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It’s time to sit down and write my annual review of the year gone by. I always enjoy doing this, as it allows me to get things out of my system before the new year begins. 2009 has been a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. If 2005 was my favourite year of the decade, 2009 was probably the worst. This year has been beset by job insecurity (affecting not just me, but other members of my family as well) and the associated stress. It wasn’t all bad though, as there were still several happy moments during what was otherwise a rather disappointing year.

The year started on a low note as we (ie almost everyone in my family!) were still recovering from the coughs and flu that we had caught during the holiday season. I went back to work after the holidays feeling rather drained of energy. Additionally, at the very beginning of the year, Terry was facing job uncertainty as he had recently wound up his Earsham Fencing business. In the first week of January he was offered a job, but it was withdrawn a few days later. Thankfully he found a new job fairly quickly (with the company he worked for before he started the business), but in the preceding days we were worried about how soon he would be able to find work. All throughout January, I was really busy at work as a backlog had built up over the Christmas holidays. I also had to update a lot of reports so that they would continue to work during 2009, which took up a lot of time.

The highlights of January were that I received a good appraisal at work for my performance in 2008 and I met my friends Naomi and Sarah for an evening at the cinema and we had a meal. (I don’t get to see Sarah that often as she is studying at university away from home).

February was another tense month, as my sister Suzanne and all her co-workers were called into a meeting where they were told that there would be job cuts in the Outfit shop where they work. At first we were worried that the shop was going to be closed down completely. However, as it turned out, a couple of people were made redundant but Suzanne was one of the luckier ones, as she just had her hours cut by 6 hours a week. It was still upsetting for her though as she was saving up for her wedding at the time, so losing 6 hours’ pay had quite an impact. So, Suzanne decided to start looking for a new job. She approached an employment agency and funilly enough she was set up with an interview at the same company for whom I work! It was an interview for a Sales Advisor (call centre) job, but unfortunately she wasn’t offered the role. So she decided to carry on working at Outfit, and I think that later on in the year she was given all her hours back, so she was back up to working full-time.

That wasn’t the end of February’s troubles, though. My job also came under threat. Our head of department called a meeting to make a restructure announcement. Out of the department of 163 people, we were told that 25 people would have to leave, and that we would all have to go through a selection process to decide which people would have to leave. At that point, it didn’t sound too bad. However, the following day I found out that my team would be one of the worst-affected areas – our numbers were to be cut from 21 to just 10! (In the end, it turned out to be even worse than this, as I will explain later on in this blog entry).

Additionally, in February I had organised a meal out for my team, but I had to cancel it at the last minute because half of the people didn’t turn up for work that day (they called in sick) and a couple of others told me they could no longer make it. That made me feel paranoid because I had organised the meal about a month in advance, and I had gone to great lengths to make sure the date would be suitable for everyone and I also asked everyone where they wanted me to book the meal. Looking back though, there was a lot of illness around at that time, and also a lot of people were feeling downbeat because of the restructure announcement, so maybe they didn’t feel like going out.

One of the highlights of February was my 25th birthday, so I had a meal with my family at one of my favourite restaurants, Mambo Jambos. I really like it there, even though we don’t get to go very often. My main present was a new digital camera. This was the best part of an otherwise tense, nerve-wracking month. I also attended an SQL programming course, which I enjoyed and I received a nice certificate to add to my portfolio. Towards the end of the month, I went on a snowdrop walk and took some photos with my new camera, which was a good way of clearing my mind.

As for March, well, that was even worse! One night in March I had a nightmare that I was trapped in a horror movie. This is very apt, I think, and it set the scene for what was to follow. March the 12th was by far the worst day of the year – it was the day when the results of our departmental restructure were announced. We were all called into a room one by one to be told our fate. Even though I was nervous, I was fairly optimistic that I would be offered a job in the new structure. I was horrified when I was told by my senior manager that there would be no job for me in the new structure. Instead of getting rid of 25 people in the department, it turned out that nearly half the entire department would have to leave. My senior manager and my line manager were both upset that I would have to leave as they liked my work. Alas, the decision was not in their hands. They made it clear that it was nothing personal against me; there just weren’t enough jobs to go round. I applied for a new internal job in the HR department as a Reporting Analyst, but it would only be a temporary job for one year.

The other negative things which happened in March were: nearly everyone in the family (including me) contracted a cold, there were a few family arguments (none of which involved me, thankfully, but it wasn’t nice to see) and my Mum was told that she had high blood pressure. I was relieved when March was over as it felt like the month was jinxed!

