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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 In the first week of January he was offered a job, but it was withdrawn a few days later.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.

• I enjoyed doing the Norwich ice sculpture trail and luckily my camera batteries held out until the end. #
• Afterwards we had a nice meal at Pizza Express. I am now going home to bake a cake for tomorrow's Christmas fun day. #
• I'm looking forward to my Christmas fun day with everyone from work. Let's hope they'll like my cake! #
• #YouKnowYourFat – No, I don't know my fat! LOL! #
• We're now on the way to my uncle's funeral. #
• I arrived back from my uncle's funeral about an hour ago. It was very sad. Going to a funeral is never pleasant, but I liked the way… #
• …it had been organised. The hearse was in a horse-drawn carriage and we walked behind it to get to the chapel. #
• I wish that hashtag which makes no grammatical sense would hurry up and drop off the end of the Trending Topics list! #
• I've just been preparing for my second interview for the web developer job. I hope they'll like my ideas. #
• My 2nd interview for the web developer job went really well and I am now much more enthusiastic about it. #
• While I was in the city I finished my Christmas shopping – I got 2 presents for my Mum. #
• How can a million people be so stupid? If you join a Facebook group and invite all your friends, a Dislike button will magically appear! LOL #
• This is what I'm talking about: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=167624433729 #
• I just logged in to Google Friend Connect for the first time using my Gmail account, and they've given me the username WinterMoon. :-O #
• Feeling happy as today has been a good day! #
• Nervously checking my emails to see if I have a job offer. :~ #
• …nope, nothing yet. I'm hoping to hear about the Systems Developer job before the end of today, as they said they'd let me know by Xmas. #
• With every passing minute, the snow is melting and my hopes are fading away. #
• …my hopes of a white Christmas and being offered that Systems Developer job, that is. #
• Well, I suppose I may as well get on with tidying my desk rather than pressing the Refresh button on my email every couple of minutes! #
• It's gone 5pm on Christmas Eve, so I'm guessing the dream is over. Strangely enough, I don't even feel that upset about it. #
• Then again, I suppose it's hard to get upset about something when it's so close to Christmas Day. #
• I'm now chilling out listening to some music. #
• I hope everyone's having a good Christmas Day1 #
• I hardly want today to end! It's been one of my best Christmases for years! ♥ #

This has been one of my favourite Christmas weeks for several years! There are several reasons for this: last year the whole family was ill so I couldn’t enjoy myself properly and this made me more determined to enjoy Christmas this year. It was also good to be able to chill out after all that’s been going on over the last few weeks.

On Christmas Day I stayed at home with Mum and Terry and we had our turkey meal at home. In the morning, my sisters came round to bring their presents.

My main present this year was a new MP3 player. I actually already knew this before Christmas Day, as I went to the shop to help choose which one I wanted. I had outgrown my old 1gb MP3 player, so I wanted one which would hold more songs. My new one is 32gb and can hold 16,000 songs as well as videos! It is a Creative Zen, just like my previous one. I’ve already transferred a lot of my old songs and CDs to my new MP3 player.

My other presents included several CDs and DVDs, a couple of books, new earrings, a new winter coat, a new umbrella, a coffee mug and some chocolate. One of my new DVDs was the film Ice Age 3, so we watched that in the afternoon after dinner. I never had a chance to see it at the cinema, but I thought it was a good film even though I slightly preferred the first 2 films.

Boxing Day was fun, too. We spent most of the day at my sister Suzanne’s house, where we had roast beef for dinner. For dessert, I had chocolate cheesecake that Suzanne’s husband Paul had made. After dinner, we played on the Nintendo Wii. My niece Emily had a Mario Kart game and a Wii Fit. I’d never played the Mario Kart game before and it was really funny because I kept crashing into things (especially towards the beginning, before I got used to it) and I came last in a lot of the races! The Wii Fit was funny too – I’ve played some of the games before round my friend Naomi’s house. The step aerobics game was the funniest, as I found it difficult to keep up with all the moves, especially towards the end when it got faster. Everyone in the room was laughing, and the time went really fast because I was enjoying myself so much! I’m now hoping to get a Wii for my birthday!

