The past few weeks have been unexpectedly busy for me: a small flurry of editing jobs (including a couple of new employers - although, being Chinese educational publishers, their fees are small, and uncertain of payment), a large spasm of conscientiousness in writing up some 'farewell' training materials for a course just concluded (if you think I'm prolific on the blogs... in the last two weeks I've written nearly 20,000 words on grammar, Western notions of 'good manners', British drinking culture, and a few other things, for this just-become-ex-client), and even a couple more recording gigs (a source of income I feared might have dried up forever after I had a bit of a falling out recently with the last of my regular partners).
But now.... I have no further teaching/training prospects on the horizon. The recording studios have stopped calling again, and the bookers are shifty, evasive about when, IF they expect there to be any more work for us (since the universities will be going on vacation in a week or so, I think it's unlikely there'll be anything more until March). And I fear I may have alienated the new editing employers by complaining so vociferously about the dismal quality of their articles.
Today I'm recording another of my art gallery audioguides, and rustling up a fa piao (a 'phoney' but good enough tax receipt) for the last month of my training gigs before attempting to collect the fee for those.
And then.....
Well, I fear it's quite likely that I won't have a scrap of work again for at least 8 or 10 weeks.
In a way, I'm looking forward to it. I've been letting things get on top of me recently - haven't read a book or gone for a run or done any shopping or just gone for a long walk for.... two or three months now.
On the other hand, I am just about out of ready cash, and I hate having to raid my 'savings'.
I should probably just say Oh, sod the expense! and go travelling for a month or so. I shall meditate on this over the weekend.
3 comments:
1) Stay in Beijing and freeze yourself
2) have a getaway and remove yourself from the cold and the irritants
I choose 2 for you.
Then again, I have a lot of DVDs.
I haven't really enjoyed solo travelling in the last few years. Getting a bit too old for that whole backpacker thing, I'm afraid.
Hmm. Are there no friends with whom to run away? Or to whom you can go?
Unfortunately, I'm not one to talk. If I solo travel I inevitably must make friends and connections on the go so I don't go at it alone. Even whilst living abroad, I had to have a nest, a home base. And also inevitably, because of my love of the kitchen and feeding people (!), my nest usually became one of the hubs of getting together. I've inherited much in that respect from my grandma, Winifred's daughter - makes me wonder what Winifred was like.
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