April was a better month. I was invited to an interview for the HR Reporting Analyst job, and a couple of days later I was offered the job! I was told that I could start on the 1st of May, which gave me enough time to tie up any lose ends in my old job (ie the one that no longer exists!) I was pleased about that, even though it’s only temporary. I had a celebration meal at Prezzo’s Italian restaurant with Mum and Terry on the Saturday just after I’d been offered the job. It was the first time I’d ever been there, and the food was very nice.
Thursday 30th April was my last day in my old job. It was an emotional day. I brought in lots of cakes for my colleagues, and I also organised leaving drinks at a nearby bar and a meal at Malaysian Delights.

I had a nice Easter break in April too. I invited all my friends to a belated birthday party. (I couldn’t hold this party on my actual birthday as a couple of my friends were only available at Easter). We had a meal at Old Orleans restaurant and then we went to the cinema to see The Boat That Rocked.
Also in April, I hosted my first IVC social event of my own – I arranged a meal at Malaysian Delights and 9 people attended. I was really pleased as it all went well. In fact, the only bad thing about April was that I fell ill at the end of the month, although I soon felt better again.

The 1st of May was my first day in my new job, and I picked it up quickly, although it did take me a few weeks to adjust and to feel completely settled. I went on several nice walks at the weekend during May – that’s what I like best about spring and early summer. On the 28th of May it was my sister Suzanne’s wedding. Unfortunately, I caught a bad cough just a few days before the wedding took place, but luckily I didn’t have a coughing fit during the actual ceremony. That was the 3rd time I had fallen ill in the space of about 2 months – I think it must have been due to the stress of finding a new job and settling in to it.

Towards the end of May I co-hosted a nightclub night with another member of the IVC club. We went to Optic nightclub and I really enjoyed it.

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened in June. Even though I was enjoying my new job in May, I have to admit that by the time we reached June I did start to miss my old job and my old department. There were even some moments where I wished I could go back to my old job. It was almost as if I was feeling homesick for my old job, although I knew there was no turning back. At the weekends I visited some nice rose gardens with Mum and Terry.

Overall, July was a good month. I felt a lot more settled and happier in my new job, especially since we had a few team social events, so I felt that I knew the other members of the team better. I was given the opportunity to develop an intranet site for my team and I also became involved with developing self-serve reports on Oracle Discoverer. I had my mid-year appraisal with my new manager and I received good feedback, which made me feel more optimistic. We had a team evening out at the local bowling alley, and we also went out for lunch together one Friday, which I really enjoyed.

In August I bought myself a new mobile phone – a Nokia XpressMusic 5800. This is the first time I’ve had a touch-screen phone and I really like it. I had an away-day at work which I enjoyed – in fact it was probably the best away-day that I’ve ever had, as we took part in lots of quizzes and team-building events. For the last 2 weeks in August, I went on holiday to Coniston in the Lake District, which I really enjoyed. We weren’t far from the Coniston Lake, so we often walked through the nearby woods to visit the lake. One thing which made this holiday different to my previous holidays was that other members of the family came to stay with us as well, so it wasn’t just me, Mum and Terry. It was just us 3 for the first few days of the holiday but on the first Wednesday, Suzanne and her husband Paul and my nieces Anya and Emily came to stay. Suzanne, Paul and Anya had to go home on Sunday due to other commitments, but Emily stayed with us until the end.

On returning to work in September following my Lake District holiday, I had a nice surprise. There was an email saying that I had won £80 in the lottery bonus ball sweepstake. I took Mum and Terry for a meal at Mambo Jambos with the money. In September I began my new part-time voluntary web development job, maintaining the IVC social club website. I also decided to start building a new online portfolio showcasing some of the websites that I have developed.

In October, my Dad, stepmum and sisters Jasmine and Layla came over from Thailand to visit the rest of the family. I booked a few days off work as holiday so I could go out with them. At the end of October, I had some bad news. I had a one-to-one meeting with my manager and he told me that it’s unlikely my secondment contract will be extended beyond April next year. This means that unless I find a new job, I will be redundant as of the 30th of April 2010. It’s not just me; this affects all the other members of the team who are on secondment contracts. The job was only supposed to last for a year anyway, so I wasn’t surprised, although I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of having to look for a new job.

