Hello again!

It's been a busy week! Wait, that should have read 'lazy' week! I've actually left work at about 6.30pm everyday, well, apart from Monday when I left at quarter to 10, but other than that, it's been a relatively stress-free week. But I didn't blog, because I was too lazy to put on my laptop, and was also too engrossed in tv. I just felt like chilling all week. But with football returning for real, well almost, this weekend, WOOOOOHOOOOOO! I just felt like relaxing all week, because it's going to get a whole lot busier!

So I didn't get up to much all week. Wait, what happened last weekend? Oh I remember. I was in London for my friend, Titi's graduation, then went to the hairdresser's, got my eye-brows done, etc. Nothing remarkable. We both went to Oyinda's on Saturday to hang out, Joel met us there, and it was just more chilling, really. Went to Titi's church on Sunday, watched tv, oh wait! I actually watched darts! I remember my cousins always teasing me about my sports obsession, and my excuse was always: "Well, I'm not that bad, I don't watch Darts!". But I guess I can shelve that excuse. Having said that though, it wasn't my choice! I'd forced them to watch F1 earlier (they did enjoy it, however, and what I brilliant win that was for Lewis!), so I couldn't really say "no, can we watch something else?" It wasn't terrible, but I don't really count two fat men playing a pub game as a real sport. Sorry!

Anyways, that was pretty much my weekend, the highlight ofcourse being getting to hang out with Joel. But with another weekend spent away from home, it meant another week of take-out for lunch/dinner. I just cannot cook during the week! Okay, maybe I can, but I refuse to! I don't even have any food in my house to be cooked, so it isn't really an option. Weekend is for food shopping and cooking, weekdays are for going to work and relaxing afterwards. But seeing as I'm away this weekend, it's going to be a question of who bites (harder) first. My pocket or me!?

Enough rambling, I hear you say! And what's happening this weekend? I'm home right now, but as soon as I'm done blabbing on here, I'll be heading to my Aunt's house, to get my iPad 2! Birthday present from my parents! My Aunt was in Nig, and just got back yesterday. It wouldn't surprise you to hear that there's a story to this iPad, one that I'll be telling when I collect it. But more importantly, I'M OFF TO THE EMIRATES TOMORROW! WOOHOO! It's been a long time since I was there last! I feel like I'm the prodigal 'son', and want to say to the Emirates that I'm back! And I'm not going anywhere! (Okay, I'll be going back home after the matches are over, but I'll be back often!) It's the first weekend of games at the Emirates, one being on right now. It's still pre-season, but once the Emirates Cup comes round, it's an indication that the Premier League season is about to start! I honestly really unbelievably indescribably excited about this! Until we lose a match, then I'll be back down to earth, but for now, I'll just get excited about the fact that I'll be seeing my boys tomorrow, woohoo! And also, we'll be playing against Thierry Henry's team, so there's the likelihood that he'll be playing! His team were playing today, but he didn't get to play, meaning that he'll probably play tomorrow! I'll have my camera at the ready!

I'm not sure if you could tell from the last paragraph, but I'm really excited about going to the Emirates tomorrow ;-) But there's more! I'm going with Joel, Chris, Ibukun, and Janine... Joel's sister. I've been to the Emirates with Joel, Chris and Ibukun before, but never with Janine. Not just that, but I've actually never met her before. So not only am I excited about tomorrow, I'm slightly apprehensive. What if she doesn't like me? It's her birthday tomorrow, and I don't know why I suggested it, but when I asked Joel whether he wanted to come to the Emirates with me, and he was like he couldn't, as it was his sister's birthday, I suggested that he ask her if she wanted to come. She's an Arsenal fan, so unsurprisingly, she said yes. I guess I was going to meet her at some point, and meeting her at the Emirates is a good place as any to meet her. I'm a bit nervous, but I guess I really shouldn't be, really.  I bet she doesn't bite! Anyways, the Emirates is my territory, so it should feel as if I was meeting her in my house! I'm sure it'll be alright. I'm just a scaredy-cat! I'll let you know how it goes.

