Mmm… ice cream

Wise words from my colleague:

Raising a child is easy, it’s raising them so they become good people that’s hard.

I’m being a little liberal with the translation. What she said was, “养小孩很容易，养到什么程度才难。” As you can tell from the mangled Chinese grammar, I’m not quoting verbatim either, but it’s pretty close (if you happen to be a native Chinese speaker or scholar of the language, I’m sorry I studied Chinese as a first language for 11 years and yet manage to be barely literate).

The ensuing remarks were that we could substitute ‘child’ with any task or project, and it would still apply. Say — ahem — a magazine. It’s precisely because I’m bloody-minded and there is no way I’d put my name to a magazine that’s poorly written and designed (nor plagiarised) that this is the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I’ve begun seeking comfort food on an almost-daily basis — one could also say I’ve BEEN DAMN LUCKY SO FAR.

What am I getting out of it, people ask. Fame? Fortune? In China, the last thing I want is fame, especially since it has to do with the media. As for fortune, I get a little back for the time and effort I put into making sure it’s a decent read for foreigners. I’m not going to get rich off this. I’m certainly not going to earn enough to pay the bills, either. What I get out of this is the GRIM SATISFACTION that it can be done (yes, it is pretty damn grim), and it can survive beyond one issue (thriving is another matter).

I’ve got three elements that make up my life: the day job, What’s On Xiamen, and an actual life. On any one day, I can only manage to handle two. Guess which one doesn’t make the cut most days? Neil’s being really nice about it, and is helping me if he can, so I guess the favour bank is stacking up very strongly in his favour, and may the Good Lord help me when it’s time to collect. Ahem.

Moving swiftly on then, since this is meant to be reasonably family-friendly. Look, kittens!

• 21 Apr 2005

• Thinking