So, I spent most of November and December trying to look for a new job. It has been very difficult due to the recession as there aren’t many vacancies available. I attended several interviews throughout November and December at various local companies, yet got turned down for most of them as there always seemed to be someone with more experience than me. There aren’t enough jobs to go around as lots of people have been made redundant in recent months. I did get positive feedback from most of the interviewers though; it is just unfortunate that there is so much competition right now. However, there were a couple of interviewers/recruitment consultants that I was unhappy with as I felt that they had given me false hope – for example, trying to make out that I would find it really easy to find a job and then talking to me as if I’ve already got the job in the bag. It was so disappointing to go to an interview, think you’ve performed well, only to get a call a day later saying you’ve been pipped to the post. Furthermore, I found the whole process rather stressful as I was going for several interviews a week and due to working full time I felt that I didn’t have much time to prepare. One week in December I had 5 interviews in the space of 7 days!
There is still hope for one of the jobs though, as I was called back for a second interview for one of the Web Developer jobs. I felt that the second interview went much better than the first, and I think I made a good impression. I will find out next week whether I’ll be offered the job.

Thankfully, the Christmas holidays have given me a chance to chill out and forget all my worries. This has been one of the best Christmas holidays for several years and I’ve really enjoyed myself. I think this is mainly down to the fact that I was more determined to enjoy myself after all that’s happened this year. Of course, in the new year I’ll have to start looking for jobs again (if I don’t get offered one in the meantime), but I plan to take things a bit easier so I don’t get stressed out. Rather than sending my CV to loads and loads of places, I’ll just focus on a few jobs/organisations that really interest me.

Summary
2009 was a tough year for me and for my family, with lots of uncertainty and I felt rather unsettled. I just hope that 2010 will be a happier year for everyone.

Plans and resolutions for 2010
I would like to do some more studying in 2010. I’m not sure what to study yet though – it all depends on what my new job will be. For example, there wouldn’t be much point in starting to study for a test analyst certification if I turn out to be offered a web development position instead. I will wait until I am offered a new job and then I will make a decision. If, on the other hand, I cannot find a new job before my redundancy date of the 30th of April, then I will use my free time study whatever interests me and whatever I think is most likely to lead me to a new career.

As for resolutions, I will try not to let myself become stressed out by things which are beyond my control. For example, if I am at work and something goes wrong (eg a database becomes corrupted) then I can sometimes feel myself starting to tense up, especially if I am working towards a tight deadline and I don’t want anything to delay me. However, I now realise there is no point in letting things like that stress me out as it’s outside my control. If a database becomes corrupted and I have to spend time to rebuild it, then that’s what I have to do, so I may as well get on with it without letting it get on my nerves.

Next year, I don’t want to get involved in any silly online debates or flame-wars! In 2009 (especially towards the start of the year), there were a few occasions where people said something provocative on various internet forums which wound me up, and then I felt compelled to respond (even if it’s just to stand up for someone else who is being picked on), which only resulted in me becoming drawn into the debate. In future I’ll just ignore anything like this. It seems that some people visit online forums for the sole purpose of winding up others. Time is too precious to be spent on the internet arguing with stupid people, when I could instead be spending it with the people I care about.

This leads me on to my next ambition, which is to spend more time with my family and friends. I don’t think I write to one of my friends often enough (she has limited internet access, which is why we use handwritten letters). I don’t really like writing letters so I always put it off, especially when I’m very busy. However, it would only take an hour per month for me to write a letter, so I would like to try and set aside time to do that.

And that just leaves me to say – “Happy new year everyone! Oh, and a happy new decade too!”

I thought it would be good to create a record of my main achievements and memories of the decade. Overall, I thought it was a good decade, even though there have been a few difficult patches. As I started my Wordpress blog in January 2005, I have decided to focus more heavily on the events which took place in the first half of the decade, as most of those aren’t recorded anywhere else.

I can still remember New Year’s Eve 1999 very clearly – at midnight there was a laser light show in Norwich city centre, in front of the castle. There were also several events taking place during the day, such as a display of lanterns on the river. This was all before blogs had even been heard of, but I had a traditional paper diary in 1999, which I have kept. On New Year’s Day itself, we invited the whole family round our house for a big buffet.

2000 was the year in which I turned 16, and it was also my final year at high school. (My high school only took pupils aged between 11 and 16, so if you wanted to continue with your education after that, you either had to move to a school which had a sixth-form, or attend a local further education college instead). As it was my final year of high school, I had to study hard for my GCSE exams and I also had a lot of coursework to complete, which counted towards my final grades. I sat my exams in May and June, and there were no more lessons after that. On my last day of school, I said goodbye to my classmates and all my teachers. I brought in a book where people could write farewell messages for me, which I have kept for all these years. A lot of the messages in there were very inspirational, wishing me well for my future. Towards the end of term, we had a special disco and meal just for the senior students. I really enjoyed studying at my high school and I did miss it at first. Towards the end of August 2000, our GCSE exam results were announced, and all the senior students had to visit the school one morning to collect their results. I was delighted with my results, as I had achieved the grades my teachers had predicted for me.

