Since I started reading up on Adobe InDesign and electronic prepress publishing (okay, I successfully made all of my 2 readers tune out), I've been lurking in newsgroups. Constantly grateful for those who maintain free NNTN servers (my alma mater has one at Maxwell), I've been reading in comp and alt groups with the fervor of a teenage boy flipping through porn mags.

There is, in fact, a lot to learn, if you can weed through the useless ads and basic rudeness. Job openings can be found too (I did get my new visa, so the rubberstamp work permit is a few months away). But more impressive is the amount of time some people take to answer sadistically detailed questions. As simple as some of them may sound (How do you scan negatives?), newsreaders gladly pontificate on the history of film and the diligence required in acquiring images from negativ film.

Of course, this is a use-at-you-own-risk situation. They are authorities by virtue of their verbage alone, and quite frankly, they do talk.

Which takes me to: what the f*ck do they do the rest of the day? I'm cooking rice in between blogging, but these are just random thoughts, not studied words of advice. Further frightening me is a question closer to heart: Am I right in suspecting that there are really thousands of underemployed or unemployed graphic designers out there?