I said I'll be heading off as soon as I'm done writing this blog post, right? I've changed my mind! Watching a briiliant spell of test cricket right now, so I think I'll wait until it's over! Take a bow, Stuart Broad! Hat-trick in test cricket? They don't come round very often! Brilliant stuff! Wish I didn't have to go anywhere, but it takes 3 hours to get to St Albans, so I better not wait to long!

Adios, for now. I think the cricket needs my full attention right now. Have a good weekend! :)

Sorry!

So I put on my laptop specifically to blog and post holiday photos, but I'm having such a terrible headache, not sure I can manage a proper post. I've not got any painkillers at home. Or rather, I don't know where I put them. Or am I just too lazy to look for them? Anyways, this will be brief.

I'm off to London for the weekend, as it's my mate's graduation tomorrow, so will be going to her house to celebrate. Will use the rest of the weekend to get my hair treated, get my eyebrows done, and ofcourse more importantly, catch up with friends, and Joel. We have birthday plans to make :)

Goodnight, and have a great weekend. I'll blog when next I can.

You really don't know!?

So this weekend, I went to my Aunt's in St Albans. She actually wasn't around, as she went to Nigeria on Friday. But my cousin was home from Uni, and my other two cousins were home, as well as the grandparents, so it was pretty much a full house.

We planned on going to see Harry Potter on Saturday afternoon, but the weather was such a turn-off, so we didn't go in the end. One of the main reasons why I went to my Aunt's, apart from to see everyone, ofcourse, was to get my hair relaxed. My female cousin, Derin, was supposed to get it done for me on Saturday, but she was out the night before, I didn't get back early, so agreed to do it Sunday morning. Church wasn't on the agenda, unfortunately, as my Aunt wasn't around, so no one to drive us. One of my cousins does drive, but he says he doesn't like the church we go, so that wasn't happening.

Anyways, long story short, I planned on leaving home by 1pm, meet Joel either at Kings Cross/Waterloo, before heading on the train to Southampton in order to get home early, but that didn't happen, as we decided impromptu to go see Harry Potter. As I had to relax my hair in the morning, the earliest time we could see the movie was 14.40! But the movie was good, though, so not complaining about that! And just in case you plan on watching it, I'm not going to mention anything about what happened.

So Harry Potter over, went straight to the station so I could get home, after meeting up with Joel for a little while. Got on the train at 17.44, and the plan was to meet him at Kings Cross, which was where I was getting off the train. Spoke to him before getting on the train, and he said he'd be a bit late, as he was at his sister's.

Got to Kings Cross, and there was a text from Joel, telling me he was close to Kings Cross, and also asking what time I wanted to get on the train from Waterloo to St Albans. So I text him back, telling him that I'd probably miss the 18.35, so will probably get the 18.55 one. So there was I, waiting at Kings Cross for my boyfriend to show up. Was getting impatient, because it'd been 25 minutes, and waiting too much longer would mean that I miss the train from Waterloo.

My phone rings, yay, and he's like 'where are you?' I'm slightly upset, so I'm like 'somewhere, where are YOU?' so I could go find him. But he's like he's at Waterloo! That made me really upset, as I felt I'd just been wasting my time in Kings Cross for no reason, which technically, was true! I quickly got off the phone, said I'd meet him there and rushed to get to Waterloo, in the hope that I'd have calmed down a bit by then.

I got to Waterloo just in time to catch the train actually, but seeing as I'd been looking forward to seeing him, and despite my 'upsetness', I said I'd get the next train. Who knows, maybe it was partially because I wanted him to know exactly how I felt about being left at Kings Cross. So yeah, we had an argument, but not a massive one, fortunately! Joel's very level-headed and calm, and I generally am, so there wasn't any shouting or anything, just him explaining his bit, and me trying to make him see why I was upset.

Turns out it was just a case of miscommunication. He'd tried sending me a text telling me to meet him at Waterloo instead, so that I wouldn't miss the train waiting for him, but it the signal cut out, so I didn't get the text until after I'd actually spoken to him. I ended up crying, but not actually because I was still angry with him, or anything, and that's why I'm writing this unfortunately long post.

So he said the reason why he decided to go wait at Waterloo, was because he thought I was actually going to get on the 18.55 train, whether or not he turned up at Kings Cross, so he thought he'd stand a better chance of getting to see me at Waterloo, since that was where I'd be getting the train to Southampton.

