Not the worker's rant

2003-09-04 - 7:39 a.m.

If I was a good diarylander, I'd actually update every so often. As it is, I'm a very, very bad diarylander. To further prove this point, I'm probably not going to write my treatise on how work is meant to suck the life energy out of everybody so that the rich can make lots more money.

There really are some interesting things to think about on the subject (like, if studies show that people are more productive if they are happy, fulfilled, etc, why are companies not jumping to make workers happy and fulfilled? Whatever happened to the "4 day" work week, and how come a lot of European countries have double, or even triple the amount of statutory holidays than we do? Why are robots really bad for us?), but most of it is old hat for me...it's not an area where I have much more growing to do. For good or ill, I think my opinions are pretty much set on the subject, and my best entries are the ones where I'm trying to challenge myself. So, if anyone was holding their breath for the workers unite entry, I'm sorry to disappoint you (though, if you really were holding your breath, you're probably dead by now. Unless you're an alien. That doesn't breathe. Ahem.)

In other news, I'm pretty darn busy. I'm realising that between work, school, the gym, and the IMC stuff, I have no free time. This is not a good thing, because The Magus with no free time tends to take out his frustration on helpless, fuzzy rodents. Or cats. Or boyfriends. Sigh.

But, other than work, the rest of the busy stuff is really good for me, I think. Building character, or something.

And, of course, the question that I know has been burning a hole in your minds is: "Should Pookie and the Magus move to Japan?"

I know it's been something of a theme here, what with my mad, burning desire to know all things Japanese. Why, just the other day I'm sure I wrote an entry about my love for Hello Kitty, right?

Actually, the truth is that I haven't given much thought to Japan in my life. Asia never really interested me except that the very, very little anime that I've seen is good, and sake is an evil beverage that intrigues me.

But, Pookie's best friend, who now lives next door (long story, including a triumphant victory of David over Goliath...'nother entry), mentioned that if you have a degree (which Pookie does), you can teach English in Japan for a heck of a lot of money. They would also pay for lodging.

This is, really, a heck of a lot of money. If only one of us did the teaching it would still be enough to pay off a huge chunk of Pookie's student loan in one year, and if both of us were to teach, it would mean an increase in our income of about 500%.

Pookie seems pretty serious about this idea, which would happen (if at all) terrifyingly soon (next fall, maybe), and so obviously it deserves some serious thought. Thought so serious that I'm kind of paralyzed on the subject. There are some pretty evident pros, and a heck of a lot to be afraid of, too.

Aside from the money, there's the obvious advantage of challenging myself again. Moving to Toronto was a great experience for me, I'm a completely different person than I was two-and-a-half years ago, and I think I'm mostly a better person. It might give me some perspective on the culture I grew up in, and that could have some positive effects on my writing, not to menbtion my world view in general. It would have me learning new things, possibly a new language, and exploring new frontiers.

But it would be so fucking scary.

Cheers,

The Magus

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