tempus fugit

It's been just over six months since I started this blog, around twelve months since I recovered from my last bout with surgery, and almost three years since I first saw an ad in the paper to cook for the RAAF. It seems incredible that so long ago, the seed of this idea was planted in my brain, and despite a couple jobs I almost disappeared into, I've still maintained some semblance of focus on getting there. Here? So close!

The past few months have been a strange mixture. There have been a few ups and downs, but I've found that it's been easier to grin and bear it at my current job, because I've always been able to cheer myself up with the prospect of escaping for something far cooler, hoping that it would be sooner rather than later. It's not difficult to enjoy the temp mentality, even if I'm having a particularly crappy day and customers are giving you the irrits, I console myself by thinking they're stuck being an asshole forever whereas I'm going to be doing something completely different and changing for the better as a person to boot! That, and whenever I look around my current workplace and see the madness that ensues, I am comforted by the thought that in a few years' time, I will be possibly looking at the same thing... but with enough responsibility and knowledge of the situation to do something about it. It might still be mad, but at least it will all be mine!

About a week ago, I did a 2.4km time trial in 12:41, which is fast enough for the 18-24 age fitness level let alone the 25-34. Stoked by this performance, I decided to kick on and see if I could crack the 25 second flexed arm hang, and found that I could go for 30. Even if I counted a little quickly, that should have me within the new improved range for 25-34 year olds. Buzzed further by taking care of the hang without breaking too much of a sweat, I figured I should pump out some sit-ups for the win. 25 of them were no trouble at all! This pretty much means that I'm good enough to pass boot camp's minimum fitness requirements, but of course if I'm at this level now... ten weeks and two days of basic is going to get me blitzing even those levels.

Now, I don't think of myself as being particularly superstitious, but I do believe in signs. It was pretty cool how the first time in a while that I checked the fitness requirements, I found out that it was easier than I thought to pass. Then when I tested myself, it turns out that I'm fit enough for the old levels anyway. Some time last year (not long after starting this blog), I was looking for some jewellery to go with a dress, and ended up buying a necklace with some mini-dog-tags on it. I also happened to keep buying military styled/coloured clothing, possibly because it came back into fashion at the time, or most other available options were dresses and/or pastels. Even though I tried to hold back on the military gear (I should be buying genuine civilian stylings, so I've got nice stuff to rock out in whenever I get leave privileges!), I think it's all helped me keep enlistment in mind.

Not long after my RAAF interview last July, I thought I should do a couple of things to make the shift to military living a little easier. One was to start getting used to sleeping in a single bed again, after some blissful years of loving a queen. It was hard to do at first, especially when I woke up most mornings to the vision of my disassembled queen bed leaning up against the wall. It got easier after I ended up selling my bed to a workmate! Another thing I've tried to do is get accustomed to drinking less coffee (a quality espresso dependency would no doubt be laughed at), and getting up earlier/quicker in the mornings. I must admit, now that I'm a lot more active, I don't nap and sleep in as much as I used to, but I also don't feel as much of a need to do it anyway. I think my next challenge should be going to sleep with clothes on!

This morning I received my final medical report from the hospital, which gave me a glowing recommendation for entry. It was kind of strange reading it on the way to work today, it was almost like a job reference, but obviously all the doctor knew about me was from a phone conversation and whatever was sitting in my medical file. Amongst all the clinical stuff, there's this super strong element of 'let this chicky in; her bits will cause no trouble!'. I didn't get time to make it to the post office today, I might deliver the reports in person on Monday depending on my work roster, otherwise it'll all be sent by Monday.

I should call my recruitment officer to find out when the intakes for RAAF cooks actually are, before I get too nervous about what's going on with the short term remains of my civilian life, or way too excited about handing in notice at my work. I was thrilled to bits when I wrote 'applying for employment with RAAF' as my reason for leaving my old job... it's even closer to the truth now!