The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

This post was supposed to be one of the first things I wrote on this blog but it never ended up being written. I guess I just kept putting it off because I find it awkward to talk about. Although having said that, I find most things awkward to talk about so this isn’t really that special. In my experience, certainly in my circles, there are several categories people in their early twenties fall into when it comes to relationships. Category One: people who drift from one relationship to another. These people go through a never-ending shift of partners and friends of these people struggle to remember the name of their current partner. Occasionally even these people will forget the name of their current partner, leading to an argument and another break-up. These people are so used to the process of meeting people, starting to date them, being part of a couple and breaking-up that they can now get through the whole process extremely efficiently. People like this are very attractive, but...

Another week has flown by and I am certainly feeling it today as the nasty pathogens that have been working their way around our classroom have focused their attack on me. I’ve got ‘flu and when I say ‘flu I don’t mean “a slight cold” as most do when they use that word. I mean ‘flu, where inexplicably every part of your body hurts, quite literally from head to toe. Achy limbs are not useful for typing with either. Apart from feeling like I really ought to be quarantined, it has been an OK week. I am still enjoying myself and a slight hint that my new job has brought some of my confidence back, although there is still a long way to go on that front. Frustratingly my colleagues have gradually managed to squeeze more information about me and inevitably I have had to discuss how I was training to be a teacher but failed. I hate people asking me about it and have done my upmost to avoid talking about it. I think I may have mastered the technique of abrupt answers which give away the ...

Previously on Dan 2.0 : I had enjoyed my long Summer holiday before the start of my new job, which I was extremely anxious about. I now write as a man who is working full-time and is enjoying his weekend. Weekends suddenly become very valuable to you once you start full-time work. So, you ask, how is the job going? I despise broad questions like this with no obvious answer and usually come up with a broad response like a celebrity when answering questions about something they don’t want to talk about. My broad response is “Good, I’m really enjoying it”. I think said response sums up my feelings fairly well. Plus working with children and all I can’t really say much more than that. But basically, it’s pretty awesome. For the first time in a long while I feel properly happy. The job is quite hard work and some days are not so good, as with any job. But I am enjoying working with children without much pressure on me. In a parallel world where I scraped through my teaching practice I ...

Don’t panic, keep calm. Those words are echoing around my head as I completely fail to not panic and reach any level of calmness. Tomorrow I start my new job and I am extremely anxious about it. The fact I know it is pointless to be anxious because that doesn’t solve anything just makes me anxious about being anxious. It is a vicious circle. Beaker doing a good impression of how I feel So, yes, in less than 24 hours time I start my new role as a teaching assistant in a school for children with autism. There are several reasons why this worries me. Firstly, any new job is a little scary the fact it is my first full-time job adds to this. Then there’s the fact I only really have a vague idea what I will actually be doing day to day. Oh and I have not met any of the people I will be working with day to day. I find meeting new people in any context horrible but this will be awful. I know, however, that I can easily put these things to the back of my mind. It’s the big issue that...