Job fairs

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. Today I will be talking about a job fair that I went to yesterday. It was in a London hotel. I was applying for a job as a receptionist but I have a feeling that I didn't even get a consideration for it. Here I'll explain why.

Well, the day started off a bit rickety as I wasn't feeling very well. I was half decided whether or not to actually go to the job fair or not. After a few hours I decided to try it and got dressed up in my smart clothes and headed off to a hotel in Tower Hill. The hotel was very smart and I immediately felt a bit out of my depth. The receptionists and bell hops were very smartly dressed and I had a feeling that even if I had experience as a receptionist, I might not fit in well here!

Anyway, I asked for directions to the conference room and made my way up there. The room was packed out with people of all nationalities. Some of these people were reading or having a drink at the back of the room and it was obvious that they had already been here a couple of hours. I wasn't wrong about that as I found out later on. I hovered at the desk near the door waiting to be told what to do but nobody came for the ten minutes that I was there so using my initiative, I grabbed an application form and sat down to fill it in.

After another 15 minutes after filling in the six page form, a woman comes to the desk to call people in for an interview. They are doing four interviews at a time at half an hour a piece. In other words, it is going to take a long time to get through the people waiting! On hearing this news, I wait in line of about five people asking questions and ask the lady how long it will take to get to my name. She tells me that they will not be able to see me today but will phone tomorrow to invite me back. Since I cannot change that, I give my details hoping that they will call me back. They didn't!

Now, I have a gripe about this. It isn't the big deal that I didn't get the job. That really wasn't a surprise. My gripe is the fact that they were taking the people in on the day without having the time to look over there application forms, for an interview but because they looked over mine, I presume, they decided not to call me back. I think that it is unfair to treat half of the applications at face value and then the others just by there applications. Many people do not get jobs because they haven't been able to explain there applications. Like I said, I may not have got the job even if I had had the interview but I would have given it a good go!

OK, that completes my rant for today. Hopefully I will have another one for you tomorrow!

Paula

Easter weekend

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views.

So today I will be talking about the Easter weekend. To be honest, nothing much happened. Well, it was all going well until I got annoyed but that's not unusual! OK, I'll explain it all.

So after several hours of waiting for family to arrive, we all get chatting, start the usual day. Talked about church and what not. My niece, who is six at the moment, starts getting agitated and so starts bugging me by talking at me within an inch of my face. I told her to stop otherwise I would stop her myself. She didn't and I got annoyed. I held her and gently tripped her over my foot to place her on the floor. Well, it didn't go to plan and she bumps her head and starts crying. Of course I get blamed for not being the mature one so I leave the room to escape all the drama.

OK, I know it was my fault. I shouldn't have done it and did regret it but my niece seems to know how to wind me up. Plus I was feeling a bit emotional for no reason! That is no excuse but when it all starts to get on top of you, the way you handle things changes from the usual way. She was fine by the way, and we both apologized to each other. I gave out my Easter eggs and after a while, we went to my sisters for dinner. It was very nice and filling.

Overall Easter was good. A bit annoying but generally it was OK. I think dinner may have been the best part! My sister is a good cook!

OK, that is it for the Easter weekend. Short and sweet!

See you tomorrow.

Paula

Another apology

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. It's been a few weeks so I would like to start with another apology about not posting frequently. I know it is stupid to keep apologizing but I think it is nessasary!

Anyway, enough with that, this is just a short post to explain that I am going to stop trying to post everyday but I am going to try posting for five days a week instead, leaving the weekend to having fun or playing games or whatever happens. Hopefully this will make the blog get off to a flying start rather than just dying up like other blogs across the web.

OK, here's for another start.

See you tomorrow.

Paula

The Anniversary and how it drifted by

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. Today's topic is one that will probably come up every year. This is because yesterday, the 4^th March was 7 years to the day that my Mum passed away. It all went by quite quickly to the point that I forgot what day it was. I know it sounds bad but thats how it felt!