I am off work until the 4th of January, so tomorrow morning I will visit Wymondham with Terry and my niece Anya. We will go for a walk round the town, take some photos and visit the local cafe for a milkshake.

As my last blog entry was mainly about my job applications and interviews, I thought it would be good to write a more light-hearted entry.

I’ve really been looking forward to the Christmas holidays this year, especially as the last couple of months have been so busy for me. I’ve been to a couple of Christmas parties – the first one was held at the Lansdowne Hotel, hosted by the IVC social club. I really enjoyed that and I thought it was better than the 2008 party. The buffet was very nice as they had bread rolls with turkey and cranberry sauce and I enjoyed the disco too.
One funny thing happened – I was one of several people asked by the chairman to bring along a cake. So I baked a chocolate cake, but unfortunately it didn’t turn out as well as it normally does and there wasn’t enough time for me to bake another one. It was a bit wet in the middle so I put it back in the oven for an extra couple of minutes. Unfortunately, the outside of the cake was then a bit overdone. The cake also had a big peak on top, so it looked a bit like a mountain! I decided to take it in anyway, and I thought that at least one other person would eat it, as there would be over 50 people at the party. My cake turned out to be one of about 5 different desserts that people had brought in. When people started to go up for dessert, I had a slice of my own cake along with some jelly that someone else had brought in. Later on, when everyone had finished eating and the disco had started, I had a look at the table and I could see that no-one else had taken a slice of my cake! I wasn’t upset; I thought it was funny more than anything. There was quite a bit of food left over though, so my cake wasn’t the only one that hadn’t been finished. I took it home at the end of the evening and shared it with the family. I really enjoyed the party though, and I think one of the reasons why I liked it more than last year’s party was because I now knew a lot of the other people better than I did last year.

I also had a work Christmas party with my colleagues from my department, which was held at Norwich City football ground. The night had a gangsters and molls theme, but I didn’t bother to dress up (the ticket said dressing up was optional) as I thought a lot of others wouldn’t bother either. I just wore normal smart clothes rather than fancy dress. However, when I arrived, it turned out that I was the only person from my department who hadn’t come in fancy dress, so I felt a bit out of place. There were people from many different companies at the party, and there were a few people from other companies not wearing fancy dress, but they were in the minority. Another complication was that it was snowing really heavily that day, so my step-dad Terry said he would pick me up at 9.15pm, to make sure that I wouldn’t get snowed in at the venue. This gave me just enough time to have my meal (starter, main and dessert), but it meant that I didn’t have a chance to take part in the disco afterwards. I felt really disappointed that I couldn’t stay longer – I saw the first 5 minutes of the disco and the music sounded good, but I didn’t have time to dance as I knew it would shortly be time for me to go home. I was the first person in my department to leave the party, so I explained to everyone that it was because of the snow and that I would’ve stayed longer if I could. I really liked the food though.

I had a relaxing day on Friday – this was the first day in several weeks where I could just chill out and do whatever I wanted, so I watched a couple of DVDs. The first one I watched was Run Fat Boy Run, which is a comedy, and then I watched Blades of Glory, which is about 2 ice skaters. Saturday was another day where I chilled out reading books and magazines. Over the weekend, we had heavy snow – about 10cm in total – which is fairly heavy for where I live, and it doesn’t normally snow in December. We don’t usually get any snow here until January. I was glad of the snow as it put me in a festive mood and it felt like a traditional Christmas scene. Sadly, I think most of it will have melted by the time Christmas Day arrives.

