Dans developing diary
 

Thought I'd start a thread of this kind because I have a lot of things in the pipeline & periodically, more positive changes will be happening in my life. I've got more going for me & more possibilities set up than I've ever had.

The first major exciting thing is next Sunday I'm starting working for the Irish Football Association at the Northern Ireland vs Finland Euro 2016 qualifier. I'll be on duty from 12:30 firstly stewarding the fanzone - a new family entertainment event with various fun sporting activities etc for fans & visiting fans, until before the game starts at about 5 or so when I'll help guide the fans to the stadium not far away. At that point I'm off duty & given a ticket to the game so I can go in & enjoy the match.

Aside from the big international games there's tons of other roles up for negotiation within the association, such as irish premier league, youth club events, even administration & office associated work . I've expressed my interest in doing regular, at least weekly work with them, & I'm looking forward to finding out what's available & what roles fit with me.

It's a voluntary job but I'm more excited about this than I would be some paid jobs. And we were told that this opening could lead to any one of a number of opportunities with the IFA down the line. I'm intrigued by that.

Was great fun today.

At the fan-zone we wore bibs with the Northern Ireland team logo on & had volunteer cards hanging around our necks so that people knew we were on duty.

It's a nice feeling when fans & kids are coming up to you asking for help or directions or assistance, or could you get them a football, or whatever the request may be, because they know that's what you're there for & therefore they are trusting in you. In return we go over & above to ensure they get what they need, so that they are happy & satisfied with our service.

Aside from that stuff we can basically use our initiative. At the start I lifted a big bunch of mini flags & walked around handing them out to fans for example.

After it our team (we were purple) were assigned to help clear up the fan-zone, other teams were to guide the routes into the stadium. After we were done we were given our tickets to the game & signed off duty & went in to enjoy the game. We won 2-1.


The coolest thing that happened today though, was when I won a years gym membership after I rowed the furthest distance inside 2 minutes, in a rowing competition :banana:

Just passed the driving theory test 🏆

Well done mate. This is a good thread.

I thought I posted an update on jobs the other day but I obviously forgot to hit submit after I previewed it.

Anyways, it was about 4 jobs I had applied for. One was a night hotel porter, a night shift deli-assistant, a sales executive & a voluntary email counsellor for ChildLine.

Since then I have had a reply from ChildLine telling me they were delighted with my application (I'd hope so, I spent 3 hours on it!) & that I was being invited for an interview. I get to choose the date & time - I'm told that I just have to log in & check out the available slots, pick one.

An email counsellor is self-explanatory really. However it's not as simple as it sounds; I won't just be lay back on my sofa replying to messages, I will have to do it from the ChildLine offices. All in the interests of protocol, ethics, safety etc etc. If successful I will have to commit to 4 & a half hours per week, for at least 40 weeks of the year. I chose email counsellor because the criteria suggests they appreciate a soft speaking voice for the phones; not that I'm ruling that out, I'll see what they think of it themselves when they meet & hear me.

I will be working in a full time job in the not so distant future. To be fair I would prefer to start early June once my current module is completed, that way I can begin the new job stress free as I won't have another module until October (aside from one week in Bath for a psychology residential project in July)... But the fact I will have a full time job soon means I will probably have to make some big decisions in regards to my future..

I have opened a few doors lately, namely with the IFA & now ChildLine (but there are others on ice too) & I think I'm going to have to choose which one I can commit to, because having a full time job along with a part time degree & voluntary job is quite a lot - I simply can't do everything. I have an offer of regular weekly IFA work, or if successful with ChildLine I will have regular weekly work with them. As much as the IFA is exciting, I believe child protection is closer to my heart. After all it IS the reason I took this path after I gave up drugs. Again, this is unpaid but equally as exciting to me as some paid work if not more so.

I'm going to return the application to the IFA as well anyways, keeping the option open as plan B if the ChildLine thing didn't work out.

Had an interview with ChildLine last night. It was a group interview format with about 15 people there. I contributed loads & with some quality opinions & contributions if I do say so myself.

I believe I'll get an email soon to say I was successful.

It was a beautiful blonde woman I'm soon to be involved with that put me in touch with this organization. So, much credit goes to her for this.

As expected, I got the job. I've officially been offered the role of helpline counsellor with ChildLine.

