Beautiful Words Deserve Beautiful Letters

I talked in this post about how much I liked the story of Steve Jobs' calligraphy course. Today I had a surprise calligraphy lesson of my own (or maybe typography, not sure I understand the distinction yet), and I think it may also turn out to be fairly useful!

I learnt a few basics about how to lay out documents/websites/etc in a way that makes them more readable and less visually distracting - probably good for anyone to know, but particularly for me right now since I have a website to design, and some application forms and articles to write.

Wikipedia will of course explain it all so I won't write it out here. Some basics are the CRAP principle (Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity), rivers of white, serif & sans serif fonts, spacing & kerning. This is a great website too: http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/basics/readability.php

And the teacher? One of the politicians who is still deciding whether or not to make me an ally. But I think that actually makes the surprise a little sweeter.

Getting Political

So I started my new job, worked for two weeks, went on holiday for three, and now have been back for two days. Already going crazy. This place is so political. There's more focus on forming strategic allegiances than on getting anything done. It's all secret chats in stairwells, and power struggles, and meetings in the pub about the meetings in the office, and 'who knows the most buzzwords and corporate jargon?' competitions. I can't help thinking that my interview should have been more a test of my diplomacy & bullshitting skills than a 2+ hour grilling on my knowledge of financial models.

It's a good place for me to be right now. The money is phenomenally good, and that helps me to pay off the debts I've racked up/earn towards grad school/etc. I get a lot of freedom. I can play on the internet all day, write my blog from the office, disappear for hours without anyone noticing. I could probably take my GRE test from my desk!

Fow now, I feel largely in control of my personal development. There are things I can learn from this job that would help me in any career - the art of politicking for one! And thanks to having a boss who either doesn't care or just really believes in freedom & empowerment (haven't decided yet), and having the detachment that comes from being an external contractor with other ideas for my life, I have a lot more time and mental capacity to work on things myself. Now I just have to use it! It's a new year & new chapter of my life. Time to set some goals, get some structure, really explore my options and see what I can do.