Tony tagged me with a meme. And since he very sweetly said that he was tagging me because he wanted to learn more about me, I’m obliging. According to the meme, I get to list seven random or weird things about myself. This one came to me (in the form of 5 weird things) a few years ago when I had braces and was in college – I’m now married and have perfect teeth. How time changes! The following list is in no particular order.

• Till I was five, I couldn’t string two sentences of English together. All of that changed in a matter of weeks once I joined grade school. After that, as is quite obvious, there was no stopping me.

• I don’t like chocolates, dislike chocolate ice-cream and absolutely hate chocolate chip ice-cream. But, I love chocolate chip cookies and I’ll fight you over a brownie.

• After spending years trying to gain weight, I finally gained enough to need to lose a few pounds.

• I’m forgetful. But if I scribble something down in my own hand, I’ll remember it. Which, by the way, is a good thing because I’ve been known to lose my notes.

• I love mornings yet my best work is produced at night. It’s been a love hate relationship so far.

• You’ll never find me without my cell phone. It’s my address book, alarm clock, browser, planner, calendar, camera, recorder and anything else I can use it for. But I’ve never played games on my phone.

• I plan on learning Arabic.

The last part of the meme was to tag seven people. I’m tagging everyone who wants to do it. Just leave a link back so I can read yours.

The triumphs and trials report will be published at the end of every month to record my (you guessed it!) triumphs and trials as a freelancer. Did I land a gig? Missed a deadline? Impressed an editor? Had a difficult client? etc. So without further ado, I present to you my report for November.

Triumphs:

• Landed my first gig. Pay is less, but it comes with editors and online help. Perfect for a new fish in the pond.
• Got my first freelance work enquiry through my blog. I polished my blog to some semblance of respectability and within a few days of publishing it, I had someone email me making inquiries about my rates.
• Will get my first pay! I’ll update this point once the pay is in my account. But I’m due a payday!

Trials:

• Clients who hire you, ask you to sign up someplace and then disappear. This seems to have happened to me for the 10th time! I keep wondering if I’m doing anything wrong.
• Gigs that only offer revenue share as compensation. This was a lesson only time and experience could have taught. Or a mentor, but since I don’t have one, I figured it out only after I’d accepted the work.
• Spam Filters. As heaven sent as they are, every now and then they become responsible for major goof ups. I’d been waiting for an assignment for four days and Had decided to mail my contact on Monday. By chance, I decided to check my spam on Sunday, and there it was! It had been in my spam filter for four days and it turned out that the deadline was for Monday! Phew. Close save!