The full safeguarding checks still have to be done & references received from my referees, but once they're all done in a few weeks I'll begin the training.

Gives me time to finish the current module of my degree anyways. Everything just seems like it's going to fit together nicely.

awesome, congrats Dan!

Cheers dude...

One thing about it though, I got an email yesterday inviting me for a second interview. They said it's because I declared convictions on the safeguarding form & I imagine they want to question me about these & see what type of person I am now. Which, I am a totally different person. I think if it ruled me out they wouldn't have invited me back.

The convictions are - some car offences when I was 18 in 2003 (car theft, no license, no insurance), a disorderly behaviour charge at around the same age, a common assault in 2007, & a caution for possession of a class B drug in 2010.

So, not exactly the extensive record reminiscent of a career criminal. Just some mistakes I made that I didn't make again (or at least didn't get caught again, but that's between us haha). However, I've genuinely changed my life around & there is evidence of this as well as references. So hopefully this past shit doesn't screw me.

Minor setback, or more of a downer, on the gym situation..

To cut a long story short, the guy phoned me & said he could only give me a months free membership. He tried telling me that I must have been mistaken - however I am not retarded, & I know what I signed for & was told. I obviously argued this point but eventually conceded as I just thought it wasn't worth lowering myself.

But anyways, I hit the gym for the first time today & plan to go as many mornings as I can for the next month.

I'm going to do the thing Phil said to me a couple of years ago - fast pace walk on a steep incline followed by lots of sprints.

So, I did 15 minutes on the steepest incline at 4.5mph. Then after a 5 minute breather I did 10 sprints at 10mph. I just set the treadmill at 10mph then jump on for one minute jump off for a minute.

This is obviously aimed at losing 2 stone fast. I'm 13st, & my goal is 11st. Let's see how fast I can get there. I absolutely have zero doubt I'll reach the goal inside the month, possibly long beforehand.

I'm not clued up on weightlifting. I don't want to be Rocky or Arnie but I'd like to tone up. Any simple plans for weights? Start small? Do a thousand reps? I dunno.

I'll see how I feel after the month about sticking with the gym. I think it's gunna be a killer to go from winning a years membership, to paying for it. So I may just go to PureGym after.

It's amazing how doing 20 minutes broken into 1 minute sprints 1 minute off loses you weight faster than if you run 20 minutes solid. It's pretty extraordinary but it works. I seen a difference after doing it just twice! Done the third today had to miss yesterday.

Upped my sprints from 10 to 15 as well because I'm hard-core & stuff.

Deleted Facebook to focus on more important things without that distracting pile of shite, & Netflix is now also gone. Not that I watched it much anyways, but now it's gone totally.

Do Burpees and pull-ups. Tonnes of them.

Do a burpee every 6/7/8/9/10 seconds or whatever you can handle, for a 100 reps.

Do 3 or 4 sets of as many pull-ups as you can. You will reap the benefits of doing this a couple of times a week.

Wait, you want to lose 2 stone in one month? That's impossible. Eat right and train regularly and you will lose weight consistently and reach 2 stone in maybe 6 months but most likely a lot longer.

Weights. Start off twice a week. 5 sets of 10 reps. 2 warm up sets and 3 working sets. Full body each time.
1)
Squats
Pull Ups 3 x Max reps
Dips
Bi Curl
*Burpees*

2)
Deadlifts
Pull-ups 3 x Max reps
Shoulder press
French press
*burpees*

Add in some abs and this is more than enough for weight training in your first few months. Add cardio at least 4 times a week with the aim to slug through it rather than going particularly hard or progressing too fast.

Stick to cardio for a month or two, then add weights. Keep things simple. But remember that diet is king. Your diet is the most important thing for losing weight.

I'll add these as time goes on. Gunna hit the cardio hard for a while first but as well as doing the sets of machine weights to tone up a little at the same time.


Diet is 4 weetabix with semi-skimmed. Then rice vegetables (adding chilli powder) & chopped ham, or chicken fillet. Some days this is eaten within a 3/4 hour window. Earlier I "cheated" by having a subway instead of dinner.

I never knew that would be something to worry about. I'd prefer chicken fillet then if I'm picking one.

Although, what about both together every time?

You won't lose weight with this attitude. Be sensible and realistic. Losing 1lb a week is a tough but realistic goal. Once you shred the first stone you may be looking at half pound a week.

