Update: The State of Affairs

I have had such a busy week and I still feel I am behind with work! Here is a little of what I have been doing. I am not adding any posts for another week as I am taking a break from blogging to deal with house, family and some personal matters. My life is starting to get hectic again.

I have been to a career thingy at the local adult college. It was called ‘Surviving, how to deal with the recession’. I went to a lecture about looking for work and creating a great CV. There were mainly PR and media people there. I think between us, we could have started our own company. Although most of us were savvy about looking for work, the lecturer did give us information to improve our CV, interview techniques and some other information that was very useful. That means I need to tweak my CV again. I am hoping that this will be the last time I need to revise and that something good will come out of it.

I also learned that I could get either a free course or a major reduction on fees by being on Jobseekers, so I am looking into getting a teaching certificate. I need that in order to teach English as a foreign language. It might come in handy.

The research for Lynn’s Bowel Cancer Campaign is coming along nicely. I should have the list ready to hand over next week. I am amazed and pleased at how well that has been going.

I’ve updated my profile on Linked In. They now have an application where you can stream your blogs to it! Who knows where that will lead?

My daughter has come home for a few days before she heads off to America to visit a friend over spring break. I took the night off from dancing in order to stay home and drink, eat spicy food, and watch a film with her. We are going to go to The Vitality Show at Earls Court today. I got comp tickets and thought it would be fun. Besides, I have to be out of the house this afternoon as the estate agent booked a viewing. I’m keeping fingers crossed.

I have been inundated with questions for Ask Arlene on My Tango Blog. I am wondering though if some people aren’t taking liberties with the questions they are asking me. Hmmm! The readership is now between 150-250 on average every day. I am really pleased about this as Tango is my passion and a lot of people have told me that they found the blog really useful. Now I just need to work out how to make money from that!

This weekend will find me in London. I will be dancing. I am not sure how well I will be dancing as I am having a problem with my right calf at the moment. I had a really bad cramp in it last weekend and I may have strained it with one of my dancers on Wednesday. It is quite painful in the morning even though it eases up by the end of the day. If it turns out I can’t dance, I will just have to socialise and enjoy listening to the music for one evening. Good thing nothing can stop me from talking!

Am off again to the coast next week and should have some more photos and news for you.

My Baby has a Tattoo!

My eldest came home from University a couple of weeks ago for his grandmother’s 85^th birthday celebrations.

The first thing he did when he saw me was to show me his tattoo. I thought it was a transfer. It is real. I touched it. It doesn’t wash off. My baby is marked for life. He had it for three weeks and I was the last one to know about it. I am not sure why. He discussed getting a tattoo with me when he was home for the Christmas holidays. He had worked out his rationalisations and even though I am not 100% convinced or that I even get it, he is over 21 and it is his body to do as he pleases. I only asked him to think about what he was doing since once it was done, that was it - the tattoo couldn’t be undone.

Maybe he wanted to see my reaction. The last time he went to Glastonbury he came back with a nipple piercing. As soon as he walked in through the door, he lifted up his T-shirt and said, “Look Mum, I got my nipple pierced!” All I could see was a bloody scab forming and a metal bar through his nipple that wasn’t even level. My baby was mutilated!

He doesn’t have the nipple piercing anymore. The tattoo is a different story.

I have photographed the tattoo to document the change on what used to be my perfect (in my eyes) child. Otherwise, how would I really know if it was him if he ever ended up in pieces and needed to be identified?

Apparently a lot of thought has gone into the design of this tattoo and he explained what it meant and how he came up with it. I have been told that this isn’t the last of the tattoos. Even though I can admit that this is an attractive and colourful tattoo, I cannot imagine any more tattoos on my child and how he will end up looking. He is no longer as his father and I created him.

Now his brother is talking about getting a tattoo on his arm.

I think he is just taunting me now.