Kayla's LJay

I'm SO excited guys.
Like freakishly excited.
I got a phone call yesterday from my college, telling me that I was a recipient of a student award.
My first thought was "well shit. they have the wrong person." because realistically, while my grades are decent, they definitely aren't spectacular. Then I got excited, because maybe my college gave me something for coming to them after university or whatever, figuring it would be a cheque for $250-$500 or something like that.

So I went down today to the Student's Association. The lady looked me up and was all like "congratulations. You won the Spence Memorial Grant, given to students who are bilingual, shows financial need, over 80% on the prereqs, and shows character." And I was all like, "eh, character?" And she told me "we reviewed your application, and are amazed. Very few people could manage school, work, athletic activities and the volunteer work that you have done. So congratulations, you really deserve it."
So, she handed me a cute little college hat, and my cheque.
For $4000!!!


This makes a huge difference, guys. First of all, it was absolutely lovely to receive ANYTHING at all - especially since my grades aren't As. Secondly, it was nice to be called amazing ;) instead of just plain crazy or laughed at when I say I'm tired. Thirdly though, the amount pays entirely for my schleese saddle, and takes a very large chunk out of my credit card bill.

To top it off, apparently "award winners in good standing can apply for assistance in subsequent years." She said that if I can maintain higher than a 3.0 average, I can apply and likely be granted another $2000.



AND - to make this day even better than it already is, I'm due for a raise at work. Apparently, for the past 6 months, they haven't been paying me correctly. I'm casual, and by the way our contract works, I get paid for the position that I work in. I'm realistically only a Secretary I with the health region, but all my work for the past 6 months has been as a Secretary II, and they haven't paid me for it. So, boss decided to just raise my position up to Sec. II effective Feb. 1st. It means a $2.00 an hour pay increase!!!

Woot!

Now there's cold, and then there's cold. Canadians generally have a high threshhold of pain ;) and we handle cold pretty well. Alberta and BC are probably the wussiest provinces, because, well B.C doesn't get that cold, and Alberta's cold only lasts a couple of days at a time before a chinook rolls in and raises the temperature.
But, the weather since Friday has been BRUTAL. Brutal as in radio announcements claiming not to be outside for more than 5 minutes at a time, homeless shelters being opened in the most randomest places (ie, they have a small homeless shelter at one of the Tim Hortons locations!) to make sure no one is left out in the cold and hospitals discharging everyone who is not dying right at this moment to make room for all the frostbite cases and accidents that inevitably happen.
So, of course, in the worst week of our weather, I'm at work. I've brought the horses inside since Friday night. I think they could likely handle being outside (Enrique is outside with a super duper Rhino blanket and cooler), but Storm's joints don't do well in winter. And then I've got the geriatric, River, who, while he doesn't like the barn, does seem to appreciate the fact that he can lie down. Costa, the kid, doesn't really give a rat's ass either way, and loves nothing more than galloping through the snow and practicing sliding stops. He's also harassing River all day long. But anyways, I had to get up at 6:00am today to let the horses out, and its SO bloody cold that they all have coolers on underneath their 1200denier, 300g fill blankets. Wylie of course is just thriving, and doesn't seem to understand that he's only allowed to stay out about 5-10 minutes at a time! He wears the most crestfallen expression when I tell him to get his fuzzy ass back into the warm barn. Huskies *rolls eyes*

The outside thermometer reads -31C. With the windchill, however, its -42C.
The roads are messy.
I have a headache because I haven't slept well since Thursday.
I want to go home. Now. :(

To the average person-particularily the under 25 crowd, if I were to say "I make $20 an hour" they'd probably say that's a decent salary.
It's not.

I've always dreamed of financial independence, and got it figured that if I could make about 50-60k a year, I'd be golden. One person, one horse, one small house. We're ok.

So right now, if I were to be working full time, I'd just be making under 40k. Cost of living is quite high in Calgary, but I could probably swing a mortgage payment in addition to payments for everything else.

So I'm taking a legal assistant diploma, right? My proff informed me that the average salary is about 35k. Hello?! Why the fuck am I wasting 2 years of my life to work in a field that will possibly get me LESS than what I'm working in right now!?

I'm just so frustrated. More and more, I'm questioning what the hell I'm going to do with my life. I don't want to be a secretary for life-and that sounds EXACTLY what legal assistant is. I have an english degree that is useless. I don't have the grades (or the experience, really) to go straight into law...and honestly, while I'm sure I'd really appreciate the pay of a lawyer, I'm not sure I would be any good :\

But if I don't do law, what else is open to me? I mean, I need a job that at least pays decently. I'm quite flexible-I'm not one of the ones who needs to find absolute enjoyment in her work. I just need a job that will support my horse habit and a small house :\

So I mentioned a while back ago that I got a raise, because of a contract negotiation within the Health Region.
I wasn't aware that in addition to that raise, I also get retroactive pay dating back from April of this year. This summer I worked a LOT-as in 6-7 days a week, so it all counts. I also found out that in addition to the retroactive pay, every employee that qualified for working more than 20hours a week gets a $500 retainer bonus.
So I get paid on Friday, and checked my pay advice online, and was shocked! In addition to my work shifts from these past 2 weeks, I get an additional $2100!
Haha, my saddle is officially paid for completely! And I have room for Christmas shopping!!!