Some good advice I was once given was not to worry about weight as its an irrelevant factor, muscle, bone density and fat are too high variables to give it meaning. Instead go for the look, keep training and dieting until you look and FEEL how you want to be.

Best advice for diet; oats, potatoes, chicken fillet, brocolli, mixed vegetables, brown rice and fish fillet. Hot water and lemon is great for keeping full too.

I disagree on the losing 1lb a week being tough. I weighed myself this morning & was 3lb lighter than I was 2 days before. That was after only those 2 HIIT workouts.

Agree on the looking & feeling though. I've looked in the mirror many times seeing massive changes & thinking "How come the scales don't correlate with what I'm seeing?"

I've never gone to a gym consistently since my early twenties.....

But I know a lot of folk who have and done it to lose weight. Losing 2 stone in 1 month is unhealthy; even 1 stone sounds like you'd be killing yourself to do it. The correct way is gradual, focus on continually losing lbs per week, that is all.

Shah is right with what he has said. It really is a marathon, not a sprint. Ignore any bullshit & fads that tell you you can lose your gut and become He-Man in 2 days - its all shite. If you can lose 2 stone over the next few months, thats doing pretty good, but in 1 month that sounds dangerous & unrealistic to me.

At the gym today I decided to change my intervals from one minute to 30 seconds. So I was doing 30 minutes of 30 seconds on 30 seconds off, at 10mph.

After I was done I asked a personal trainer there his opinion on it & he said it's better to do them by minutes because by the time you're getting into the sprint it's over - which is exactly what I was thinking.

However he gave me a bit of advice & said said that rather than jumping on jumping off all the time, to do it by fast sprint then slow it down to 5mph slow jog for a minute, then back up & down & so on. Then gradually I'd want to increase from 5 & 10mph to 6 & 11mph etc.

It immediately sounded way better because you're still interval training at a high rate, but not totally stopping. Remaining active at all times.

long as yer ticker is ok tho. skipping on the spot can do some peeps hearts in i read somewhere.

I had a kebab & chips last night & felt like a disgusting pig after it - I was really hard on myself. Even for a cheat meal I was full of regret. Had considered subway & should have went there as I'm sure I wouldn't have felt half as bad.

It's true the less you eat shit food, the less you want to.

Just off to buy some scales so I can properly measure portions (small fucking portions).

Thanks for the heads up man, I've just turned 30!

Ok that's sarcasm but I have smoked for over 20 years. Thankfully very rarely nowadays, like sometimes when I'm drinking, but mostly use an e-cig.

How much have you lost now?

Not as much as I hoped I would, but it's only been 9 days & I've hit the gym 6 out of those 9. Can't go tomorro cos I have a day school for an upcoming exam.

I'll check properly again in the morning. It fluctuates up & down - one day I've lost 3lb, next day it's back on. Fucked up.

The mirror tells me a different story though. It looks like I've lost more.

Was passing FourStarPizza earlier a quarter mile down my road & called in to ask if there were any jobs going. There are, & the manager gave me an application. I took it home & filled it out (a single, one-sided A4 page) & brought it back. I gave it to the manager & he took me into the back for a word.

I'll get to the point, I can have a job if I want one. The issue with it is that it is classed as one of these zero hours contracts. That's not to say that I wouldn't work a decent number of hours every week, just that he isn't in a position to give me a set number of guaranteed hours. But that's fucking annoying, for £6.50 an hour & I might be working well below enough to pay my rent & bills & child costs.

I've done a little research on zero hours contracts & they just sound like a pain in the fucking arse. Not only would I be forced to apply for working tax credits due to minimum wage but on top of that it's an extra ball ache because I don't have a set number of hours & somehow have to work out what the average hours I would be working, from a zero hours contract. Plus no holiday pay or entitlements. Fucking shite.

Why can't people & franchises just be straightforward & say ok 40 hours a week, instead of all this bollocks? I would have snapped his hand off earlier if it wasn't for all this agitating bullshit. But instead I'm going to think about it.


On a more positive note, he told me there are vacancies needing filled for managerial & assistant manager roles, & that they are there for the taking to those who have the character & drive to take them. Basically the potential to move up fast. So maybe I could take a chance on it, but it is risky.

Couple of wee hotties working there though.