When she died, it was incredible how things went from OK to just numb. We didn't know what to do and it felt like the whole world had stopped. I was still at college when it happened and took off a couple of weeks to grieve. I can't really say that I did grieve really until probably a few months after she went. I will say that it helped to find out a few weeks after she had died that my sister was pregnant. I think that gave us something to focus on. I don't think it would have gone by so easily if she hadn't been.

My Mum died of schloris of the liver. In other words her liver stopped working because she drank so much. We didn't know that she was going to die and she and my Dad had just got back from Spain the previous day. I think that it would have been much worse had she died when they were away!

Anyway, I didn't go to her grave. I don't think there is any point. I know people think that going to the grave makes you feel closer to whoever you are visiting but personally, I don't need to go there to feel close to her because I always feel close to her. She is always wherever I am so I can talk to her whenever I need to.

So, the day was just a normal day. So was Sunday which was mother's day. Other dates that would concern her and which were totally ruined on the year she died include Easter and my Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary! Not a good month to celebrate anything really.

OK, so to clear this up, death is really crap when it happens to someone close to you and can really mess people up. Nothing good really comes of it but if you let it pull you down, you will find it really difficult to get up again. All in all, I hope it is a long time before you go through it. If you have gone through it, please share how you came to terms with living with it and whether you had any difficulties.

Paula

Declaring that you are a volunteer, what's the point?

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. Today's post is really aimed at the British Government. I am currently looking for a job and as such, I need help paying the bills until such a job can be found. Now, I have been trying to get one but as yet, my lack of office skills seem to take a beating. Anyway, I have been helping out my sister in her group that she runs. She has set up a group for local mothers to to get together and let there children run around for a bit. It is getting quite busy and even though she has run it now for a few years, has its highs and lows.

Yesterday, when I went to sign on, I happened to mention that I volunteer there doing a bit of admin work. I hadn't really told anyone about this when applying for jobs because it isn't really based in an office but since reading a few websites on getting jobs, I decided to mention it. When I mentioned this to the person I was talking to, he asked me if I had declared that I was doing it when I had signed up for the job seekers allowance. I said no because I did not realise I had to, which I didn't. Since it is volunteering, I do not get paid for it and so had no reason to think it would matter.

Apparently it does, a lot. Even though I 'work' for free, it still has to be declared. I said that surely it is pointless that as once I get a job, I won't be doing it anyway and if it that much of a bother, I can stop doing it. That apparently does not matter because I have been doing it so even if I stop, I should still tell them about it!

Personally I think it is pointless for them to know that you are volunteering somewhere. Now if I was to get paid for it and they raided the place I was at and I got caught, then fair enough. I see nothing wrong with them being annoyed and if needed, sending me to prison. However, I am not getting paid for it so cannot understand what the point is for them to know. Just by saying 'oh yeah, I don't get paid for doing this, just thought you should know', just makes me think they will be saying, 'um, thanks?'! I dunno, maybe I am not seeing the point that they are trying to make or something so if anyone thinks they can clear that up for me, that would be great!

Paula

Do you ever wish your life could get expanded?

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. Well, today I got something through the post. It was the new expansion for the Sims 2 game, FreeTime. Now, I will tell you that I am a big fan of the Sims games but I can't really narrow it down to just one reason so I will give a few!

• You get to control somebody's life without them complaining to much!

• You get job postings in the paper everyday so you can find something to bring in the pay and you are hired immediately and that is without having an interview.

• You can make friends easily enough and you get a welcome wagon come along to greet you when you first move in.

• Depending on what expansions you have, you can get pets, go shopping, skating, bowling, own a car, go to university without much trouble.

• You get skill points just by painting some really rubbish painting or doing some exercise from some video or even by making cereal.

• When you leave uni or home, you automatically are given 20,000 Simoleons to buy a house.

• Houses are really cheap when you move and if you want to expand, no need for planning permission and the Sim god does it all for you. It might be crap but even so, you have more room!

That is just the start of it. Once you get sucked in, you can make legacy's and build perfect houses. Really, you can make of it what you will. It does take a lot of time to get things going but once it does, you really can enjoy it.