On Sunday I went on the Norwich ice sculpture trail. I wanted to go last year, but I couldn’t as we were all laid low with flu. As a result, I was really excited about going this year. It is always held on the Sunday just before Christmas and I went along with other members of the social club. As it had been snowing, it was very cold so the sculptures remained frozen all day. I’d heard that in previous years it had been quite mild and the sculptures melted. That obviously wasn’t a problem this year! I took several photos on the trail – luckily the batteries in my camera held out until the end of the trail. The batteries cut out just after I’d taken a photo of the last sculpture! I’ve already uploaded some photos of the snow which I took on Friday, but I still need to upload my photos of the ice sculpture trail to my Flickr account.

After the trail, we had lunch at Pizza Express in The Forum. I was a bit weary about the prospect of having a meal there as I don’t actually like pizzas, but I had a salad for my main course instead, which turned out to be really nice. I had dough balls for my starter and Italian ice cream (vanilla and nut gelato). It was a really enjoyable day.

Yesterday was a busy day for me as I went back to work (just for one day) for the HR department’s Christmas fun day. Each team within the HR department set up a market stall explaining their activities and responsibilities. Most of the stalls also had games and quizzes, to raise money for charity. People had put a lot of effort into designing and setting up their stalls, and it was fun to walk around the office visiting each stall. For my team’s stall, I brought in a Victoria Sponge cake to be used in a “guess the weight” competition, where the person with the closest answer wins the cake. I baked this cake on Sunday afternoon – in fact I baked 2 cakes the same: one for the competition and one to keep for ourselves! Fortunately the cakes turned out well and quite a few people entered the competition to guess the weight, and the winner was declared at the end of the day. There was a big quiz in the afternoon where we were all split into teams and a lot of the questions covered things which we had learnt from each of the stalls. We didn’t win any prizes in the big quiz, but I found the day very exciting and I feel I now know more about what the other teams within my department do on a day to day basis.

Then in the evening, I met my friends Gemma, Naomi and Sarah in a local pub. We all exchanged Christmas cards/presents, had a drink and discussed what we had all been doing for the past few months (Gemma lives quite far away from us, so we only get to see her about twice a year, usually at Christmas and Easter). We normally meet up every Christmas in the Railway Tavern, but it closed down this year, so this time we met up in the Broadland View pub instead. There’s no roaring fire there (unlike at the Railway Tavern), but I had a nice evening as it’s always good to meet up with your best friends just before Christmas.

So, Friday the 18th of December was officially the first day of my Christmas holidays from work. It’s been well over 2 months since I posted a full update, so this entry will probably be quite long. A large portion of it will be spent talking about my jobhunting adventures of the past 8 weeks. In late October, my manager told me that it’s unlikely my secondment will be made permanent, meaning that I will be at risk of redundancy if I don’t find a new job by the 30th of April 2010. So that’s why I’ve decided to start looking for new jobs, both internally and externally.

Over the last 2 months, I have experienced such a wide range of emotions – I don’t think I’ve felt this way in ages. My emotions have included excitement, enthusiasm, happiness, optimism, confidence, nervousness, panic, disappointment, anger, feeling fed up, pessimism, feeling hopeless and sadness – and often I have experienced several of these feelings in the space of just one day!

I attended my first interview (of this jobhunting session) in mid-November. One of my contacts recommended that I speak to a particular IT recruitment consultant, so I got in touch with him and he met me one lunchtime to talk about what sort of job I am looking for. This recruitment consultant seemed fairly confident about my job prospects, and he called me later that week to tell me he had set up an interview at a local company, doing Reporting and Application Support work. He also said that this job was still only “in the pipeline” and it hadn’t been formally advertised yet, so I was thus far the only candidate. He also said that the client company were very happy with my CV and that they were very eager to see me as soon as possible.

So I went along to the interview, which was fairly informal, and I thought it went well and the 2 interviewers seemed friendly. These 2 interviewers were talking to me as if I had already got the job in the bag, so I felt very optimistic and excited about it. One of the interviewers even smiled and said “See you soon” at the end of the interview.

