Thursday 29 January 2009

3am insomnia

Yes, I know it is 3am. I can't sleep, despite being so tired earlier that I was jittery, and so exhausted yesterday that I yelled repeatedly at the kids I was teaching each time they broke the rules. I'm usually so calm, but this week I have been very edgy. I guess it is the trickle down effect of being bullied. We all take it out on the people below us. Sorry kids.

So, it's the middle of the night and I can't sleep. Well, I did sleep for about 3 hours, then woke up and I couldn't get back to sleep again. Eventually, I decided that I might as well do something useful. So I have been e-mailing schools and companies looking for new jobs.

I don't really want a classroom job again. I've been put off this career path in the past three years. That consultancy job promised by the agency never materialised. They just didn't e-mail the details to me, and failed to answer the phone the next day, so I gave up on them. I have applied for a fabulous couple of jobs, that really do exist (I hope!).

Both are charity based. One is working for Oxfam, going into schools and educating the children about the work that Oxfam does and why it is needed. The other is working with disadvantaged children from inner-city Birmingham. It involves teaching them basic life skills (literacy, numeracy, cooking, money management, sexual health, etc) as well as building back their self-esteem through a number of physical activities such as kayaking, climbing, hill-walking, archery and so on.

Both of these are right up my street, but with the current credit crunch, I imagine there will be a lot of competition for any sort of job out there. I remember in the early 90s companies complaining because there would be 300 applicants for a job working a photocopier. There just isn' t the work available as more and more jobs go. I've picked the worng time to change jobs, really. I should have done it last summer.

It's a bit like a divorce, changing jobs. You try to make it work for such a long time before you finally decide that the other half of the partnership (ie the boss / establishment) is just so unreasonable that there is no other option. It leaves a bitter taste, just like a divorce does too.

Mum has had her other eye done this week. She needed the cateracts removed from both eyes. The first one was done just before Christmas, and the second one this week. She rallied very quickly the first time, but I think this one will take a little longer. She said she's having problems co-ordinating the line of sight at the moment. In other words, she's looking in two different directions at once, which makes for double vision.

I guess I can write what I like about her at the moment, because she can't read it. (He he, Love you Mum!)

Mel is also ill. He has a sore throat and stomach ache. There's a sickness bug going round his class, so we are waiting for that to manifest. I think Mel is going to be the first to succumb, which probably means the other 3, Nick and I will get it over the weekend. I can hardly wait.

Finally, we are on snail duty this weekend. The African Land Snails from Class 1 are due to visit us. Last time they came they were nearly killed with kindness, given the amount they were expected to eat, lavished by our children. Their cage was knee deep in banana and cucumber. I imagine the class teacher didn't need to feed them for a week once they got back to school!

I dread to think how awful I'm going to feel tomorrow. I have parent's evening so I won't get in until 8pm at least. I'm not remotely sleepy now.

1 comment:

  1. I can't fuction without sleep...yet I am a night owl and find myself up way too late each night. I really have a hard time in the mornings and it isn't helpful that my kids totally indulge me in sleeping in the mornings (so they can keep on playing games and watching movies instead of working and school once I get up.) I really need to do the whole early to bed, early to rise...but the most fun time of my day is after the kids go to bed...

    We are really in an economic crisis/ credit crunch here in USA too, as I am sure you know. Jobs are getting harder to come by here too. Our work in our business is down 80% from last year and it is a wonder we have survived at all. I pray I/we never have to look for new work. I am too spoiled as a stay at home mom.

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