Wherein I abandon my values and family for pretty, pretty money.

So it seems that I have taken a job. Just like that. I swore a while ago that I would be all freelance-y and free-spirit-y forever and ever, that I would never again sit in a cubicle and be oppressed by the Man, and then the Man called and said, "Here's some money for you," and I said, "Hey, freelance life? Go sit at the curb until someone picks you up, because I want me some cash."

Yesterday I went to a meeting! In an office! A meeting where no one had yogurt smearings (smearings?) on their shoulders from their kids gnawing at their shirts, where people had Blackberries and wore pumps and slacks and ties (not all on one person, you understand) and seemed to not want to burst into hysterical giggles at the silliness of it all. And then they went, "We'll pay you! To do this thing!" And I was like "No shit!" and they were all "We totally mean it!" and so here I am, now, with a sort-of job. I mean, it's not a full-time job, and it's only for a year (a YEAR!) but now I have all this work, so, hmm.

Of course, Henry will have something to say about all this. I've come to see that kids take up a lot of time and energy, and he probably wouldn't understand it if I told him to play quietly until Mummy came home at 6 pm. So there's that. I'll have to get some help. Because we are still poor (until the cash money comes a-rolling in, YEE HAW), help will probably come in grandparental form, with all the psychic damage that implies. Not damage to him, of course--oh, he'll be just peachy.

I'm not sure what all this means for the blog. In addition to the job, there's my fiction writing, which has been woefully neglected, as I am addicted to the instant gratification of blogging. But attention must be paid, my friends. Attention must be paid! Then there's, you know, life. I can't just give up on the blog, I think, right? I can't. I will find a way. (Cue dramatic music, which swells to triumphant climax, then peters out into sad, aimless jabs at a toy piano. Plink. Plinkety. Plink.)

Comments

[mojokittycat]

Please, please PLEASE don't abandon the blog. We love it. We NEED you. The Job may give you pretty money, but we send you adoration and kudos through the lines of the Internet. Surely your adoring public counts for something? And, you play the important role of distraction from our own J-O-B-S. Please don't leave us high and dry, resorting to CNN out of desperation!

[juno]

Congrats on the job and the soon-to-be cash. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the work-a-day world -- your writing makes me laugh and that is a rare thing in this life. Good luck with all the work and stuff.

[santosha]

hey! keep writing, please! i just found your blog and i am very much enjoying your sense of humor, so it would suck to have found you and then you decide to fold up shop. it would be no good. (oh! and congratulations on the job.)

[Jae]

Congrats on the pretty money. But please don't leave me here with nothing to laugh at. I will put on a suit when I read the blog if that helps.

We found an affordable nanny through 4nannies.com - I think that's the url. She lived with us and was amazing until she up and decided to go get married and create spawn of her own.

[monica]

No, nooooo!!! You cannot stop writing. You are not allowed to. NO!

[Terri]

You help to inspire so many of us (and you give me something to read while I'm at my job)! I hope you stick around as much as time allows. Many congrats on the job!

[Martha]

Don't you dare quit writing. Or we will band together, hunt you down, and collectively boil your bunny. (I mean that in a total joking way. Well, the bunny boiling part. But not the "you can't quit blogging" part. Because you CAN'T!)

Congrats on the job. I know it's tres un-pc to say this these days, but I had more than just a tiny bit of glee and joyfulness when I got to once again shower daily, put on pretty shoes, and re-enter the working world after extended periods of being home with my kids.

[kelli]

NOOOOOO! Please don't stop writing! Now, I must go figure out how to send mass bribery through the teeny tiny wires that are the Internet.......

[debl]

Alice. Come on now. Clearly you cannot stop blogging. What does work have to do with anything? Most of my posts are written from work! This changes nothing. You can do it! Your public needs you!

[Mir]

Yeah... ummm... I know you think that your life is about you, but in fact it's all about me, or at the very least, it should be. And as I have just recently made your blogroll and am feeling way more proud of that than I should, I forbid you to abandon the blog. We're willing to compromise, of course... if you need to go to work, first, and then tend to the baby, for a while, after, and then come blog, that's okay. ;)

Seriously, congrats on the gig! Sounds perfect (part-time is perfect; money and flexibility) and soon you'll be able to blog about all the things you've since learned from the grandparents you've been doing completely wrong all this time. Can't wait!

[Melissa S]

The instant gratification of the blog world is very difficult to let go of isn't it....

but you simply can't give up the blog. I want to hear your take on re-entering the work world. I'm living in a constant date of dread knowing this will be my fate very soon....perhaps you can make me laugh about it.

Congrats on the job and the money and the promise of a life outside of all the glorious things about being a mother.

[Skye]

The only thing worse than being finslippy or not being finslippy is being deprived of regular peeks into the world of finslippy. And that would be pretty damn terrible!

[Amanda]

We will die without you. All of us. No lie.

[Lee]

....figures, just as I find someone to blogroll they decide to go on vacation. *sigh*

Congrats on that money thingie.