And it was what I realised there and then that made me cry. I realised that he didn't realise (haha), how much he means to me, that why he thought I'd get on the train just like that, without even seeing him! Like hell I was going to do that! It's not like getting on that train was life or death! And even if it was, I would have found a way of seeing him, even if it was for half a second! I know I'm not great on the emotional expression font, but surely you ought to know, after us being together 9 months already, how very important you are to me? And just in case you still don't know, I'm telling you now, Joel Matthew Fletcher, that you mean the whole world, and more, to me, Adebowale Morayo Awofeso, okay!? Maybe I ought to tell you/show you more, but if there's only one thing you know in this world, it's that you're the most important person in my life, and you'll always be my baby, as long as it's God plan. Never forget that!

I eventually got on the train, and despite the little tiff, I was glad I got to see him, even if it was just for a measly 40 minutes, more than half of which was spent being upset and in tears. I'll make it up to you next time, I promise! But yeah, I spent the whole train journey half-sleeping, half-wiping tears off my face, but in a way, I guess it was a tiff worth happening, since it made me realise that I've probably not been doing enough to let my boyfriend know how much he means to me which is criminal, and I'm going to try to do better at showing it. It's not my forte, but the best I can do is try, so from now on, I'll be doing my best to ensure that you have absolutely no doubt about how I feel.

*Phew, my laptop crashed a few moments ago, luckily my looooong post was saved by Blogger!*

It might have been a far-fetched conclusion to draw, but I'm glad I drew it! I did apologise about being upset and everything when I got home, although we'd gotten over the miscommunication before I left.

Anyways, I'll stop boring you! I should go to bed soon anyways, don't want to wake up at 10am again this week! Do have a great week, and hopefully I'll get the chance to blog during the week. Be safe! :)

Back to the real world.

So I've been away on holiday for the past two weeks and a bit. Got back on Sunday afternoon, started work on Monday. As you can imagine, I haven't had time to unpack, cook, or do anything sensible. As a result, my flat that was neat and tidy, is now a mess! Not sure when I'll get to tidy it up, because I'm away this weekend, will be the next, and who knows, maybe even the one after that! I blame jetlag, though. I've been waking up late all week, even woke up at 10am on Thursday, when I usually get to work at 10am! Not helped by the fact that I went to bed at 4am the night before! But like I said, it's jetlag's fault! ;) But at least I made it through the week, and I plan on mainly resting this weekend, so I can get back into the swing of things.

I had a good time in America, although I didn't do much resting! Took LOADS of photos, majority of them rubbish, majority of them not including me. I'll post some of them, as well as the low-down on the holiday, in my next post. This post is just a brief one to say hi, and that I'm back! Hope you've been keeping well. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Season finale! Part 2.

It goes without saying, but do watch (read) Part 1 before this! ;) Hopefully this shouldn't be a long one...


So interview over, time to check my email a million more times. They did say they'd be in touch by the end of the week, the interviews having taken place on a Wednesday, or the next week at the latest.

By end of the week, no email. Week after, no email. Cue manic panic. Kept checking their wesbite to see it they'd updated it with the name of their new hiree or something, but nothing on there either. I checked my cv thoroughly- was there a lie in it? Nothing. Phew. I remember Johanna saying they would frown upon any mention of doing a PhD alongside the job. *Thorough examination of my cover letter*- no mention of a PhD. Phew! But what on earth is going on, I wondered?

On the Wednesday after, I called the Secretary, Anita, to find out what was going on, but she said she didn't know anything. She suggested calling HR, as they'd be the ones to send out the email or whatnot, which I did, but they said they didn't know anything. At least thy didn't say I wasn't successful, so that was a good thing, I thought. I called back the next day, still nothing. No email either. I also checked the online application thingy to see if mine had been updated, but nothing. Really couldn't function much at work. Called HR again, and it turns out the person who was in charge of the job I applied for had quit, so someone else just started dealing with things, so that was probably why there was the delay. I was told I'd get a call back soon, once the new person had caught up to speed.

Temporary relief for the weekend, but not completely. Waited for the call, but nothing on Monday. Called again the next day, and they said I'd get the call back. Later in the day, I finally got a call back to learn my fate. To finally get put out of my misery. Or so I thought.

