Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

Karmacat

I know where NorthernLas is coming from! FW, I understand what you're saying, but your sabbatical is still sounding very work-y .... people I know of who've been able to have sabbaticals are more likely to use it either in an unrelated way - volunteering at an orphanage on the Thai-Burmese border for instance! - or vaguely related - travelling to Australia and Hong Kong to take part in something related to their work life, tho possibly at a much lower level than they're used to.

Newness!

Firewalker

Hurt bad or hurt good?:rotfl::rotfl:

Firewalker

Craftyscholar

NorthernLas wrote: »

FW - Sometimes your words make my brain hurt!!! Even though I think I understand, I will come back and read again tomorrow

That makes two of us:)
You do have a knack of not only finding your own target, but other people's as well - ouch!

Firewalker wrote: »

Hurt bad or hurt good?:rotfl::rotfl:

Firewalker

Double ouch:D

NorthernLas

Good hurt

Quite difficult to describe actually, I suppose connecting and writing about stuff that I would never normally have thought of (never mind connected!). Very interesting because it also makes me think about me and where I want to be ...

Agree with KC about the apparent 'workiness' of your sabbatical ... though it is a journey so start somewhere comfortable for you and see where it leads

Firewalker

OMG! What an evening we have had. We have visitors – our friends in whose house we stayed when skiing last winter. OH helped them buy a car (he insured it for a day and drove it back to our house) so they invited us to go to Hilton hotel for a drink; the invitation included LB (the Hilton is the tallest building in the city and the bar is at the top). We all ‘scrubbed up’ and went – just to be told that no children are allowed in after 5pm; something we should have thought about anyway.

LB and I came back but on the way he was so upset – he wasn’t upset because of him but because of me. He was telling me that I should have gone and had a good time and just got a sitter for him. When I explained that he is the one I have the best time with he was so shocked. It turned out that he has been watching a programme on TV (CBBC) about care homes where a girl was saying that her mum sent her there because she was missing going to parties and seeing her friends. What kind of thing this is to screen on CBBC? I understand that it is good for children to know about this stuff but it seems that this generates loads of insecurity. How do children know that their parents are not like that? That their parents are not going to send them to a care home? Scary stuff!

When we came back I opened my e-mail and there was a post that unsettled me – there are some hard and really path-breaking decisions to be taken. Oh....

Sleep well.

Firewalker

Karmacat

Oh FW!!! But you've given LB the confidence that he could tell you about it. Still, for other children, thats not great...

Hope the unsettling email can be dealt with without too much problem.

Firewalker

Thanks KC. The unsettling e-mail is potentially an offer of position in a different country. Long and deep thinking required.

FW

Firewalker

You know how sometimes people are in a rut, feel worried, fearful and apprehensive of what is ahead and behind the corner? This is pretty much how I have been feeling for several days now. The day before yesterday a good friend of mine had some coaching with me and gave me the tools to plan the next fourteen months working back from the things I really, really want to have achieved by mid-September. Just today I got to the realisation that what I want many things but what is dominating my feelings is career related – I want a professorship and I want intellectual hegemony. This means that it may be time to move.

So, I have been just sitting here (after making loads of progress on the paper I want to finish by the weekend) and writing the story of my future and, as it happens, I decided to open my e-mail. There it was, an e-mail from someone working in a university on the continent telling me that they have found a way to get a position for me. Wow, what a shock...I thought about it, and we talked about it and...I have worked out the conditions and tomorrow I am having a Skype discussion. I probably will delay the whole thing – I want my sabbatical. If it is not possible to delay – so be it. But what this made me realise, is that it is not only coming, it is here...And that what I really want is the intellectual hegemony (big headed as this may sound). So there...Another big confession and it took me only couple of weeks; remember saying openly that I will become wealthy took me couple of months of rationalisation. Thank you all for giving me the confidence to start seeing what I want and saying what I see.

Talking of getting wealthy today the post brought two cheques – at the combined value of £8,434.24. Both cheques are from MBNA and they are because they doubled the interest rate on OH’s CC (this is mainly how we got in trouble, combined with complete irresponsibility, of course). Good! I’ll tell you about the rest in about a week and probably write a post for the blog. The point is that OH was right from the very beginning – they had done wrong and Ombudsman confirmed it. Even better, after paying this off the negative wealth we will be down to £47,991 (it went up because of interest by about £1,332 but who is keeping a close eye). I will say, well done us to that – only this May the negative wealth was £71,579.

And to top it all LB had his report and it is outstanding – he has B in Religious Education, Art and Geography but the rest is As; his SATS (internal ones) are all well above the national average; and it turned out that his teacher understood him better than he thought she does (and was more patient with him).

It seems that my period in a rut has come to an end. Time for World Domination – anyone wants to join me?

Firewalker

Lara44

Haha Firewalker, what a wonderful post! I am so pleased that intellectual hegemony is close on the horizon.

I am in a wedding-related rut, and have been very sluggish of late. I'm ready to redouble my efforts and join you for World Domination

claudiac_2

"I want a professorship and I want intellectual hegemony" - What on earth does that mean? I looked up the word hegemony, but I am none the wiser really as to what it means in relation to you. This is obviously something very important to you, but can you help me understand it please? Do you really want to rule the world!
Sorry if I sound like an imbecile,but I do not understand what you are saying. Am I the only one?

Please pass on my congratulations to LB for his brilliant results - a chip off the old block then? I hope he will have a lovely treat from his obviously very proud mummy!

Loving your work as always x