FCC Taipei Member

Oh, if I hadn't had a second drink I would be doing a better job putting faces with the stack of business cards I collected at my first FCC meeting. And no, not a single safari vest was present at the event.

Safari vests aside, I have to admit I was surprised by how very similar the Taipei FCC contingent was to journalists back home: overworked and meagerly paid, though I suspect dollars here go a little farther than back stateside, or wherever - there were a couple Germans, a Swede, at least two Aussies, a guy from Turkey, and several Americans at the mixer. An Aussie working 12-hour days for Bloomberg, who has written cover articles for Time, gave me the typical "well, I didn't get into for the money..."

Someone told me it probably wouldn't be so hard to get a copy editing gig with a local English-language daily (that might include some writing). Sounds like a grind.

I think a better plan for the next 12 months is to teach a little English, read a stack of books, send some query letters into the ether, and write a brutal, beautiful ballad about Joe the Plumber. It'll be an American tale.

p.s. WHY doesn't that guy have a Wikipedia page yet?

When is it over?

The wind is supposed to die down this afternoon and the rain - I'm not sure about the rain. But as soon as we can venture outside with the assurance we wont be hit in the face by flying trash, I plan on scooting out of this apartment.

Weather permitting, James and I are going to meet an Australian journalist who works for the Japan Times this afternoon. James might do translation work for him, and I plan on aggressively needling him on future job opportunities.

That aside, I'm still setting up interviews on the English school circuit. There are plenty of school looking for teachers, but it's hard to say how legitimate they are without physically traveling there and interviewing. Thinking about all the interviews I have to do really just makes me want to take a nap.