[lizardek]

*clutches you around the legs while begging you not to abandon your blog*

[bluepoppy]

Oh my, blogs were MADE for work lives--- where else could you dish (with the same full-out satisfaction) on the insanity of The Man and our wretched addiction to him? And, CONGRATS on the job!

[LuAnn]

I vote with the others and join this Greek chorus both in congrats on the job and the plaintive plea for you to keep your writing chops up!

[FrumDad]

Lemme break it down into rational and irrational arguments.

Rational:
1) You can blog from work. I don't mean not get your work done, and like that, though, hey, I'm writing this comment from work and that means I'm not, kinda, well, erm...

But you can draft stuff and think about stuff and just float it on up to the blog when the time is right.

Put up a little announcement, like, "I'm getting paid for stuff now, so I'll be posting less often." Just not "...I'll be posting no more."

2) Your blogger persona will not be satisfied by the work persona. They're two different beasties, and both need to be fed.

3) Your other fiction writing will suffer no more than it was suffering when you were unemployed and blogging too much.

Irrational:

4) Plllleeeeaaaaase. I mean, come on! Where else am I gonna click and see, "Hey Dawn, I got your rosy finger right here."?

5) PPPPlllllleeeeeeaaaaaaasse.

--FD

[WindyLou]

no! NO! NO! This whole blog voyeur by internet thing has me hooked and I will go through withdrawal. But it is very cool that you will be making money. Congratulations!

[sac]

Wow, I had something witty to say, but after reading the comments, I have forgotten. Damn, that's never happened. Anyway, my wife went back to work a few months ago and the money sure is pretty. Shiny, too. Consider yourself very lucky that you have parents willing to take your kid all day. Mine are still young and vital but aren't into the whole watching their grandkids so much. Fuckers.

Anyway, you can't stop blogging. Work to blog, that's my mantra.

[Sheryl]

Pumps,blackberries,clean clothes...can ever-so-faintly recall that other world. Seems like there was a clean desk and clean carpet in there somewhere, nah. COuldn't be.

[Julia S]

Oh +YAWN+

The old "Should I get a pedicure or tell the Finslippites I am closing shop" ego ploy:

If I get a pedicure a total stranger might think might toes look pretty but I would need some open-toed sandals and even then they might just think it without saying anything.

If, in contrast, I tell everyone that I might be forced to close the blog then there would be outpourings of affection and threats of suicide and mass protests blocking traffic in major cities and talk of blog-rationing and the Wall Street Journal would run a piece on whether public subsidy of Finslippy could avert the crisis.

So go already. And congratulations on the job but they will never love you as much as we do.

Jamais.

[kelly]

er...i thought the goal of getting a job was to have a place where one could get paid for being there and have the privacy and the free time in which to spend hours and hours posting to your blog. But maybe that's just me.

Conrats. Ain't nothing wrong with a little money...

[Mrs. Kennedy]

Yeah, really, don't worry about the blog. I'm at work right now, drafting posts and clicking through my Amazon gold box! Wheee!

[Melissa S]

I totally need a job.

[getupgrrl]

I want to read your fiction.

Also, fock the job. You need to blog more.

P.S. Congratulations, grumble grumble.

[Miel]

My income also depends on writing. Blogs take away time from important things and get us nowhere. My inability to give up my own blog just may ruin my life.

So I say: Screw us! Make money, write fiction. Become rich and famous. We give you nothing but momentary adulation and that's a check you can't cash.

People, don't be so damn selfish. Do not hold this woman back.

Besides, the internet is fickle, never forget that. They'll forget about you five minutes after you're gone. Not like fiction readers who will stalk you until you have to get a restraining order. I should also admit that as much as I think I love you I can't remember your name right now.

(Just kidding. We won't forget you for a really, really long time. And love is always momentary in a certain sense.)

[ben]

How long till you're quoting Drew Carey?

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."

Just kidding, of course. Congrats and all that. But even so, working is highly overrated.

[sac]

Ha! That's a pretty funny quote.

[Jennifer]

Well, well, well...do we need to remind you about the poor dog that was held with the gun to it's head when our dear Mindy tried to leave us ? Well ? Do WE ?

[FrumDad]

Actually, I've reconsidered my position about this.

Seriously. Finslippy -- do what's best for you.

The whole point of how much we all I care about returning to this blog is premised on a respect and affection for you and yours.

It would be a betrayal of that respect and affection if I insisted that you stay a dancing bear for my amusement instead of doing what's best for you and your family.

I'll still, y'know, check compulsively for updates. And if I ever get around to fixing my own sidebar you're still on it. But do what you think is best.

--FD

[DM]

Um. I work. And there are no blackberries (although I'm not really sure what one of those are) or pumps (well, mainly because I can't walk in anything with a heel) but there is, yes, money.

So, I am happy that you will be receiving money because it is awfully pretty and fun to spend. I am also hoping you don't give up blogging completely because you are brilliant and make me laugh. And if you would write a book, I would buy it. So please don't stop writing.