Investments, Networking and a Witch

I am on my way to investment training today, a subject that only excites me on a very basic level…. I have some money and want to spend it but know I have to save some for the future….

Instead of the rudimentary basics, this is full on investment risks, assets, diversification, active and passive management etc., so I think I will need to be listening carefully and not have my mind wander to looking at what suits people are wearing and whether they polished their shoes (that kind of thing, I love people watching).

There was by my estimations an 80% chance I would be the only woman on the course so it will once again be ‘smoozing’ with a group of middle age (whatever that is supposed to be nowadays but don’t get me started on longevity) men who get excited about figures.  Good job I wore my smartest business dress with high heels lol

So I am on a different train today which is very busy and we are all crammed in, luckily I have a seat for my long (or short depending on your point of view) hours journey and so some serious blogging can be done.

I have a another music lesson tonight and I have to say I have not practiced at all, my bad to coin a phrase.  There has been a lot going on with a bit of sleep deprivation thrown in so that will be my excuse to my teacher, not that she probably cares as long as she’s getting paid =)

Fast forward to the next day….. zzzzzziiiiippppp……

The investment training was actually very good it answered a number of questions that I had, that’s for sure.  And I was nearly right about the percentage of women in attendance – there were 6 of us out of about 50 (just over 10%).

Talking about figures this reminds me of one of my first stage performances as a witch in a primary school production, the name of which escapes me at the moment but I had some excellent one liners.  One in particular which followed a line asking one of the princesses what size she was, the princess answered a 12 and then came my line “Well I’m a medium myself” – classic.  This was the same play that had a character called ‘Sir Spender’ which went over my head back then but now I see the funny side…. obviously.  It’s amazing what memories flood back when you least expect them.

Well, enough of these shenanigans.  I shall leave you with that thought and hope you have a super week – enjoy!

Have a break, have a Kit Kat

Week 19 and I wanted to share with you something I came across this week…….

I had a very hard day and so on my way home I stopped into a newsagents and treated myself to a Chunky Kit Kat, it is one of my favourite chocolate bars.  I knew that in this type of shop my chocolate would come at premium but I thought ‘go for it and treat yourself’.  So I handed over 89p to the well known high street brand shop and walked on my way (whilst devouring this treat immediately, good old multi-tasking).

I needed some other provisions so walked into a shop just round the corner (another well known high street brand) and thought out of interest I would check out their chocolate aisle and was shocked to see that the same Chunky Kit Kat bar was being sold for 19p cheaper – 70p!!!

How can there be such a price different within such a small area I thought….. my investigations continue!

Oh and I have started up another Blog reviewing stuff…

It’s called Let’s Review, you might want to check it out.  Not much on there yet but there will be

All Cows Eat Grass…. (otherwise known as week 18)

And so to week 18…… All Cows Eat Grass

A very famous acronym for the bass notes which sit in between the five lines on sheet music, I’m sure there is a more technical term for this….

Well this got me thinking not only about cows and an idyllic scene of them eating grass on a bright sunny spring day, but that there is something structured about life and that ALL cows do eat grass. Their ability to do so is courtesy of a 4 chambered stomach system which allows them to digest such a fibrous substance.

What other certainties are there in life?  Well apart from the usual death and taxes, day follows night follows day etc. you certainly cannot function as a human-being without sleep, without air, without water, and eventually without food.  I have heard that in general terms, for the last three quoted, that you couldn’t live for more than 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food – something I felt too extreme to investigate personally but for some people this is a daily reality.

I cannot imagine living day-to-day wondering where my next drink or meal was coming from but for some people this is their life to survive. It must be all-consuming if your life evolved around these fundamental things day in day out.  [A moment of silence]

Thankfully I do not live hand to mouth and week 18 was extremely busy.  It started with a family wedding, followed by a significant family birthday.  What a weekend that was.  It did provide the realisation though that I only get to see the whole of my family when these events happen and that most of my family are now married (well the ones that will be that is) which means the next time we catch-up could well be a funeral *shudders at the thought*.

On the work front I have spent a big chunk of my week process mapping. Which has left my very brain tired from all the talking I have had to do. I now know how teachers must feel after a full days teaching.  I suppose its like any job or hobby though you build up a stamina in your art, so it does become eventually easier.  I knew pretty early on in life that I had a quiet voice and so I couldn’t do any type of public speaking without a mic!

To sum up, a busy but reflective week

Happy belated week 17…. gone but not forgotten

It occurred to me today that we are a third of the way through 2013 already, how is that possible?  I have always heard older people say that the older you get the quicker time passes but I now think that is probably because you try to cram more into your days than you had done previously, as the end of your life is nearer than it was.

Scientifically it’s impossible to speed up time (if you have proof to the contrary I want to hear from you!).  The closest I have got is that I have heard that years shorten in length by a second or two over 100s of years so maybe time is getting shorter, not sure how we prove this….Hmmm.

