My Brilliant Semi-Career

Sometimes I worry that the only work I am fit for is running a secondhand bookstore. And the only business partner I could handle would be my cat.

This current state of work-related anxiety is brought to you by my recent career shift. I hinted before that I had handed in my notice at my old job, and found another. Now, I have some feelings about my old place of employment - good, so-so (SOMEBODY MUST BUY THE UNIVERSITY MAP SILK SCARVES, BUT WHO??), etc - and I probably won't write about it without the benefit of time, distance and alcohol. My new job doesn't look like it would give me any more raw material to write about, though it does at least have a window in the office. I'm moving on up. Right out of the basement.

The fact I'm excited about a daily dose of Vitamin D makes me reflect on how swiftly my career expectations changed after graduation, and how drastically. I wasn't joking before when I said that I entered McGill convinced I was four years away from becoming a Russian-speaking economist. I knew that dream died the moment I switch my major from economics to cultural studies, but by then I was equally convinced something grand and culturally significant lay in my path. I would have also settled for interning at a publishing house and making adorable dinners for my even more adorable boyfriend in the evening. And then I graduated, spent a year in the trenches of porn, and acquired an amusing career anecdote at a cost of nothing less than my soul. You think I kid, but no - hentai. Look it up.

It's the same story of exchanging dreams of cake for the reality of bread, a narrative my generation seems stuck in, one personal essay on Jezebel at a time. I'm trying to embrace it now, I suppose. Even if this is all there is, at least there's a window now.

Domestic Friday: Dogstalker April Bock

There was a time when I had the time to do something domestic every week, whether that meant knitting, sewing or cooking. Unsurprisingly that time also coincided with the time I was unemployed. Now my dinner was ramen noodles with a (slightly expired) egg thrown in. Then a handful of baby kale because I didn't want to eat a simple bowl of sadness. I wanted eat a bowl of sadness with carotenoids and Vitamin K as well.

However, I managed to find time this week to drink some more Ontario beer. Yes, spring's here, along with crocuses, guides to restaurant patios, and bocks in beer fridges across the land. The Dogstalker April Bock from Grand River Brewing seems particularly sweet, even for a style that's normally so. I did like that it was low on the carbonation though. And as a sweeter, stronger beer (6%) beer, it seemed like the perfect drink for spring, before the hoppy ales and sometimes sour wheat beers of summer crowd my table.

From April to May

Oh, what a month. I handed in my notice at one job, found another... got rid of some problems and found some others. Generally, the balance has been on the side of good, so expect more from me in the future.

Until then - don't waste your money on The Great Gatsby, and stay classy.