash course, John Green the who created this series takes you through thousands of years of human history, starting with The Agricultural Revolution, Ancient Egypt, the major religions of the world and ending with Globalisation. 

Although i've read books covering some of the topics in this series there was and still is a lot more I can learn, there are still countless videos and courses that I can participate in, I know that I need to get back to using Khan Academy, it was a great resource for me for a while. My maths skills were rather lacking so I decided to start their Mathematics course from the very beginning, luckily I did manage to master that, I managed to count to 10 without having to use my fingers, so I have that going for me....

End of part one!

Free Time

I wrote in my last post about the fact that I might not have a lot of free time to myself if I do manage to make it onto the supervisor course for my job. I have the weekend off of work and so far i'm not making good use of my time off. I did manage to go into town and trade in some of the games that I wasn't playing anymore, there were a lot of them, I managed to make about £70 off of them, it all went into my Game card so at least I can't spend it on something other than a game. I know I need to use my money more efficiently now that i'm saving. Saving for what I still don't know!

When I was in town I also bought some things which I guess can be considered to be very adult purchases. I bought face cloths! Apart from the usual toiletries like deodorant and toothbrushes and the like, i've never really bought much of my own things for the home. I've never bought pillows or furniture or anything like that. I guess now that I have the money i'm thinking about the things that might actually make me more comfortable at home, the essential things that most functioning adults might buy on a regular basis, we all know i'm far from being considered fully functioning adult though, that's a well established fact. 

I have a sad existence if i'm so proud about buying face cloths, like it's some major accomplishment in life. To be honest I don't buy much apart from games and books, maybe clothes the odd time. I should definitely start taking a look and see what things i've been missing out on buying and see if I can brighten my room and life up a bit, it definitely needs something more. My room still does look like a teenager lives in it. 

I wonder what my first apartment will look like if I ever move out of my parents house. Hahahahahahahaha, me move out? Honestly though I do wonder what kind of place I could see myself living in. I guess i'd want to live somewhere relatively spacious with all of the traditional amenities. I don't want to live somewhere where I have to share living space, utilities or a kitchen with other apartments like you might see in university dorms. I wonder if I could have actually managed to survive on my own in a place like that? You hear stories and see it on TV all the time, the college/university dorm life. Is that something I could ever do? Is it too late for me to experience that? I know I can still go to university but would I ever go and life on campus in a place like that? I really don't know. I guess it could still happen.

I know I would definitely like some roommates if I moved out. Sure you can do whatever you want if you live alone but I know that I would lonely far too easily if I just lived by myself. I know I would want to live with at least one or two other people.

I've definitely lived a sheltered life if i'm thinking about these kinds of things for the first time. I've been spoiled for far too long if I haven't experienced these kinds of things for myself. What other things have I been missing out on? I know for definite that I don't consider myself an adult just yet, I may be getting there somewhat but I still have a long way to go before I can considered to be independent.

I definitely want to be able to drive. Driving sort of just went to the back of my mind after I failed my dring test a few times. I guess at the time I didn't really need to be able to drive. I do now though, it would greatly benefit my life in a lot of ways. I really want to just take a drive along the coast or even just take a drive though the parts of Belfast i've never been to before, I still feel like I know my city at all. There are tourists who've probably seen more of my city than I have and I live here for god's sake!

Late nights and early mornings

January was a very busy month for me when it came to work. I didn't have much time to myself at all, I still don't to be honest though. I guess i'll probably have less time to myself if I do actually go on this supervisor course for my job. It seems like there could be a lot of late nights and calls at all hours to come in and run stores. I guess that was the one issue that was putting me off going for the supervisor position in the first place.

So what has changed?

Well.... I guess I finally realised that I needed to get more out of my job and maybe see if I can make a career out of it, if not then I guess I want to have something more to show for all of the time i've spent in this job. I want to be able to say that I have more responsibilities that can show that i'm capable of more. I've been doing the garages in Tesco for about 5 months or so now and i'm beginning to want to know more about how to run them rather than just counting them and then just forgetting about them. I want to know how the checks work and whether or not there are areas I can improve on. I know I definitely need to improve one aspect for sure, I suck at showing the Tesco staff how to use our machines to count. If I did a better job at that then maybe I might get more recognition for my abilities. 

I know I could be more professional about my job. I could be more chatty and maybe start to ask more questions about how well the garages do for sales and how long each member of staff has worked there for and what their responsibilities are.

I'll definitely need to try and present myself in the best way possible if i'm going to try and convince someone that I can be an effective supervisor and I guess an effective communicator of ideas.

