#so jazzed since I like my benefits and salary and do not want to lose those atm

[poundfooolish]

my work is undergoing a lot of restructuring and we're all getting shuffled off to new teams, and my boss just floated to me a team he thinks I'd be a good fit for, basically doing the same stuff I'm doing now with a closer focus on just fixing problems, ie, my favorite part of the job

If I do actually get moved to this new team though the actual new favorite part of the job is gonna be no longer working under this man

[editorialsonlife]

Well

Welp, feeling like doing an update because there's been a lot going on to be honest. its one of those weird dichotomies where every day feels like an eternity and there's so much going on and then you look back and you're like oh, ok its just my brain making it difficult and making things take forever but anyway.

LOCKDOOOOOOOWWWWWWNNNNNNN

Lockdown life was good, apart from being thrust into it so suddenly dave left a banana on his desk. Wasn't great to come back to after 5 weeks out of the office - mummified mouldy banana!! Classic. We luckily got our first jab before lockdown started so that was good, and we were reasonably well stocked up on food and were generally a lot healthier this lockdown that last. honestly, there's a level of chill and serenity in lockdown that i just love. the ability to set my own schedule and only work the hours I actually work to get the job done? Amazing. getting 8.5 hours of sleep each night without having to wake to an alarm blaring? AMAZING. getting to go for walks every afternoon? SO FLIPPING GOOD. I love it so much, I really really do. I need this to be my life permanently.

WORK

Work is just ongoing and draining and honestly, coming back to the office was so fucking stressful and it was only one day. Being at home is just the fucking bomb. Pending home decisions, I wanna go contracting I think, but also ideally two part time contracts to have more flexibility? I dunno. You'd think a big 4 would provide variety but it really doesn't and honestly, with Richie leaving, wellington is just a sinking ship. Sean's off on parental leave, Kirstyn is down to four days a week, ben will be gone if he doesn't get promoted (and I don't think he will be tbh). Jack is just muddling along, Nigel wants to swap to consulting as well, Matt's going to be a shit leader in terms of bringing in work so it's just not going to work. and in our wider group it's going to get even more messy with heaps of the analysts leaving and a couple of senior hires too. so I think it's probably time to jump ship in general, pending the home stuff below. Also, coming back after a break again, I'm like, I don't actually like a lot of you? All the people I enjoy here are in other teams and groups, and I'll be sad to leave you all, but like, not enough to stay anyway lol.

Pending the home below, two options are to just going and get a job with a $30k payrise to make up for the maternity leave benefits I'm gunna leave behind when I leave this role - 18 weeks full pay, $100 a week for the first year back and a full year of maternity leave. It's basically 30k post tax which is a bit nuts to walk away from to be honest.

Otherwise the other option is to go contracting. Less security overall but holy shit so much money. If I went in as a project coordinator at the lowest rate to build up a bit of a portfolio I'd need to work 40 weeks of 40 hr weeks and Id basically match my current salary plus the lost family leave benefits and still qualify for govt maternity leave payments. Realistically I could go in as a project manager for $140 an hour ($60 more an hour than the above math) and absolutely smash it at that level as well so ya know, there's a bunch of other info. I like the idea of the flexibility of it and only having 6 months even if its a shitshow and beign able to walk away at the end of it. I really don't want to get a govt job and this is a v govt town which is fine but also, if I can avoid it that would be great. I just know I'm not gunna thrive in that environment.

Need to talk to Dave to get him across the line on the security issue part of that though. I've mostly come a long way in terms of my financial management (thanks YNAB) so I think he'd be ok with it mostly.

So there's a lot to toss up there because......

HOME

We got the reno plans done during lockdown, finally. which was super good. but holy fkn jesus $$$$$$ ++++++++++. The guy is coming around for the final quote on Thursday. We indicatively said $100k total because we're doing kitchen laundry bathroom and toilet. so only the most expensive rooms and when I was talking to him last week he said 'that might cover it' and they're seeing cost escalations of 7-10% a week which is just insane. we're not doing anything structural apart from putting in a cavity slider in the bathroom, and the quote they'll give us won't include flooring since they won't do it.

Meanwhile, the prefab homes I were looking at for our site were $425k fully done. Like, I'm not going to spend $130K on doing up my 1940s ex state house ya know? That's not good cost benefit ratio.

So depending on what that comes out at on thursday we'll be able to make some plans.

We also want to start trying for kids next year and need these renos done first - I am not having kids and no dishwasher lol.

