In The Land of Punctuation Marks

It’s been a long time since I made any post. I’ve been wondering what would get me to start writing here again. Then it came – my inevitable return to the night shift.

A lot has happened since my last post. Hell, I can’t even remember what it was all about. But let me update you anyway. My father’s 40th thingy went by. I’m now working in the land of periods, commas and quotation marks. I guess that’s as far as the highlights go. Everything else to me still seems like a big blur.

This new job of mine has taught me a lot of things. At first the job seemed intimidating (and at times, it still is). After a while though you get your stride. For some reason people here are under the impression that I’m good. And maybe, just maybe, they’re right. But in the land of punctuation marks, good just doesn’t cut it.

And now I’m stuck at the night shift. Don’t get me wrong. I love the night shift. No matter where I work, the night shift will always be my favorite. And though my new company doesn’t get how air conditioning could improve working conditions regardless of the time, I can’t complain. I am not a morning person – I have embraced that fact a long time ago.

Now here I am, done checking articles for spelling errors and whatnot. Keeping an eye out for en and em dashes. Oh, sweet em and en dashes. Where would I be now had I not known about the difference between you both. The Chicago Manual of Style has changed my life forever. My old professor would have been proud.

Seriously though, checking for commas had never been so frustrating. My attention to detail isn’t as sharp as it used to be. It had grown dull over the years considering the fact that my old job didn’t require me to be THAT attentive. This is what three years of not doing “actual work” does to oneself.

Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll get used to it after some time. Optimism, after all, I all that I’ve had left.

And by the way, I know I’ve been using the en dash for this entry despite knowing it’s wrong to use them to connect two correlating thoughts (for that you would need to use the em dash). But you wouldn’t care about that, right? I didn’t care about it, too! That was until I got this job. Welcome to my world.