#dcoita

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

Zoe’s 21st

Dear Cousin Out In The Americalands!!!

I’M BACK!!!

(but let’s face it, probably not for very long hahaha…. oh I really need to learn to commit to things)

So, a whole while back (8th October), I was back in Swindon, since I was there for my brother’s graduation. Luckily, it just so happened that I got invited to a surprise 21st birthday party for my friend Zoe. UNFORTUNATELY I may have just gotten a little tips… okay, I got smashed!!! This is what happens when you don’t eat food before having a drink and then do several shots of different alcohols in a fairly short space of time. I’m just glad I didn’t ruin anyone’s evening. Here are some photos of when I was still capable of taking and being in photos!!!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

Dear Cousin Out in the Americalands!!! Today I get to be a proud little sister. Alec, my older brother, graduated with his HNC in Mechanical Engineering today. He's been working so hard for this for the past 4 years, studying alongside working on his apprenticeship. Hopefully in 2 years time, I will also be graduating with a degree. Only time will tell I guess. Here are some photos and videos of the day :) Until next time, See ya later!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

How to get through an inevitably tough day...

Dear Cousin Out In The Ameircalands!!!

Now, let’s face it, not every day is going to be amazing. Most days are going to feel like all the others. But there are some days where I’m not always feeling my best, or I know it’s going to be a long day, or I just want to mix things up a little. On those days, I like to pamper myself.

If I know that the next day is  going to be hard work, I will go to bed early and wake up early. I will give myself enough time to have a cheeky lie in, a non-rushed shower. Some time to put on make-up and style my hair. I will put on a fancier outfit than usual. I consider it my armour to power through the day. Because if i’ve made an effort and think I look extra good, I’ll feel extra good too.

So today, I put on a skirt with pockets and a bright red shirt.I didn’t have time to do make-up or hair, but I did shave my legs and not wear tights, so I was comfy at work too!

I hope you get plenty of chances to make yourself feel like you can accomplish anything that day. I managed to finally conquer Excel Pivot Tables (hopefully, we’re testing it out tomorrow!!!) and sort out a few bits and pieces. I’m gonna celebrate with a nice hot chocolate and baileys and some GBBO!!!

Until next time, see ya later!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

Stress is a thing once more, but I think it’s good stress this time.

Dear Cousin Out In The Americalands!!!

So, remember how last week, I was going through hell with work? Turns out that there is actually something wrong with the work itself, not me!!! Whilst this is a bit more reassuring to me that I didn’t ruin something, I have to be the one to fix it.

I’m dealing with Excel Pivot tables, which isn’t something I have worked with before. It’s a database in Excel, which is good if you don’t get the package that includes Access. Turns out the person I’m replacing is a big fan of this system and no-one else at work really has a clue how it works! So I’ve been spending the past week and a bit trying to fix the problem. Over the past couple of days, I have started making some serious progress! To the point that I have been able to find where my report has gone wrong and fix it. Tomorrow, I am hoping to tidy the mess I have made up, join things together and give it a test run. If that works (my fingers are crossed that it does) I will then have to write instructions on how to run the reports properly and also start writing up how to fix any problems that arise in the future.

I’ve got to say that it has been stressing me out quite a bit though. Not in a bad way, it’s not something that will be keeping me awake overnight. My job is quite relaxing at the moment as I’m new, it’s expected for me to take a while to set myself up. My manager told me in my interview, that her interns don’t tend to become very useful until 4 months in, so I’m not feeling anxious about how I’m useless at the moment.

This stress is kind of mixed with excitement, I’m stressed because I haven’t fixed it yet and my head isn’t wrapped around everything yet, but I’m looking forward to being able to have fixed a problem at work and making it better and accurate.

This is how I should be feeling about my university course. It’s how I should feel about everything really. I’m glad that this little spark has been lit now. I want this emotion to engulf me, to charge me onward into a more motivated version of me. I’ve got a glimpse of my passion back and hopefully by this time next year, I will be this passionate about a subject that I used to enjoy so much!

If you have ever felt this way about something dear cousin, hold onto it forever. Because it is the best feeling in the world right now!

Until next time, see ya later!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

Okay... I was being over dramatic

Dear Cousin Out In The Americalands...

I bring good news, the computer just hated me yesterday (for the most part). When I got to work on Thursday (1st September), the computer wasn’t struggling to move columns and wasn’t stopping me from refreshing the report. I did end up with ridiculous values though! Although, that was because it was adding up my previous 5 or 6 attempts from the day before. My manager helped me through it and we got a reasonable answer in the end.

I have learnt that I panic a little too much about this kind of thing. I think that that may have been something that good ol’ anxiety has given me. The fear that everything I do will be a disaster that ruins my life forever!

I mean, this is definitely one thing I want to stop happening by the end of this year. For the past 5 years, I have had “Exams that will affect my life forever” (honestly, my dad is not the best person for a pep talk). Every time I have had to do exams, I have always been told that if I stuff it up, my life is basically ruined for good, because I’m better than that.

Unfortunately for me, I was a “smart” kid growing up. I was in all the top sets since I started school and all my teachers told my parents that I was going to go places. This set some unreal expectations for me throughout life and it feels like I’ve just been a constant disappointment to my dad.

