New job

Yesterday was my first day as a copy editor at Stockwatch. I've always wanted to learn all I could about the stock market, and now I'm getting paid to do so. They'll be training me for the next few months, with the aim of making me a business journalist.

The hours are a bit unusual. Since the stock market opens on the east coast at 9 am, three hours ahead of us, I start work at 6 am. It's a 45-minute commute for me, meaning I'll have to get up at 4:30 am each morning I work that shift. Since Stockwatch is a 24-hour operation, I will also occasionally work the night shift, from 10 pm to 6 am, for a month at a time. After being used to students' hours, this is quite a change for me. But it's not a big deal. I just have to shift my hours earlier. No more late nights for Kai.

Meanwhile, now that I don't have to spend my remaining hours constantly looking for work, I'm free to do a lot of things I've been putting off. Since I get off work mid-afternoon, I have the rest of the day to go out biking and work out, work on various writing projects, and take on some freelance work.

Last month I designed an ad for a client, and I'll be designing another ad for them soon. Thanks to my status as a student, last month I was also able to pick up Adobe Creative Suite 3 for a mere fraction of the price. I've been using the whole Creative Suite (Adobe InDesign, Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver) almost constantly since then. I'm hoping to do some more freelance writing work as well.

Good luck to all of you looking for work. It's definitely out there.