Well first of all... night out last night... two pints and a bag of fries/chips.. 11.90... :-) possibly a new record ...

Hobbies front... heard about a kayaking club in my county that is running weekend courses in July and August that end with a cert that enables you to join kayaking clubs - one of which is not far from me... sounds great... only thing is that it costs 200 euro for the weekend - quite pricey..

Horses... I have a passion for horses... I have yet to get back into riding regularly... want to lose a tad bit of weight before I do so that I feel fitter and less of a burden on the poor animal :-) There is a local riding school that gives lessons for 20 euro an hour - I don't think many proper places would do it cheaper than that... will have to factor that into my monthly budgets... maybe 2 lessons a month...

And the best for last... A foundation in film-making course that is perfect for me and that I am really keen on is run by a not-for-profit organisation in the West of Ireland.... I thought the next one didn't start until next Spring... but checked their web-site during the week and there's one starting in September !
It will cost me approx 650 euro which is great value for a 7 weekend course - 14 days...

Anyways so I need to come up with that money before September - will divert all overtime to that and squeeze whatever I can from my budget....

I also want to do the kayaking course and get back into horse-riding... I am passionate about learning to make films but I want to maintain/get balance in my life (Life Coach sessions)... I don't want film-making to be my sole obsession and then get peed off at it after a while... I want to have a rounded life so that my film-making endeavours will be all the more fruitful !!

Emmm...so that's 650 for the film-making course and 200 for the kayaking and maybe 80-100 for horse-riding lessons this summer.... I think I can do it if I am very frugal in other areas of my life - which I generally am...bring lunch to work etc..

Also I usually take a weeks vacation in September every year and go abroad. I am not this year - due to my commitments above. Instead this year, I am taking a week off in August and I will have my first staycation !! I will enjoy just not having to work for the week... can concentrate on scripts and get some good running practice in for the half-marathon I'll be doing at the end of August... and many other little enjoyable things... I may visit a city in Ireland for a night or so...

Oh yeah I have to pay for that half-marathon in August and full marathon in October before August 1st - cheaper entry....

Thank God (or the Universe) that I have a job !

Just checked my Internet Banking and I've received a 711 euro tax refund relating to last year's retirement contributions...

I immediately sent it to my Opportunity Fund account so that Fund is now at 37%...

so time for a reward ! (passed 33%)

New Running Shoes...

I debated about taking the money from the 711 but no I've decided to pay for the runners from my general budget (including overtime)

I'm actualy so far into the savings mentality that I don't like spending large sums (or even less-than-large) on anything at all... even when I've planned it and it's a treat...

Anyways I'm gonna get the runners in a store that examines your style of running and your feet to find the perfect match...

Some wine at home that a friend gave to me as a gift...

3 pints of beer in a bar and a bag of chips/fries....

14.30

That may be a new record for me ! :-)

Yep... that's right... all you gold-diggers keep away !! hehe

This is a positive event... Last December, my Net Worth was minus 200...so the last 6 months have been productive financially...

Oommph.... rant warning...

Just back from a night out where I met a lot of work colleagues...

let me preface this rant by adding this info..... I work in a factory in my hometown.. the majority of employees in this factory are from outside the town... a minority are locais...

Anyways..there's this girl I think is really cute... and tonight I told her so... I asked her how her how the local men are treating her and she says "Well, I'm kisssing A and you know, its ok"

Now A is a local (I don't even wanna call him mister A). He is approx 35, a heavy drinker, pot-bellied and very very fond of smoking marijuana...

He is nothing deserving of particular praise in my mind but he has that self-confident aura about him that would make people think he has higher social status than, in reality, he possesses.

The girl in question is approx 24, cute as hell and really nice.

I am 30, a light drinker and I don't touch drugs. I am probably too much of a "nice" guy for her. In fact, she told me she always liked "bad" guys...

Female bloggers... PLEASE help me understand - what does she see in him ???

Its not his looks
Its not his wealth
Its not his open-mindedness...

Should I just become an ignoramus and to hell with it?

Is being a "nice" guy arsenic to a young woman ??

Oommph.... sorry... rant over...

apologies for the non-financial post :-)

Won't bore you with the details... but going through a situation at work where there ia a concerted attempt to blame me for something that happened during a process. I see the "blame" as clearly lying elsewhere and have pointed this out in as calm, clear and reasonable manner as I can. However due to politics and the power structure at work, it is FAR easier just to blame the lowly operators as opposed to the true reasons for the occurrence...

Anyways... It is so annoying and I've decided to put it into a box in the corner of my mind labelled "Things I hate about work", close the box and try to forget about it/not focus on it too much.

A result of this situation is that I've decided to increase my Opportunity Fund target to 10,000 euro so as to provide a better cushion should this job oome to an end somehow (not saying that it will... just you know..in case).

Anyways, I plan to be a film-maker by the time I'm 35 and that is a VERY precarious existence so the bigger the fund is by that point the better - right ?

So...after only my second Life Coaching session, I've uncovered my values:

Bliss
Gratitude
Optimism/Positive Attitude

And I've discovered what I would love to do if finances and failure were not an issue:

Be a film-maker/documentary-maker making films at home about societal issues and making films around the world which aim to increase understanding between Western culture and other cultures...and vice versa.

I'm leaning more towards films, as I would like to make them interesting/entertaining but with a positive message/feel-good factor with a bit of education thrown in... I think they would reach more people and have the desired effect of opening people's minds a bit and making them feel at one with the world if even for a short while...

So, why blog on a financial site about this ?

Becaus I've decided to go for it !!

Basically I'm holding down a wage in my current job, it does very little for me values-wise - I'm just glad to have a job in the current climate.

But I plan to be a film-maker full-time by my 35th birthday - so 5 years to make the transition.... so definitely not an overnight change.

You see, the way I look at it my current job allows me to save money for retirement, for future accomodation, for opportunities and for day-to-day expenses.

I'm only earning the average industrial wage so I'm not giving up a high-flying career ! It will not take a lot of money to maintain my current savings commitments...

so what if I find a way to meet my financial goals AND do something that makes me blissful ?

No brainer right ?

I hope so....

I'm only at the very beginning of scoping this out.... I'm planning to begin taking courses in film-making next Spring and in the meantime I plan to work on scriptwriting....