This year is different though. No matter what happens, I go back to university in September. Worse case scenario, I’m richer from working for a year and I have a lot of work experience to add to my CV. Best case scenario, I am offered a job for when I graduate. Nothing can go wrong, my life cannot be ruined by this year! It’s so nice being able to say that!

Over the yer, I’m going to be working on some methods to help prevent anxiety attacks getting worse and I’m just going to relax this year. So hopefully when I go back to uni, anxiety will be a thing of the past!

Obviously, I still have different aspects of my life that is affected by anxiety, and I will explain all that later. But for now, I’m focusing on the general “this one thing could ruin any chance of me have a decent life” anxiety problem I have.

Until next time, see ya later!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

Things were great... and then they went horribly wrong!!!

Dear Cousin Out In The Americalands...

I’m sure you are going to realise that I can be over dramatic at times. This is possibly one of them, but at the moment it doesn’t feel like it.

So my morning started off well, since I had such a long day on Tuesday, my manager let me start late on Wednesday (31st August) to balance things out. I started in the warehouse in Bognor, so I was helping with packing by sticking labels on things and wrapping parts up in bubblewrap, easy stuff!

I then had to go back to Chichester and attend an ICT meeting about how to use Microsoft Access. I made a database using Access before, so I knew pretty much everything that was being explained which was nice.

Then I was asked to do the daily reports. Now the intern I am replacing showed me how to do this. Everytime he showed me how to do it, something went wrong. So I never had a clear explanation of what I was doing, or why. But when he was showing me, it all made sense. But it had been 4 days since I had looked at it, I dunno...

So I start following my instructions (I’ve started making a little guidebook. By the end of the year, I want to make a fully explained guidebook for the next intern to have so they know what’s going on) and everything is going alright, but something seemed a little off. Excel was having problems moving some columns about and then it later wouldn’t let me refresh the report. When my manager did it, I was under by a lot. I tried it again and again and again and it just got worse. In the end I gave up. I stayed there for an extra hour or so to try and get it to work and it didn’t, I just wanted to go home and cry.

I left and called up my brother. Honestly, he was so supportive. My mum was too! As well as a good friend of mine. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people, they honestly mean the world to me!

Anyway, I got to eat pizza and watch the Great British Bake Off. Our new housemate moves in tomorrow. I’m excited to meet him. Then our house will be 1 person away from being full. I’m going to miss having the top floor all too myself, but oh well!

Until next time, see ya later!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

What happens when I’m tired

Dear Cousin Out In The Americalands!

So, on Tuesday 30th August, I had a looooong day at work (Okay, so it wasn’t like I worked extra that day, (I didn’t work at all!!!) there was just a lot of travelling to do, so I spent a lot of time with my manager).

Because I knew this day was coming, I thought I’d go to bed super early (8pm) to get enough sleep, but I just couldn’t!!! There are reasons for this, and it’s mainly how this house is, so I’ll explain it another day. All you need to know is that I got about 1 hour sleep and my day started at 4am.

(meat 5am with make up on to cover up some of the dark circles under my eyes!)

My manager picked me up at 5:45am and we were off! We went to Pineham, Northampton first of all so I could meet some people that I get emails from and to learn more about what they do, so I can understand my job better too. I then had to go to a meeting in Oxford, because that’s where the Purchasing department of where I work is and so we had to go to them.

Now at this point, it’s 2pm. I’ve been awake for 10 hours and been travelling in a car for around 4 hours. Over the years, riding in cars make me feel more and more ill and groggy and TIRED! Also, the meeting rom was incredibly warm as it was a hot day and there’s no air-con (we live in England, no air-con is quite common).

I ALMOST FELL ASLEEP!!!

I could feel my eyes closing more and more, I then understood what authors are on about when they write about heavy eyelids and stuff, I honestly couldn’t keep them open. I had to go out for a bit to get some water. We were in that room for 2 hours and the meeting had barely anything to do with me. I was only there because I had no where else to be.

I didn’t get home until 7pm. I was shattered. Only just about convinced myself to heat up some food, and conked out at 9!

I cannot exist without sleep, I really can’t. But, my manager makes the Northampton trip every 2 weeks, so I’m going to have to get used to it. My weekends are literally just going to be my sleep catch up!

Until next time, see ya later!

[claireisontheinterweb-blog]

I am not a morning person...

Dear Cousin Out In The Americalands

I know this is something that you’ve probably heard from a lot of people; “I’m not a morning person”, but I’ve always wondered whether this is actually some kind of genetic trait or not. 

My internship starts at 08:30 which means during my first week, I was waking up around 06:00-06:30 to walk to work on time! Yesterday, I had to leave my house at 05:45 because my manager was taking me to Northampton and Oxford! I honestly didn’t think it would be something I could manage and I was absolutely shattered throughout the whole day!

I think it’s just because it’s a shock to my system. I’m not used to waking up so early in the morning and I’ve been reduced to going to bed at 22:00. (although I don’t really stick to that, YouTube is too addicting!) We’ll see how my sleep pattern goes throughout the rest of this year. I imagine this time next year, 6am wake ups won’t be as bad as they are right now. 

Although, winter will be really difficult. I hate getting out of bed when it’s dark and cold, don’t you?

What are your sleeping patterns like? I’d love to know :)

Until next time, see ya later!