Feeling the strain

June 11, 2008 – 10:29 am

Not much has been happening lately, just me searching for jobs, applying for jobs and helping Sean with his Disability Living Allowance appeal. I am really starting to feel the strain, I’m feeling so down over the situation. It has gotten so bad, my In-Laws are paying for our groceries to help us out. Sean’s appeal process could take yet another three months and I can’t seem to find work. We really are stuck in a rut.

I am disgusted with the benefit system in this country. This benefit system advises people to make themselves unemployed to be “better off” and to be able to claim the benefits. That is no option for Sean, for us. We have our dignity. I know how hard he found it looking for work when he lost the cinema job a few years back. If it is hard for me to find work, goodness knows how he will find it.

I am finding getting a job difficult because there are not many to go around and whatever is available I am under qualified for. For instance, a minimum wage Administrator job requires you to have so many months/years experience in an office environment or such-and-such of a qualification. I have the equivalent of two-and-a-half A Levels, yet I cannot get work. I really am starting to believe studying IT at college was a complete waste of two years, and that I should have just gone into work-based learning to get some proper experience. The qualification I have means nothing to employers, it seems. They want people with experience these days, but I don’t have enough office experience. If no company is willing to employ someone new to the field, then how can they ever hire anyone with experience? People have to start somewhere, it seems there is no where to start.

I have thought of many options, I have even thought of going back to college to get an office qualification. Some courses offer a day’s work placement a week to get that much-needed experience. The only trouble is the course I am interested in is full-time and I need to try to find a job to support myself during study. It isn’t fair on Sean to have to support me while I pursue learning. I have looked into “Return to Work” courses, but they need you to have experience in the field you’re wanting to study in. It may be unlikely I go back to college, I can’t afford to. I was turned down for Job Seeker’s Allowance yet again, so I can’t get my college funded. I can’t afford to pay £500+ to go on a course. It sucks, I am stuck.

The other option is getting my portfolio up and trying to find web development work, which I would love. My dream job would be to design websites, but opportunities don’t come often around here. I don’t drive so I can’t venture off too far. I know I am good at web design, it is the only thing I am certain about these days. I absolutely love it. I do need more PHP experience, I plan to learn the language so that I am more likely to get the job.

What should I do? All I can do is just keep looking for work and hope something comes up. For how long can I do this before I crack? I feel so useless. I really feel people close to me are disappointed. I wonder what my nan and granddad would think if they were still alive?

Starry Cherry

June 7, 2008 – 8:41 pm

The new site design is up and running! It took me a few weeks to make in bits and pieces. I hope you all like it. If there are any issues at all, please let me know.

Hopefully I won’t grow tired of this design and keep it up for over one month.

Britain’s first “divorce fair”

June 7, 2008 – 3:05 pm

It has everything a couple at odds with each other could want - lawyers, financial advisers and even some pole dancers. The only thing Britain’s first divorce fair won’t have is any suggestions on how to reduce the number of marriage breakdowns. Organisers say the Starting Over Show will help couples make breaking up as painless as possible. The event will be held in October in Brighton, where more than 20 per cent of couples divorce. The national average is 16 per cent. Experts will include divorce lawyers, business advisers, health professionals and financial advisers. There will be live music and a creche while the organisers also hope to have pole dancers - apparently to boost the self-esteem of the newly single. - Source: Daily Mail

What a shame these sorts of fairs are now required and will be considered the norm. You get wedding fairs, so it was inevitable there would be divorce fairs with divorce rates being so high. I don’t like the idea of divorce, but I do think these fairs can be beneficial to people going through a break up. Breaking up is certainly not a pleasant time and it can make someone feel overwhelmed and confused, it can also be a lonely time. There are many people who can benefit from a divorce fair, I believe it is a good thing to make information accessible in one place.

I attended a wedding fair in my local town centre when I was planning my wedding, I found it very useful, it really did help me plan things. I would assume a divorce fair would be just as helpful. I hope I will never have to make use of the Starting Over Show, but I won’t condemn it either. If a divorce fair will help people, what is the harm in it? The only thing I’m sceptical about is the pole dancers “exhibiting”. How are pole dancers supposed to help people going through a break up? Seems a bit gimmicky to me.

What are your thoughts on break up fairs?

Accomplished

June 6, 2008 – 5:13 pm

I managed to get the house clean today, it took hours but the place no longer looks like a pig sty. I feel accomplished for once. Today I was sick, I had been cleaning the front door and I felt faint all of a sudden. I then felt nausea and ran to the bathroom. I’m not sure what happened, but I felt so tired and like I had run a marathon when all I did was clean the house. I was trembling afterwards. I have no idea why the sudden sickness came on. I am fine now, nothing else has happened. Surely I didn’t “overdo” it? Maybe it was the heat? Strange.

I have been working on bits and pieces of a new site design and my new portfolio design. I hope to get these up and running by the end of the month, hopefully sooner. I hope after getting my portfolio and CV up to scratch, I could get some web development work. I’ll give it a go, that is all I can do right now.