It would take too long to catch up with all that’s gone on so I’ll just give a synopsis, of sorts.

I never got to my friend’s birthday party and work has been exactly the same. It’s such a pity that there are so many of us who genuinely love our jobs but are so disgusted by the way management treat us, that we are preparing for alternate careers.

I’m hoping that another 2 years will see me moving to other things. Of course, that could change if management’s attitude to and treatment of us changes dramatically but, then again, pigs might fly.

I’ve just enrolled in a Diploma of Commercial Arts – Graphic Design, to compliment my photography and open up a few more avenues for me to pursue. I’m very excited by what the future holds (in my head at least – will have to wait and see what the reality is).

I’ve spent tons of time with Bubba Jai and, I don’t think I’ve mentioned before that he is going to be a big brother at the beginning of next year. I have Sep and Oct off and he is going to spend a whole week with Nanny Pam. After chasing him around like a lunatic yesterday, I think I need to get in some training to keep up with him.

Photography has been my focus for a while now and business is building despite the fact that I still haven’t advertised. All word of mouth. I really have to get myself organised to approach the advertising. I was holding off until my studio was complete but wet ground has delayed the electrics so I’m still waiting.

Courtney and I are planning a trip to Hawaii early next year (if finances allow) and I’m looking forward to spending some time with her and getting some landscape photography done.

Courtney had put a deposit on some land and was very excited about getting a mortgage and starting her life of entrapment to financial institutions but they turned her down because of mortgage insurance. She’ll keep saving and be able to do it next year but, in the mean time, she’s consoled herself with the purchase of a very naughty puppy named Bailey.

Life feels pretty good at the moment. It has it’s ups and downs but I am motoring along quite nicely. Let’s hope I don’t put a hex on myself saying that.

I’m going to update My Child’s Child blog soon, so you can catch some pics and anecdotes of my adventures with Bubba Jai on there.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did enter the APPAs and managed a silver award for my trouble. I entered two images. The first, with mum and bub, earned a silver but the other was a bit controversial. Some judges (and many, many viewers) thought it was fab and scored it at award level but other judges scored it below professional practice because, and I quote, “…it is grotesque. We should not be putting babies in poses that harm them”. I can assure you that neither the parents nor I would allow the child to be harmed for the sake of a photography. I found his comment ignorant (He preceded his comment with “I don’t photograph babies but…”) and thought he embarrassed himself more than anything but, you can’t please everyone. What do you think, does the baby look distressed? Oh, and btw, some photographers edit out fingers that prop babies heads in this position but this bub was able to do it quite comfortably without any assistance.

Shift work is a social life killer. Did you know that?

We have a time bank system where you can work overtime to credit you with hours for time you want to take off but the problem is actually getting the overtime in the first place. Shift swaps with a very young workforce (as the service I work for is becoming saturated with) is almost impossible. So, I had planned to take the shift off on sick leave. I know some of you will say that it’s wrong to use sick leave if you aren’t sick but spare a thought for the burden of shift work and only knowing rosters 6 weeks in advance on people like me and the toll it takes on your mental health to never be able to commit to a social event (even my mum’s 80th birthday was a nightmare) that you really want to attend. Then you listen to all your friends recounting what a fabulous time they had and you are left out. I rarely ever do it so I figured this was a mental health day off for me.

Also, keep in mind that this is a fairly common practise where I work and we will often mention it to trusted colleagues so that they can put in for O/T if they know someone is going to be away. Unfortunately, one of my younger trusted colleagues didn’t realise that this was probably something that should be kept discreet and mentioned it to someone else. I don’t know the path from there but it has ended up that I am at risk of disciplinary action if I take the time off. The likelihood of a shift swap or timebank at this late stage is close to zip so, looks like I’ll miss out on yet another exciting event.

Luckily, I haven’t picked the dress up yet so I won’t be too much out of pocket.

