discovery of the past and future
The process gathering the past to re-develop, re-design and re-invent the wheel that I have had for about 11 years is an adventure. I have electronic things, posts, files that I had no memory of. Strange.
However I am about to start gathering bits of the past of the past 5 years to apply for a grant for a study trip to Europe/UK .. Its a work adventure. The memories of the moments of greatness, oddities, craziness and failures from those times will no doubt flood through as I hunt through the memory banks, data bases, reports and folders upon folders or archived files. Lord I have accumulated stuff.
1. Why do you want to win this Grant, and how will winning it assist you?
2. What are your key goals as an employment services professional and how will winning this Grant aid you in achieving these goals?
3. Who inspires you, and why?
4. How will winning this Grant provide employment and inclusion opportunities for people who are unemployed?
5. What value or benefit will your participation bring to your Australian employment and related services?
Bit of thinking to do there… most of the content is jumbling through my head, just need to structure, clarify, add, delete, edit, yadda.
irrationality
irrational policy in action is one that has many consequences. this I seem to be seeing a lot of lately, not just in federal or state politics, but the office version as well. People just don’t seem to knoow how to play the game – and the objective is that you keep your momentum without creating a disturbance that affects the others, and certainly doesn’t leave them wanting to wring your goddamn neck.
Politica is….
Under re-development again.. back shortly.
importing some old posts from dislocate.lj – not sure why. honestly though, there are reasons why I do things…
I can’t make sense of it, so I doubt you lot will
The Art of Training
Given my background in the creative industries, I was thinking about how creativity and training are linked.
As a trainer, I often feel that the delivery is a performance – almost improvisation to an outline of a script… whereas writing/developing material is akin to the artist in the studio – creating the next masterpiece.
There are a lot of techniques that we utilise as facilitators – some of them are so inherent to me that it’s difficult to identify them.
The Aims/Objectives & Learning Outcomes/Competencies are your concept, your idea of what it will look like and mean.. Essentially, what do you want this person, your audience, your participants, to gain from it? I remember once hearing a lady in a gallery looking at an abstract painting – “oh yes, t’s gorgeous, but what does it Mean??”
In the case of Art, without the meaning, the objective, it is looked upon as valueless. And so with training. Without an objective, it’s pointless – the question is why does this person need the training and what will they gain from it?
The canvas – the base of your peice, your program also needs attention. There are techniqes to prepare it – room layout [literally - where are the desks and chairs put] and size, facilities available [whiteboards, storage, projectors, flipcharts, tea/coffee, bathroom facilities, posters], your preparation, your knowledge, even you mood and energy levels.. all of these things are the base that you work from to create your masterpiece program.
The tools – what are you using to create the program, your props for the performance? Resources needed to complete activities can range from handouts, blank paper, pens, pre-prepared puzzles/cards, craft items, internet resources. These are your brushes and paints.
Your style – this is your brush technique – how you apply the paint to the canvas is what makes you different as an artist… and so how you apply the words, the body language, the actions; how you run the activities, are what makes your style as a facilitator.
I know there is an Art to Training, and I believe that there is art IN training.
just dont know what to think anymore
too much change, to many variables. too many consequences, and too many things im not willing to put up with in the mean time. wtf is it all about..? fckd if i know, i can barely understand it, the reasons why, the difference it makes or where it damn well came from all i know is that im fcking over it. i want this bs to end.
shitty day.
taking the brunt of the discontent of others leaves me feeling like I’ve nothing left to give, nothing left to lose.
rant-o-rama
thank you for the comments / condolences / etc. It is much appreciated.
I’m more worried about dad than I am about me.. he’s still not doing to well, but then,he’s going through his brother’s stuff, when the guy should have lived another 10 years or so. I’m going down to Innisfail tomorrow to spend the weekend with him, so that at least I can be there to give him a hug & help with the cleaning etc. I don’t know what else I can do, really.