Sadly, it all turned out to be too good to be true. Later the following week, I received a voicemail from the recruitment consultant saying that the company weren’t going to offer me a job after all. So I called him back, as requested, to ask for feedback on my performance in the interview. The feedback from the 2 interviewers was that I was very strong technically and that they thought I would be able to do the job, but they felt I was very nervous in the interview and that I wouldn’t be able to cope with their “cut and thrust” environment. I was very shocked about them saying I was very nervous, as I felt fairly relaxed in that particular interview – in fact I think I felt more relaxed in that interview than I’ve ever been in any job interview! I explained this to the recruitment consultant, and he said he couldn’t explain it any further. He said that he would get back to the client company and ask for more detailed feedback, but I’ve never heard from either him or the company since then. I felt very upset that the company had raised my hopes so high and I also thought that saying I was “too nervous” was a strange reason for not offering me a job – isn’t everyone nervous in an interview? It makes me wonder – maybe they were never intending to hire anyone in the first place, and they just invited me in on a speculative basis.

This was a big knock to my confidence though, as I was worried that other interviewers would think the same thing about me. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The interview feedback from other companies was much more positive, even if they weren’t offering me a job.

I attended an interview at another company (a local insurance broker) the following week for a Systems Developer role. This had been advertised through a different recruitment agency. At the interview, I could tell that I really liked the company and that they had a strong emphasis on personal development and training. They even showed me the computer system that I would be working on. However, a couple of days later I had a voicemail and email message from the recruitment consultant saying that although the client company felt my technical skills were very strong and I interviewed well, I hadn’t been selected for the job as the client were looking for someone with more general insurance experience.

That wasn’t the end of it though; here’s the exciting part: A couple of weeks later, I saw the Systems Developer job re-advertised on the same website where I had originally applied for it. During the interview, the IT director had given me his business card and he said I could contact him with any queries that I may have. I decided that I still really wanted the job, as it sounded like my dream job. So, I decided to write an email to the IT director asking whether the job was still available. I also included a summary of the information that I provided in the interview, to refresh his memory of me. Here’s the daring part: I finished my email with a request to be re-considered for the role. Following that, I was nervously checking my emails waiting for a reply. Later that evening I received a reply from the IT director thanking me for the information in my email and he said he would speak to the team manager the following day to see where they are in the hiring process. A few days later, I received another email containing more detailed feedback – it turned out that the team manager was concerned that I was more interested in web development than system development. However, they were both happy to meet me again for an informal chat.

So I took this as a positive sign and I arranged a time for a second interview, which took place on Thursday last week. It was much more relaxed than the first interview, as they were mainly asking me questions to clarify the things that I had said in the first interview. In order to give myself an extra chance of being offered the job, I decided to put together a portfolio folder of all my best work over the last year or so, and I took that along to the second interview. The folder contained feedback from my co-workers and internal customers, certificates I had achieved, along with examples of process flowcharts and systems documentation that I had put together. The 2 interviewers seemed pleased that I had made the effort to do this. They said that they still had some other applicants to interview this week but that they should be able to make a decision just before Christmas, once they have finished the interview process.

A couple of weeks ago I attended an interview at a local media company for a Web Developer role. In the morning before the interview, I felt quite calm (which is unusual for me when I have an interview due later in the day), but when I actually arrived on the premises, the nerves just hit me. To make matters worse, the interview room was extremely hot and it was also a large formal dining room. Even though the interviewers opened the window, I still felt very hot and I could feel myself burning up. Then when I was asked the first question, my mind went blank and it took me a while to think of a suitable answer. My voice was quivering with nerves, but I persevered until the end of the interview. I’m not normally that nervous at an interview. Upon leaving the interview, I didn’t think I had made a good impression. I was really surprised when, a week later, I received a call from the company inviting me back for a second interview. This is due to take place on Wednesday this week, and I’ll be expected to talk about my plans for the company’s website.