My four days off this week have been spent looking at land and houses with Courtney. She has decided that it is time to enter the housing market if she ever has any hope of affording it. I really feel for the young ones of today. Housing in Australia, and particularly the capital cities is outrageously expensive. I’ve suffered with her as she became more and more frustrated at the ridiculous financial demands entering the market will cause. Still, she’s determined and she is focussed on her goal and I have no doubt she’ll get there.

We’ve also enjoyed the company of Bubba Jai for most of the weekend. He is such an entertaining little character, he makes my heart smile. Love him to bits.

Apart from a few glitches and frustrations, life has been motoring along pretty smoothly. I hope that it’s not the calm before the storm.

I’m at the point of considering entering the Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPAs) at the moment. I won a silver award last year but I haven’t been quite as focussed this year and don’t really think I have anything existing that would be worthy and wonder whether I have time to create something. Deadline is May 25th, so I’ll just have to wait and see.

Cheers

I had a lovely break during my leave, spending loads of time with Bubba Jai and helping Courtney out in her new classroom (at her request). Like riding a bike, I just slotted back into things.

Bubba Jai turned one early in March and that took a lot of my focus. You can see some of the pics of this and other bits and pieces on my Nanny Pam blog. Jai really is the light of my life. He’s such a delightful little character.

I’ve been back at work for a couple of weeks and, honestly, I don’t really have time to work – too many other things to do.

Some of you know how badly I have been treated by my employer over the past few years and I had intended (as is my right and probably my responsibility) to pursue the situation legally. Last night, while I was out scrapping with friends, I heard a story about the disgusting behaviour of some of the power brokers of our society – the rich and/or politically savvy, that was enlightening.

As one of the ‘little people’ it will be extremely hard to stand up against those who have already demonstrated their ability and willingness to lie, cheat and attempt to destroy honest people’s reputations. I really take my hat off to those who do ‘go to the mattresses’ with these types of people – those with the money and power, because the stress and disappointment must be enormous. I’m not sure that they are worth it to be honest. Do I subject myself, and my family, to the horrors that will certainly prevail, the lies that will destroy my reputation because, once a word has been spoken or written, most people believe there must be at least some truth behind it? Or, do I make plans to walk away and shake my head in disgust, hoping for Karma?

I haven’t made up my mind completely yet, although I am leaning toward the Karma route.

I have to say that I have lost any faith in our politicians (not because of last night but for many other reasons) and any of the so-called regulatory bodies that are meant to protect the ‘man in the street’ from the corruption that festers throughout all areas of Government and many businesses. Integrity and honesty seem to have disappeared in our current society. I wish I could find a little island somewhere so I (and my family) could live in blissful ignorance.

On a brighter note, my studio is starting to take shape and I’m up to the stage of getting an electrician in. Will take a deep breath and make sure I’m sitting down when I ask for that quote I think.

While I’m in the wishing mood, I wish there was an immediate, inexpensive and long term solution to weight loss…*sigh*. Courtney lost 5 kilos last week when she was sick and I think I found them (some of them anyway). Just depresses the shit out of me.

I shall leave you with a picture of my Bubba Jai that was taken at the exact minute he turned one. 1059am. It was supposed to be a smash-the-cake shoot but he wouldn’t even touch it, let alone put it near his mouth. He is really hard to feed LOL. Love him to bits.

I started 4 weeks of leave on Monday and I’m sure it can’t be Thursday already…how come time doesn’t go this fast when I’m working?

I had Jai on Monday (see our exploits in my Nanny Pam blog) and then again for a sleep over last night, which was delightfully unexpected. In between time I went to Costco and a couple of stores in Hawthorn and Richmond in the search for props for Avenue Blu.

I really hope to get into the garden tomorrow, if it’s not too hot, and make it look a bit more civilised and I’m very keen to wash the outside of the house down and give it a good scrub. I love my cream painted timber house but you can’t get away without scrubbing it annually. I might even get the pressure hose out and scrub the decks too.

I had a ‘To Do’ list today (you know how I love lists) and I think I might even be able to cross off every single thing before I go to bed. One more shoot to edit and I’m done. Have plenty more for tomorrow’s list but I’m feeling good about today.

