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For three years, I have been in China teaching Swing Dancing. Now I'm wandering yet again...
2005-10-19
The Next Phase
So, after careful consideriation and measurement of my bank accounts, I have decided to get a regular job. I'm not sure exactly what to pursue, but my most likely choice will be in the computer field, like before. It's been a hard decision, one which really has been taking me many months to come to terms with. As it stands, the main reason I will be changing my focus is that the money is not enough in it to keep doing it full time. I've burned through a good amount of my savings. And even if the dance classes reached full attendance and party attendance grew and movie appearances increased, it still will come to a salary that measures to a very small amount of US dollars.
My strategy now is to either take on a full time salary position, or resume project consulting like I had in the States. If at all possible I will continue to do the swing dancing thing as a side-line. There's no telling exactly what the job requirements will be, however, so I'm going to have to hope that I've injected enough life into the swing dancing scene that it will be able to survive my departure, if need be.
I would say I've got two big questions for the future. #1 is, what type of work will I do? #2 is, where will I live?
I don't know exactly what type of work. Having taught and organized a dancing club for two years, and worked in movies, TV, and so forth, I've certainly changed my resume. I re-created that resume recently, and here's how it reads:
1995-2003: Ecommerce, with this list of clients, working with these companies, with proficiencies in such-and-such software...
2003-2005: Teaching swing dancing, TV commercials and show apperances, and dancing in three movies.
How would you feel about this resume passing over your desk?
It certainly is a unique situation. I'm sure that from a purely technical point of view, the two year diversion will put me behind a guy who's been doing computer work straight throughout. But I also bet there's a few job positions which would really take to a person who can show diverse abilities. Those are probably the jobs most worth having, as far as I see.
One of my friends out here recommended I go into some sort of 'foreigner talent agency'. I've also met with a guy who's trying to start a computer game company out here (however, he has no business license, no office, and no funding so that's pretty much not going to happen). My thinking now is that I would be happy with a regular job and a side-line of keeping swing dancing going. To do this, I'll need something that would keep me in Shanghai. I am at the moment considering moving out of Shanghai for the right job opportunity. But the more I think of it, the more likely it is that the right opportunity for me will be here in this city and not somewhere else.
On a personal front, I've become close to someone out here. Today I asked her to be my girlfriend; that we date each other exclusively. I asked her to think about it for a while, and tell me tomorrow (which is coming soon, now...) I have been seeing this person periodically for many months now, but we had never discussed exactly the terms of our relationship, leaving each open to dating. Just within the last month I've come to realize my level of affection for her, and after several days of trying to figure out my emotions I decided I should have a more serious talk with her. For a while, I was wrestling with jealousy and possesiveness. I began to feel threatened when another male came onto the scene and started talking with her. I'd wondered why I was feeling this so strongly, and why I felt threatened at all. I considered several options, including breaking things off. Strangely enough, I helped come to a decision while I was having a beer one night on the town. I'd noticed that as of the last couple of months, I'd lost interest in pursuing other girls I'd seen. It's a lot of things, including having lived here for two years and experienced a lot of the dating culture. But also I'd become intrigued with this one girl's personality and way of doing things in life. I came to realize that spending time with her was one of the few things which at the moment make me truly happy. But the 'moment of realization' came while I was listening to a song playing in the bar. It was "Hey Jude" by John Lennon. Everyone present had tipped back a few, and we were all more-or-less doing a sing-along thing. The line which I heard most strongly was "And don't forget that it's a fool; who plays it cool; by making his world a little colder."
Silly enough, but it made me realize that I was on to something pretty good, and I ought not to let it slip away without doing something about it. I just said that it had come to the point where I felt very strongly about her. And it had come to the point where we had ought to make a decision about what to do. I'd wanted to know how she felt, and I said we had either decide to get together, or if that did not work out, it would probably be better to cool things off completely. Emotions can be a tricky thing, and I think it's better to either definitely go one way or the other. Of course, I'd prefer for us to stay together. Should it not work out that way, I could live with this, too. If that's the way it is, I'm sure I'll be upset for a time, but then I could go back to feeling more like a single person.
So anyhow, that's the situation.
Movie Update: The White Countess U.S. release date: Dec 15, 2005.
Last note: I am planning a party called Casablanca. It's a swing dance party, with a big band (17 members) in a large dance venue. I'm shooting for over 300 in attandance. I think there's good reason to believe we can get this. The party will probably be my last big contribution before taking on a full time job. It should be no trouble to do the job search at the same time as running dance classes and getting prepared for the party.
Peace,
-J
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