muttonbird (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} muttonbird) wrote,@ 2007-01-14 20:59:00 |
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The only good thing about 2006 is that it is OVER and I NEVER have to live that year again.
So bring the new year and the rest of life, for I am ready.
New Zealand has been pretty good (for me). On the whole, I'm pleased with the move. I am happy, the kids are happy, Chris is not unhappy.
I have a new job, I am a financial analyst for IBM. I remember now why I never wanted to work for an american company, but sort of forgot while I was doing the whole must... find... work... thing. It's an enormous beast of a company, and my job seems to be to manage a vast weight of global bureaucracy that is coated over evey thing like treacle making it sometimes difficult to acheive anything. The (copious) literature/propaganda all refers to me as an IBMer. Which after 1 month still makes me squirm. On the other hand I have all the hardware and software that my little geeky heart desires at my fingertips, and I am a contractor, not a perm, so I don't have to do all that hand-holdy touchy-feely stuff and they are paying me quite well. But they make me work hard.
The pay however is allowing me to do things I only dreamed of in the UK. The new lounge suite, deep enough to get lost in, is on it's way and paid for. The car is paid for. I'm out of debt for the first time in 5 years. I don't have any credit cards. And no more crappy IKEA self assembly furniture. No more house filled to bursting with arcade shit. The rooms are large and the windows are huge and the light flows through from dawn to dusk. I have space, man, space like I always needed and wanted.
Very warm at the moment. Humid. Flies breeding like, well, like flies in fact. And I forgot about the hole in the ozone layer that is such a problem here. One might spend a rare sunny afternoon outdoors in the UK and not suffer, but here, 30mins unprotected in the sunshine will send a fair skinned flower like me to lobster city. And even on overcast day the UV levels here are stupidly high. Melanoma is a big deal here.
I just thought of a good thing about 2006. A very special little person came into the world. I'm knitting him a cardie. 'Cause that is what self proclaimed honorary aunties do. I've got quite into the knitting, never did it much before, I've got many unfinished projects lying around. But in the last 4 months I've knitted a hat, a scarf, 3 other scarves, and a pair of socks. I made limoncello which turned out very nice, using lemons from the tree that grows in our garden. I gave some to my father for Christmas. (Imagine me passing my father an unmarked bottle of clear pale yellow liquid and announcing "I made it myself").
So bring the new year and the rest of life, for I am ready.
New Zealand has been pretty good (for me). On the whole, I'm pleased with the move. I am happy, the kids are happy, Chris is not unhappy.
I have a new job, I am a financial analyst for IBM. I remember now why I never wanted to work for an american company, but sort of forgot while I was doing the whole must... find... work... thing. It's an enormous beast of a company, and my job seems to be to manage a vast weight of global bureaucracy that is coated over evey thing like treacle making it sometimes difficult to acheive anything. The (copious) literature/propaganda all refers to me as an IBMer. Which after 1 month still makes me squirm. On the other hand I have all the hardware and software that my little geeky heart desires at my fingertips, and I am a contractor, not a perm, so I don't have to do all that hand-holdy touchy-feely stuff and they are paying me quite well. But they make me work hard.
The pay however is allowing me to do things I only dreamed of in the UK. The new lounge suite, deep enough to get lost in, is on it's way and paid for. The car is paid for. I'm out of debt for the first time in 5 years. I don't have any credit cards. And no more crappy IKEA self assembly furniture. No more house filled to bursting with arcade shit. The rooms are large and the windows are huge and the light flows through from dawn to dusk. I have space, man, space like I always needed and wanted.
Very warm at the moment. Humid. Flies breeding like, well, like flies in fact. And I forgot about the hole in the ozone layer that is such a problem here. One might spend a rare sunny afternoon outdoors in the UK and not suffer, but here, 30mins unprotected in the sunshine will send a fair skinned flower like me to lobster city. And even on overcast day the UV levels here are stupidly high. Melanoma is a big deal here.
I just thought of a good thing about 2006. A very special little person came into the world. I'm knitting him a cardie. 'Cause that is what self proclaimed honorary aunties do. I've got quite into the knitting, never did it much before, I've got many unfinished projects lying around. But in the last 4 months I've knitted a hat, a scarf, 3 other scarves, and a pair of socks. I made limoncello which turned out very nice, using lemons from the tree that grows in our garden. I gave some to my father for Christmas. (Imagine me passing my father an unmarked bottle of clear pale yellow liquid and announcing "I made it myself").
