Pay Day
Well, it’s Wednesday morning and I haven’t updated my blog yet this week.
The big news is that I am now a fulltime employee of the advertising agency where I’ve been since 20 Feb. They came to me today with my contract and offered me twice what I was earning at EvilCorp. And here I was thinking I was going to have to draw on some sophisticated negotiation skills and enter a complicated compromise to achieve my wants.
So ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that after all my green-faced whining, it is possible, in Durban nog al, for creatives to earn a salary of degreed IT Networking / Programmer proportions. It was very hard hearing the figure and not then promptly burst out laughing. I think I may have lifted my eyebrows and gasped ‘Oh’, if I said anything at all.
So, anyway, it looks like it’ll be a bit easier to pay off my car and save for my overseas holiday. Although, tax deductions really hurt! There goes a healthy chunk of salary to fund the Dubai shopping expeditions of obese parliamentarians. Not the R400 or so that I used to lose.
Anyway, that news really picked up my day. I don’t know if I quite deserve it- my superior re-edits a lot of my work- but apparently they’re all very happy.
In terms of the past weekend, it was a pretty laid back one. On Friday evening there was a work meeting with Paul, Warren, Robin, G and Shirley over E-Nixus’s big web project and advancing it along.
On Saturday, after a morning of errand running at the Pavilion (during which I discovered A Bard’s Tale as a Best Buy R100 game, which doesn’t run on my graphics card!), we had a braai and games evening. Ian and Ashley came over. Robin was supposed to join us as well but he had somehow managed to lose his car keys. This did of course mean more of a pork fest for less people- we’d bought honey glazed pork rashers, bacon starters and Bluff Meat Supply smoked ribs for all of us. I’m sure Ian enjoyed his break from sandwiches.
As for the gaming, we played a few games of Quake III, during which I succeeded in tormenting Ashley again with my noisy Harley Quinn skin, who you can hear from across the stage. Every so often we’d run into each other and she’d attempt to flee. Paul, the gentleman, promised not to shoot Ashley, and avenge her deaths, but I actually did quite well against him for a change. Ian lumbered around in an obese Hell’s Angel skin.
We played a game of Unreal Tournament as well, but Capture the Flag just wasn’t as gripping as it’s been the past, so we moved right on to Warcraft III. Ashley was surprisingly good for a first timer- she built up quite a big force of Night Elves, who I think are one of the hardest races to manage in that game. I did alright, although I did get into trouble when Paul called for help and I pitched up late to find his orc army virtually destroyed and his settlement in flames.
On Sunday the weather in Durban was perfect- sunny skies, not too hot, no breeze. Paul and I ended up having a relaxing day, although not as much time outside in the beautiful weather as I would have liked. First we visited Paul’s grandmother so that Paul could try and fix her tape-gobbling VCR and finally set up her DVD player. I sat sketching for most of the time. Then we stopped in at Paul’s cousin’s place, to help him with his ADSL, and went to a very late lunch / very early dinner at Oscars- their Thai Chicken wrap is awesome. Then it was home to veg on the couch and watch the MEN Sunday night movie, Man on Fire, Tony Scott’s answer (apparently) to older brother Ridley’s revenge-focused Gladiator.
As a sidenote, I’m seriously considering taking up Brazilian Jui-Jitsu with Paul’s cousin- my plans for exercise at home in the evenings rarely materialise- sit ups on a full stomach are not a good idea. I want to lose some weight and / or get toned, and exercise for exercise’s sake just isn’t sufficient motivation. A martial art at least has purpose- exercise while learning to defend yourself. I’m thinking of going to a class next week to see what it’s like. The only thing is that I really need a committed female partner to grapple with / roll around on the floor with, as the classes are currently all male (though can of course be mixed). That, or if we could get enough women together we could form a girls-only class…
The big news is that I am now a fulltime employee of the advertising agency where I’ve been since 20 Feb. They came to me today with my contract and offered me twice what I was earning at EvilCorp. And here I was thinking I was going to have to draw on some sophisticated negotiation skills and enter a complicated compromise to achieve my wants.
So ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that after all my green-faced whining, it is possible, in Durban nog al, for creatives to earn a salary of degreed IT Networking / Programmer proportions. It was very hard hearing the figure and not then promptly burst out laughing. I think I may have lifted my eyebrows and gasped ‘Oh’, if I said anything at all.
So, anyway, it looks like it’ll be a bit easier to pay off my car and save for my overseas holiday. Although, tax deductions really hurt! There goes a healthy chunk of salary to fund the Dubai shopping expeditions of obese parliamentarians. Not the R400 or so that I used to lose.
Anyway, that news really picked up my day. I don’t know if I quite deserve it- my superior re-edits a lot of my work- but apparently they’re all very happy.
In terms of the past weekend, it was a pretty laid back one. On Friday evening there was a work meeting with Paul, Warren, Robin, G and Shirley over E-Nixus’s big web project and advancing it along.
On Saturday, after a morning of errand running at the Pavilion (during which I discovered A Bard’s Tale as a Best Buy R100 game, which doesn’t run on my graphics card!), we had a braai and games evening. Ian and Ashley came over. Robin was supposed to join us as well but he had somehow managed to lose his car keys. This did of course mean more of a pork fest for less people- we’d bought honey glazed pork rashers, bacon starters and Bluff Meat Supply smoked ribs for all of us. I’m sure Ian enjoyed his break from sandwiches.
As for the gaming, we played a few games of Quake III, during which I succeeded in tormenting Ashley again with my noisy Harley Quinn skin, who you can hear from across the stage. Every so often we’d run into each other and she’d attempt to flee. Paul, the gentleman, promised not to shoot Ashley, and avenge her deaths, but I actually did quite well against him for a change. Ian lumbered around in an obese Hell’s Angel skin.
We played a game of Unreal Tournament as well, but Capture the Flag just wasn’t as gripping as it’s been the past, so we moved right on to Warcraft III. Ashley was surprisingly good for a first timer- she built up quite a big force of Night Elves, who I think are one of the hardest races to manage in that game. I did alright, although I did get into trouble when Paul called for help and I pitched up late to find his orc army virtually destroyed and his settlement in flames.
On Sunday the weather in Durban was perfect- sunny skies, not too hot, no breeze. Paul and I ended up having a relaxing day, although not as much time outside in the beautiful weather as I would have liked. First we visited Paul’s grandmother so that Paul could try and fix her tape-gobbling VCR and finally set up her DVD player. I sat sketching for most of the time. Then we stopped in at Paul’s cousin’s place, to help him with his ADSL, and went to a very late lunch / very early dinner at Oscars- their Thai Chicken wrap is awesome. Then it was home to veg on the couch and watch the MEN Sunday night movie, Man on Fire, Tony Scott’s answer (apparently) to older brother Ridley’s revenge-focused Gladiator.
As a sidenote, I’m seriously considering taking up Brazilian Jui-Jitsu with Paul’s cousin- my plans for exercise at home in the evenings rarely materialise- sit ups on a full stomach are not a good idea. I want to lose some weight and / or get toned, and exercise for exercise’s sake just isn’t sufficient motivation. A martial art at least has purpose- exercise while learning to defend yourself. I’m thinking of going to a class next week to see what it’s like. The only thing is that I really need a committed female partner to grapple with / roll around on the floor with, as the classes are currently all male (though can of course be mixed). That, or if we could get enough women together we could form a girls-only class…
Comments