In September 2000, I began studying for my A Levels at Norwich City College. A couple of my best friends also began studying there, but they were doing completely different subjects to me so I only saw them at lunchtimes and during breaks. For my first year, I decided to study Computing, French, Geology and Media Studies. I chose the first 2 subjects because I did well in those at high school, and the latter 2 because I thought they sounded interesting. At this point, I had no intention of continuing on to university, so that’s why I chose such a weird combination of A Level subjects. I settled in well at the college, and I noticed that there is a lot more freedom and responsibility compared to when you are at high school.

My other main memory of the year 2000 was going on holiday with my Mum, sister Sarah and my grandmother to London and Paris. We spent a couple of nights in London and 5 nights in Paris. I really enjoyed that holiday and we visited several major historical sites.

Towards the end of the year 2000, I stayed with my Dad and my grandmother (on my Dad’s side of the family) in a local hotel for a couple of nights to see in the new year. On New Year’s Eve, we had a nice silver-service meal and there was a disco. I never usually go out on New Year’s Eve, so this was a good experience for me.

In January 2001, I went on a college trip to the Peak District with my Geology class. We stayed in a youth hostel in the small town of Bakewell for the weekend. It was the coldest time of the year and it was snowing, so I’m not sure why the lecturer chose that date, but I enjoyed the trip. I had never visited that part of the country before, so it was all a new experience for me, and I thought the scenery was very pretty.

In the summer of 2001, I took my end of year exams at college and I achieved the grades I expected, so for the second year I continued with the same subjects (except for Geology, which was only a one-year course).

In June 2001 after my end of year exams had finished, I went on holiday to Thailand with my Dad. He had been there a few times before, but this was the first year that I went with him. We visited several places, including Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. This was another new experience for me. For the first time, I met my Dad’s girlfriend. In September 2001, she came to live in the UK and they got married. I stayed with them each weekend. (Ever since my Mum and Dad got divorced in the late 80s, I stayed with my Dad each weekend).

It was also in late 2001 that my Mum met her new boyfriend – Terry, to whom she is now married. They met at work and he asked her out on a date. Not long afterwards, he moved in. It was weird for me to get used to this at first, as I had been so used to it being just me and Mum in our house. My elder sisters had moved out in 1996/1997 and since then I had been living on my own with Mum. However, I soon built up a rapport with Terry and began to feel more relaxed around him.

I can’t remember too much else about 2001, but those were the main events of the year (I didn’t keep a diary that year, so I’m just writing this from memory).

2002 saw my 18th birthday, so I had a party with my best friends at a local bowling alley and then we went out for a nice meal. My sisters also took me out to a nightclub for the first time in my life – it was quite an experience!

At the beginning of 2002, I began my first part-time paid job. I worked as a data entry clerk at a travel insurance broker’s office. The work was quite repetitive, but it gave me valuable work experience. This was a temporary job which continued until April 2002.

2002 was also the final year of my A Levels, so I had to think about what to do when I left college. At the time, I was thinking that I would probably leave education when I was 18 and attempt to find a job. Then my form tutor at college began talking to the class about the university admissions process, and at the end of the session I said I wasn’t really sure what to do. He encouraged me to apply to study a degree course as he thought I had the potential to do well. I discussed this with my parents and I also started looking into what subject to study. I was originally thinking of studying French as my “major” subject, but from reading the local university prospectus I discovered that I would have to spend a year living in France (or any other French-speaking country) as part of the course. This put me off as I didn’t want to spend such a long time away from home, especially in an unfamiliar place. So in the end I settled on Computing Science instead. I knew that I would still be able to take languages as my “minor” subjects. I also felt that studying Computing Science would give me more job opportunities.

In May/June 2002 I took my final exams for my A Level courses at college. I faced a long wait until August for the results to be announced. It was quite a nerve-wracking wait, as I knew I would have to achieve at least 2 grade Bs and a C in order to qualify for entry to the Computing Science degree course at the UEA.
When the results day arrived, Terry drove me to the college to find out my grades. Mum came along too. Rather than giving individual results slips to each of the students (as had been the case in previous years), all the results were displayed on a wall chart. Each student was listed by their enrolment number rather than their name, presumably to protect people’s anonymity, although this did make it more difficult to see which results were mine. Eventually I found my results on the chart, and although I was happy with my grades for Computing and French, my grade for Media Studies was lower than I expected. This really worried me, as I thought I would no longer be accepted onto my degree course. I felt disappointed and Terry drove us to Yarmouth to help take my mind off it. On the way there, I calculated the number of points that are assigned to each grade, and I then realised that my grades probably would be enough to get me onto my chosen course after all. So I felt happier after that. A few days later, I received written confirmation that I had qualified for entry to university, and I was delighted!