Turns out everyone already knew their fate. Everyone else except me! The HR woman said they weren't going to contact me until they were very sure, but since I'd been calling them repeatedly, they thought they'd let me know what was happening. They didn't contact me because they'd already offered the job to someone else, but I was like the reserve candidate, just in case things didn't work out with the other person! Talk about bitter-sweet! Turns out I didn't do too badly in the interview, but I didn't get the job. Or rather, I wouldn't be getting the job unless the other girl (dunno why I always assumed it was a girl!) turned the job down, her security checks didn't turn out, or worst case scenario, she dropped dead! I remember saying to Natalie that maybe I should, you know, get myself a hired gun! Obviously didn't mean that, but it was so so depressing. I remember being so 'depressed' when I wasn't sure whether or not I'd get called to interview, but this felt so much worse.

*Random alert*

Oh wow, watching Burlesque for the first time, and who do I see? Eli Gold from the Good Wife! I was  thinking that he looked familiar, but a quick IMDb search and it turns out that it's him as Alexis in Burlesque! I'm so going to look at him differently when Good Wife resumes, haha. Just in case you didn't know, Eli's my favourite Good Wife character!.

*Random alert over*

Sorry about that! So where was I?

Ah. So the HR person said I should just keep calling, and maybe things would go wrong for the other girl. Fat chance, right!? It's amazing how when you want something badly, how you try and find clues in your favour in the littlest of things. Johanna told me there might the possibility of them hiring two Research Assistants, so I kept stalking the website for anything. There's a bit on the website where it says:

"The Institute maintains a fully staffed office and employs Research Assistants to assist with Institute projects."

I saw "Research Assistants", and in my mind, when I went on the website before the interviews, it said 'A research assistant'! Who knows, it might not have ever changed, but I just had to believe that that meant they were going to hire two people! At least it made me feel somewhat better!

So I called again the next week, but called the Secretary more, as I thought she'd know more. She did tell me that the contract had been sent to the other person, and they were just waiting for her to sign it. I called the HR person one last time, and she told me flatly that she doesn't see them offering the job to anyone else. Fair enough, I thought, and decided not to bother calling after that. Was ofcourse disappointed, but I just felt that there was no point stalking the poor people any longer. If things did indeed go wrong, they had my email address, my address and my contact number, so they knew were to find me! I did pray one last time, and I even remember saying that if I got it one way or the other, I'd give a testimony in church! But yeah, all I could so was continue with life and continue with other applications. Sigh, how I hate applications!

And continue with life I did! I'd started driving lessons a while back and finally decided to book my practical test, as I felt I was ready. Somewhat! I'd orginally settled for 18 February, a weekday, but I'd planned on taking that day off work. But I had to change to another date, when I inexplicably thought I had nothing planned for that day when Natalie asked me, and she then booked her assessment centre for that same day! When I eventually realised the error, it was too late for her to change her test date, so I had to move mine. Sigh! The earliest date I could eventually find afterwards was 4th March. Annoying, as it meant paying for more lessons, but not much I could do about that.

I'd previously gotten an invite from Johanna to come down to the Uni on 27 January to be a judge at the first year contract law moot competition, as they didn't have enough judges. I agreed to do it, partly because it sounded like fun, and partly because I really thought I'd get the job, so it'd be a great opportunity to maybe meet people I'd be working with, and maybe I'd even be able to do some flat-hunting. But ofcourse, none of that wasn't happening! I didn't pull out, but dragged myself down to far-away Southampton for the moot, wondering wistfully whether that'd be my last time there. It turned out to be good fun, and I was glad I went, even though it was bitter-sweet and I didn't get home until about 1am. And apparently I can put it on my cv, so it wasn't a bad idea to go!

