Moonlake’s Serendipidities (1)

I disappeared again for two weeks and that’s because I was down with a cold for that duration. I’m also in a “don’t feel like doing anything” mode in general. But I’m trying to make a comeback so what could be more uplifting than doing an entry that lists all of the serendipities in my life so far?

As everyone can see from the description of this category page, serendipidity’s a fancy word for describing a not so complex phenomenon but I will admit that I have a whim for fancy words and I’ve just taken a liking to this word. So that’s why I named this page thus.

Anyway, I don’t want to go too far back in time so I would start the list with when I get my first grad job which is back in 06/07:

1. When I despaired of ever getting a grad job in my Honours year, I got the offer to my first job as a Research Officer (effectively a Research Assistant but at where I worked, that’s the actual job title). That year, I applied for 10-20 grad programs (you could say that’s not a lot but I believe I applied for the most out of my Honours classmates simply because most were taken up in April already but I kept getting rejected so I kept applying throughout the whole year) and the really depressing thing was that I always got through to the interview stage for those jobs that I really thought I had a chance and was somewhat interested in (or at least not adverse to) so effectively I was experiencing all these roller-roaster moods of hope and then rejection again and again. Towards the end of the year, I was despairing so much that I was full on planning to do Masters straight away if I couldn’t get a grad job but then the ad for a RO position (it was just one position whereas most grad programs take a number of new grad for anyone not familiar with what a grad program is) came along and I actually got the job even though after the interview I was still like “nay, won’t get it”.
2. I discontinued with a PhD in the final year and then became unemployed. Amidst contemplating a career change etc, I hit upon my real passion: creative writing. I mean, I knew all the way back in high school that I enjoyed writing and sometime during my PhD I had stumbled upon my writer’s home but I never considered it as anything other than a hobby. But gradually, I’m switching to the perspective that I wanted writing to be the main focus in my life. By this, I don’t necessarily mean that I’m setting out to a full time writer or a published one, simply that I want to personally make it my priority. I’m still struggling with mood swings, worries over financial security etc. at the moment but at least I’ve gained a clearer perspective over what I want with life. Anyway, I was truly euphoric when I made the realisation that I’m a writer at heart and I don’t really want to turn back to anything else.
3. Sometime before my epiphany i.e. when I was stuck in thinking about a career change, I had joined a book club on meetup as part of an attempt to meet new people and broaden my horizon (also excuse to get me out of the house and my Internet addiction). At that point, I was thinking that potentially I would be interested in a counselling career and then on the day of the meetup, two other women from that book club were actually doing a counselling course at that time. In the end, I decided not to pursue a counselling career after all but when I found that out on the day, I was like “wow, talk about coincidences!”
4. Around the time that my novel was stalled, I started to be plagued by worries over finance and my emotions threatened to play havoc. And then one day I just opened up my email and apparently someone had been trying to reach me for a while asking whether I’m available to do RA work for her. It felt like a job had just rained down on me from nowhere again (I got that feeling with my first grad job although in truth I obviously went to the job interview and they thought I was a good fit but you know how feelings are)
5. A commercial e-book venture was suddenly formed over at Strolen’s Citadel (my writer’s home) and it gave me the excuse I needed to take up writing a short story. It’s come to a stall again like my novel but I did look upon it as a blessing when it appeared.
6. I discovered a place called the Little Library in Melbourne Central (a shopping centre/train station that I always bypass on/off work) where you can borrow books indefinitely and then either return the same book or another of your choice. Nothing major but a little nice surprise for a bookworm like me
7. Google ad sent me a link to Masterclass which offered a writing class by James Patterson who writes bestselling mysteries (based on my browsing history probably). After finding out that he wrote the Women’s Murder Club series (I haven’t read it but played a few hidden object PC games based on it) I saved the link for reference. Now I’ve officially enrolled (it only costs $90 USD) and I think it comes in real handy cos I’m hoping to use it as a leverage to get me back into writing again.

There are probably more that I missed but you get the idea here. I don’t know how many of you stuck to the finish with this post but if you do, I hope that you will find it uplifting in nature for you as well.