Work-related mutter

October 16 marks my 10 years with this company. Except it doesn't, actually. I started out as a casual in mid-1999 on a "spoiler" mag that folded when its job was done (picture Drizzt Do'Urden hamstringing a firbolg). I was soon hired as a full-timer by my present periodical. But then, amid the ballyhoo surrounding the Sydney Olympics, I decided to have a crack at tech writing, jumping to what I didn't realise was an unseaworthy ship. Laid off in the second round of sackings there, I returned to the fold, where I've remained contentedly ever since. (Apart for an internal move from men's to women's rags and back. The grass definitely wasn't greener in that pasture!) The lesson to be learnt from this self-indulgent ramble is that if I hadn't erred in entering the IT sphere while the "dot.com bubble" was bursting, I'd have reached the decade milestone – and be accruing luvverly long-service leave. Oh well, not that far to go. Touch laminated wood.