Quit your day job. Go on. I dare you.

I don’t know if petite reads my blog, but I certainly read hers. Blogging about the black dog recently was a difficult decision for me, and hard to write. This beautifully written post by Petite Anglaise, which I think covers the same topic, is strikingly accessible even to those lucky folks who never feel the black dog snapping at their heels.

Petite is one of the few bloggers and my reading list whose every post I read to the end. Her story, getting dooced for writing a blog at work and then landing a book deal is great and I’m looking forward to reading the book when it’s published later this year.

Synopsis
Living in Paris with her partner, the workaholic Mr Frog, and their adorable toddler, Tadpole, Catherine decides to alleviate the boredom of her metro-boulot-dodo routine by starting a blog under the name of Petite Anglaise. Writing with disarming honesty about Paris life, about the confines of her hollow relationship with Mr Frog and about the wonder and pain that comes with being a mother, she finds a new purpose to her day. As Petite Anglaise, Catherine regains her confidence and makes virtual friends, including one charismatic and single Englishman who lives in Brittany, James. And after meeting James one evening in a bar, Catherine feels she has regained her ability to fall in love, too.

I’m suddenly involved in creating a rich-media advert for beer. Probably the best Christmas present in the world….
But of course, if you’re advertising alcohol you’ve got to be a bit careful. You have to stick to the rules outlined by Alcohol Concern, which prohibit any advert which (amongst other things)

• Suggests that alcohol is essential to social success, popularity and acceptance
• Suggests that drinking can contribute to sexual success or attractiveness
• Implies that the successful outcome of a social occasion is dependant on the consumption of alcohol
• Suggests that drinking can overcome boredom, loneliness or other problems or that drinking can bring about a change of mood
• Suggests that drinking can enhance mental, physical or sexual capabilities
• Implies that people who drink alcohol are brave, tough or daring

Damn. That’s all my ideas out the window then.

One of the things I’ve really noticed since starting work in the office here in Angel is that everyone’s speaking my language. Or at least a language I’m used to. A lively office of people talking about web design, development problems & solutions, business and the like. It sounds almost surreal. It’s good. I’m starting to reconnect with the job and what I do for a living. It turns out I’ve gotten a little bit behind the times over the past year or so. It seems I have some work to do. I need to learn flex and ActionScript 3. It’s not too hard. Get a book, work it out - bosh I’m a flex developer. Flex and Drupal… could work well together I think. Much as I’d like to go do something completely different (like a lumberjack or helicopter pilot), this is what I do for a living right now & I’ve got to keep learning to compete.