Jan 29 2009
Been Here Before
Good grief. I could quite easily just repost two of my previous entries today. My partner’s been in a bottle again, and it’s been one of those evenings: we had the drawing frenzy, the repetitive music and the overwhelming desire to scream “SHUT UP!” as she babbled on and on.
So I’m going to talk about good things instead! Today’s been a brilliant day for good news. First off, I spoke to a guy at the DWP’s call centre and kicked off my incapacity benefits claim again: I tend to have a really good time on the phone with them because - apart from the fact that I try to be nice to anyone with a crappy job - it helps that I used to work in the same branch of the government. They don’t have to go slowly through everything, but can skip and jump along, knowing that I understand and will stop them if I need clarification. It’s nice to think that at least one call in their very long day will make them smile.
Secondly, I had two letters, also from the government. The first was a bit poopy because they still haven’t decided whether I class as disabled or not, but the second was my pay slip for the end of the job. Complete with PILON. (That’s “Pay In Lieu Of Notice”, although in this case it was in lieu of holidays not taken - I just love the acronym!) Turns out that - assuming I read it right - I should get enough to pay the rent and have some left over! Phew!
Finally, I had a surprising email. Some of you may know that I’m trying to kick off my freelance career online as a writer. It’s been going slowly but enjoyably so far: with articles on Associated Content, Helium and HubPages all bringing in a dollar or three a month, it’s hardly a salary, but it takes time to build a reputation and so on.
This morning, I received an email for a job I’d bid on at Get A Freelancer - the lady was looking for US-based female writers, but liked my sample articles and contacted me anyway! I was so pleased, I wanted to laugh and dance and run around the house singing. Turns out I can’t do the articles she wanted, since they’re on a subject I don’t know a thing about, but she might have some other stuff for me instead. It’d be my first paid job as a writer (barring selling one article in December, but that was more a case of having something I’d written picked for publication as opposed to being paid to produce content). Wahay!
I covered it a bit more on my other blog over at Orble, since that’s where I write about writing.
So I think I’m going to forget all the drunken antics of this evening’s alcohol-attack and just stick with the pleasant news from today. Mind over matter.
