I have been trying to post into blogger in the past couple of days, but have experienced a problem with content that is longer than a few lines.

I emailed them and I hope the problem will be solved soon. Once it is done, you will get to read much of my ranting again.

Yours,

Ms. D. Brainwave

Career Moves

Recently, I haven’t been very happy at work. All the reasons for my discontent are will make a long and depressing post, and since I don’t want this blog to get gloomy at this early stage, I will leave these thoughts for another time.

As well as looking for another job, I’ve also ran a few thoughts of changing my career path. The one I’m in at the moment I got into quite by chance, and ended up staying in it for many years. I actually used to like it like a lot, but in times like these, when the IT industry is not what it used to be and finding another job is not as easy, I’ve started to think about doing something completely different.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Writing reviews for a music magazine – A dream, I guess. Deal with what I love most. There are probably some added benefits, like getting free CDs and going to lots of gigs. Probably a lot of good times. Maybe even meet the bands…

 

2. Car mechanic. Not a bad idea, I guess. I can open up a computer and know what’s inside and how things may be fixed, so maybe I can do the same for cars. The main advantage is from a business point of view. Most female car owners (at least in Israel) tend to complain about being mistreated by mechanics. They are often sexist arrogant males who would assume a woman doesn’t know anything about cars and therefore will try to rip her off. Even if there are a few innocent mechanics out there, the reputation is still bad enough. Being a woman and a mechanic would give me the advantage of someone women could trust, getting quite a lot of business my way. Maybe I should think about this one more seriously…

 

3. Programming. Going back to basic. I guess I liked it in university, though I have chosen not to make my living out of it and preferred management instead. Maybe it could be fun, but with the current industry climate, I guess I better give it a miss.

 

To be honest, none of these options is very realistic. This is something that has been bothering me for a while and will probably continue playing at the back of my mind. I guess I should do something about it, but I have no idea.

If something comes up, I’ll get back to you.

(Haven’t I heard this line from recruitment agencies lately?)

Yours,

Ms. D. Brainwave

To send me your comments, please click here

Request for Comments

In these initial steps of my blogging, my technology is a bit limited. I haven’t yet mustered the art of blogging, so I am using my limited knowledge of blogger.com to help me create a lo-tech comments system.

Basically, I will be happy to hear from my readers (if there are any), so it will be great if you could send me your emails to deviant AT deviantbrainwave. To make it a bit easier, I will be adding comment links at the bottom of each posting (please, don’t delete the subject line, it will help me know what it is you’re commenting about). I will go through these comments and will post them here (note: selective censorship will be applied!) and hopefully will also comment on your comments.

I’ll try to link the comments to Deviant Brainwave.

If the system doesn’t work, I’ll change it.

Yours,

Ms. D. Brainwave

To send me your comments, please click here

A Bit More About Me and Blogging

I guess a good place to start is to tell you a bit more about myself, and a bit about the ideas behind this blog.

My real name will currently be left undisclosed. I do not feel I have anything to hide, at least not at the moment. However, I do not know what will be in the future, how deeply personal I will go in this blog and how much I will want to expose myself and my friends. So, as a precaution and in order to protect my friends’ privacy, I will use the name Ms. Deviant Brainwave. If in the future I will feel it will be the right thing to do, I may expose my real name. Everything may change.

I am a geek, and proud of it. It does not mean that I am something out of “Revenge of the Nerds”, or that I have no social friends or fashion skills. I must admit, my social skills could be better and I usually prefer comfortable over fashionable, but I do my best. Being a geek does mean that I am interested in technology and enjoy its development. I must also stress that I am not a nerd. I believe in Douglas Coupland’s distinction between the two, as stated in Microserfs (which is my all time favourite book).

My greatest passions in life are music and travelling. I listen mostly to alternative rock and indie and also to some nu-metal, hip hop, garage, and other stuff that is not mindless manufactured pop (which I despise), jazz or country western. Basically, it’s the kind of music played on Xfm. I like to combine my two passions, and travel great distances to see live music. Since I currently live in Israel, not much good live music comes my way…

I spent four years in the UK, which may explain a few things about me and my blog. For a start, the language I use, which is British English. Despite American English being more commonly used in Israel, I can’t get used to it, so I’m sticking to what I know. It may also explain my taste in music. It definitely explains the way I drink my tea.

I must leave a taste for more, so more about me will follow…

Yours,

Ms. D. Brainwave

To send me your comments, please click here

Not too long ago, I was sitting in a car going up north on a Friday evening. We were on the way to celebrating the wedding of my boyfriend’s dearest friends, who I met just recently. The sitting arrangement caused a bit of a conversation when we got into the car. It wasn’t an argument, because an argument is when people don’t agree, and at this occasion, everyone was just being nice and trying to be helpful. We were in my boyfriend’s car, but he was too tired to drive, so his friend took the wheel, and being the next person who doesn’t mind driving, I was sitting next to him. My boyfriend and his friend’s fiancé were sharing the back seat with the couple’s dog.

Since I didn’t know the person sitting next to me very well, and being a well known geek, the conversation soon turned to technology, which is a subject shared lovingly by geeks worldwide. I was telling my conversation partner about my passion for music and my dream to one day write for a music magazine that I often read. He suggested that I should take my dream closer to reality by starting to write a blog, and see where this will take me.

So, here I am, writing the first posting for my first ever blog. I still do not know where it will take me. To be honest, I don’t even have a blog set up yet, and these words will probably take some time until they are posted. I guess the subjects will be varied. It will probably be a lot about my greatest passions of music, travelling, vegetarianism and my cats, Belle and Sebastian. Most likely, it will be a lot about me.

I must thank my muses for starting this blog. First of all, TopKnot who gave me the idea. I enjoyed reading your blog. I also take my inspiration of some great people who publicise their thoughts in official diaries. The ones I’ve been reading recently include Alex James from Blur, Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian and Roddy Woomble from Idlewild

I will try to keep it interesting and update regularly… please bear with me…

Yours,

Ms. D. Brainwave