So, here we are. It’s the end of January, and due to problems I’ll go in to later, I’m still AIBless. It seems that, despite Jinty’s offer of moving in with him, I’m not going to be moving to Edinburgh just yet. And that job I was after? Still no dice.

Now, this may seem like the beginning of a fairly depressing entry. I assure you, in fact, that it’s not. I’m actually fairly upbeat right now – would like a little more clarification on certain aspects of my life, and there are certain other situations that really aren’t going the way I’d like them to, but in all, I’m pretty happy. My week on the Scillies cleared my head, and made me focus on what I need to be getting on with and focusing on right now – getting in to the Navy, and building up a social life here in Bristol.

Incidentally, partially due to the cajolence of my parents and the fact that I have nothing better to do on a Tuesday night, I’ve been drafted into the local line dancing group. Okay, cut the sniggers! I’ve only had one lesson and, to be fair, it isn’t really my cup of tea, but I’ll give it a shot for a while. At least this way I can entertain the masses with my total lack of rhythm and fantastic impersonation of an arthritic hippo on roller skates. Yesterday my friend Kirstie came over to give me a quick lesson in the basics – poor girl didn’t believe me when I warned her that my chances of getting the dances right were about equal to those of a duck-billed platypus learning to skydive.

I’m also back with my old Monday night roleplaying group, who I’ve missed a lot over the past year and a half. I may also have a second group starting up nearby too, which will help expand the social base a touch

And last night, plans to increase the number of people I know professionally bore fruit when I got invited to a Sci-Fi & Fantasy writer’s group. Now, I’m not a SF&F writer per se, but I’ve been known to dabble in the past. It was a good chuckle, and I think I’m going to enjoy hanging out with them. In many ways, they remind me of my old geek crowd back in Sunderland, in terms of dynamic and the way they interact. Yay for new buddies!

The Scillies were great, even though Tess is starting to look very old now, poor girl. She can still chase a ball with the best of ‘em, though! It was great just seeing her and Ann again, because it’s been far too long. We got plenty of walking time in, saw some fantastic waves during the multitudinous rain storms, and just generally had a great time.

And now for the main event of today’s blog.

With regards to my AIB, it’s still on hold due to a cockup at the doctors. See, the Navy sent my doctor a letter in November asking for details regarding my knee operation back in 2006. The doctor decided to begin answering this query on December 30th, having had it on their desk for two months They then had to wait for the hospital in Sunderland (where I had my op) to get back to them, which took another two weeks. On the 13th, I called to see if the information had arrived from Sunderland. “It has!” they said. “Marvellous!” said I. “So it’s been sent to the Navy now?” “No!” came the cheerful reply. “Your doctor’s off sick and can’t do it this week! She’ll do it on Monday.”

Muttermuttermuttermutter.

So I call back on Monday (the 19th, if you’re keeping track), to be informed that the doctor is *still* off sick, and won’t be back til the week after. Needless to say, I flipped my lid. I told them that their continuous stream of laziness and avoidance was jeopardising my future career, to which they seemed suitably abashed, sent it up to the senior doctor, and he proceeded to get it done and sent to the Navy on Tuesday.

Still with me? Good.

On the Thursday, I called the Navy to check if the medical documents had been received. “The medical department haven’t got back to us yet” came the reply. “Do we know when they will?” “Here’s the problem: Most of our doctors have just been shipped out to Afghanistan, so we have a backlog of medical forms that I’m afraid yours has been lost in. We probably won’t be able to give you an interview for another four weeks”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I felt like tearing my hair out with the frustration of it all. I think the poor Naval Recruiting lass (who has been a diamond through all these repeated cockups and delays) felt sorry for me, because she sent me in advance all the forms I’d need to fill in *before* I take the AIB (yes, yet more forms – I think the Navy are in cahoots with black ink manufacturers) which are normally only sent out after AIB dates are allocated, and also promised me that she’d put me on short notice for the next AIB that was available – meaning I could get a call as late as Thursday asking me to hightail it to Gosport for my interview board on Friday.

So yeah… still in limbo, but I’ve started applying for whatever job I can get just to keep money coming in until I know for certain what the story with the Navy is.

Oi vey…. still, it’ll all be worth it once I finally get in to Britannia RNC.

I finally realised about a week or so back that it’s not going to be too long before the meagre funds left to me after Edinburgh’s debauchery over New Year run out. Now, I knew I’d get to a point where this would be an issue…. I just didn’t think it would happen this quickly. Somewhat naive of me, I know. Needless to say, it’s now time to get my backside in to gear and find gainful employment, at least until such time as I hear back from the Navy.

Now, there are two approaches I could take here – I could go for a McJob of some kind just to pay the bills (not that I have that many, living at home and all), then ditch it as soon as something better comes up, or go for something career-oriented that I stand a decent chance of sticking with for a decent length of time. Needless to say, I pick option two. Mainly because I’m a tad worried that if I pick option one at this point in my life, I’ll be stuck with jobs like that for the rest of my life.

After a week of raiding every job site on the ‘net looking for a decent job for someone with five years experience and a degree in journalism that has something to do with editorial and isn’t PR, I find two jobs that I’m interested in. And even then one of them is as close to PR as I’m willing to get right now.

Two jobs.

Of course, if I wanted to imperil my Navy application I could take any one of a dozen jobs in, say, Dubai or Bahrain. I’d certainly not be averse to such a move if the Navy wasn’t my main career focus. God knows it would be a damn sight warmer than here. And the money? Pheeeeeeeeeew, they’re offering some kickass sums right now. Tax-free, too.

But jobs in the UK are thin on the ground these days – particularly in the media. Admittedly I’ve not been looking for too long, but it’s pretty bleak out there. If I can’t find something by the end of February, I may just have to take a bar job or something to keep the money coming in.

Right now, I’ll move anywhere for a decent writing job. I’m even considering *shudder* London. Ideally I’d like something in Edinburgh, but right now beggars can”t be choosers, and unless something comes up north of the border I may have to put my epic relocation plans on hold. Which will REALLY piss me off, as I’ll have to let down a friend who’s offering to let me move into his spare bedroom.

Oi! Navy! Hurry up and get me an AIB date so I can get on with my life, will ya?

In other news, I’m off to the Scillies for five days next week – courtesy of the parents. Five days with Anne and Tess, walking around the islands, working on the book proposal and generally not thinking about the jumbled mass of chaos and uncertainty that is life at the moment. I’m still debating taking the laptop…. I kinda want to be cut off from the world for a week. I’m definitely leaving the mobile behind. Should be just what the doctor ordered!