♫ how’s your daughter? ♫

She’s good, thanks. Now for the goss. In terms of my career, June has always been big. For one thing, a lot of my work came through a childhood friend named June. She’s a really cool person, actually.

In June 2006, I interned at Kwani Trust. A few weeks later, I got a job at Oxford University Press, Tanzania. It was kind of a big deal, because I never got round to finishing my degree in Literature and Music, so I didn’t think I’d ever get a job in publishing. The experience had lots of ups and downs. I’ll write about them one day, but not today *cheeky grin*

In June 2011, I got into the advertising business with a job at Squad Digital. It was a copywriting gig, and mostly involved running Facebook and Twitter accounts for corporates, plus the odd website and online video script. Then in June 2012 I moved into ATL (That’s Above-The-Line Advertising, not – you know – Atlanta). I worked at TBWA / Flametree / Red Herring / Right Here Kenya. Same boss, different terms. Made some good money, did some cool work, met some great people, learned to smoke and drink. Advertising will do that to you.

In June 2017, I went back to full-time freelance writing. I get my jobs through upwork.com and the occasional referral from people I used to know. A few months in, I’m still enjoying it. Bills are getting paid, I get to nap more, and I’m home when the teenager’s school bus arrives. I’m not overly isolated, because it’s girls’ night every Tuesday and date night every Friday. Plus I skate most Mondays and swim some Thursday mornings so really, life is good. The only downside is with the fridge so close, I get the urge snack a lot. I’m trying to swap cookies and ice cream for carrot sticks and cucumber slices. Wish me luck with that.

… before and after …

When I first got into advertising, I thought I’d be doing stuff like this and this. It didn’t really work out that way, but it did remind me that media affects our lives. Yes, I know that’s a given, but for someone who doesn’t think the TV controls me, it’s a bit jarring. Like, for example, how Ally McBeal taught me that when you love someone, you have their heart forever, even if they fall in love with someone else and trick you into thinking it’s your fault. Because in retrospect, Billy was kind of an asshole, but scripting still makes me think he (and McDreamy) are nice guys.

Fortunately, life doesn’t always imitate art, and I finally found myself a genuinely nice guy, who just happened to be super smart, and pretty too! I guess love really does find you when you’re not looking. I had his affection for a little while, and he tried to indoctrinate me into bougie baddie, pun intended. It didn’t work out because … well … med school is hectic, and I wanted more time than he had. I learned a lot from him though. About life, about  relationships, about myself. And I really did like him. But it turns out affection isn’t nearly enough to keep people together.

At the beginning of this year, I was feeling a little lost. But somehow everything has worked itself out nicely. I still get low cycles, but I’m mostly happy. I have an amazing daughter, a nice house, a healthy pay-cheque, entertaining cats, colourful fish … and I’m blogging again, so yay! Life is good.

A few years ago, this would have been my cue to panic. Whenever things were going too well, I’d look around to see what would go wrong. And of course when you expect things to go wrong, they do. So now I’m trying something different. I’m expecting things to stay right. Because 36 is looking amazing, and life’s too short whine.

♫ Midnight decisions ♫ Sia ♫

16 thoughts on “♫ What’s been up man ♫

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