Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) - Aubrey Plaza in an engaging character piece that has hints of Eagle vs Shark among others. It's not outstanding by any means and not among Plaza's best, but still witty and touching.
I did in my late 20s after working in IT. I didn't know what I wanted and wasn't planning on non-profit or anything as such, but jumped ship, did a range of random things before spending some time volunteering (at something that was not in any way IT related)- which was the critical thing. That put me in a spot to A) show some commitment and B) get some training as it was offered. A paid post followed in due course after that.
That is a very simplified version, but volunteering was definitely the critical element for me.
Since then, I met plenty of other people who made the jump. Some simply moved with their existing skills to an equivalent role in a charity - and there are plenty that need project management skills - whilst others have taken the same route as me and spent some time volunteering.
Volunteering means you don't get paid for some time, of course, so you have to either live off savings and/or find a live-in role and/or work part-time or something and you probably need to downsize one way or another, but people find a way and make it work.
Of course once you are in a role with your chosen cause, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will be away from being overworked, stressed and given more and more responsibility. It is a trope that working for a charity means that you don't do it for the money and you work waaay longer than the official hours say.
Certainly my role at the moment, with a large charity, is the most demanding I have ever had and there is basically nothing left at the end of the month for savings: I am just keeping afloat. For all that though, there is no way at all that I would go back to a for-profit role, and I have never looked back for a moment. The culture is totally different and leagues better.
The single biggest thing for me is having a range of knowledgeable and intelligent friends and spending time with them. It very soon puts things in perspective.
The "British Warm" was the intermediary as I understand it: a shorter greatcoat favoured by Britsh officers in WW1. The Trenchcoat itself was modeled to fit over, accompany or replace this.
When I was unemployed I used to walk waaaay more than I do now - both to get to places and just as a hobby - and I'd hope to do the same when retired, as long as I am fit enough. That's walking though. Standing in one place is something that I find extremely wearing and have never done when not necessary. As I understand it this is fundamental to the nature of bipeds. To stand still, we constantly need to adjust balance. However, when walking, it is basically a continuous, controlled fall forwards, and takes less energy. For quadrupeds, it is the other way around: they are stable when standing, but require constant effort to walk or run.
I probably spend most of my reading time horizontal rather than sitting, but if I am reading when vertical then, again, it will be walking - or pacing around - rather than standing. I would seem really weird to simply stand there and read.
For speakers of Bulgarian: is the "Комбайна вършачка" song really about a combined thresher machine?
And if it is, are they fans of the Wurzels?
According to Antennapod:
- In Our Time
- Thinking Allowed
- Revolutions
However, I was listening to a LOT of Philosophize This prior to switching to Antennapod, so I expect that that would really take first place.
I'm a pagan, so it is all about the solstice for my SO and I.
We will typically go somewhere for the sunrise that morning. I have been to Stonehenge and a couple of other stone circles in the past, camping out overnight beforehand - and more recently have watched the live stream from Newgrange. For the last few years we have also celebrated Brumalia - a Roman and Byzantine winter festival that started (in its later period) on Nov 24th. So we progressively decorate the house with lights or holly, ivy, pine cones etc each day from then until the start of Saturnalia on Dec 17th. I have also made an advent-style calendar with chocolates in matchboxes that runs throughout Brumalia - Nov 24th to Dec 25th.
On Dec 5th, which is Krampusnacht and also a Faunalia festival, we will hang a Krampus figure up and have taken to watching the 2015 movie for the last few years.
During Saturnalia itself we will have at least one meal or party with friends - which usually has some element of mis-rule. On the solstice itself, as well as watching the sun rise somewhere or another (probably a local beach this year, as we are on the east coast), there is a local Mummers' play that we usually go along to in the evening. The solstice is also when we do our gift-giving.
On the 26th, there is a Cutty Wren ceremony locally that we will go along to and then there is some morris dancing at another location on new year's day.
If this involves some kind of adjustment of orientation, then I will be doing an early Father Christmas act and coming down from where I have appeared halfway up the chimney (being generous about how wide that chimney is). If it doesn't, then I am going to be part of the brickwork - except for my guts and arse, which will rot in place in the chimney over the next few weeks.
Typically "How many more of you are there in there?", "Will you just be still for a minute?" and "Will you stop biting my finger?". They seldom give any useful or cooperative answers though.
GreyShuck
joined 1 year ago
Facilities manager for a wildlife and heritage charity. I lead a small team looking after health & safety, compliance and building maintenance and repairs.
Ninety percent of my time is spent at the keyboard, but since I am peripatetic and move around the properties that I cover, I have a different, and usually beautiful, view out of the window each day of the week. When I am not sat behind a desk, I will be crawling through an attic or have my head down a sewer or something.
My time is spent arranging contractors for routine servicing or repair projects, reviewing fire risk assessments and dealing with outstanding actions, writing client briefs for renewable energy projects, chasing people to do workplace inspections, advising on risk assessments, updating our compliance tracker, arranging asbestos surveys, ensuring that everyone who needs training has it up to date, proving to utility companies that their meters are wildly inaccurate and need to be replaced, working out why the biomass boiler/sewage treatment plant/water heater/automatic gate/car park machine/phone system/greywater pump/security alarm/whatever isn't working and getting it fixed and so on.