I'm struggling a bit with my current placement anyway. so the thought of staying an extra hour for staff meeting tomorrow really isn't that good....plus I can't get out of it because I have to talk about some of my tasks at a meeting and I'm not here for any others

Okay, so I'd got as far as filling in the acceptance forms for company no. 1...

and I get a call offering me a job with company no. 2...

I should be happy. But I don't know what to do. And somehow, I've got to make a decision. Quickly.

Don't make a snap decision today. Think it over, talk things over with people who know you. They may give you conflicting advice and may give you advice that you don't agree with - but they both give you a starting point for working out what you want...

Do you have a gut instinct about either job?

One company seems very friendly, cheerful and welcoming; the other is more cool, calm and professional. The first makes me feel more at home. The second is probably better for my career and professional development.

What is difficult, however, to judge, is the extent to which that feeling is entirely due to the way in which the assessment centres were run (with the first we had a very chatty, informal dinner with everyone together the night before; the other everyone just turned up on the morning).

It may also be intrinsically an aspect of the companies: Company no. 2 is a consultancy.

I can see a big pro and cons list being written over the next few days....




Company no. 2 doesn't have to involve regular relocation over the next 3 years, and is located such that I don't have to stop living with boyfriend-one.

One phone call may have just caused masses of problems.......that's all I need right now!

Aaaaaaargh

That'll teach you to fill in all those applications!

What a nice dilemma to have! A pros and cons list sounds like a very good idea, but "friendly, cheerful and welcoming" sounds good to me. I'm sure if you let things stew for a while you'll get a gut feeling for which job is the right one for you.

- Bad news
- Played through grade 2 piano pieces and didn't like any of them
- Changed setting on phone and don't know how to get it back to how it was
- Still haven't fully got motivation back on flute and got a cold sore anyway, so it sounds rubbish

Nothing major...just fed up.

Aaaaaaargh......so stressed it's making me

I know how you feel... exam week over here I've recently discovered that trying to survive only on coffee doesn't work... really...

If you're feeling ill from stress I suggest you talk it through with someone, not good. Hope things feel more managable soon. *hugs*

Similarly, ease off on the caffine and get a good nights sleep!! (How motherly do I sound? ) I tend to swap to green tea, lots of icy cold water, and dark chocolate (sugar and caffine) - coffee just makes me too jittery to concentrate when the exhaustion really kicks in.


I'm... doing a lot of thinking. Big decisions are always tricky, but I've made them before. Feeling less overwhelmed now, if still not decisive. Trying to remember how lucky I've been as well.

AAAAAgggghhh! Why do I appear like a complete beginner who has never played anything before when confronted with sight reading?

Today I have spent 1.5 hours waiting for the paediatrician, 1/2 hour waiting for a doctor, 1/2 hour waiting to make another appointment to see my doctor....only to find out the next available appointment is in March 2012! And all with 2 hungry and tired one year olds in tow....... And I am meant to be at work...

Sounds like a terrible day. Especially as an appointment is a whole year away. I am often glad that my Dad has free family medical cover as part of his pension. I can go private for anything other than minor injuries/illnesses.

Although I have once been to a doctor once in the last 2 years.

Do let us know when you decide. Hubby is an electronics engineer and for his second job had a choice of working for a then very small private company or for a large government research establishment; I can still remember the difficulty in deciding. It took some heartsearching, but in the end he plumped for the former (partly because the pay was 10% more). I've often wondered how different his career would have been if he'd chosen the latter!

Whatever you decide, don't look back but assume that was the best choice for you. I'm sure it will be.


In a word - nerves! Sightreading is 90% confidence. If you tell yourself you can play it, you usually do. If you let doubt creep in, things usually fall apart. That's my experience, anyway!

Ugh, my Mac gave up the ghost yesterday morning. I'm back to Windows for the time being, but it's a nightmare not having iPhoto or expose

Just need a quiet scream.... aaagghhhhh!

We were burgled this evening. Am so shocked and shaken... the house feels so strange now, even though we got away 'lightly'.

Hope you're ok, sbhoa?

Yes thank you.... it's only a tiny scream.
Wouldn't get permission for more.

Really sorry to read about your break in.

Oh, how nasty! So sorry to hear this; it's a big shock to come home to that. I trust your violin was scorned by the burglars?

Thanks BM - thankfully one of my housemates came home before they had a chance to get upstairs. Police are coming round in the morning to look for fingerprints and things, it's all a bit surreal.