No real luck with any other applications, so all I had to concentrate on was Chiswick work. Oh, and driving lessons. And it was after one of such driving lessons that my phone rang. Was in the kitchen washing up, when it rang. I answered the phone, and who was it calling me? Filippo Lorenzon! My heart was thumping straight away, but I knew what it was. It couldn't have been anything else. He was calling to offer me the Research Assistant job! After the usual pleasantries, he offered me the job, and after I said yes, he was like 'Can you start on the 14?' I was a bit in shock and good thing I didn't say yes a second time, because that so wouldn't have meant starting in less than two weeks, as this was the 4th February, and I obviously had no where to stay in Southampyon! I knew they needed someone urgently, so we settled for 21 February instead. I remember telling my Aunt, who was in the kitchen, about it when I got off the phone. She seemed more excited about it all than me! I am very bad at showing emotion, but I think I was just in shock, really. I'd sort of accepted that the job wasn't mine, so wasn't even expecting the phone call! Told my parents about it, everyone was happy, etc. Who says God doesn't work miracles, right?

I did have to get off cloud 9 asap though, and start figuring out how to find myself somewhere to stay. Had to go down to Southampton the next week to meet the people I'd be working with, so used that opportunity to do some flat-hunting. I was able to see two that day, but no satisfactory one. I did manage to get like 10 different viewings for the Saturday after, so my Aunt and I drove down from St Albans. I really HAD to find something that day and sign a contract, as I had only one weekend left, which ideally ought to be my moving in weekend. My Aunt loved the second one we saw and pretty much made her mind up there and then that that'd be the one I'd be getting! But I convinced her that we should look at other ones, just in case! We ended up having two choices- the second one we saw, and the last one we saw. They were from different agencies, and it later turned out that the girl who showed us the second one and the guy who showed us the last one, were a couple! Not married, but they lived together. It was kinda funny! My Aunt even suggested they open a lettings agency together! We did go with the one we'd seen earlier, and luckily were able to sign the contract there and then, and we were told we'd be able to get the keys the next weekend, so just in time for me to start work on the 14th! Phew! I was lucky my dad had sent me some money for some exam, if not I probably won't have been able to afford to move in on pretty much very short notice. It was an unfurnished apartment as well, so had to buy a bed, wardrobe, fridge/freezer, washing machine, etc. It was a nice newly refurbished one-bed flat not too far from the station, very decent price, so I didn't really mind. We bought the bed and wardrobe that same day, and the plan was they'd deliver the next weekend, so at least if I didn't have time to buy anything for my flat- and I was running out of money- I'd at least have a bed to sleep!

So yeah, great end to the job saga! I don't know why my life attracts so much drama! I should have just gotten the job in the first place and avoided all the heartache and drama, but I guess God wanted it that way for a reason!

I've got to end this here, as I have to leave literally now. Gotta go see my cousin in a minute, so have to stop typing like now! More drama occurred, but I guess that can be left for another day! Flat drama, driving test drama, etc! Maybe that'll be the DVD extra scenes, but other than that, 'current affairs' can begin, woohoo!

Season finale!

Hopefully by the time I'm done with this blog, I should be able to blog about current affairs! Won't that be great!?

So after the surprisingly fabulous mini-cruise to Spain, back to the real world! Resumed work at Chiswick the next day. Colin and Aleka were away on holiday to Greece, and Natalie was having some time off, meaning I was the only one around. It's amazing how trusting the Sheppards can be, allowing a relatively complete stranger in me have complete access to their house! I'd only been with them for about 3 months, and they didn't even blink twice about leaving me with pretty much full access to their house. What if I was some Nigerian crook (won't that be surprising!) merely biding my time? Would have had a field day selling all their stuff and stealing all their money, if indeed they keep any money in their house. But in a way, I guess it was nice to know that they trusted me that much! They are pretty decent and nice people, and you sometimes wonder why there aren't more people like them in the world!

So yeah, everything was back to normal early January with everyone back. But I was nervous pretty much every time I got an email, because I was expecting either an invitation to interview or a failed application notice from the job I applied for. I hadn't mentioned the application to Aleka or Colin, even though I'd used both of them as referees. Didn't think it was necessary, especially as they'd have been expecting me to make applications, anyway.

An email eventually came, but it was to Colin's email. With Colin not being fully computer-literate (the only gadget he uses is his Blackberry), Natalie saw the email first, and already my heart was thumping! It was a letter asking Colin for a reference. Aleka also got a similar email. They obviously had no clue what for initially, but I told them the details and we discussed it briefly, and Aleka seemed very sure I'd get the job! My brain obviously went into overdrive! Were they asking for references because I was definitely going to get interviewed? Was everyone's referees getting the same email? Couldn't get much work that day, and just kept on checking my email over and over again.

