It’s been a while. You’d be excused for believing I was inactive. I think the last time I was here, I said that I was tired, and would try to rest.
I did manage to book a weekend trip to Woodstock, using the last paycheck from my internship. It was the first time I’d ever planned a trip like that for myself. It wasn’t to do anything. It could have been another place; I spent a lot of time reading about other places. I just wanted to go out and see another town—somewhere different.
I ultimately picked Woodstock because my girlfriend Margaret told me Woodstock had art galleries and hiking, and and that we could visit it three hours away by bus. The bus ride was perfectly fine, and we got to see most of the galleries along the main strip on our first day.
On the second day, it snowed, but that was all right. I bought us bagels and chocolate, and at night we walked through the snow to the pizzeria two lots over.
The hotel we stayed in was really an old house. It reminded me of a place I used to live in, an apartment with all the walls painted bright, acidic colors. We had the top floor to ourselves. It felt more like home than most places have, in a while.
I thought the rest of the month would turn out like that trip: full of possibilities for nothing in particular. But, even before I had left for the trip, I was being contacted by recruiters.
They were suddenly interested in me now that my internship had ended, and I was advertizing myself as a technical writer with development experience. This was very different from when my apprenticeship had ended last year, and I had spent weeks looking for work with very little luck.
At first, I felt like I had to give everyone contacting me a shot, even though I had promised myself I would rest. I filled out the applications they sent me, submitted writing samples, and completed exercises. I’m very bad at taking breaks.
One month in, with three opportunities that had ultimately fallen through, I got phone calls about two separate contracts. One was with Wiki, and one was with Microsoft. I’d be working remotely, so I could stay with my friends and family. I wouldn’t have to move again.
I never expected anything to turn out so well for me. I had to take a day to say “yes,” because I felt so shocked. The work started mid-April.
In between the internship ending and the contracts beginning, I also spent time wrangling a travel stipend to attend Write the Docs in Portland.
I’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’ve never been so lucky.