*hugs* and sympathy, Celeste. Horrid people breaking into your property to take your things...

Take good care of yourself.

More
It's horrible isn't it.? I hope it doesn't leave you with a horrible feeling of violation and insecurity. I hope things look up and feel better soon.

I have rarely come out of an exam week so thoroughly disappointed in myself...

Hope the results turn out to be better than you think!

Hope you're ok Celeste

Thanks everyone.

Oh dear Just read this. Know just how you feel. Happened to us a couple of years back. Nasty nasty and not very common in this area.

Last night I left the keys in the outside lock too!!! Gate locked though

I felt so lucky to get away with it and this was happening to you not far down the road. Hope you didn't lose much and that you don't feel peculiar in your own home for too long.

Take care.

I've just had another lovely rattie-pet die. I'm very concerned as this is 3 in four weeks. The last two were within 10 days, never met each other, were both apparently healthy, and went from perfectly fine to difficultly breathing to dead within hours. The first one similarly ended up with solid/pneumonia-type lungs, but on the back of long term respiratory infections, so not a big surprise, and at least lasted long enough to go to the vets several times during illness and finally for euthanasia. It's really unusal for rats to go so quickly that you don't get to get them to the vet, for two to happen in under two weeks...very concerning.

I suspect 'something' may be in the house, there are a couple of nasty virulent viruses that get in to rats now and then. Will keep loving my five girls, but will not be bringing in any new rats. It will be hard when there is only one left - they are social animals, and adore company. But if there is something living in the colony, then the last one standing will have to stay alone - can't bring new ones in for her to infect, can't send her out to live with new friends or she'll infect them.
With any luck it should take a couple of years, but I think my only option is to have no rat-overlaps, be a 'rat free zone' for a while, and then perhaps invest in new infrastructure to have some new ones - healthy ones from breeders, no pet shops, no rescues

Will first investigate, though, to see if I can find out just what is going on - the virus I first thought of, it really didn't have any of the right symptoms (except the pneumonia-type part)
Could just be totally freaky co-incidence. :sigh: But I should have a couple of years to work it all out with any luck.

So sorry Maizie. You sound as if you are in the same sort of situation as we were in London many years afgo when cats were dying of FELV and the vaccine hadn't been invented. It was awful because ours went one after the other inspite of lots of help from the vet and we too had to have a cat free zone for a while.

Can your vet help with a precise diagnosis? I do hope you don't lose any more.

Thank you Aquarelle.

From the symptoms it is almost certainly SDA virus. Directly it doesn't do much harm, but it makes the immune system very busy. All rats have a bug called myco that lives in their lungs - normally it doesn't both them, but when the immune system is down or they are stress, it can flare up. So, the SDA busies the immune system, the myco flares up, and suddenly any secondary infection can take advantage. Pneumonia is the most common outcome - I've just never seen pneumonia move so fast as it did in these two girls.

I know the likely source now - the lone girl I spotted in a pet shop, and impulse-bought. NO more pet shop rats for me, this is just another reason to add to the list. Apparently two other branches of the same (nationwide) store are associated with outbreaks of SDA right now

Fortunately, it has a cycle of 10-14 days, so if we make it through two weeks, then these five girlies will then be OK and immune (so moving them out, or new rats in, shouldn't be a problem). Most of the rat societies, etc, put a conservative 60-day 'quarantine' on it, so no cuddling rats other than my own for a couple of months - not too hard, as I don't know many 'real life' rat people I may talk to the vet and see if they will give me antibiotics to cover the remaining 5 from secondary infections - they will probably want to see all five to do that, which is fine, though of course that then potentially makes the vets office a source of SDA for any other rats that go in. Mind you, whenever I phone up and say 'I'd like to book an appointment for one of my rats to come in', they then refer to me by name (as in 'Certainly, Mrs. Maizie, when would you like to come in?') so I don't think there are many rats seen at the surgery!

MrB's mum has fallen and broken her leg rather badly. If that isn't enough of an aaarrrggghhh mrB and I are having to cook and care for her (not that we mind) sadly she has a dog who won't leave her side that I am really allergic to. 5 days in and no antihistamines are working and when I'm there the cold I currently have feels more like I'm going down with flu. I've increased the dose of my preventer inhaler and still have the shakes from too much Ventalin. Not sure how I'm going to cope with this for 8 weeks :-(

Could you get to see your doctor? I have a steroid inhaler which I use for, say, a month at a time, when otherwise I would have to be overdosing on the Ventalin to stay wheeze-free (e.g. the month after I've had a cold, during the winter freezing fog season). It seems rather off to be sending your heartrate through the roof with drugs, when you're under stress anyway!