Also we need bank financing so good to be in a permanent stable job for that application. the good thing is we have so much equity we know we can borrow whatever we need, I just don't want to spend that much money on it because it's fkn ridiculous. and if I'm going on maternity leave we need to be able to cover it all on dave's salary and whatever benefits I have as well so there;s a lot of financial planning and spreadsheeting going on at the moment lol. it's fab.

either way. we've got plenty of options up our sleeve. we've got friends who's brother owns a building company so we can talk to them, we've got the garage so we can get things prefabricated even if they're not installed til next year, Dave can get shit at cost through his work for whiteware, there;s plenty of things to like cost control we can do, we just need to know where we're starting from basically. thats the challenging part. but we'll figure it out, its just taking longer than I want it to basically.

We also planted up the vege garden for the spring/summer which was lovely, super jazzed about that. we've finally got the garden to a reasonably low maintenance level where everything is mostly under control and it's such a relief, honestly.

PERSONAL

Man what a shift to lockdown last year honestly. I think the last 8 weeks in particular has just been like, a massive reality check of how absolutely shit the last year was and how fucking glad I am to be rid of it. I spent a week absolutely spiralling 2 weeks ago now and honestly, I don't know how I lived in the state for more than a year. I actually don't know how I did it. and I could not be more glad that I'm finally on the other side of it, for the most part. There's still a bunch of other stuff to work through (hahahahahaha when is there not like damn) but fucking hell its nice to just not be anxious and nauseous and wound up constantly. life is actually accessible. miracle.

My workmate had his bebe - I went round and got newborn cuddles and was like, oh, is this what it is to be clucky? this is odd. so there's that as well. I think we'll probably start trying next year pending renos and jobs etc. If the renos can be done in jan I'll prob just stick it at the job to get the benefits but I dunno. it's a tough call to make really. we shall see. This all assumes we get knocked up without any issues which is questionable these days. I really want to feel healthier before getting pregnant as well, and part of that is losing weight. however, given discussing that is what triggered the spiral we're working on that one slowly.

Also, lets have a moment for counselling, because fkn bless anne and all her hard work honestly. I actually ended up emailing her being like, I;m losing my shit on the monday and then talked to her on thursday. And its so funny because it's such a counselling thing but I didn't realise until afterwards what she'd done but she was like you're clearly not doing well and then the night before dave got a fkn miserable migraine and he was up for like, 2 hrs powerchucking except he didn't make it to the bathroom in time so guess who was cleaning up vomit at 130am trying not to chuck herself but I digress. anyway, not doing well, couldn't even explain why, didn't even have words and super tired and she's like, what lynaire up to this week how's she going with izzy and chat about that and then be like how are you feeling about your body and then 5 more mins of chat about the cat and the chickens and then like bam hard question and then hows it going with x and y and z and its like, it wasn't til I was on my walk afterwards when I FINALLY started feeling marginally better I was like damn woman work your magic for figuring it out for me and helping me reregulate. all over the phone as well since we were still in lockdown. GREAT WORK FRIEND.

and then last week was like totally fucked theoretical discussion about religion and the role it's played in my life and fate vs free will and all this nutty shit but genuinely just a great discussion. She's the best and I love her. thank good for good counsellors. thank god I can afford to pay for it honestly.

Dave and I are just chugging along, god bless that man. I love him. its amazing. I miss having friends close by but understand why they had to move (boooooo f u house prices). Family is pretty chill, still not really talking to dave's parents which is nightmarish but we'll deal with that when we need to. gunna have to go and visit them at some point coz dave misses them and I feel for him, I really do. It's the whole boundaries renegotiation I went through with my family last year post wedding blow up and its just not a fun place to be. oh well. can't fix it for him but also I'm not putting up with that level of BS from either of our families once we have children. not gunna happen.

Either way, life is busy and full and fun and I'm enjoying it. Daylight savings starts this weekend too, its october next week WTF and I'm just waiting for 4pm to find out what's gunna happen to our girls trip. Clearly we cancelled our sept trip to christchurch and akaroa and hanmer springs so my covid travel curse continues. fkn ridic. Still dunno what we're gunna do with $2500 of flight credits coz if we get knocked up theres def no international trips happening any time soon.

thus concludes the almost 2000 word write up of life. hope you've enjoyed it. I'll throw up some pics in a separate post if people care about reno plans. such a good time!

[emblem-333]

A Bittersweet Reward

Ainge acquiring All-Star, top-20 player Gordon Hayward in free agency is not without its caveats. In the coming days, perhaps hours, the GM will have to make one of the hardest deals of his Celtics tenure. I summarize why letting one - or two of Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart or Avery Bradley hurts so fucking bad.