So, I began my Computing Science degree course in September 2002. It was a 3 year course and I enjoyed it. It was a very broad course, covering all aspects of computing from programming to database administration. I also learnt a lot about the theory of computing, including mathematical algorithms and data structures. In my free time I contributed to the student newspaper Concrete, mainly by way of writing CD reviews, although I also wrote a couple of articles for the website.

2003 was a sad year as my grandmother (on my Dad’s side of the family) passed away. She had been ill for quite a while, but it was still a shock when she died. This was the first time during my adult life that someone really close to me died. (My 2 grandfathers had died many years earlier, but at that time I was too young to fully understand what was happening). In September 2003, my Dad gave up his job as a pet-food delivery driver and bought a convenience store. At the weekend I often used to help out in the shop. Apart from this, 2003 was a fairly uneventful year, although I do remember it being a hot summer as I went to the beach several times.

In 2004, I became more interested in web development and I set up my own blog for the first time. Later in the year, when I felt more comfortable with running my own site, I bought my own domain.

One of the best things about 2004 was that we would often go out with my Mum and Terry to local places of interest. During the summer we visited some nice places, such as gardens, halls, rivers etc. I also became interested in photography, as Terry would let me take most of the photos whenever we went out. In February 2004, my Dad and stepmum had a baby called Jasmine. Another good thing which happened in 2004 was our family holiday in the Lake District for a week in August. We saw some spectacular scenery.

2005 was by far my favourite year of the decade as it was packed with happy events and it was also the year in which I grew in confidence and learnt more about myself and what I wanted to do in the future. The major highlights of 2005 were: my 21st birthday in February, Mum and Terry’s wedding in April, going for a weekend break in Sheringham in May after my exams had finished, finding a full-time job in June, my graduation ceremony in July, going to the Lake District in August, and then in November gaining a permanent contract for my job and officially becoming what they call an Adviser.

2006 was a difficult and tumultous year for me – one of the main stressors being a very long and drawn out restructure at work, which meant that I didn’t receive a promotion even though my managers thought I was ready to move up to the next level. Another difficult aspect of 2006 was that my Dad, Stepmum and baby sister Jasmine moved to Thailand in April. Even though they had been planning to do this for a long time, I was upset at the time as I had never been away from either of my parents for an extended period of time. Another thing which upset me was losing contact with my friend Kay (although fortunately she got back in touch with me in 2008). Even though overall I didn’t think 2006 was as good as 2005, there were still several good things which happened, such as going on holidays to Ibiza and Derbyshire. I also continued to grow in confidence in 2006, as I delivered 2 major presentations/training sessions to my co-workers.

2007 was a mixed bag really, although there were more positive events than negative ones. One of the most positive aspects of 2007 was that I moved forward in my career and I finally achieved my goal of becoming a Lead Adviser, which is something I couldn’t do in 2006 due to a prolonged re-structure and promotion-freeze. At the start of the year I undertook a 3-month Test Analyst secondment at work, which I really enjoyed. I also began studying for professional qualifications. In January my Dad and stepmum had a second baby called Layla. In March I visited them in Thailand with my Aunt and Uncle. In August I went on holiday to the Yorkshire Dales, visited several new places and took up hobbies such as cookery. The negative aspect of the year was losing contact with some of my former co-workers when I moved to a different department – it took a while for me to feel settled in my new department and sometimes I felt a bit bored as there wasn’t always enough work to do.

2008 was a pretty good year for me, although it ended on a low note and I don’t think it was quite as good as 2005. The best things about 2008 were that I felt more settled in my career and I was able to go out with my friends more often. My friend Kay (with whom I’d lost contact in 2006) got back in touch with me again, and I was very pleased about that. On the encouragement of one of my managers at work, I joined a local activities club, which enabled me to meet new people and explore different interests. I am still a member now and I regularly attend different events. I also went on holiday with Mum and Terry to Pickering in North Yorkshire, which I really enjoyed. The main negative aspect of 2008 was the fact that the whole family fell ill in December meaning we couldn’t enjoy our Christmas holidays properly.

That covers 2000 up until 2008, and I will shortly create a separate review for 2009.