Monday, June 22, 2009

Expectations Exceeded

Last Friday we put Fixit in some smart clothes (No denim! said the invitation) and went off to collect his Oscar for Most Outstanding Performance in the Aeronautic Engineering Category, 1st Year. The lovely Jenny came over and minded the boys, even going so far as to listen to and sign off on the Cherub's Home Reading, which saved us a bit of panic on Sunday night. The Awards were held at a nearby reception centre and the alcohol was plentiful and the food was fine; one of those alternating chicken/beef menu drops but all perfectly edible and NOT lasagne so I was happy. They had an amusing MC and an official photographer* and lots of prizes. Bizarrely they made all three nominees for each award show up, and hauled them up to stand on stage for as long as it took to announce that they hadn't actually won, upon which they were summarily kicked offstage to give the winner a moment of glory. We actually knew Fixit had won, his letter said so, but I think maybe some of the nominees might have lived in hope, and then been cruelly dashed. Harsh.

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We had very pleasant people sitting at our table including the winner of the 2nd Year honours in Fixit's division, whose father drove 200 kms (and 200 more back home) to be with his beautiful son and was such a good honest country type that when I, overcome with a sort of motherliness at his young son's sweet face and demeanour, said are you bursting with pride? replied with something noble like well if you put in the work you can go far, but then looked up at me with proud tears in his eyes and I had to look away before I broke down and embarrassed myself.

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Anyway, despite the other table members being perfectly nice I found myself, as the evening progressed, balking at starting yet another conversation with strangers (possibly because I was the designated driver and therefore sober) and that is how I learned how to Tweet-on-Twitter with my phone. Thereby ensuring that I could hang with my peeps while Fixit worked the room.

And work the room he did! Turns out that the guy who looks after the apprentices at the big-airline-for-whom-we'd-rather-Fixit-worked was there that evening (at the next table no less), and one of Fixit's lecturers** made a point of engineering a meeting between the two of them. People, there was networking. Networking is a powerful tool in a world of it's not what you know it's who you know. Not only did Fixit come away with his prize-winner's cheque, he also had the business card of the important guy and an appointment next week to talk things through.

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Our fingers are crossed!

*We are waiting to receive official photo in the mail.
**It has been quite heartening how the TAFE has rallied round Fixit since he told them of his problems

27 comments:

  1. Outstanding Fixit! well done....
    fingers crossed appointment leads somewhere good.

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  2. Oh rest assured I shall be crossing all appendages....

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  3. This is all wonderful. The award, their support of him, your stars in eyes. He needed a little wonderful. I'm so happy for him.

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  4. sounds excellent all 'round. fingers and toes crossed.

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  5. What happy news you have today!

    Love the part about the 'country dad' who was so proud of his son. Pass the tissues, please.

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  6. Yay! Networking v important yet v boring. Hopefully Fixit gets SNAPPED up OM NOM NOM by Other Big Company. Or at least gets an offer, enabling a heady round of counter-offers at current place, thereby leading to More Money and Also Incidentally A Bit of Respect.

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  7. I loved that you tweeted throughout. It was excellent.

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  8. How exciting! How amazing is Fixit to be doing so well despite all that has been going on. I hope great things come of this meeting.

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  9. I'm so happy for you!! Go get 'em Fixit!!!!

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  10. Yay! Congratulations, Mr. Fixit!

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  11. Huurah for Fixit! And you, too - I'm sure you were a lovely bit of eye candy for him!

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  12. Oh, what a rewarding night for him!

    Misting up slightly, all the way from Italy (I'm not kidding).

    Congratulations, and fingers crossed for teh ointerview/chat next week.

    And...good onya TAFE for coming to the party. A problem shared is a problem halved.

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  13. oh Fixit! How exciting and YAY! for networking.

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  14. Networking.

    That's how I landed MY dream job.

    Cream will always rise to the top, so I'm sure there'll be good news coming soon.

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  15. "Yay!" for Fixit! But a big "Boo!" to the sadists who made the "also-rans" stand up there only to be publicly shot down.....Fingers crossed for great outcomes!

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  16. It's just fantastic that you guys had a great night, and it's rewards justly deserved, isn't it, for all your hard work! I'll be crossing fingers and toes for Fixit's chat with Important Guy!

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  17. Most outstanding indeed. Right up there with General Excellence and Major Achievement. Perhaps he can be Lieut Outstanding?

    Well done to Fixit.

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  18. Oh, that is such nice news! We had mature age apprentice, who blitzed all his Tafe stuff & came out with Apprentice of the year & another award too - we were so proud of him, so we know where you are at! Well done to Fixit & hopefully all his hard work (& heartache)will pay off next week, or in the near future - the road is now that bit shorter! Siobhan(Shivi)

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  19. Quite proud of Mr. Fixit (and his support system, e-hum, Stomper Girl and boys) for this award! Hard-won, to say the least.

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  20. Oh well done Mr F and also well done Stomper. It's not easy being the positive one when one's man is sad. Three cheers for you both.

    (And yes, the topiary garden would be wonderful for playing in. We hadn't discovered it when our children were small, but on the other hand even my more adult family had fun!)

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  21. This is soooo cool! You must pass on congrats to him from me too... especially after all you guys have been through this year!

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  22. Good on him! Are you spending the dosh on something noice? Or is it going on a new motorbike or something Fixitty?

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  23. Oh and you should have put in a picture of yourself, you looked HOT!

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  24. That IS exciting, congrats to Mr. Fixit! Yes, where are the pictures of you?

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  25. That is so fab!

    Networking has got me everywhere. I may prefer to be a hermit, but i've always been able to sell, sell, SELL !

    xx
    Hope you buy yourselves something nice xx

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