April 10, 2008
April 8, 2008
For some reason, people tend to think that blogging is some really glamorous job. They have this idea that we sit around sipping umbrella’ed cocktails at the pool, with our computer next to us, uploading the occasional story when we feel like it.
I’m not going to lie, I probably play into that stereotype. When someone stops by my apartment to ask me out for lunch, or to go to Happy Hour, or to meet for coffee, I rarely say no. That really is the beauty of this job…I can work whenever I feel like it. I do sort of take the general attitude, “Oh, who needs to work when I can hang out with friends!”
But, I think what people don’t realize, is that when I go out during the day, that same night I’ll stay up until 4 am working on stories for the next day. No matter how much I play, I still make sure to get my work done. Honestly, it takes a ton of self-discipline, and has definitely been a growing experience for me. No one is sitting in the office next door waiting for me to show up at work on time. No one is hanging over my shoulder telling me, “Kyle, you have to write 20 stories today!” I can write them if I want, or I can not write them (and not make any money).
The New York Times just wrote an article on two bloggers who wrote until they dropped, literally, of heart attacks. My favorite quote from the article was,
“This is the digital-era sweatshop.”
The focus of the article are the long hours and low pay. Fortunately for me, I only have to deal with the long hours. I definitely feel that I’m fairly compensated for my work. I’m actually a little outside the payscale that they say is the average. It seems like nobody has a lot of cold hard facts on blogging since the pay scale they gave didn’t really seem right to me. They also said the number of people blogging for a living ranges from the thousands to the tens of thousands. That’s a pretty huge range.
So yeah, blogging might seem like the coolest job in the world, and it probably is, but if you’re considering trying to make a career off of it, just know that it can get pretty stressful. Writing about celebrities and style might sounds like a piece of cake, but just imagine trying to be clever, witty and entertaining, 20 posts a day! I’m telling you, it’s draining.
That being said, I wouldn’t trade my job for anything in the world. I love to write and I love the freedom. On that note, I’m off to the gym in the middle of the day because I don’t feel like working right now. I’ll do it later 
Read the full article on the stresses of blogging here.
April 6, 2008
Last night we had our first get together with the little community of young, awesome, gringa expats living in Santiago. Of course the husbands tagged along too.
It was one of those nights where everything just sort of clicks. You know what I mean…when the group chemistry is just so good and there’s never an awkward silence or worrying about where to go and what to do next. The first part of the get together was up on our apartment building’s roof top pool/party/asado area. Since we were sort of hosting I was freaking out a little bit beforehand. Having people over who don’t all know each other can be stressful because if they don’t get along I feel responsible and I feel like I have to facilitate conversation between them, but last night definitely wasn’t like that.
So the original plan was to meet up at our place and then move the party on over to Opera Catedral. I had the brilliant idea to go to that bar because I saw it on the Travel Channel as one of the top 5 bars in all of Latin America (#2, I believe). Well, at 11:22pm we remembered that there’s no cover only until midnight. After that men pay approximately $12 dollars and women pay around $8. That’s way too much, especially when it doesn’t even include a drink, so we tried to wrangle the whole big group off the roof and outside to go get a taxi to the bar, hoping to make it in time and not have to pay. Of course, with a group of about 15 people, it’s not easy getting everyone to move. First we gathered up everything on the roof and brought it down to our apartment. Then it seemed like every single person at the party had to go to the bathroom. Finally at 11:56pm we were outside hailing a cab and climbing on in.
Yes! We were pretty sure we were going to make it…until we realized none of us knew the exact address or how to get there. Also, the cab driver thought he knew what we were talking about, but he didn’t seem very sure of himself. His response when we asked him about it was, “Yaaaaa, I thiiiiiink it’s on the corner of Merced….maaaaybe.” Not very confidence inspiring. But, since we didn’t know either, we just went with the cabbies instinct. He got us there at 11:59pm, we ran in, didn’t have to pay, and didn’t turn into pumpkins either.
Entering the bar we were greeted with a rather shocking sight…fashionably dressed Chileans! Under normal circumstances at any bar in all of Santiago you can spot at least one of the following:
- A mullet
- Several fanny packs
- A female mullet
- Cameltoes
- Severe muffin top
- Random rat’s tails coming out from any given point on a man’s head, behind the ear, middle of the back of the skull, wherever.
- MC Hammer pants
- Tight fake satin pants, see picture below. Chilean women LOVE these pants.
Opera Catedral is obviously frequented by cuicos, which is Chilean for rich, snobby, upper class. I didn’t see a single cameltoe, because rich girls can probably afford to go to other countries to find clothes that fit.
Cameltoe talk aside, the bar was packed when we walked in. We checked out the upper and lower area and there was no place to sit. Our big group hovered next to the bar for a little while but it was hot and the music was a little too loud. We made the move to their upstairs outdoor patio. Apparently there was a waiting list for tables that I didn’t know about, but literally right as we walked up a large group of people were getting up to leave. I just sat down and we grabbed the table. Nobody said anything about a waiting list until much later in the night.
Anyways, even though we had a great night, I definitely don’t think it deserves the distinction of being one of the best bars in Latin America. I was definitely disappointed. I mean, if a place is on the Travel Channel, wouldn’t you think there’d be something special about it? I was expecting the chairs to be made out of gold and to see famous Chilean people or something. And at the very least I was expecting not to hear crappy 80′s music and get crappy service like at every other bar in this country. But, Opera Catedral was a let down. The waiter ignored us for a good 20 minutes before taking our order. We eventually had to hunt him down and forced him to take our order…in a very polite and nice way I might add.
And the music, oh the music. Let’s just say that amongst other classics, we were treated to Billie Jean, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and so many more oldies but goodies. Of all the crappy music that’s imported from the U.S. I just don’t understand why every single bar in this country refuses to at least play the new crappy music in English, or even new crappy music in Spanish. Whatever, I’m not picky, I’m just sick of always hearing the same stuff everywhere. I can only take Welcome to the Jungle so many times in one lifetime.
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