Freely Free

Oh, the joys of being a free-lance agent! I'd hardly officially started working and I already felt as though I'm a ball, being bounced around.

The fact is, I can only accept assignments proper next week, because I have to help Joseph settle down at the childcare centre on his first three days. Orientation, they call it. Ha ha... more like "detachment drill" for the parents, I think!

So before I'm ready to say "Yes" to any job, I've circled around at least three "on-off" assignments. First, there was this medical conference whereby I'm to be the assistant to a surgeon. An aesthetic surgeon, to be precise. Hello, I've not done aesthetic surgery, and in a conference, no less, it sure sounded high-brow business to me. No way, I'm not about to bungle on my first job, however glamorous it may sound. I had to turn it down.

Then, there was this twice-a-week duty in the treatment room at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Okay, a comfortable pace for someone fresh from a homemaker's mould, I thought. A few days later though, I got a call to say the cosy arrangement's off, they've got something else for me. A two week posting in the Radiology Dept of Gleneagles Hospital. The only catch is, I need to start work on the last week of May. Hey, are we forgetting something here? How am I supposed to make that work out when my son is only starting his childcare in June? Ooh, these people at the agency are aggressive, that they are.

I had just got another call today. They've matched me to be research assistant in NUS for two weeks starting 5 June, where I'm required to do phlebotomy (blood-taking) and IV cannulation, besides the usual paper work. Best of all, it's office hours and I get the exposure of doing something I'd like to branch out in future, i.e. to be a research nurse.

Bear in mind though, the image of a freely bouncing ball. I wonder how tight this latest arrangement is going to turn out to be...?