Nah fuck them then, I don't need the major headache it will cause. I'd be going into something knowing from the offset that it's going to be nothing but hassle & stress.

They are very short staffed hence why the literal immediate start (the "application" was actually a waste of my time) & on that basis alone I believe any potential employees coming in to help them out of a hole should be shown a little bit more fucking respect than that.

I require & deserve a secure, permanent job with all the perks & entitlements. The potential of free pizza every shift was tempting but even that's not worth shooting myself in the foot over.

Just secured a serious job interview next week with a living wage over 15k (at least to begin with).

Airtricity, home moving advisor.

Which means I'm not going to be expected to sell & hit targets or any of that shit. The job entails being the go-between for current customers moving house & me taking care of the details & practicalities of their electricity (basically, but I'm sure there's more).

Really excited about this one. It's right in the city about 5 minutes from me & although I was initially concerned as the guy spoke to me (just in my head, nothing he said) about not having experience in this kind of role & them being like "sorry but you don't fit the criteria"... Common sense tells me that they are aware of my skills, job experience & education, so they know what they're getting before we meet from the information on my CV, although they'll see many more sides of my personality on the day. Plus, I am 99% sure I specifically said on the "extra things we should know" box on my application, that "I may not have experienced this kind of role or working environment before, however, I'm awesome & fucking amazing.......etc etc"

Was just looking at nice new suits & mentally planning to buy one 5 minutes before the call too. Maybe it's a good omen.



Side note: I started an intensive driving course the other day. I'll pass my test on the 29th of July. Which I booked a month ago.

This is from the verification email..

Please allow 2.5 hours for the Assessment Centre. The Assessment Centre will cover a Group Assessment, Maths Test, Interview, Phone Skills Assessment and Psychometric Testing (verbal and numerical reasoning).

Should be a piece of piss... Probably not, but I'll be going in full of confidence, with a brand new suit on feeling like the Bollocks. My fate is in my own hands here, it's all down to me. Same with the driving.

I'm getting this fucking job.

The assessment consisted of a group activity & presentation, psychometrics, challenging maths, a role play call over the phone followed by an interview.

The only bit I was worried about was the interview but overall I'm 75% confident. Which is a decent number

They said I'll hear within a week but look if they want me I'll hear tomorro.

I got the fucking job :badgerslayer:

Start training on the 3rd of August really excited about it because it's a totally new sector for me & I plan to be awesome at it.

Start training for ChildLine in September too. I'm equally excited about that. When looking at jobs I saw an advert for a job with LifeLine - also a crisis phone line - & the salary was up to 24k, for 19 hours per week! Which is obviously amazing. I see myself doing the voluntary ChildLine for a year then moving over to a paid role with LifeLine & its very attractive salary.

Kills me to say this but I just failed the driving test.

Some chick put me off & I fucked up. I knew I'd fucked it from that point & it stressed me out for the rest of it. I tried to be positive but the result of the fuck up made me fuck up a few more times.

The worst thing is I was out with my instructor for an hour beforehand & was literally flawless.

Ah well, not everything is gunna to plan. Just gotta do it again.

how did some chick put you off-was it the instructor?
good news on the job anyway!

She pulled out & I never anticipated her so I stalled & shit, a total fuck up. I accept responsibility though.

Yeah really excited about the job & I'm envisioning a very positive future. The driving situation is a bit of a setback that pisses me off but it's not the end of the world I suppose.

Driving wouldn't even be that big of a requirement if it weren't for visiting my child 50 miles away. My new job is just over a 5 minute walk away so it's not an issue in that regard.

Hey lads. As you'll know from a couple of posts ago I secured myself the best job I've ever had & I am genuinely super excited about it.

I received a preparation pack this morning in the post with all the details of the job & policies etc etc etc.

I don't have any issues really, in fact the package has made me more excited about starting work in this unfamiliar sector. However there is one thing I'm not 100% sure about...

One part of it is a pension plan. It is called the Group Personal Pension Plan (GPPP+)

"Government legislation sets out minimum standards in terms of employees that are to be auto enrolled and the level of contributions that are to be paid..

..you will be automatically included in the pension plan from your first day of employment, unless your contract details otherwise."

It goes on to explain how it works blah blah (although I'm not clear) & the example it gives is that the 6% you personally contribute to your pension plan, from your gross salary, is matched by the company. Then after 5 years they increase it to 6% plus 3% added to my 6%. Then after 10 years 6% plus 6%.