With interviews scheduled for 19 January, I finally got an email on the 6th. I remember when the email came through, I couldn't bring myself to open it, and had to get Natalie to open and read the email for me! You can imagine the relief when it turned out that it was good news! I could finally breathe!

Can't really remember much of what happened in those two weeks (probably because nothing much happened!), but I tried to prepare for the interview as much as I could. Read my cv and cover letter again just to remember what I wrote in it! I emailed my lecturer-friend, Johanna, to see if she had any idea what it'll be like and stuff. She didn't really know much, other than that there'll be a panel of 3. Filippo Lorenzon, Yvonne Baatz and Charles Debattista. I was a bit relieved, because all 3 of them had taught me during my LLM. Not that they knew me personally, but at least I was familiar with them, and kind of knew what kind of characters they are. I also called the Secretary, Anita, to see if I could find out anything from her, but she pretty much told me what Johanna said.

I also remembered from checking the website, that they had someone, Matt, who was filling in temporarily, as Jennifer had left almost suddenly, so he was filling in until the next month or so, when he started his training contract in a Law firm. So I called him up the day before to find out more about the job, what he's been up to, so I could casually mention it in the interview when they asked me what I knew about the role that I spoke to Matt, blah blah blah, just to show that I had done my research well, haha! And also in the hope that might know what type of questions they might ask, as he most likely was interviewed before got the job, you never know! And he actually did tell me one of the questions they might ask! He was like they might ask you what you'd do in a situation whereby one of the lecturers wants you to do something for them by a particular deadline, and another person comes to you with a similar deadline. How would you deal with it? My initial answer to that would have been that I'd prioritise and try to do the most important one first, etc, but Matt was like the answer they would be looking for is communication. That I should mention that I'd let both of them know about the other person's deadline, just so they both know what's going on. So I filed that in my brain, just in case.

Since he was being very chatty, I also asked him if he knew anything about the candidates they were interested in, how many people were being interviewed, etc. And he actually knew! I think he said 8-12 or so people were being interviewed, out of about maybe 120 applicants or something, can't really remember the exact numbers, although I wrote them down. He also said there was some guy being interviewed who was coming all the way down from Australia or something, and he was like that person wasn't really a strong candidate, seeing as they'd like someone to start immediately. He also told me that they were interested in two candidates in particular, both of whom were Yvonne Baatz's former students. And seeing as I'd be taught by Yvonne Baatz, that made me even more nervous!

So interview the next day. Got there about 30 minutes early, tried to read the the articles I'd had published, which were on my cv, as Johanna had told me that I'd probably get a question about it. I was too nervous, so was only able to browse through all but one. And you guessed it, I got asked about it! It was a very simple question though, about what the article was about. I knew it was on arbitration, but couldn't for the life of me remember the exact bit it was on. Talk about embarrassing! That question was from Charles. He also asked me another question, this time on a specific area of maritime law, and I did not know the answer! What made it worse was that the next day at work, the work I had to do was on the answer! If only the interview had come after, not before! Sigh. I answered Filippo and Yvonne's questions well, at least! Yvonne did ask me the exact same question Matt had told me about, and thank God, I remembered the answer the Matt told me was more important. She kept nodding her head all through, so that was a good sign, I thought! I was worried about not answering Charles' questions right. Oh yeah, I also got asked where I saw myself in 5 years. Although Johanna had told me that I'd be asked that question, I still stumbled!

 I remember thinking to myself that maybe I'd be the only black girl being interviewed, and who knows, they might hire me just so as not to seem racist! What a silly thing to think! And ofcourse, the next person being interviewed turned out to be a black girl! That was that theory out of the water, straight away!

All in all, I wasn't too happy about my interview, as I didn't think I did well enough. But I'd done all I could do. The rest was in God's hands. All I could do was wait.

Okay, this post is getting WAYYY to long! And like every good season finale, there has to be a Part 2! But not to worry, it's a double-bill, so it's coming up right away, after the obligatory advert break... ;-)