I know I need to ask Bridget more questions about what goes into the PFS counts. I don't want to seem like an idiot to anyone and now know what i'm doing. I didn't exactly make a good impression in the PFS the other day. I managed to take exactly the wrong tickets for the shop floor and the back room, they were both clothing tickets, I could have been done with the garage even sooner if I hadn't made that fuck up. 

There's still plenty of thinking for me to do about my future aspects with this job. I know that I don't want to make any rash decisions, not that i'm known for that or anything...

Reconsideration

It's come to that point in my job that i'm thinking about what's next. I work for a stock taking company, i've been working there for over a year now and I think I want more out of the job than what I have at the minute.

I guess when I was less experienced I had no real thoughts about where I would be at this time, I didn't know I would still have this job a year and change down the line. I never would have considered going for a supervisory role, that was something that never occurred to me at all. To be honest I never thought about being a supervisor before. I guess that was because i'd never been in a job long enough to actually make it to the point where I could consider myself experienced enough to actually apply to be a supervisor or want more out of a job in such a specific way as becoming a supervisor or a member of management.

For those not in the know about the specifics of stocktaking, here's a little bit of an idea.

1) A client approaches the company and requests their services in auditing their stores. The client will of course have their own internal auditors but it won't be anywhere near as in depth or detailed as an outside company could be.

2) The auditing company will not try and sugarcoat the results of the audit, the good, the bad and the ugly will always be revealed in great detail. The client could be trying to hide losses to the big bosses. The store might not even know its shortcomings or if there is a problem with the competence of it's managers.

3) Preparation is key when it comes to stock taking. The last thing you want is to come to a store and find that no work was done beforehand to prepare for the coming audit. It puts the counters and the person running the count at a serious disadvantage. Being prepared even just partially can greatly increase the effectiveness and accuracy of the count and help things run smoothly. No one wants to be there longer than they have to.

I guess what I really need to think about is if i'm actually capable of becoming a supervisor. Do I have the knowledge, the skill, the communication skills to effectively lead other people and represent what my company needs in doing it's job in satisfying a client?

That will be my main concern going forward if I actually put my name forward for consideration for the supervisor training.

28

It's that time of year again, my birthday. I talked before about the fact that my birthday was coming up. It happened, i'm 28 now, I don't know whether or not I feel any different than I did before. I guess 28 is another year closer to 30. I hope by the time I reach 30 I have more to talk about than I did before. I feel like I go over the same topics over and over when I write in my journal or just in general.

I guess if I talk more about current events then i'm going to have more to talk about, the problem with that though is the fact that I don't always know the full facts about a subject so I don't want to come across as uninformed at best or completely ignorant about a subject.

I want to be able to talk about a subject at length knowing all of the facts and be able to have the knowledge to actually talk at length about a certain subject. I want to have the facts at hand to back up my position and be able to be confident about talking about a subject and be clear about what I say and what I mean.

Since I started on the subject of my 28th birthday I feel it's right to finish on it as well. I always veer off course when it comes to writing and journaling but I do manage to make it back to get back on track eventually.

I definitely could have made more of a plan for my birthday. It was unfortunate that my birthday just so happened to fall on such a busy weekend. With two engagement events happening in such a short space of time it was obvious that I couldn't fully celebrate my birthday like I wanted to. I'm not going to make a big deal of the fact that friends of mine had other plans for tonight, things happen, I guess if I had said sooner that my birthday was coming up this week then maybe some people would have been able to make it tonight. I am happy about the decision I made tonight though, I could have left and went to a club, I might not have enjoyed that though or maybe I would have, I can't complain about tonight though, I had a good time with my friends, having to decide whether to go out or to stay put was a bit of a dilemma but I think I made the right choice in the end,

I'm signing off now, I had a good night and a good weekend. This coming week is going to be a fun one for work so i'm glad I got to spend the weekend with my friends socialising and relaxing because I know i'm not going to get the chance for a while.

Two-for-one

This will just be a quick addition to my last post.

Since i'm new to blogging I still need to try and find a good length for each separate post. In my journaling on paper or on my laptop topics just seemed to come to me at random, there were many twists and turns, I started writing about one topic but then rambled for a few sentences and then somehow ended up writing about something else.

The good thing about having a blog is that I can just write about one or two topics and then publish it and then carry on. I don't have to break up my posts too often. I can also edit them where I see fit to suit my needs and what i'm feeling at that time.

The more I post the better i'll be at sticking to a certain topic, that is if I can pay attention for long enough and not get distracted by flashing lights and shiny objects, it's been known to happen.

I hope to be able to spend some time thinking about what i'd like to write about and get an idea of how often I should be publishing something new. I don't want this to end up like my journal, another failed venture after another. If I can be consistent then i'll be happy.