A More Structured Phase

Ah, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?

I’ll be lucky if I ever get half of my previous readership back, I know. That’s sad, but the last month or so has flown by in a big Chinese blur and blogging has not been at the top of the priority list. Or anywhere near the top, for that matter.

The good news is that I am moving into a more structured phase of my life, which will probably lead to more regular blogging on my part. The bad news – from a blog perspective, at least – is that “a more structured phase of my life” means I’m back at work, which means I’ll likely have less to blog about unless I want to blog about work, which I do not.

(I’m happy to share anything you really want to know about in private e-mails. I’ll just be following the same policy I’ve had towards Shelly’s work for the past 18 months: Any mention of work will only be in a generic sense, and nothing specific about work shall be mentioned.)

In the five weeks or so since my last post (in which I visited Macau in order to activate my new dependent visa), I spent most of my time 1) battling a ferocious head cold that just wouldn’t go away, 2) working on four or five different freelance projects which all came along at the same time, 3) looked for a job, 4) found a job, and 5), failed to have any free time to play tourist in the final days before the job began.

The job is quite a good fit for me, I think. Generically speaking, I’m writing for a company that produces trade journals in a field that actually allows me to use my graduate degree. (This is, I might add, the first time I’ve specifically used my graduate degree since I was actually earning it. I’m sure Mom is happy that her investment in me is finally paying off.)

It’s been an interesting first few days at work, and I’m quite certain that by the time I move back to the US, I’ll be completely unemployable. Why? Well, our style guide is somewhat schizophrenic on when to use US English and when to use UK English. (We typically stick with British conventions like colour and centre and practise but, for some reason, use US English when it comes to centralize or specialize.) Add to that the fact that I’m picking up Britishisms here and there – last week I told Shelly I would empty the bin after I did the washing up – and I will most definitely not write like an American.

Ah, well, that makes things all the more interesting, doesn’t it?