Anyhow, I do know that the weather is getting crazy, one minute there’s snow the next its sunny, wardrobe rotation must be a headache for those who still do this.  I personally am not very creative with my wardrobe and boots and black attire are all year round fashion items for me, however, it is nice to be able to vary what you wear even if you do get to the office and still freeze due to the air conditioning.

As I alluded to earlier (as above) its week 17 (well it was when I wrote this) already and I’m a third of the way through my 52 weekly blog commitment and although I have fallen off the wagon a few times. I think I am finally getting into the blog groove.  It takes a while to form a new ‘habit’, weeks so I have heard so it doesn’t surprise me that it’s only now that I feel comfortable with the thought of a weekly blog.  I thought it would be hard to find things to write about but as I have kept myself über busy there has been no end to subjects I could have written about which has amazed me to be honest.

Also as my blog has grown and I’m finding more people reading my weekly posts and being interested in my warblings I am starting to feel a bit more responsible for the subjects I am writing about, not sure why this is as most of it comes from the heart, it’s who I am and always will be so I shouldn’t make no apologies for this, yet a sense of responsibility still remains.

With this responsibility in mind…. Monday started well I had a follow-on session with the eleven year old children I had previously run the cv session for in week 15.  The session was on interview skills and assessment.  I was encouraged by the thought process these young adults went through and I felt the school was doing a great job at preparing them for securing their first job.  A very difficult time where companies focus on high quality candidates and those who can demonstrate why they should be selected over the other candidates.  Nothing like my day when the job market was a lot more fluid.  I hoped I had helped them in understanding the process to make them better prepared for the next phase of their lives in securing their first job.  Of course some of them will go on to university but good interview skills will always be invaluable and if not used now will be at some point.

I also found time to catch up with an ex-colleague and friend, it was a lovely evening spent in a train station bar (on my way home from the office) enjoying a couple of ciders.  It made me think that the connections we make, however often, are a thing to be savoured and enjoyed like a nice sweet cider….. And I can fully recommend a bottle of strawberry and lime Rekorderlig (http://www.rekorderlig.com/uk ).

So now my mind turns to week 18, which was a totally busy and tiring week but more on that tomorrow…. watch this space!

A sore shoulder welcomes week 16!

I turn over in bed and the pain in my shoulder rips through me.  I yelp with the sharp feeling that stabs into my shoulder-blade.  Ouch!  If only I had not over twisted and trapped a nerve, then I wouldn’t be lying here wishing the paracetamols I had taken would ease the pain, even to some small degree…….. but they were not.

This was the reason for my Blog being delayed and so I apologise to my regular readers that you have had to wait so long for the next instalment of - 52 weeks in the life of MissElisabeth.

So it has taken me a number of days to get myself back to feeling better again and now that the numbness and pain in my shoulder has disappeared I can once again set to the task of sharing with you a couple of things that happened to me last week.  I had my second music lesson which went really well.  I have managed to get back into the swing of it all quite quickly (something I was hoping).  Learning the notes and rhythms and playing with the right and left hand together.  With the first piece to a reasonable standard (although still being practiced) I have been tasked with a second more challenging piece using chords for the left hand instead of individual notes.  Only time will tell whether I rise to this challenge or not.

Just as a little treat for you all I thought I would throw in a little bit of music theory…..  How do you work out major and minor chords?

A major chord has 3 notes, with an interval between the first and the second note of 4 semi-tones and an interval between the second and third note of 3 semi-tones e.g. C Major = C, E, G.

A minor chord also has 3 notes but has an interval between the first and the second note of 3 semi-tones and an interval between the second and third note of 4 semi-tones. e.g. C Minor – C, Eb, G.

I appreciate that you may now be thinking, what is a semi-tone? what is C etc?  So I apologise now if I have raised more questions for you than have solved….

Ok so music aside for a moment, I had another chance encounter on the tube last week.  I must have one of those faces that invites people to speak to me.   Actually I don’t mind speaking to anyone, which is probably why I am approached.  Who knows, anyway.  We shared commuter stories and just spent the 15 minute journey chatting about this and that.  We arrived at our destination station and then parted company as quickly as we had met.  I wondered what this encounter had been for, what was I to learn from it, to find a reason for why this brief connection had happened but in the end I figured it was just an interaction between two people passing the time and….. I was ok with that.

Here’s wishing you a great week and some enjoyable random encounters!

Music….. Aspire to Inspire

Another weekly Blog is upon us and I have to say that week 15 has actually been one of the better weeks for me so far this year, which doesn’t really seem fair with all the atrocities and injustices happening elsewhere in the world.

So first I would like to send my thoughts and love to all those affected this week, not only in Boston but all over the world where people have died needlessly at the hands of some cause or another.  I, therefore, take a moment to remember them and reflect……..

Ok so let’s go back to Monday, if you will, the weather was good. I think we have finally had spring sprung upon us in the UK, after the weeks of on and off snow showers, cold winds and dark nights; the garden plants are starting to grow and the garden seems a much more welcoming place.  This ‘new start’ time of year coupled with good weather helps to keep your spirits up especially with the thought that summer is just around the corner.  Well, we are all keeping our fingers crossed it is.

