(no subject)
You’re not exactly Professor Frink, I tell myself; you could fill a continent with the throngs of people who make a living doing something far dorkier. Still, lately I’ve been flying smaller and smaller circles around this idea, and maybe it’s worth mentioning. But maybe not.
It might be a by-product of getting older, or it may be that I’m feeling professionally fulfilled, or it might just be that SXSW Interactive is fast approaching. Here it is: I feel like work is starting to consume me.
Not in the bad sense of the word, mind you, but not in a wholly positive way either. The specific expertise I have is valuable; hell, there are plenty of programmers, but few of them seem to give any sort of shit about the UI, and I do. So, y’know, good for me. I’m not great. I could one day be great. But I’m good. And I’m not in the Bay Area or New York or Seattle; I’m in Austin. So good is good enough.
And the more I’m working, the more I’m learning. I’ve always been inquisitive when it comes to computers. What helps, of course, is that on a computer, you end up learning even by accident. Even if you spend the day reading someone’s freaking Xanga. But I’m learning on purpose, and I’m learning more and more and more. And the rate at which I’m learning is growing. I spend eight hours a day at work staring at a computer; then I come home and spend six more staring at another.
Christ, it’s ridiculous, because of all things learning ought to be the one activity that is unencumbered with downside. But there are a fixed number of hours in the day. I don’t want to become a cave-dweller. I don’t want professional progress to come at the expense of life balance.
I’m still having a great time, though. Maybe it’s just an irrational feeling. But it does feel a bit like I’m approaching the point of no return. As if the doors will soon close, and I’ll have to grab a handrail, and the next stop will be ten years down the line.