Perhaps this is too much naval-gazing, but then, what’s a journal for?
I was talking to a tenant the other afternoon. Young kid. Switching from English to Computer Science, if I recall. When he was moving in, I noticed he had a Power Book, and I allowed as how I was pretty firmly entrenched in the Apple camp, myself.
Which makes me wonder, I mean, if this is a Dell town, why do I see nothing but Apple notebooks everywhere? Never mind that now.
Me and this one tenant, we were discussing web journals, weblogs and so forth. He saw my SXSW Interactive brochure, and he was curious.
I might have the quote wrong, but I believe he said something like, “I am so going next year.”
Yeah, me too.
He mentioned one web log he reads, and that got a chuckle from me. “Yeah, I had dinner with him last night. Didn’t know who he was until he told me his URL.”
At that dinner table, there were several folks I would consider big players in the business. Young men, full of vision and drive, making piles of money, pursuing dreams and riches. Pushing, searching , working hard. Playing hard. Eating pho, too. Listening to several of them recount stories about foreign lands, got me thinking, especially when I had a chance to reflect a little.
Late twenties, early thirties, someplace in there, making a lot more in a week than I make in a month or two. Drive. Ambition. Building empires.
So what’s wrong with me? Why aren’t I fabulously wealthy these days? Why aren’t I guest speaker? In one example, we started about the same time, but I pursued literary arts instead of almighty dollars. I don’t begrudge these gentlemen one little bit.
But I’m just not wired that way.
I can’t eat, sleep, live and love just a single pursuit. Too much to do. There’s a trail, an afternoon saunter through downtown Austin, a quick espresso at a favorite coffee shop, some trashy novel that’s fun, albeit not very mind-expanding. The cat needs to be petted.
“You know, if you just do (and figure some business advice here), then you can make a lot more money….” Or get a real job. Full time. Skip horoscopes.
But I just don’t understand that kind of dedication to a job, to single-minded pursuit of nothing else.
I did, at one time, consider a three-year contract. Deal was, I was free to do what I wanted weekends, weeknights, and so forth. In other words, the big, corporate job wasn’t such a big deal. Plus, that deal was close-ended. Three years, and I was free to pursue web antics, in any way, shape or form, on the side.
Later today, I’m going to drop a couple of RAM modules off with one of the tenants. Market price on one of them is over $100. I’m just giving it away as it doesn’t fit anything I’ve got, and he’s got computer sitting there that can use it. We chatted briefly yesterday, he was editing up some video on his Mac.
I suppose, I could take the time to shoot a digital picture, post it on eBay, and collect some dollars for it. Too much trouble, really.
Which is why I’m not making the big bucks.
Back to the temp job.
So it was another afternoon of pretending to be busy when there really wasn’t a whole lot going on. I grabbed a list of apartments that needed to have new batteries installed in their smoke detectors. Not a difficult task, in and of itself, but I got to the first smoke detector, and the little battery latch didn’t work the way I thought it should.
“Look, don’t laugh, how do you put the battery in these new units?” I asked, after I dug my electronic leash out of my pocket – the company cell phone.
(background giggling)
“Push the two prongs together, that releases the little clip thing from the wall cord, and then the battery thing slides open.”
Sure enough.
Third floor apartments, two different buildings, lots of up and down stairs for a nine-volt battery. I was a little worried, though, after I tested the first smoke alarm, and I stepped back out on the stoop, I heard the distant wail of sirens. Getting closer. And closer still. I stopped, and looked. A fire truck raced down the street, stopped, made an abrupt turn right in front of the apartments, and then motored away.
Whew.
I was just sure I’d somehow managed to set off the smoke detector, and they were all rushing in the pay me a visit.