I have a gripe. Stupid rule that organisations have about getting certified copies of documents sent in to them. Like it makes a difference to the authenticity or something. Do they not know you can create anything on a computer today? Just because you make it up and then take it in to someone to certify as on original does not make it so. Idiot ruling but, even more disgusting is that, while pharmacists, doctors and the police will all sign them for no cost (sometimes the pharmacy ‘asks’ for a donation) Australia Post employees think their time is so much more important that they have a standard charge of $3-95 per sheet! Outrageous. I went to the police station to get mine done but it was unattended. Only under extreme duress did I pay the disgusting fee from the customer non-service people at the Wallan Australia Post outlet. The old owners were wonderful, community-minded people. The current owners barely understand English (there should be some basic expectations in that area I believe) and are so rude that I only go in there if I absolutely have to. I prefer to travel to Craigieburn where they have decent manners.

Today I found out that I have been given full re-registration as a teacher. I was a bit concerned that they would downgrade it to Provisional as I’ve not been in a classroom for so long but I got fairly glowing references from my last principal and a colleague at work so I’m sure that helped. I want to get back into Casual Relief Teaching (CRT) work as soon as I can because, not only do I want that money to fund a trip to Europe later in the year (that is earned completely separately from my current employer) , I’m thinking it might be a career that I can return to when I leave my current job. The way things are going there at the moment, so many staff are looking for alternative employment opportunities that I fear the system will collapse sooner rather than later. It’s sad when you love your job but management do such a poor job of it that they destroy morale to the point of making even students want to leave.

I’m hoping my photography business will keep growing and I’ll be able to combine that and my teaching to replace my other income. Bloody mortgage. Wouldn’t life be much better without one?

I’ve just put out a casting call for newborn babies so, if you know anyone who lives this side of town, and who is about to have or has just had a baby, ask them to check out the Blu Blog for details on how to get a free session with a complimentary 8x10in photo of their baby for participating.

And other things…

Today was a sad day. A lovely girl at work lost her fight with breast cancer last week. She was only 37 years old and was the epitome of the saying “only the good die young”. She had spent some years in Japan teaching English in her 20′s and developed close relationships with those she worked with. Because of this, she was visiting Japan for two weeks at the end of January for a friend’s wedding and another friend’s twins christening. Sadly, she spent the first couple of days with the twin’s family but was taken ill and missed the wedding, instead spending a few days in hospital. It turned out to be her last few days in this life. The emergency service that we work for (can’t write any related words as their Big Brother filters will pick it up and they have some poor bugger check the posts that include them) tried to work out a way to get her back home because the commercial airlines refused to transport her in her condition. Her extended family joined her and her husband in Japan just in case and, tragically, it was lucky they did because she passed away on Feb 7th. The family decided to have the funeral service and cremation in Japan rather than have her transported home. Today though, all her local friends got to say goodbye. There was representation from Arnhem Land aborigines where her family had lived and worked when she was a child, translations of condolences from her Japanese friends who thought she was amazing as well as anecdotes of her time in the Service from colleagues.

It was testament to her popularity as a wonderful human being (who lead an extraordinary life that I wasn’t even half aware of) that she had, what I estimated as over 400 people at her memorial service. About a 120 or more of my colleagues – all in dress uniform – formed an honour guard as the pipers lead the family through. A big white truck emblazoned with our logo (sorry can’t say the word) followed at the rear and had the beacons covered in black cloth which is our traditional way of honouring those lost. The honour guard was called to attention and as her ashes passed each of us, we brought our right hand up to cover our heart in respect and farewell until the truck finally passed when we dropped our hands and stood back to attention. It was quite the spectacle and a very emotional experience.

Her family were grateful for the formality and I think, in some small way, it helped them to understand that she wasn’t just special to them. She truly was an extraordinary person.

RIP Wama.

Anyway, I’ve been busy designing a new blog for Avenue Blu. It has a slideshow banner and I’m happy with the background I designed as well. Very pretty I think. Of course, Bubba Jai had to feature and his gorgeous face is first up.