This time last week we dreamed of a super team forming in Boston, with Gordon Hayward and Paul George being the big gets of the off-season. And by all accounts that’s what should have happened. Today the Celtics fan base is debating who’s easier to cut bait with: Avery Bradley (expiring), Marcus Smart (Expiring- RFA) or Jae Crowder (3 years left on a bargain deal), when they could have talked about what Ainge will offer Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard for Paul George to complete the most top-heavy team in the East.

But it didn’t happen. Following the trade down from the number one pick when Celtics fans were so jazzed to have the first overall selection, the PG-13 surprise deal made all of us collectively expect Gordon to stay in Utah or Miami to somehow snatch him from us because Pat Riley is a demon spawn. As life inevitably marched on, I stared to grow more confident in Hayward’s decision was going to be Boston. That scared me even more. I’m never right when I want to be. Always my educated guesses look like some half-baked Skip Bayless take, only I actually can see if anybody tweets about how wrong I was.

The night before July 4th, I went on a mini-rant, basically readying myself to hate Gordon Hayward if he chose Miami. There was absolutely nothing there to entice him other than the weather and atmosphere. Dragic is getting old, has a player-option for 2018-19. Hassan Whiteside isn’t ideal for today’s NBA which feasts on big men who can easily be run off the floor by a stretch five. Their third and fourth players would certainly leave them in free agency as they wouldn’t have enough capital to keep Waiters, Johnson and sign Hayward to the max.

My hopes only grew when I read how long the last meeting between Hayward and the Jazz lasted. If you have to spend 270 minutes trying to convince your girlfriend not to dump you, it’s probably too late and you’re just appealing to her heartstrings at this point. “Baby, I know I didn’t give you that $50 million when I didn’t think you’d get much attention on the RFA, but I changed since then. I got you Ricky Rubio!”

Then the report came out about how “torn” Hayward was about leaving Utah, just like Durant the year before. KD gave Oklahoma City TWO meetings out of courtesy on the off-chance they actually change his mind. The parallels for all big market free agents in how they make their decision in today’s NBA is always marching to the same drumbeat. They want to leave, but try so hard to save face with their fans when it’ll always feel like you left them at the alter.

Randomly the next day, one of the people I follow on Twitter, Brian @Primetime_23, tagged me in a bleacher report post that said Hayward’s intentions to sign with Boston. For the second straight summer, Danny Ainge obtained the player he coveted, and this time it’ll cost him an arm and leg in cap space to fit him on the roster. But, such is the price for doing business.

Whether Boston has to part with a trusted stalwarts of their backcourt or frontcourt, signing Hayward was an absolute must for Danny Ainge. Other than Isaiah, no other Celtic possessed the ability to create their own offense; Crowder at times showed the ability and promise, but his last two seasons ended with him throwing up way too many jump shots that were usually uncontested for a reason.

Boston now has not one or two, but three players able to create their own shot. Jayson Tatum will likely be the go-to scoring option for the second unit. It may have seemed it took Boston years and years of patience, asset gathering and financial positioning to get to this point; that’s because it did. Every summer since Ainge blew up the Kevin Garnett era, he couldn’t dodge the question “when will the Celtics get their man?” Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler and Paul George slipped through their fingers like sand escaping a tightly clutched fist. When cornering the free agent market, it comes down to your situation as a team, the product you can put on the court and how fortunate are you when the courting begins? For Boston, they were very fortunate to have Brad Stevens in their back pocket to give Gordon a trip down memory lane. When circumstance always seemed to go against the Celtics, on July 4th a break finally went their way.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Boston is a worser team in 2017-18 because of the tough decisions they’ll have to make in the coming days. With LeBron still sitting triumphantly on the eastern conference throne, the growing scuttlebutt is he’s interested in going west to play for the Lakers for whatever reason, but it’s a real fear in Cleveland Cavalier-land. Until that crucial crossing of the bridge in 2018, Boston fans should not expect to be one of the last two standing come next June.

But 2017-18 will be one of high hopes for Boston. With a depleted talent pool in the east, a stagnant off-season of its biggest inner-conference rivals, mixed with behind the scenes turmoil. Problem being is the loss of the only logical player that can theoretically guard LeBron James; in the previous summer Boston possessed the expensive (kinda) contracts of Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko and Tyler Zeller for this specific reason if a salary-dump if needed.

If the valued player on the move Is Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart, we’ll most likely see Hayward start at the shooting guard position, Jae Crowder closing contests at the 4, Hayward at the 3 and Horford at the 5. Gordon does not have the strength to play the four under any capacity. One of the biggest drawbacks to signing him is losing the benefit of a Crowder who you can slide anywhere between SF and C.

Whatever difficult roster decisions the Celtics have to make, they will be in a fantastic position for a rematch against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Hayward signing validates the model of Danny Ainge.