Noise noise noise... work work work...

The goddamned noise from the construction work going on downstairs since the beginning of the month is driving me mental! All of us in the office have had it up to our eyeballs already though mostly we try to ignore the painful distraction and soldier on with our work because clearly the organisers of this construction don't give a rats ass about the health & safety implications of the noise and related stress! (Ok that's exaggerated, understandably it needs to be done, it's just gets so frustratingly annoying at times I feel like throwing rocks at them and sabotaging their equipment (petrol bombs come to mind), especially the jack-hammers, cement mixer, trucks, drills, tippers, motorized wheelbarrows, etc, that continue non stop all day every day right outside our window!) I'm surprised the arse end of the building hasn't totally collapsed from all the jack-hammering on the ground floor!

That said I'm looking forward to the Rammstein concert tonight, which is German HEAVY METAL, they're renowned for using power tools and very loud noise effects as part of their apparently brilliant show! Ironically having been subjected to the heavy metal machinery downstairs all day that I hate, I love heavy metal music!

Brunch today was noodles, boerewors flavour. Lunch was a toasted sandwich with the last of my week-old ham & tongue roll, with copious dollops of mayo and Nando's extra hot. Enjoyable, yet nothing worth writing any more about!

In my quest to curb the boredom that sometimes (often) accompanies my job, and to attempt to drown out the noise from outside, I've been browsing around the web for new online radio stations. The music I have here on my work PC is old and over-played, which I'll cure soon by downloading new stuff through Torrents again. I tend to get bored of the same thing quite quickly!

Meantime, since yesterday I was listening to Radio 702, a talk radio show based in Johannesburg, because the Cape Town version of the show (Cape Talk) doesn't play through my network, it keeps asking for a password. 702 plays through Flash player, which is why it seems to work, and it's been quite interesting debates to listen to. But this morning I got bored and went hunting, and found 2 new great stations, right up my alley:

• www.hardradio.com. A hard rock/heavy metal station playing some awesome heavy stuff that had me bopping in my seat and drumming on the desk, much to my colleague's dismay!
• www.live365.com Actually a list of many internet stations, but the one I like is Chuckle Check. It's non-stop stand-up comedy clips, the sort of thing I enjoy listening to. Some of it was very funny and had me chuckling uncontrollably at times, much to my colleague's dismay, again!

Between the 3 stations there's enough entertainment for a while!

Crap, check the time already! I brought my coursework for my new Unisa distance-learning course that I recieved in the post last week, and haven't looked at yet, to start going through during lunch. It's a course to teach me the basics in small business management and enrepreneurship in South Africa. I'll explain more about the course when I know more myself, but I do know the first assignment is due in a month so we'd better get cracking! I'm determined to not spend the rest of my life working for a boss in somebody else's company, doing a job for a basic salary. I don't have any major skills or qualifications and that's not going to change any time soon so I reckon the next best option is to find a niche in the market and start my own business, whatever that may be I'm still deciding, but there are a few ideas in the pipeline. The whole prospect, whowever far off still, is actually quite exciting! To be able to wake up someday and be excited about going to work because it's MY business, and I'm the boss, and the work I put in will decide the rewards, instead of a pre-defined contract to do a 'job' as just another number in an institution which could be pulled out from under me at any time leaving my family and I in a financial disaster, is quite appealing; and seems to be the logical way to go for long-term financial stability!

But the coursework will have to wait until tomorrow, it's now 2pm and lunch is over!

Just another one of the perks of running my own business is not having to answer for time - take my own break whenever I like for as long as I like without having to worry about getting into shit! Get to work and leave in my own time, without having to feel bad about being 10 minutes late and watching the minutes from 2 hours before the end of the day to jump up at 4.30 sharp and head off out the door! Someday this dream will come true! I'm sure the hours will be much longer and the work much harder running my own business, but that's the joy of it - it's in my own time and the harder & longer the work the greater the personal rewards! There's great incentive, and it will be something I enjoy doing!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blowing my current job! It's a great job in a fantastic company, and it is interesting, fascinating and at times challenging. The salary is decent for what I'm doing, and I like my colleagues. For the skills I have it's a good opportunity for which I'm grateful. But it's also an uncertain future, as I'm still on an extended 1 year contract, and there's no scope for moving up or earning overtime. I'm not complaining, it's just added motivation to the prospect of running my own business, and it puts fire in my ass to do something about my own future instead of just plodding along indefinitely in a comfort zone that won't get any worse or better!

So now it's after 2! What a rebel!