Learn from the mistakes of others

so, i have spent a lot of time recently doing, well ... nothing.

a large chunk of yesterday was spent cleaning the kitchen. i was that bored.

but i recalled an interest that i've had since i was about 14. one that has popped it's head up semi-irregularly ever since.

for some reason, when i started uni, i thought i'd try my hand at being an exporation geologist. boy that was dumb. ok, so my dad was in the oil & gas industry, and i had a clue what it was about. but my interest in geology was not about rocks.

so, i completely failed first year geology. got through first year on all the other science subjects of course. doing best in biology. so i got a double major plus minor in biology[1]. with some computer science and stuff as added extras.

i was gunning for a phd, so i did the whole honours thing. not so romatic or anything. days spent in the lab with biotoxins, radioactive isotopes, and the worlds most effective carcinogens was not so much. hence the outcome was less than fabulous.

no job in biomedical research, so no curing cancer. no job in biotechnology industry either. all the phds from the first biotech revolution flop had fled back to hospital labs.

so i played with computers and got some contract work. and i filled in my time with computer science studies. now, i'm pretty good at problem solving - and i don't think quite like most of my colleagues, so i was a better-than-avergae comp sci student. not enough maths or maths aptitude to get a phd. not a good enough programmer to get poached by industry.

but i'm a dab hand at analysis and design - and breaking hard problems - so i got some interesting work (and a fair slab of pc/network maintenance as well). the honeymoon came to an end when the state government sold off practically all its info tech to eds. and my client-base with it.

pissed, and looking for something to do, i took up a friends invitation to run off to law school[2]. i supported myself doing random bits of pc maintenance/support for the uni.

i eventually completed a law degree, with honours, at my alma mater. after looking after the law school's network, i began to get semi-irregular work doing research and editing in-house for academics and journals.

i also got married. had a son. got no work. started a phd. continued to get overlooked for full-time work. got a part-time job reshelving books in a law library. got divorced. dropped the phd.

i was diagnosed with asperger syndrome just as i began a teaching diploma. nothing like a crash course in social and communication skills.

a year on, and i've now had three months work as a lawyer in a law firm (the crown solicitor's office is the state government's in-house law firm). right now, i'm more unemployed than i have been in years.

but i have recalled my old interest in the use and abuse of power. so while i'm working on a novel, and applying for all manner of wierd jobs, i'm thinking about how this idea can help me refine my legal specialty - and focus my reading.

throughout this journey, i have been a member of various university governance committees and the executive committees of student and professional organisations. i have a interest in, and experience of, good (and bad) governance.

the only part of corporations' law that grabbed my interest was corporate governance. i enjoyed constitutional law for similar reasons. if i think about my other legal interests, the theme of power - use and abuse thereof - runs through it all. as it does my interest in information technology management and so on.

now i just need a catchy phrase for a business card, and some clue how to sell all of this to an employer - and just as importantly - which employer/s?

so, what is brand maelorin?

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[1] majors in microbiology and genetics, minor in vertebrate palaeontology. honours in molecular biology.
[2] at the time, the faculty of law, northern territory university.