It’s scary out there.

I’ve been single for just over a year, and ever since then, I have embraced internet dating. (I’m 25 and attempting to stave off ‘left on the shelf syndrome’.)

I internet date for many reasons, but the main reason is that people you meet out are either already taken, or just looking for sex. Sometimes just sex is fine! I am a big believer in free love and casual sex so long as both parties are happy. But I am at a point where I would quite like a nice boyfriend to drag to museums and go out to dinner with. I also quite miss having sex on tap.

I use two dating sites, OkCupid and eHarmony, and here are my experiences of them…

Buh-Bye!

Today I signed off of Jobseeker’s Allowance.

No, I don’t have a job.

But I was getting fed up of being dictated to. To be fair, I never dealt with any horrible people, but the system is a mess. That is for another entry though, maybe tomorrow.

I work part time, as you all know, but it’s actually classed as self-employment, so I already do self-assessments and am registered as a sole trader. My dad runs his own business as an antique dealer and he has finally agreed to let me in on the business – and by this, I mean, using some of my own money to buy and sell antiques. My dad actually has loads of antiques lying around that he’s too lazy to sell, so he agreed to let me have some to get me started. I also have a shit ton of old clothes and books and DVDs that could be sold. So long as I make £30 a week (how much JSA I got), then I’m sorted!

I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me; jobseeker’s was making me increasingly lackadaisical and was starting to erode my self-confidence – not ideal for someone who needs thick skin whilst job hunting.

So, hurrah! I do intend to write a post asap on how the Jobcentre could improve, but for now I’m off to get ready to see Derren Brown!

Nikki x

492.

So how did I cope with my first fasting day on the 5:2 diet?

I’m not gonna lie. It was hard.

I was fine in the morning; I had 2 satsumas and a cup of tea and I had my game face ON. I had lunch at 3.30 with my mom which consisted of this lovely mushroom stroganoff. But then what I feared would happen, happened. The time between lunch and dinner is always the time where my rational mind leaves me and I become ravenous, and yesterday was no different. I had to have a couple of snacks (a few almonds, a slice of lean ham) to keep me going! Then I got light headed, lost all concentration and got a headache.

For dinner I had a stuffed red pepper with veggies on the side which did actually fill me up quite a bit. And just before I went to bed, I had a miso soup that everyone on the forums raves about. Ugh, it’s gross. Really, really gross. Too salty and too seaweedy. Never again!

So I made it through the day having consumed 492 calories (give or take a few, calorie counts vary wildly online). I had a cracking headache by the time I went to bed but I’ve woken up with a sore throat this morning so it could be completely unrelated to the fasting. I live in hope! I think next time (Monday) I will try leaving all my calories until the evening. Although I’m not entirely sure how it will work as I’m going to the theatre to see Derren Brown. Ahh, I’ll play it by ear.

My mom seemed to find it easy, cowbag that she is. She seems much more determined having someone do it alongside her, and it works both ways. I can’t let her down!

I promise this blog won’t turn into ‘Nicola’s diet diary’, so I will shut up on the subject for a while unless I lose like, a stone in a month

Ciao for now!

Nikki x

Tomorrow, I attempt something scary…

So I’ve never been skinny. I’d say I’m average sized (but short, alas!) I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome at 14 which basically means it’s harder for me to lose weight and I’m at an increased risk of diabetes and infertility – unless I maintain a healthy weight! (I actually don’t know much about it. I’m very lucky in that it has never affected me in any major way.)

I was put on Metformin at 14, which is a tablet they prescribe to diabetics. It maintained my weight for ten odd years until it started making me very, very ill. Constant headaches, tummy aches, digestion problems – you name it! One day I came off it, and within a month I’d lost a stone and have maintained that weight loss ever since.

I then started working out intermittently and dropped a dress size (my weight stayed the same, I guess because of building up muscle?) but now I’ve sort of plateaued.

Still jobless

I recently didn’t get a job I had very high hopes for. I was told if they had two positions, I would have been given one, but I was pipped to the post by someone with more experience in SEO – for an entry level job. It was a small company so I have to look at it from their point of view whereby they need the most bang for their buck. But wow, it was demoralising.

I’m so tired of job hunting. It’s exhausting. You put so much effort in for so little reward. Each time I get a rejection, I lose a little more motivation. This is never a good thing because it’s hard to even have motivation for job hunting to begin with.

Amsterdam is for friends.

I have just come back from a fabulous four days in Amsterdam. What a city! Beautiful place, friendly people and (mostly) good weather. It’s on an equal footing with Stockholm for my favourite city so far. (And Dutch men are as pretty as the Swedes.) I’d love to live abroad one day – my parents did it (Sewf Eefikah) – we all possess itchy feet syndrome in this house – and I could easily see myself living in such a cosmopolitan city.

So, without further ado, here is my photo journal!

(Please be warned that there are NSFW pictures from the Sex Museum!)

Getting from black to blonde, part 2.

I get a lot of hits on this blog from people who are googling ‘bleached black hair turned orange’. I have been blonde from extremely dark brown for about 6-ish months now, and I thought I’d write another post explaining how to achieve it.

Agency Rage

When you have been searching for a job for as long as I have (9 months and counting!), you get used to agencies. At first, you think they can be nothing but helpful. But soon, you learn that agencies are an utter waste of your time.

I have only had one interview for a job via an agency, and that was for an admin assistant where the headteacher sneered at me and couldn’t understand why someone with my level of education wanted the job. Um, for the absolutely ridiculous £18k salary, please!

All my other job interviews I snagged through applying to the company directly.

Amsterdam!

Next week, I am going to Amsterdam. I know. On JSA. How DO I do it? (The answer: still live at home, only child, very sympathetic parents, and I’m tight as anything. I’m very good at saving.)

Just thought I’d pop this post here in case any of my readers have any places they would recommend I visit? I’ve already booked tickets to the Anne Frank House and The Heineken Experience, we’re planning to go to the sex museum near Central Station (of COURSE!) and also intending to visit Apenheul (a monkey zoo? HELL yes!) I am going to go to the Rijksmuseum (probably on my own) as I have a real love for early Netherlandish art. We’re only there for four days and will probably be hungover for two of those days, knowing us, so we have to pack a lot in.

But if you have any tips on places to visit, restaurants to eat in, coffee shops to *ahem* drink coffee in, fire away!

‘Vile Product…’

I’m sorry. I have to write about this. I just cannot let it go. It’s one thing for The Daily Heil to come out with this utter bullshit, but for the Chancellor to comment on it… for someone to use the deaths of six innocent children to further his own political agenda is simply breathtaking.

And people are going along with it! People are buying into this vile, horrible, degrading divide-and-rule society we seem to have somehow sleep walked into.

You know what, Daily Mail? I receive benefits. I’ve never paid tax (cue gasps of horror, throat clutching etc etc). But I’ve also no desire to kill someone. You know why? Because I’m not a murderous psychopath.