Apart from the 3 companies mentioned above, I have attended interviews at 4 other organisations. I wasn’t offered a job in any of those cases because they said they have offered the job to another candidate who met the specification more closely or who had more experience in those fields. However, they all gave me positive feedback saying that they thought my interview went well. In some of the cases, I get a feeling that I came a close second. As we’re still in recession here in the UK, there is still a severe shortage of jobs (although it’s not quite as bad as it was 6 or 12 months ago) and the unemployment rate is the highest for well over a decade, which means employers can afford to be more choosy when it comes to recruitment. Therefore I have come up against some really strong people during my last 2 months of jobhunting.

I have found the last 8 weeks very stressful, especially because I have had to try and find a new job while still carrying on with my old one. When you count the time spent on my existing job, commuting/travelling to and from work and to interviews, filling in application forms and writing covering letters, drafting and editing my CV, following up people who have contacted me, preparing for interviews and actually attending them, I have probably been working 70-80 hours a week! Up until Friday last week (ie when my Christmas holidays began) I have had very little time to enjoy myself and at times I was worried that I would crack under all the pressure. Fortunately, I made it through, and I think this has made me realise I am stronger than I think I am. Even if I don’t get any job offers at all, I feel that I have learnt a lot about myself over the last 2 months, and I should be able to cope better with any interviews that I attend next year. Having said that, I really am hoping I will get my dream Systems Developer job. If that’s the case, then that will be a really good Christmas present for me.

I learnt early on that it’s important to keep my emotions under control; that it’s not healthy to get too excited about any particular job, as even if the interview goes well that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a job offer. With my first interview that I mentioned in the third paragraph above, I felt so optimistic that I would be offered a job by that company that I started to feel excited and relieved, even before I had heard the outcome. So then when I did hear the outcome, I had a big mood swing. Fortunately, this hasn’t happened in any of my subsequent interviews, as I then realised that however many “green lights” you experience in an interview, no assumptions can be made about the outcome.

It’s now midnight and I’ve covered just about everything I wanted to say about my jobhunting, but I hope to post more entries later this week about other things that have been going on in my life.

• I had a good time at my Christmas party last night, even though no-one wanted a piece of my weird-looking chocolate cake! #
• We're putting our Christmas tree up this evening! #
• Just had another interview and I think it went well. I wasn't so nervous as it was an internal interview. #
• I've got yet another interview today then 2 more tomorrow (one of which is an informal chat). #
• I feel like I'm turning into a nervous wreck! My chin has come out in a rash of spots and my lips are chapped. #
• Oh well, in another 31 hours this will all be over and I will be able to enjoy myself again. It's my work Christmas party tomorrow! #
• Just got a phone call saying I didn't get the job for yesterday's interview. It was because they chose someone with more Testing experience. #
• However, they did say they thought I interviewed well and I provided good competency examples, so I am pleased about that. #
• I think my interview today went well and I wasn't too nervous. I don't think I'll get the job though as there were a couple of questions… #
• …where I had to say "I don't have any experience of that but I'd be happy to learn if I was offered the job". #
• There could be 10cm of snow on Friday – when my Christmas holidays officially begin! I like seeing snow & I'm dreaming of a white Christmas! #
• I'm feeling in a very buzzy mood this morning. It's my last day of interviews! Yay! I've also got an informal chat with the company… #
• …that rejected me back in November. I'm fairly positive about that one. I've also got an interview at my old university! #
• I'm now putting together a portfolio of my achievements to take to the informal chat. Then I've got my work Christmas party in the evening. #
• Rain, sleet, snow, hail – the weather won't make up its mind what to do! #
• I've been crying tears of relief that my current round of jobhunting is over. No offers as yet, but I've learnt a lot about myself in the… #
• …last 7 weeks. I've pushed myself really hard and I've been working 70-80 hours a week. Now I've got 2.5 weeks to do whatever I want. #
• Right, I'm going to have a nap before my Christmas party starts at 7pm. #
• So, I went to the Christmas party but I felt out of place as I was the only one in my department not wearing fancy dress. I thought a… #
• …lot of people wouldn't bother to dress up, so that's why I didn't bother. I had to go home early too in case I got stuck in the snow. #
• I'm having really bad mood swings at the moment (mainly due to stress), so I'll go to bed early and hopefully I'll be OK in the morning. #
• Stress of finding a new job, that is. I keep trying to remind myself that my redundancy date isn't until 30th April 2010. #
• It's very pretty outside. It's still snowing and it looks very Christmassy! I've just taken some photos from the windows. #
• #uksnow NR7 7/10 http://uksnow.benmarsh.co.uk/ #
• I keep thinking it's Saturday today! It's all because I've got the day off work! #
• http://twitpic.com/u0evc – View of the snow flurries from my bedroom window. #
• Been called back for a second interview for the web developer job that I applied for. Really surprised as didn't think 1st one went well. #
• #uksnow NR7 3/10 Woo it's snowing yet again! #
• I feel much calmer and happier now than I have felt at any other time this month. #
• I've just updated my Nokia 5800 software and it's got rid of those annoying bugs such as words repeating when writing SMS messages. #
• Another night of snow! At this rate we will end up with a white Christmas. #
• I'm going on the Norwich ice sculpture trail tomorrow. At least we know the sculptures won't melt, as it's so cold! #