The new expansion is about hobbies. You can get your sims really focussed on something like dancing or painting and so every time they do something related to that, you get points and enthusiasm. This can then be used for getting a new aspiration or something related to life experience. You also get invited to secret places that are related to your hobby where you can go and talk to other people who like the same things. Another easy way of making friends which is always helpful. Making friends on here can be easy if you have one sim but once you make a family, it can be difficult maintaining the friendships. Just one thing to look out for!

Anyway, the point of this post is not really to advertise the new expansion as such, it is to ask one question. If you had the option to add to your life, would you do it? It could be a range of things, maybe if you purchased the expansion, you would have the opportunity to forever open business's no matter how badly they fail or maybe you could go to university, for free if you had enough scholarships! You could even get into your hobbies and make a bit of cash for them.

Of course, someone might point out that really, you can do that anyway. What's stopping you from going out there, making your go carts or whatever you might do, and sell them on. Well there isn't anything. Maybe you should do it. It could be fun!

Anyway, here's another question, if you could expand your life by one small payment (say about 40-50 (enter your currency here)), what would it be? Answers in the comments very welcome!

Paula

Did you pop the question on February 29th?

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. Well, the other day was that grand oleextra day that we get on a leap year. Yes, February 29^th. We get this day because of how the years actually add up. Each year actually has a quarter of a day on the end that we don't see until they add up to that extra day. Now, after that quick explanation, down to the real question. Did you ladies out there pop the question to you significant other?

I read somewhere the other day about how this tradition got started. It had something to do with Saint Patrick and how the women thought it was unfair they had to wait to be asked for there hand in marriage. So, to fix it, Saint Patrick decided to give them the extra day every four years to ask for marriage themselves.

Well, at least that is how I read it. I may be wrong and obviously, if you spot anything wrong, please tell me!

Now, I personally would never ask anybody such a serious question as I would be too scared to be turned down. I know that sounds silly and sure, if you really know that the person you are with would do nothing but say yes, then I bet you would jump at the chance to ask them but I am not that sure of myself. I would really prefer to be the one who is surprised and asked rather than having to go through the doubt of them saying no. I get kind of nervous about exams and things that you need to wait for so waiting for an answer would just turn my stomach.

I am very sure that there are women out there who have been rejected and have lived with it but I just think that it is such a big decision and that you really need to know that your other half will be with you for the rest of your life. Of course, people do get divorced because what they thought was happy, really wasn't at all and having know now what they do, can see that maybe they should have left it a little bit longer. Some even say that they wouldn't have done it at all even though they may have enjoyed some of it to begin with.

Anyway, my point is that if you did pop the question, no matter what the answer, congratulations for being able to get up the courage to do so and unlike myself, put yourself on the front-line. If it was a happy ending then I hope you have many wonderful years together and if not, then do not be discouraged and maybe you were lucky, you may not have met your prince charming yet but I am sure you will.

Paula

Apology for not posting lately

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. Now, when I started this blog last month, I promised to update daily and I'm afraid that that just hasn't happened. I cannot explain it because there is no reason for it. My promise turned out to be a pie crust!

Now you might be asking yourself, what exactly am I going on about? What on earth has pie crusts got to do with anything? Well, the answer is simple. To teach my niece about promises, we had to make sure that anything major could not be easily broken, like a pie crust! Yes, I know, you just got it, it took me a second too but it is a good way of teaching little kids about how to keep a promise. Ask them if its a pie crust. They might say no and break it anyway but hopefully they will think back to what they had promised and remember to do what they were told.

Anyway, I do apologize and as a present, I give you a full eight days of posts. Hopefully, they will keep on coming and as this blog builds up, many people will look back and comment on the posts.

OK, I think that is enough of the apology, bring on tomorrow and its posts!

Paula

Take responsibility for your actions

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views. In this blog I want to discuss topics that are out there in the world today and I want to start doing something about it. I think everyone who writes something, wants it to affect people in some way. Now, I don't want to offend people, in fact, I want to make people think about things and if moved in some way, leave comments and feelings about that subject. Now, before you start leaving comments that say that I suck or whatever, I want you to know that these are only my opinions. They are not backed up by anything (if they are, links will be left) so if anything is wrong with what I say, please by all means link me to the stories and research that shows it.

