Smelling salts, STAT!

Ahh, the human body. It really is quite expertly crafted. It has been fine-tuned over the years to the peak of performance, despite the crazy things we do to it. Let's take a moment to marvel.

...

Okay, moment over. The reason for this wonderment is that this week I gave blood for the first time. There was a drive at work, and it's one of those things that just seems like such a good thing to do that when it's that convenient, why wouldn't you? So I did. Passed the barrage of questions about where my blood and I have been, had an acceptable blood pressure and iron level, and began pumping away.

I was a little nervous, because there's the whole "Wait ten minutes to stand up, eat a cookie, etc." business. But I was fine. Had a Tootsie Pop, squirreled away a snack pack of Oreos and Nutter Butters and was on my way to an afternoon of productive documentation work. I felt a little drained maybe, but fine.

The trouble was when I got home. The sofa just felt so darned comfy I waited too long to start making dinner, a savory oatmeal with beef jerky and dried cherries. Yes, I'm weird, moving swiftly on. Anyway, I had the liquids warming up, was measuring out the oatmeal when my mom came home and asked me how I was feeling. "Fine," I said. "I can feel my lack of food a little..."

Right on cue, there it was. That knee-buckling sensation that you must put yourself closer to the ground. I knelt to the ground, and the next thing I know, I'm staring at the dust under the refrigerator and being spoon-fed cinnamon honey butter for a quick boost of sugar. Ahh, sweet elixir of life. Thank you, cute little teddy bear on the label, for bringing me back.

After walking my mother through the rest of the process of my strange oatmeal concoction, I spent the rest of the night delicately on the sofa, making sure I could stand up, and thinking of things to eat. The next day I paranoically ate a Starburst in the middle of the morning to bypass a feeling of faintness which may or may not have been real.

But now I'm fine, fully-nourished and feeling slightly better prepared for the next blood drive. You know what that means: I'm bringing my jar of honey butter.

Introducing: Me (Again)

So now that I'm back, I feel like I should introduce myself. My name is still Joanna. And I'm still a writer. Only now, I'm also an editor. Well, a technical editor. But that still counts.

Here's a little backstory. My father has worked for the same company for decades. Without naming names, it's one of Austin's several tech companies. While I was still in school, I interned with the company twice in two different groups as part of their documentation teams, focusing on their initiatives to move into the more dynamic world XML deliverables.

And so, a few months ago, I received a call out of the blue from one of my former managers. She had a spot open on her editing team and had yet to find a candidate that had everything she was looking for. She asked me to submit a resume, I went in to interview a week later and the next day she offered me the position. And I took it.

Now, I was employed in my retail position at the time. And in yet another post I'm sure I'll go into detail on the agonizing feelings of guilt and awkwardness of quitting a job for the first time. But this is about what I do today, and about avoiding another five-month gap between posts. So I gave up my life of retail and drew a rolling chair up to a desk as an editor of technical documentation. Plugging away at the grammatical inconsistencies of those who care more about bytes and binary than a turn of phrase. I'm still also writing for Examiner five times a week. Perhaps you can see why I haven't been writing, I'm practically out of words!

But I'm not out of subjects, so now that you know me again, allow me to tell you some stories of life in the 9-to-5 world. What a strange and wondrous place it is...

Apocalypse...Now?

Yeah, there's no cool and casual way to return to a blog four months later. So, sorry. All I can say is that I have a good reason, and I have news!

So, I guess I'm now living in a post-post-apocalyptic world. Because, about a week before my two-year graduation anniversary, I started work in a 'real', full-time job. Woo-hoo!

I will go into further detail, but this draft has been sitting in 'Edit' for over a week, and I don't want to prolong the publishing any longer. Basically, I have a job, and it keeps me busy. But it also gives me lots of ideas for posts. So stay tuned...please. I promise I'll reward you with content this time.