• I haven't tweeted for a long time as I've been extra busy. I have 4 job interviews before Christmas, including 1 today! #
• I really do hope to be able to update my blog tomorrow evening about all that's been going on. #
• Let's just hope that out of these 4 job interviews, one of them will be The One! #
• @Dazzx Thanks! in reply to Dazzx #
• This morning there has been another twist in the tale (albeit a positive one). I could write a novel about my jobhunting adventures! #
• I've got an interview today at 2pm for a web developer role at a local newspaper publisher. Not long to go now! #
• I don't think that interview went very well – it was held in a large formal dining room which was really hot. They opened the windows… #
• …but I could feel myself burning up and my voice kept quivering and stumbling over words. Think it was the temperature & formality. #
• Only 3 hours until the weekend starts! #
• This morning I heard that 1 of my uncles has died. He wasn't a close uncle, but it's still very sad. He was my grandmother's uncle. #

• I've just completed that awful online numerical reasoning test. And somehow, I don't think the company is going to allow me to become… #
• …their next Pricing Analyst. I don't think the test went very well at all. But at least I now know that sort of job won't suit me. #
• Normally, I'm OK at maths, but when I'm expected to answer 21 questions in 21 minutes, complete with graphs and calculations, I just panic! #
• I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a month of my tweets. Top three words: interview, tomorrow, meal – http://w33.us/14ai #
• I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a year of my tweets. Top three words: nice, meal, tomorrow – http://w33.us/14h3 #
• I'm already looking forward to Friday as that's when we have Sky Plus installed! #
• I'm really hoping that Lloyd gets kicked out of the X Factor tonight. His voice is unusual, but he can't sing that well really. #
• RT @smashingmag: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: December 2009 – http://bit.ly/6Kx84o <- Lots of nice Christmassy wallpapers! #
• I have just replied to a company who rejected me. I hope I will come across as eager but not desperate. #
• @Dazzx Thanks, let's hope you're right. I'd be surprised if they change their mind, but I thought it's worth a try. in reply to Dazzx #
• Morning! It's the 1st of December! #
• I have a feeling this is going to be another false dawn… #
• …in spite of all that, I'm still happy as it's coming up to my favourite time of the year! #
• I feel really sleepy and I've got a massive report to complete this afternoon. #
• I'm pleased there's not long to wait now until my Smashing Book arrives. #
• Before lunch I was told that my application for the Pricing Analyst job has been rejected. I'm not surprised after that maths test. #
• I've still asked for my score and results report though. #
• Had 2 bad dreams last night. In the 1st one, someone wrote nasty things about me on a forum. In the 2nd, my phone caught fire because… #
• …I plugged the charger into the wrong hole. #