Minor Key Philosophy 2026-04-06T14:02:07+01:00 Riplii https://minorkeyphilosophy.co.uk Life in the Labyrinth Riplii https://minorkeyphilosophy.co.uk/life-in-the-labyrinth.html 2026-04-06T14:02:06+01:00 My current day job is a strange one that I fell into via an obsessive childhood interest in people-watching and psychology. Despite gaining a totally-unrelated degree and years of experience in a field which was once deemed cutting edge, all those dizzyingly high-tech edges have blunted long ago like many other skills that took years to acquire.

How so? My first chosen role - like so many others who studied for a career path before the start of the new millennium - was nixed as a casualty of ubiquitous technology. Almost overnight,  my dream job became an anachronism. 

Even decades before AI arrived, that newest nihilistic kid on the block threatening redundancies to the masses, my initial career trajectory was toast when smartphone apps enabled individuals and businesses to do complex things we'd been trained to do the long, hard way.

So, I did what so many Gen X-ers had to; I retrained and changed role. Despite a good few years being a renaissance woman, my second career also got washed away by "advances" in the world. If you call government austerity and economic downturn progress, that is. 

So, instead of having a "proper job" in this third age of my life, I've ended up listening to people's problems for a living instead.  

It's a strange set-up: I am essentially a zero-hours gig economy minnow in a sea of rich business-owner piranhas who drip feed us with work when it gets busy enough to share out. If its a quiet one, tough; you don't get paid that day. 

Guess what, I'm on bread and value-range jam today. 

]]> When did this all start? Riplii https://minorkeyphilosophy.co.uk/when-did-this-all-start.html 2026-03-31T18:36:46+01:00 It's decades ago now, but I can clearly remember the first time I realised that my written observations of life granted me unexpected approval from an amused audience. As a double boost, that revelation also added a unique zing of credibility to my existence for the first time.

I was a quiet kid. No, correction: I was a largely invisible kid as I preferred to hide in the shadows, away from loud, noisy classroom dynamics and interpersonal playground dramas. 

That revelation was back in the final fifth year junior school assembly and I had been namechecked as the recipient of the esteemed headmaster's essay award. My prize was a chunky Chambers' Dictionary bound in red leather with white blocking accents and a further book token, both tempting inducements into the world of the written word.

Fast forward to the half-decent, but deathly-dull jobs over the years where I'd have to write reports that tried to bring flair to facts. It's tough, selling out on a skill. 

Much later, my drive to put words out into the world has not only survived, but pushed me to set up this site, alongside some small project zines which are in the pipeline.

Like those essay judges years ago, I hope you too will be amused.

 

]]>