So at the start of any new week many challenges lay ahead and you may be wondering how things will pan out, it’s a good question to ask yourself. Remember, you have the ability to mould and control what happens to you, so how you react to a challenge or situation will determine which path you will go down next.   I think the key is that you keep a positive open mind, plan for the best, expect the worst and you shouldn’t be disappointed

I have to say in my own life there has been a definite sea change of late with the small steps I have been making to improve my life and my prospects.  All these small decisions I am making are necessary steps and building blocks to changing the bigger picture, my future.   What I have also found particularly this week is that this positivity and focused mindset also rubs off on others.  They see you setting goals and your growing determination to make things different and they start to think what they could do to make some changes, put in place some goals. [Note: You cannot achieve a goal without giving yourself a deadline which is stretching but also realistic.]  And as a result this actually further increases the positivity around you and spurs you on to do more in the pursuit of change and personal growth.  When this happen you know you are building momentum towards a significant change….

I had my first music lesson this week after a long break, about 25 years (showing my age), which went well and I felt encouraged that I still knew a bit of the theory I had learnt all those years ago.  It felt a bit like getting back on a bike after a considerable time away. You sort of know what you are doing but the coordination has gone and the exact technique buried.   But, after a while the embedded skills you learnt return and it’s like you had never stopped.  I hope this happens with my piano playing!

Going off piste for a moment… Remember me telling you I bought a tab to ‘Blog-on-the-go’ well, I am having a few teething problems around using the onscreen typing pad with Polaris.  Hopefully I will get used to it as it’s a great gadget to write on.  Being able to produce a piece of text without any errors is proving to be challenging, editing ability is difficult, and I have to resort to finishing up my pieces on my laptop … I feel a bit of a review coming on.

Another first for me this week was that I gave a CV writing skills session to a class of 25 eleven year olds as a volunteer, which was really insightful, rewarding, challenging and definitely another grow point on my path to a better me.  I would really encourage anyone who has a spare hour or two to get involved in some sort of volunteering, you get so much out of it and so do the people you help.  It also helps to open up your people network and who knows what other opportunities that will bring…

Well, that’s me done for another week.  Hope you all have a great day with lots of positivity and if you feel like you need inspiring, look in the mirror as everything you need to succeed in life is looking right back at you!

Week 14…. positive mistaken identity

This week has definitely been a week of personal progress, with an enjoyable positive outing with a friend and targets hit at work my motivation levels were up.  So I wanted to share with you something that happened to me this week, which on reflection was another personal growth moment.

Accosting a stranger (in the non-solicitous sense, obviously)…..

The first time it happened, a while back now, I mistook a man for a family member (seriously!).  I greeted him with something like “fancy seeing you here..”.  Now if I had addressed him in such a manner anywhere else other than at a station ticket machine it would have definitely been mistaken for a cheesy pick up line!  We both realised very quickly that clearly we didn’t know each other and after an apology given and accepted we carried on with our lives as if nothing had happened.  I was so embarrassed I had to put my head down and walk away very quickly, telling myself “that he DID have an uncanny resemblance to the person I thought it was”.  Almost coaching myself through the shock of the whole experience and not really thinking about how I may have affected the other person.

This week another mistaken identity situation happened, I quickly said “Sorry I thought you were someone else” they laughed, I laughed and we walked our separate ways.  It didn’t help that this time it was NOT just a “Hi, how are you?”.  I was so sure that this person was who I thought it was, I went in with ”Chatting up young men, again!” as she stood with a tall young man.  Ok, so, I probably apologised more than once on this occasion and thankfully her laughing meant she wasnt going to call the police.  ‘Mistaken identity eh?!’, I thought.

The embarrassed feeling this time, however, didn’t last as long as that first time.  I came to terms with what had happened a lot quicker, the recovery from the incident seemed to pass almost immediately, so it got me thinking…

How does a distraught experience first time round actually become a comfortable feeling in the end, speaking to a complete stranger for no reason, and thinking there’s an opportunity to make new connections here.  From a first case of mistaken identity to maybe a mechanism for easily starting up a conversation with someone you do not know.  By engineering that first contact by using the method of mistaken identity, where people are more likely to be open-minded as they were not the person you were expecting them to be, could give us all an opportunity to make new connections. Definitely a less confrontational way of approaching someone and depending on the person’s response you could at the last-minute decide to pursue or bail out.

The moral of my story is that first experiences however awkward they may feel at the time can become a more comfortable situation.  The more you experience the same situation, the more you can acclimatise yourself to that negative feeling so in the end it doesn’t feel so bad.

This can translate to all parts of your life, just remember the first time is the most special it opens a door to a whole new opportunity/possibility.  So instead of feeling awkward, feel achievement that you accomplished it.  Think how you can use this newly gained positive energy to propel yourself forward to your next first.

Have a great day and please do share your firsts with me, my door is always open..