Sunday, January 18, 2009

Ponderings of an Education

That title doesn't make perfect sense, but I'm trying to keep some continuity with titles that follow the "Noun-Preposition-Indefinite Article-Noun" pattern. I don't really want to post this week, but since I must, I'll pose the question that's been on my mind lately: "Where do I go from here?"

Before you post a comment quoting Sartre or Camus, let me give some background. I just graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literary Studies, and what I really want to do in life is translate. I love languages, I love learning new languages, and I love the connection between the twice-aforementioned languages. My dream job is to work from home translating fiction from one language to another and to get paid for it.

However, my career is in another dimension. Right now I work on conceptualizing and implementing processes that make warehouse logistics flow more smoothly and consume less of the company's money. Project management in logistics is a lucrative career - let's just say that for a twenty-three-year-old, my bank account doesn't show in red numbers when I check it online. (If you change Internet settings from color #FF0000 to #000000, it won't appear red anyway, but that's a bit cheap, isn't it?)

This brings me to my dilemma du jour - do I obtain a Masters in languages (my passion) or logistics project management (which keeps the cats fed)? If I get the languages degree, I would have decently steady work and a decent paycheck, but I will be super-ultra-mega-happy. With the LPM degree, I would come home from work complaining each day, but I would be able to wipe my tears away with numerous unmarked bills.

My solution for the time being? WAIT.

*ahem* I do not mean that you have to wait to hear my solution - waiting is the solution. I'm going to get my GRE (which lasts for a stupid amount of time) and wait to see how I feel in a year or two. My brain is already fried from obtaining a degree, the knowledge of which I feel I have already lost and need to keep a blog every two weeks in order to keep my skills from curdling. Best not to decide with that brain at this moment.

If you have the answer, please let me know. But make sure it's the right one - I don't want Blogspot kicking me off for using too many expletives in your general direction.

Quote of the week: "The first time I set eyes on Mary Swanson, I just got that old-fashioned romantic feeling where I'd do anything to bone her." -Lloyd Christmas, Dumb and Dumber

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Birth of a Blog

And so here is where it all begins. This is the day that your life changes, the hour that you realize that nothing will ever be the same.

This is the day that you first read my blog.

(Or not. Perhaps you don’t discover this blog until April 30, 2011, after I have gone seventeen unsuccessful plastic surgeries to change myself into Jude Law and have changed this blog into my personal confessional of all the greasy sins I attribute to my rough childhood in Atlanta and sleazy doings on pre-hurricane Bourbon Street. But in this case, I will be an optimist and assume that your discovery occurs… NOW.)

I have never maintained a blog before, and have no idea quite how this one is going to develop. But I guess I will just do the writing, and que va a pasar, pasarĂ¡.

A bit about myself… My name is quite unimportant, but you can call me Ben. I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, and will soon be undertaking the inevitable task of rocking your socks off (through the blog, recall). I live with someone very special to me – she is a rather engaging person, one might say. We also have two rodents that normal people call cats, and two rodents that are actual rodents. I work for a company with no name, performing nameless tasks and receiving checks addressed to no one.

Now that I have revealed every private aspect of my life in intimate detail, I must bid adieu, and only wish that you continue to visit this page in the future.