I especially like that I will be able to put up quite large images to view rather than the smaller ones I’m restricted to on ready made blogs. I haven’t quite got that far yet but it’s coming…

Here’s a peek at the blu blog

Needless to say, we had a hard night and I was exhausted which meant I spent most of our national day asleep. However, I was lucky enough to get a visit for the afternoon from the beautiful Bubba Jai. He is such a character and I love spending time with him. He had us in fits of laughter during his dinner with his antics. He made Courtney move lightening fast when he took off with her mobile phone and he charmed Courtney’s friend Madison (a self-confessed NOT Baby Person). His mum and dad don’t live too far away so, as I don’t have a car seat yet, I walked him home in the stroller about 7pm. The plan was that he would fall asleep on the way home but he had other ideas – squealing in delight at the bird life and singing to himself most of the way LOL.

Courtney was so entertained by his dinner time routine that she used her iPhone to record his antics, and, of course, I never miss an opportunity to get a photo to scrapbook for his album so here are some.

Obviously has a thing for phones.

True Blue…

I’ve finished, and passed, my Advanced Diploma of Photography so apart from officially being able to call myself a professional photographer, I now have a ton of free time on my hands. I’m debating between returning to piano lessons and/or learning Italian. I also have to fit in lots of practise and lessons with Photoshop to try and master it. I am looking forward to not having to negotiate evening traffic into the CBD, paying the excessive tolls on Citylink to get there and the parking fee for each class night. All told, savings of around $70per week – not to be sneezed at.

A couple of posts ago, I showed some pictures of my adorable grandson Jai. Unfortunately, due to a family disagreement (we all have those times of dysfunction) I hadn’t seen him since June 6th – for 6 1/2 months. I missed so much of his little life and it made me desperately unhappy. But, we were very happy to have had some true Christmas magic when his mum and dad bought him over for a visit on Christmas Day. It was a very emotional time and I can’t describe how happy I was to see him and Marc again. I’ve seen him a couple of times since and, yes, the camera has had a workout. I call him ‘Bubba Jai” (said the same way Forrest Gump says his friend Bubba’s name in the movie). My partner at work loves it and, whenever he asks about him, he always uses this reference.

So here you are – a ton of photos to show a precious little boy at 10 months old.

Jai with Great Nanny Phyllis on Christmas Day 2010

Jan 2, 2011. His cute little smile.

Looking serious.

With his cute, little, toothy grin.

Last night, we got to look after him for a couple of hours. We don’t have a high chair so, necessity is the mother of invention and we improvised on the kitchen bench. He enjoyed his pumpkin, veg and couscous meal as you can see. I promise that more went in his mouth than on him LOL

Not a good idea to leave the bowl unattended near a baby’s feet.

More holes to put things in.

Some for you too Nanny.

Nothing a bath and washing machine couldn’t fix.

All clean.

Looking all worn out, so time for a bottle then bed, but…

Jai had other ideas. A second wind so, into Nanny’s studio for an impromptu 15min shoot.

Still no sign of any desire to sleep while he tested his ability to growl like a bear and then chat away with Nanny. Wriggled off my knee to go and see what his Aunty Courtney was doing and decided to help her out.

Finally, after all that hard work there was rubbing of eyes indicating a desire to sleep. I put him down and he was asleep within a minute I reckon. 15mins later, his mum and dad turned up to take the tired little munchkin home.

We had a delightful time with him. ‘Til next time

However, in my defence, I have been travelling for some of that time and keeping up my travel blog Peejay’s Wanderings, so if you’re interested, you can check that out.

Before I left, I had a couple of shoots and, since returning late last week, I’ve had another. Here are a few of the pics.

I’m back at work now and, unfortunately, up until recently, something that I enjoyed doing after my leave. Now, it’s just a job that pays my mortgage. Thankfully, I still enjoy the bulk of my job with the patients, and most of my colleagues but management are making it extremely difficult for everyone and I don’t think I will be there much more than another couple of years. Time to work out the next path in my life – life is too short to fill it with such negativity.

Short and sweet. I’ll try and be a better blogger

Cheers