Now that I have made that clear, I can start on today's subject. Today I want to talk about how people who commit robberies, murders, muggings, car thefts etc. blame it on the fact that they played it in a game. I'm sorry but I have to think that anybody who plays games like that should know the difference between real and a game. Using what you have 'learnt' within a game is just being stupid and if a certain person who does think they can thief cars because they done it in grand theft auto, for example, they should not be allowed to play games like that.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, I am not a professor at anything, I do not claim to know anything about the affects on the human mind but if I knew that I could have stopped something from happening by not letting somebody play games, then I would be seriously disgusted at myself. Now, I have a six year old niece and for Christmas, she got her very own DS Lite. She loves it and sometimes we cannot get it off of her but we make sure that the games she plays on it, are appropriate for her age. At the moment she is playing a game based on the show Scooby Doo. She loves the program and knows that it isn't real. She can tell the difference between something that somebody made to have fun and something that is real. She knows that spooky houses/funfair's are very unlikely* and also knows that the characters who play monsters/ghosties are in fact people and those meddling kids always find them out.

I just think that if she ever started to really believe that she can take a gun/car/ghost in real life, she would start to show signs that she believed that and then we could prevent her from playing/seeing things related to the thing she believed in. People who cause murders and accidents and then say that the game made them do it, need to take responsibility for what they have done. The game did not put them in the car or give them a gun, they did that. Yes, it may have given them the idea to do it, I am in no way denying that. People get ideas like that from the littlest things but when someone say, kills somebody with a knife, the game or tv show did not make them do it, it did not force them to go into the kitchen, pick up the knife, hunt down the person they stabbed and hurt them. It just didn't. Whether or not it may have broached the subject that you can do it, does not mean it actually forced them to do it. Also, just because it is a game, does not mean that it is the only way of them getting the idea to hurt/rob/kill somebody. You see it in films and in real life more and more these days and again, this does not mean that the people who do these bad things can blame these shows, they did not force them to do it. They did it on there own free will, nothing else.

Now, you may wonder why I have bought this up. Well, it is simple really. More and more people who do killings are blaming games for the reason of why they did it and they are being accepted as the reason. The latest thing to have happened was the shootings at Idaho University. This was a very bad thing and as of yet, I do not think they have a motive for why the killer decided to take in four guns and kill himself and five innocent people. My Dad watches Fox News. Even though we are in the UK, we get it over here on Sky. Anyway, for those who don't know, they have people come on the news shows and discuss what the killer was thinking and why he could have done it. Now one of the people who came on there was called Jack Thompson and he is apparently, a person who knows all about shootings in Colleges. I may have that wrong but that is how it was labelled on the video! So, he came on the show and had said a bit about the killer and then he said 'we think he played games, which could be related to this'. Now, like I have been saying, this is a ridiculous motive for doing a shooting. Playing games is in no way like real life and as everyone knows, you cannot reset real life once you have died or have done something very wrong. Playing games did not put the gun in his hands and force him into that classroom.

So, to wrap up what I have said, Games do not actually force people to go out and kill/hurt people. They do not give them the real guns/cars/weapon of choice and they do not put them where ever they are when they hurt people so stop using them as a excuse. If you decide to go out and kill people, take the damn responsibility for it.

Please leave comments and hopefully we can put this discussion out there. Thank you.

Paula

Welcome to AboutPaula and her views

Hi there,

Welcome to the very first post of my new blog. I have a few blogs currently situated around the net but have decided to make another. I wanted one where I could put my views on and maybe start a discussion about those views.

I will update every day when possible and hope to do a podcast once a week too. The stories that will be posted will be those that are in the news today, such as the shooting at Idaho University. I do have some opinions about that but want this first post to be set aside from the normality that this place will host.

Anyway, I will leave this post short and sweet and will see you tomorrow where hopefully, my views will not be seen as too harsh or stupid.

Until then,

Paula.