Why Charter - training course

I have finally sent off my registration form (along with £50!! Ouch!!) yesterday, and today I attended the Why Charter course organized by NoWal which was held at my old library Aytoun. It was an extremely useful course giving us more details about what we should and should not include in our portfolios. I think the urge would be to pile in all the evidence - certificates, leaflets you've created, emails, correspondence, etc, to try to prove everything you do in your job. That would be my first thought. But you really need to be selective and verify that each piece of evidence is necessary and descriptive of your job and your development. Another useful issue that was covered was the 1000 word evaluative statement. The keywords here were reflection NOT description.

So, though I am still really intimidated by the whole thing, I do feel slightly less apprehensive.

working on my Personal Professional Development Plan

I had second meeting with Gil on May 6th, which has encouraged me as I now feel like I am at least moving in the right direction. She gave me some very good suggestions on improving my PPDP and I dod feel that much more confident about it now. But it is tougher than I thought it was going to be. It's easy to become complacent in your job - you get into your routines and think you are au fait with your post. But when you look at the fine print (i.e. your job description) in greater detail you notice all the areas in which you could and should receive more training. For instance recruitment, marketing, the organization you work for and your place in it - all these are areas in which I could benefit with more training and development.

My bloggy journey through Chartership

Well, I have been gone a long time, but I am back, and to keep up with my "personal training" on Blogs and how they can be used not just personally but also professionally, I have decied to take a leaf out of a recently Chartered librarian who incorporated her Blog entries into her Cilip portfolio. For those who don't know, Cilip (The Chartered Institute of Library andInformation Professionals) is the professional body that qualified librarians must join in order to keep up to speed with the ever evolving world of Libraianship and Information technology in all its forms. During the next 12 months I will be ammassing evidence not only of the job I do now but any personal and professional developments I feel I need to undertake in order to achieve both my personal goals as well as my Chartership.

I also had my first meeting with my Mentor Gil on Apirl 10 at 10:00. I feel really pleased to have her guiding me through this as she is very motivating and encouraging which is just what I need!
Stay tuned.

youtube!!!

Ha ha, I uploaded a couple of videos on youtube today. Took me AGES! I couldn't figure it out!!! Whatever I did it wouldn't work!! Went to some help pages, though they weren't much use (though one did show how to convert video files and which program to use). Finally I decided to use the basic uploader instead of the batch one, and it did the trick!! Now I'm hooked. So I will be filming a lot more at shows from now on!!! Check out my videos here!!

Blue day

Today is a blue day. I'm feeling very sad and lonely. The weather isn't helping, it's really gray and cold. I just feel worthless, ugly, fat, unloved, unwanted. I desperately would love to be in love and have someone love me but I don't think it will ever happen and that scares me so much. All those of you in a relationship, nurture it, cherish it. It is a precious thing.

Repreave

I had been thinking how sad it was going to be, now that Elbow had finished their UK tour, and there would be no shows to look forward to. I had been spoiled, I know; there was always one in the horizon, then after that there'd be another one. Six shows in one year. I couldn't complain. But I was sad, and I would miss my boys. And then.....A REPREAVE!!!!!! They announced a few shows on a Spring tour. No Manchester shows, but they are playing the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool on March 7th!!! WOO HOO!!! The Empress Ballroom is a historical building dating from the 1800's, and a gem of Victorian architecture. The band say that it had always been a dream of theirs to perform there, so the vibe should be really great. Blackpool itself has a terrible reputation, but who cares. We plan to make a little week end of it, taking the train and maybe staying the night. Can't wait!! Thanks Elbow!!!

Lazy cow

My flat is a sty, should do shopping, must start my Nanowrimo....but just have no motivation. Can't bring myself to make breakfast. I have loads of empty boxes that need to be broken down and thrown out....ppfffffppphhhhhht. It's nice outside today. Hopefully it will last more than an hour.

No more Elbow shows. For a long time. My friends and I were saying that we may need to start a support group. We have been very spoiled this year. Beginning in April with that magical Blueprint show, we have seen them...six times. It's never enough.

I uploaded this photo cos my bud Vicky added it as a favorite on the Flickr page. It's one I never really noticed much before, but it is cool how the spotlights are raining down on my adorable Guy.

There you go.