Benefits such as a payout to a recipient of my choice should i die, of 7 times my salary, is included.

However, i am not interested in any of that kind of nonsense. I mean, I am 30 fucking years old - the last thing on my mind is how much retirement money I'll have in 35 years!!! Nor is dying anytime soon on my agenda.

I've worked out that my "contributions" would be just over £900 of my gross pay (which is pretty much coming from my take home pay) which I'm not willing to give up.

Does any of you know what this is all about or is it useful to me, aside from in 35 years when i reach pension age?

What if i leave the company sooner, even in 2 years for example, do i collect my contributions no hassle?

I don't like this idea & I want to opt out. Tell me stuff..

Yes because you are a scatty fucker who can't be trusted to save up on his own so you need a pension to automate it for you! :nana:

No, they live in your pension fund until such time as you can claim your cash free lump sum and purchase an annuity both in old age.

My most recent conversation with my accountant on this is that you have to enrol, then can opt out. You have to opt out every 3 years.

My personal opinion of private pensions is that they sound awesome because of the "tax free" part, the matching of contributions…etc, but have downsides too.

Currently you get 25% of the fund when you retire, it used to be a lot more and there is nothing to stop the government lowering it again. The fund can sink dramatically just before maturity in the event of a crash like the dot com bubble bursting, or the financial crisis of 2008. With the remaining 75% you buy a financial product called an "annuity" which calculates how long u r likely to live etc and pays you a bit of the 75% each month until you croak. You pay income tax on that income each month! If you croak soon the pension fund wins, if you croak late you win. Some pensions will be paid over in part to spouses in the event you croak, depends on the contract.

So yeah, they aren't for me but most financial advisors would recommend it so I'd be inclined to listen to them rather than me!

Well that shit can go & get fucked! I'll probably be loaded in 35 years anyway (if I'm still alive) so a, very depressing sounding, pension fund can take a big fuck off tablet.

We're automatically enrolled with this company but I've requested an opting out form.

Just appears to me as a third form of taxing on top of tax & national insurance.

Fuck that shit. Just fuck it.

Without getting into a huge discussion on the ins & outs of it, IMO I would strongly recommend a pension. At 30 years old, how much is your current pension worth?

I started mine at 22 & 11 years later I'm already wary that its not currently worth enough.

Exactly.....what's the point sacrificing money that's more useful to me now than the absolutely dejecting & miserable idea of my pension when on top of said depressing thought you are even more depressed at the end when at the end you realize you've been saving half your life for fuck all. On top of that you're not even allowed it all in one go if what postscript said is true.

Myself & an old mate plan to put our heads together at some point within the next few years, ideally sooner but realistically we have many other commitments needing completed first for example my degree. He has dabbled in the practical side of business having toyed with some small mobile phone related ventures. Whereas I've studied business & financial management therefore possessing the knowledge to set up & run at least a small business... We have potential to make a good team. It's worth a punt, we just need to have the proper sit-down & come up with an idea, & likely about 2 or 3k each to put up.

That's why I'm not bothering about a pension fund. We might be successful & as a result be loaded with all the monies.

Saying the word pension out loud in any sentence that also involves my very distant future makes me want to kill myself.

"Realize deeply the present moment is all you ever have. Make the now the primary focus of your life" - Eckhart Tolle

Because fuck pensions

Each to their own; I just think it's very foolish not to plan for your future. As I said I started mine 11 years ago & even current projections show my income from age 65 onwards on a yearly basis isn't going to be that great, so as the years go on I try and put any additional spare money into it.

You say your not worried about what happens in 35 years time........then the time comes and you realise you have nothing to live on other than your state pension and you think "Oh fuck, why didn't I plan for this". I find it pretty alarming at age 30 you don't have anything put away already. If your planning to fund this by other means as well as live a decent normal life; you potentially need to be earning a 6 figure sum on a yearly basis. You have to think about the whole reason pensions exist in the first place.

One other small point, with no offence meant: Studying Business & Financial Management doesn't neccessarily give you the knowledge to start and run your own business; you get people with Masters degrees who are in the same boat. There's a big difference between the classroom and the real world.

As i said, each to their own, you've already made up your mind - was just something to point out.