New job update and a question on favouritism

My new job is going great. I am two days in to working solo (my predecessor just left and the other team member is on 3 months leave, so it's just me and my boss) and have received a piece of paper that tells me how much extra coin I'll be getting for my trouble (:-D). It's challenging, it's constantly busy an every task is different from the last. It's what I have been missing, even from my last job, which I loved, I just wasn't busy enough.

One of the most thought provoking aspects of my new job is that of 'toilet cubicle favouritism'. See, I am working in the same building as I was in my last role, so as such, all the toilets throughout the building are in the same place, the same number of cubicles, the same colour scheme....just different floors. Firstly, I'm interested to know, do all people favour a cubicle, or is it just me? And secondly, does this favourite change, depending on the floor? See, on level 5, I always went to the Northern most cubicle, unless it was taken, but 9 times out of 10, I was a North cubicle user. On level 2, I gravitate towards the Southern most cubicle! Very strange.
I also favour a sink over the two others, but that is logical, the middle one is directly under the soap dispenser and the southern one sprays water all over my corporate suit. I don't think I've tried the other one yet......

Books Books! I LOVE Books!

So I am on a reading frenzy....I have been on a reading frenzy for the past 18 months! Below is a list of all my reads over the past year or so. If you want opinions on any of these books, I'm your gal!
Optionally, if anyone has any suggestions of books you think I should read, please let me know!

Sea Glass - Anita Shreve
Heavenly Delights - Kerry Greenwood
Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka
Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
Miss Smilas Feeling for Snow - Peter Hoeg
The Shifting Fog/The house at Riverton - Kate Morton
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time - Marcus Borg
A short history of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewyka
The God of Small things - A. Roy
The 5 People You meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
That’d be right - William McInnes
The life of Pi - Yann Martel
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Sunday Best - Robbie Neal
Love Like Water - Meme MacDonald
Lines in the Sand - Anne Deveson
The Last Time I Saw Mother - Arlene J Chai
My Place - Sally Morgan
My Sisters Keeper - Jodi Picoult
44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith
Espresso Tales - Alexander McCall Smith
Love Over Scotland - Alexander McCall Smith
The World According to Bertie - Alexander McCall Smith
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones - Alexander McCall Smith
Breathing in Colour - Clare Jay

And just started Eat, Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

I figure if I read a lot, I will draw inspiration from words, images, language and themes and one day have enough of this inspiration to write something myself. Until then, I read!

I pick this door to walk through...

....on Friday, I accepted a new position.

It had been a full on week. Highs and lows, including cooking pancakes for a bunch of grade 1's, seeing Simon and Garfunkel live in concert, being on the train that hit the lad who jumped on the track to save his iPod and a rather awkward and disappointing job interview. I sure earned that glass of wine on Friday night!

So my new position is working in Insurance Services, still within the Health Department. My dad had a long career in insurance, so I figure I have a good point of reference, should I need it! The manager of the area offered me a few financial perks from the outset, so I felt really positive about it.

I have a huge challenge ahead, I've never done this kind of work before. I may love it, I may not, but I am willing to give it a red hot go and see where it takes me! I have a meeting to negotiate my release date with my managers this week. I am going to miss comms, I am going to miss my director, who provides endless laughs and witty insight, but this is an exciting new journey that I am grabbing onto with both hands!

Oh yeah, and this is my 100th post!

New Rule

Common scenario. You run into someone on the street, an old friend you haven't seen in 6 months. You say hi, you have a bit of a natter about what has been going on in your lives and the lives of those mutually familiar. You then say "we must catch up for a coffee some time!" you both agree with sincere nods. Then you walk away.

6 months later, you still haven't had that coffee.

I am introducing a new social rule. As I utter the words "We must catch up some time!" I am going to open my diary (yes, I have a diary and it comes with me wherever I go!) and find a date and write the catch up in. If the other person freaks out, then clearly they have no intention of catching up with me! I may be one of 3 people under 40 who still carry a paper diary, but everyone (except 1 person I know) has a mobile phone, and they have calendars, with alarms in them, so they can record our catch up date too!

Is this pushy? I am seeing it as being proactive in place of making empty promises.