My sister will not be coming over now. She’s changed her mind.. apparently dad had offered to pay her flights, but she feels that it would be a better idea for him to spend the money on going over there later this year to have a holiday with them – spend time with the kids and everyone, not just her for the funeral time.. Think nothing of the fact that he needs the support & family around him now.. No. They can’t bend to anyone else’s needs… never have, never will.
Forgive me if that sounds narky, but this is the third time in four years that I have had to bear the brunt of one (or both) of my parents practically falling over because she thinks it would be better a different way, or can’t be effing bothered..
gah.
Also this afternoon, I had to convince mum that ‘it’s worth’ coming up for the funeral. Granted shehas her stuff to deal with as well, however, this is the funeral of a man who attended both of her parent’s funeral’s (when he didn’t need to), also has been a good friend to her over the last 36 years or so. We’re talking about the brother of her husband of 36 years – ignore the fact that my parents are now seperated – they are still friends, and I’m sure that dad needs to know that he still has friends – people that care about him, at very least. I have difficulty believing that my mother would be so closed as to assume that dad wouldn’t want her there. Or for that matter, that John wouldn’t appreciate the fact that she would make the effort for him. Or perhaps she thought that dad would not appreciate the fact that she would make an effort for his brother.
Welcome to the peanut gallery.
just realised..
Yesterday was the 20th March – one year to the day that Cyclone Larry hit Innisfail.. given that John lives in Innisfail, I thought that was rather odd..
further. I’ve decided to drop one subject at Uni & take a lighter load for the semester.. it extends my graduation date, but I really can’t focus on so many things, and do well with all of them at the moment. Work is taking too much of my energy, and any changes I make there would be more gradual, and I need a more instant release from pressure at the moment. I can’t change the fact that D is working away, and again, changing my perspective on that is a more gradual process. So, all that remains that I can ‘get rid of’ so to speak, is Uni. Given that it is the 21st March (ie: before the census date) I can drop a subject with no academic or financial penalty.
So I clicked the right buttons to do that about 15 minutes ago.
I dropped the law subject, not the policy one – I chose to keep the policy subject because I have more prior understanding of it than law.. law was doing my head in.
Have been trying to rest on & off this afternoon, but I haven’t been able to sleep at all.. damnit.
RIP Uncle John
Dad’s brother passed away in his sleep yesterday at around 2pm. Dad is coming up tomorrow, my sister is coming over again, this time with her husband, and mum will be coming up again too.
When it rains, it freaking pours.
Lets just say, not coping well with anything lately. D being away, new job ain’t that great, and Uni might be too much for me, so .. I don’t know.
Explanation
The last six months or so I have been feeling very stifled at work – the position I’m in there essentially (by it’s very nature) locks me in to doing the same thing over and over and over… and I’m a person that needs variety in the work that I do. Also, in terms of advancement, I have been asking for (even a minor) step up to include both more responsibility and variety, however for one logistical reason or another, it hasn’t happened every time. I love the people I work with, and I will miss them significantly, but I cannot stay there lest I do more damage to my sense of freedom and ambition. I have been slowly and quietly looking for other jobs for the last few months, however I have only seen one that was worth applying for (for my personal needs) and in this case, the application close date coincided with my grandfather’s death and my final exam for the semester, so the application did not get submitted.
Then out of the blue, a previous employer contacted me, offered me my previous supervisor’s position, with a salary package that consists of Au$4K more and 2 weeks leave more than I currently am on. The nature of the role includes more variety, advancement, there is flexibility within the organisation if needed, and car available as well. Also, given the study I’m doing (Governance & Public Policy), the position offers liaison with Government departments, and the organisation has links with local, state and federal members of Parliament. The position also offers internal and external training, reporting, staff supervision, and management of internal departments. The CEO of the organisation is heavily supportive of professional development opportunities, and there are still links with employment services as well.
Overall, it’s an offer I cannot say no to at this time.
As I said, I will miss the guys I’m with at the moment, and branch management have not done anything wrong by me (though head office is another story), but I can’t stay there any longer…
I realise that this is ‘going back’ in a sense, but it’s moving up, and offering links to where I want to get to eventually, with more money in the mean time.