Oh, what the bloody hell am I meant to do with my life?

Gah!

So I've been in Vegesack six and a half weeks now, and as much as I love being with the boy, and looking after all the babies, I'm starting to get bored, and I miss singing and performing so much. Now, while I don't mind this state of affairs for the next few months, right now I have an awful lot of time to think about what to do once we're based permanently in Ireland. AND I'M PANICKING BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!!!

So I've come up with a few ideas... I'm writing these down mostly to get them out of my brain, but if anybody wants to chime in feel free! I feel the need to point out at this point, that while I have managed to clear my debts (wahoo!), I have no savings whatsoever (boo!).

SINGING/PERFORMING - sing, sing, sing, sing, everybody's got to sing, la la la la... I actually have two separate ideas for this: CREATE A FUNCTION/WEDDING BAND and AUDITION FOR MUSICAL THEATRE AND ACTING WORK

CREATE A FUNCTION/WEDDING BAND

PROS - I'd be performing!
           - I used to work functions and weddings about *ahem* 11 years ago, and I really enjoyed it
           - Once it's up and running, one or two nights' work a week would pay the bills
           - It would work around any kind of Monday-Friday job
         
CONS - It would take a while to get a band together, rehearse, play free gigs, create a website, engage social media etc. Between getting the band together and getting paid work would take 3-6 months
           - I'd be relying on other people to make it work
           - I haven't actually checked out any potential competition yet...
           - No holidays in the summer

AUDITION FOR MUSICAL THEATRE AND ACTING WORK

PROS - It's what I'm trained to do
           - I'd be performing!
           - I love being on stage more than anything else

CONS - Just about the least secure and most unpredictable profession there is
            - If I were lucky enough to get a long-term show, I'd either have to relocate to London (where I've just left for a number of reasons), or I'd be travelling around a lot, which isn't ideal when your boyfriend will only be home for 4 months out of 12
           - Most of the acting work I've seen in Ireland is film-based, and I have very limited film experience

The most important thing is the performing thing is NON-NEGOTIABLE!!!


OK, now onto some other, less obvious ideas...


START A BAKED GOODS DELIVERY SERVICE - Basically, a small business in which I bake edible yumminess and deliver it to Cork city and the local area. Initially cupcakes, brownies, cake pops, that sort of things, then moving into personalised goods, wedding cakes etc

PROS - I love baking almost as much as I love performing
           - I think there's a niche in the market for this sort of start-up in the area
           - Plenty of places to sell my wares, such as farmers' markets
           - I could work from home, so we could do things like GET A PUPPY!
           - Low start-up costs
           - I could do fun things like go on sugar crafting courses
           - would fit in with evening singing
       
CONS - I probably wouldn't make much, if any, money in the first 6-12 months
           - I'd definitely have quiet times in the business - what would I do then?
           - Setting up a business is scary!
           - Courses cost money, and an internship pays about €50 a week, from what I've seen on Irish employment sites, which isn't enough to live on in the Emerald Isle, surprisingly enough!


BECOME A WEDDING PLANNER

PROS - I have extensive experience in creating, planning and running childrens' birthday parties, so I have transferable skills
           - I'm organised and detail-driven, and I love working with people

CONS - There are already two well-established wedding planning companies in Cork so I'm not sure if the market is already saturated...
           - It may involve me working Saturday nights, not ideal if I'm trying to perform
           - Conflict of interest if I'm also a wedding singer?
           - May involve a training course or internship for accreditation/creating contacts


OFFICE WORK

PROS - It would snyc up perfectly with performing
           - It's a regular wage, I could save money towards doing one of the previous two
           - It wouldn't be forever

CONS - IT'S OFFICE WORK
            - I would definitely hate it
            - The last time I worked in an office was as a receptionist nine years ago, so suffice to say my experience is fairly limited


WORKING IN A CAFE

PROS - I'd get experience in the catering trade, especially if the cafe bakes their goods in-house, and I'd get a grasp of how the running of a cafe works, which is great because I dream of owning a tea shop.
           - Regular wage
           - Timing works with performing in the evenings

CONS - Low wages
           - I'd have to work weekends


NANNYING-BABYSITTING

PROS - I have experience and references
           - I love kids
           - The timing would work with performing
           - It'd probably be part-time, meaning I could combine it with another option

CONS - If an amazing opportunity to perform came up, I'd find it incredibly difficult to let a family down
           - Low wages
         

Actually, writing all this down has really helped! I think I need to look into nannying and cafe jobs, as well as doing more research on both small business ideas. And I have to KEEP SINGING!

In the meantime, While I'm in Germany I need to:

- Learn as much German as possible because having a second language is always a good skill to have in the job market
- Bake as much as I can
- Get in shape because a lot of my wardrobe doesn't fit me (largely due to the baking habit!)

Wow! I feel so much better... I'll probably come up with a myriad different options soon, but for now I'm happy :-)

It's been an interesting couple of weeks...

Yes, it certainly has! Lots of musings, a prat fall and trips to the x-ray department...

I'm not very tech-savvy, and for some reason the photos of Bremen that I took with the camera won't load onto the blog, no matter how much I shout at the computer, but here are a few from my walk along the river the other day:

This boat lives down the road from us. We still haven't ventured on it yet, but isn't it gorgeous!

Along the river, one of the houses has this. Makes me want a cat even more...

This made me stop in my tracks. Having never lived in another country before, I'm so used to seeing war memorials in the UK but I've never stopped to consider that millions of ordinary Germans also died. 

There's quite a lot of marshland here, and on a sunny day the colours are stunning.

It was the first time I've ever seen a frozen river in real life!!!

"Let it go! Let it go!" Too much...?

So yes, it's beautiful here, if absolutely bloody freezing! Walking here is lovely, and it helps me get out of the funny moods I've started experiencing just in the past week. I miss singing so much, and I really hate cold weather, and I miss my friends and family, and I guess you could say I'm in a funk. I just have no motivation to do anything, and there is plenty I could be doing right now. Nothing's wrong, and I'm sure I'll snap out of it in the next couple of days. But feeling utterly useless isn't helping...

I feel useless because yesterday morning I fell over in the most ridiculous way. I'd gone downstairs to see the doctor (yep, the doctor's surgery is downstairs), and when I came back inside my glasses were steamed up so I couldn't see anything. I was tidying up in the bedroom, didn't see the corner of the bed due to steamy blindness and BAM! I managed to twist round, banging my head on the wall before crashing it down on the floor. After seeing stars for a few moments I realised the pinky on my right hand was rapidly turning purple and was twisting in towards my hand. Oh dear.

I rushed downstairs (as much as you can rush when you're dizzy) to see the doctor... for the second time in 20 minutes. I explained I'd just fallen and after a quick exam they sent me off to the x-ray department, where they said it probably wasn't broken, but they couldn't be sure.

Anyway, like I said before, now I feel useless. I've had to cancel work for two days because carrying around 11kg babies would be impossible at the moment, I can't do anything around the house, I can't even brush my teeth properly. 

But isn't it a pretty colour?