Willow Update

[Willow]

Hi all!

Long time since I posted...sorry

I've been really busy since like...September last year.

I don't know if me or Chris said but, we started 6th form last September. Which is like...the last 2 years of high school in America..I think. Gets you the qualifications to go to University (College). We both took Business, Psychology, Media and Law. They were all I could take because I didn't have many GCSE's which you needed quite a few of to get decent subjects. But a couple of months into it we decided to quit, I hated all the subjects and they wouldn't let me switch to IT because I didn't have an IT GCSE. Chris already had a triple distinction at A Level though so he could go to Uni, and I could do a foundation degree (in photography).

So then the mad rush to get into Uni's and sort out a house started ready for this September. Chris got unconditional offers from everywhere he applied! But I could only find one place to do my foundation degree and that was Portsmouth, which was too expensive for us to get a house in. So then what we were going to do was get Chris into a local University and I was going to run our Web Design business and study at home for various things. Which was a good plan, and he again got an unconditional offer.

But, before we knew he'd got accepted, he got offered a job. So naturally he took it, but it turns out that the experience from it is so vcaluable that we decided not to do the Uni thing, and for him to do a Degree from home later, and through work.

His job title is: Marketing and E-Commerce Manager!!! *proud*

Our life goal type thing, is to move to America, so whilst our plans may seem to be all over the place to some people, we really only have one thing in mind (getting to America). Basically, Chris needs to get a job there, a good one, to get a visa. So, a degree is an obvious requirement, but experience too.

University would have taken 5 years, and he'd have damn good degree at the end of it, but then no experience. This job gets him all the experience he needs, and a degree along the way, so we think it's the best way to go.

Oh, and we're buying a house! I'm all grown up!

See, so when we (hopefully) move to America, we can sell this house to fund the move and new house.

In the mean time I was thinking of maybe doing a video again, on youtube. What do you think? What should it be about?

Also, I did a video a while ago for an Aspergers Conference, and I got a letter from the Senior Service Improvement Manager (Mental Health and Learning Disabilities) of the NHS local to the conference, thanking me personally for me input

So...that's all folks!

Willow

 

[superboyian]

Oh wow, thanks Williow for the update and congrats to Chris on his success and yourself too.
I was starting to wonder what happened to you on Aspergic.

 

[142857]

Thanks for the update Willow.

That is all great news.

A couple of bits of advice:

* At your age I wouldn't be rushing into buying a house. Get your careers and your education sorted out, work out where you want to live and what you want to do, and think about it again in a few years. UNLESS you can get a real bargain that you are sure will increase in value. I bought a house when I was 23, and it was a bad choice that cost me stress and money. I bought my 2nd house at 27 and in hindsight that was about the right age to buy a house. You'll probably have a collection of houses and apartments by the time you are 40 anyway.

* I.T. is an incredibly fickle industry these days. People seem to think that I.T. is still like it was 20 years ago, easy pickings for anyone in the industry... when the reality is that it is NOTHING like that any more. Experience and knowledge on their own don't count for much any more - employers want very specialised experience, expertise and certifications. Have a look at the job ads for I.T. and you will probably see what I mean. There are times when I.T. jobs are dead easy to get, where recruiters are falling over each other to get you to take a job, throwing silly money at you. And other times when you are up against 100 or 200 people for every job you apply for, where if you don't have just the right profile you don't even make the first cut. I've been in both of those positions more than once. BUT when times are good you can travel and make a load of money.