This Week Vol. 7

First things first, I must apologise for not posting a single thing last week. I'm not really sure what was wrong with me, but I didn't feel creative or motivated, and everything I did write just got deleted. I had quite a busy week this week, from TEFL work to starting a new job to standing in front of a room of people and defending my mum's honour. To stop this from being too boring, I'll intersperse some videos I've enjoyed watching this week (yes, despite my massive YouTube rant the other week, I'm still watching videos. However, I will say that I no longer think I'm obsessed with it. I think I've made it to the stage where I'm enjoying it healthily, and it's not affecting me negatively).

This week I watched The Fall (Series 1 and the first two episodes of Series 2), and holy cow was it good. I haven't had nightmares about a show for a very long time (Dexter Season 1 anybody?), but after watching the first two episodes I was seriously freaked out. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I will whole-heartedly recommend that you watch it. I'm thinking of doing a whole post about it in fact, because I have so much to say, so potentially look out for that. Here's the trailer (it does give away a lot, so if you know you're going to watch the show, don't watch the trailer).

I started a new job at Paperchase this week, it's just as a Christmas Temp, but I really enjoyed it. I've never worked somewhere that was so well organised before. The shops I've previously worked in have all had at least a few issues with their tills, whether it's card machines or scanners rarely working or needing to reboot the system every so often, there was always something to apologise for. But at Paperchase everything runs so smoothly, and it's great. I'm only working part-time, but it's good to have something to get out of bed for.

I'm pretty sure I've spoken about where I live before, and the garden we help to maintain, but this week shit got real. It was the AGM of the committee that my mum's on, and that is supposed to represent our estate. This meant that a new committee was going to be elected, and my mum was standing for chairperson. Unfortunately she didn't get it, but I would not be surprised if the vote had been fixed. The current chair is the worst person I've ever met, and even though I hate standing up in front of people, this AGM was my only opportunity to show the tenants and housing association what a bully he is. I'd been planning what to say for weeks, thinking about every point he could bring up and exactly how I was going to fight him on it (I felt like the Keating Five from HTGAWM). In the end I didn't really need to say much of what I'd prepared because other people did! It was so great to see people standing up to this man for once, even my mum said a few bits. At the end of the meeting I was elected to be on the committee, and I took that opportunity to say a few words about how my mum had been bullied by the current committee for the past two years. I was really nervous, but I knew it was the right thing to do, and, because I'd prepared, I had everything worded perfectly. I managed not to get too personal about it, because I knew that would ruin my argument, so I stuck with something like this: 'this committee should be transparent, everyone in our community should know what goes on, but currently, not even some members of the committee are included in decision making'. It felt good to say it, and even better when the guy from the housing association picked up on something I'd said and referred to it as 'seriously concerning', but the best part of the night was as I was leaving, when four different people came up to me telling me they were proud of me for standing up against this man. Granted, he's still the chairman, but with me now on the committee, I'm hoping that things can change (unless what I say in the next paragraph materialises).

This week I've been thinking a lot about next year, and what I want to do with myself, and think I may have thought of some kind of plan! One of my friends moved to France a few weeks ago, and is going to be there until April. When she comes back, we're hoping to do a bit of travelling around Asia and Oceania. That's all fantastic, but what am I going to do until then? This is something I've been thinking about for aggggges, because I really don't think living at home is good for me, or my mum. So, the plan is this, finish my TEFL course by the end of the year, and spend the first 5 or 6 months of next year teaching English somewhere in Europe. At the moment my heart is set on Budapest, because I love it. I spent a few days there on my own this summer, and felt completely at home. I felt comfortable and safe, and kind of at home what with their tube system and everything. It's also very cheap compared to London, I could get a one bedroom flat right in the centre of the city for half of what my mum's charging me to live at home. Not gonna lie, I'm kind of scared to write this all out, because it means that I'm actually going to have to do it, and it is scary. Moving to a whole new city alone, even if that city does have thermal baths and the best Pad Thai I've ever had, it's a huge change, but one that I think I'm ready for. I keep y'all updated (am I pulling off y'all? I don't think so).