As for the dog... the best antihystamines I've found for DOING something QUICKLY is Piriton, but they do make me drowsy. Lorataradine is also pretty good in my experience.

You have my sympathies. I hate staying with relations with feathery-households and cats. My face starts to swell up after a while, and it just leaves me feeling so incredibly ill. Hope your mother-in-law (I hope I've interpreted what you wrote correctly!) recovered quickly!

Sorry to hear all this. Used to keep rats - lovely creatures. Totally agree that a breeder is teh best way of getting new rats.

Just be careful adding new ones - Yours, though immune, could still pass something on to newcomers if they carry the disease, though are no longer symptomatic.

Hope your girls are ok.

Could you not shut the dog in another room while you're there? That seems to me the obvious thing to do.

I'm sure you don't want to upset your mother-in-law when she's already in pain, but on the other hand you are looking after her and I'm sure she would understand if it affects you that badly. It can't be doing you any good at all to be taking so many drugs that you've got the shakes, and it won't help the situation if you become too ill to help.

Seems a reasonable compromise in the circumstances - no point being a martyr...

I seem to be getting the Monday morning feeling 24 hours early every week at the moment!

The sooner this placement is over the better......

I'd have to shut the dog permanently from the room as I'm reacting when she's being taken for a walk as well. I've arranged with a neighbour to have a bit of time off today and am going to try to see the asthma nurse or my GP. Even piriton has stopped working at the moment. I'm having a coffee with a couple if the neighbours this evening to try to work out a rota of who's doing what. Hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll be a little less dependent as movement will be easier when she's got the hard plaster cast on.

Sounds like 'dogginess' is well embedded in all the carpets and stuff, in which case the only thing I've found that helps is taking regular 15 min breaks outside (go for a walk, peg out laundry, etc). I find its suprising how quickly the symptoms receed if I can get at some fresh air. Keeping all the windows open helps too, but obviously this depends on your relations needs as well!

Yep, that's the 10-14 day "shedding" period where they are contagious (i.e. producing more copies of the virus), regardless of symptoms - after which they should be non-infected and non-infectious. Will totally abide by the conservative 60 day guideline as a minimum - though I can't see me wanting/'needing' to bring in new rats for ages. Most likely will go down to no rats and then restarting with completely clean everything, which shouldn't be necessary, but at least that way is 100% absolutely risk free. Oooooh, cage and furniture shopping!

I think the oldest girl is off to the vets this afternoon. She's a bit snuffly but it is obviously up in her nose and not a deep pneumonia-type thing (yet? ) Her eyes are a bit bulgy which indicates virus in the lacrimal glands. So, get her some antibiotics to knock out any secondary infections that might come along, and hopefully talk the vet in to letting me have a bit extra to try and get some in to all of them (one will be difficult to get meds in to...but thinking about it, she's our causative agent so I don't think I need to worry about her too much...! Actually, if I can get the four-other-than-her in the carrier they might all go down for a visit!!)

Good luck Maizie. Do let me know how you get on Feel free to PM.

Just got in from the vets. I have antibiotics for five It's no guarantee, but at least I don't feel like I'm doing nothing now.

Day off teaching (first for a while).

Visit optician.

Insurance: 45
Cleaning solutions: 16.20
New pair of lenses: 92.50
Car park (45 mins): 2.20

Visit hygienist.

58.

No money in bank.

All cash now spent.

Car almost out of diesel.

*wails*.

Am SO fed up with working all the time, being tired and broke.

Chin up, sis. At least you didn't come home to find your house dismantled, a music room full of what usually lives in the kitchen (and yes, I do mean cupboards etc), a garden full of debris...and, oh yes, RAT CORPSES that were found above the ceiling. PESKY VERMIN

I'm sorry your income is inadequate.....maybe you/car are just not cheap to run?...

Now, where did I leave the keys to the Porsche? Probably left them at the St Lucia holiday home. Darn.

Money-Bag x

Sorry to hear about your rat problem - better hope lottie never reads about it though!

Cyrilla : ; Bag :

Aren't opticians fees dreadfully expensive, C?

I think I failed my final practical exam today. Had a nightmare patient and didn't finish in the time allowed

I really can not do this any longer.