h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's odd.

Last month They announced potential redundancies. Nominally we're in a 20 day consultation period but I think there's a loophole whereby I as an outlier from our main site down south don't need to be consulted. Plue a large part of our funding seems to have dried up.

And yet enjoying work for once. Some opportunities have come up which should firstly keep me safe. More importantly...they are *interesting* opportunities, outwith our mainstream, morally dubious business, with interesting people in interesting places. Within the last six weeks I've been in Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Amsterdam and Antibes. Two of them were pure pleasure - crafty stopovers wangled for dubious porpoises. At the other two you can be damn sure I managed to mingle pleasure with business. Picasso? A Provencal market? What's not to like?

And even better - I'm doing stuff that I'm *good* at and therefore getting appreciated by likes of high-flying academics. If you stick me in front of interesting people, something will come out of it. If you make me do the job I'm meant to do I'll vegetate and my mind will wander to hootoo.

I crave stimulation!

Of course naturally the nefarious plan, easily recognised by my Swedelish friend, is that all this gives me the opportunity to do something different.

Meanwhile...back to earth with a bang. I haven't had time to do my Swedish Expenses. God knows how I'm going to get €100+ French meals through (God's honest truth! In off-season Antibes in a Hurricane I simply couldn't find anything else.) My next job is dull, dull, dull and next week I'm going to be forced to mix with military types at a conference about a topic I have zero interest in.

Well, then, what can we get you to do for h2g2 in that time...?

I didn't say it wouldn't be time consuming. Just dull.

I quite like dull jobs. I did data entry for a while, and I found it quite soothing.

It's the unpleasant jobs I hate. Or rather, jobs I don't like doing.

I imagined data entry as being utterly numbing. Can be fun?

There's a certain personality type (I've met them) who genuinely seem to like immersing their head in a spreadsheet or database and leaving it there for a very long time.

Me? I'm not a Details Person. This might have occurred to you already.

It's like solitaire. Or meditation. You are focused, but not. Lovely.

I'm not a details person either, though. It only works if you don;t actually have to think about the numbers or whatever, just plug them in.

Actually, I do a good bit of data entry myself, putting notes into musical scores. And yes, it is like playing Boggle or patience, you find yourself going on for 'just one more' bit.

I enjoy the tech end of what I do and the personal interaction with clients but I detest any form of accounting or dealing with people who don't know what's involved in carrying out my work. I suppose freelance would be the answer for me but the money's just too damn good working for the man.

Have you considered consulting?

Nominally I am already a consultant - but my suspicion is that I will end up being a consultant for myself. Slightly different to 'freelance' - there's not a role for me to freelance into - I'm about creating a role.

I also *love* teaching, and it looks like I'm going to get a chance to do a little more of that next year. That will make three universities, so maybe that counts as track record.