Tossing Dice
Julius Caesar stood in front of the Rubicon with his legions - and stopped to think. The stream marked the ancient boundary between Italy and Gaul, marking a line where Romans could not pass under arms by sacred tradition. In deciding to cross the Rubicon, invade Italy and militarize the Republic, Caesar would be declaring himself both a heretic and a traitor.
The annals of history (corroborated by The Adventures of Asterix and Obelix) say that he looked back to his troops, declared "Alea iacta est" - in Latin, the die is cast - and gambled everything.
He won. And then he lost. But we celebrate him not for winning or losing, but for tossing the dice.
*****
Most people put off a decision until the last possible minute. Freedom is something that most people crave for without even knowing is.
Indecision is glorious except when coasting along, living on inertia, is precisely what you were so desperate to avoid in the first place.
*****
There was an e-mail in my office inbox this week from our Managing Director - advertising a job opening for ING in Amsterdam. Land of windmills, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, legalized pot and prostitution. The job required someone who was a fresh employee, fluent in English, strong grounding in teamwork and creativity, high aptitude for communicating ideas and good in Powerpoint. If you put that on a form and put a checkbox beside each item, I'd put an X on all of them.
You'd think I'd be jumping at the chance - and I was and did. If you believe in Signs, then this was bigtime manna from heaven. But in all things in life, there's a catch.
The catch here was your job would be to help "fix up" Powerpoint presentations of the CEO for Wholesale Banking and the rest of the top management in that division, under the guidance of the CEO's executive assistant. Which basically amounts to being the secretary of the secretary of the boss, as someone at work put it. And oh, you need to report for work in Amsterdam by January 1, 2006. Happy new year, here's your laptop - surprise me newbie.
Duffie said tonight: "You know you're a yuppie when you've got more shirts with collars than without." I was trying to add something else, but that's as profound, and sad, as it gets.
Tonight Death Cab for Cutie plays on my laptop and sings that this is the sound of settling. Alea iacta est.
The annals of history (corroborated by The Adventures of Asterix and Obelix) say that he looked back to his troops, declared "Alea iacta est" - in Latin, the die is cast - and gambled everything.
He won. And then he lost. But we celebrate him not for winning or losing, but for tossing the dice.
*****
Most people put off a decision until the last possible minute. Freedom is something that most people crave for without even knowing is.
Indecision is glorious except when coasting along, living on inertia, is precisely what you were so desperate to avoid in the first place.
*****
There was an e-mail in my office inbox this week from our Managing Director - advertising a job opening for ING in Amsterdam. Land of windmills, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, legalized pot and prostitution. The job required someone who was a fresh employee, fluent in English, strong grounding in teamwork and creativity, high aptitude for communicating ideas and good in Powerpoint. If you put that on a form and put a checkbox beside each item, I'd put an X on all of them.
You'd think I'd be jumping at the chance - and I was and did. If you believe in Signs, then this was bigtime manna from heaven. But in all things in life, there's a catch.
The catch here was your job would be to help "fix up" Powerpoint presentations of the CEO for Wholesale Banking and the rest of the top management in that division, under the guidance of the CEO's executive assistant. Which basically amounts to being the secretary of the secretary of the boss, as someone at work put it. And oh, you need to report for work in Amsterdam by January 1, 2006. Happy new year, here's your laptop - surprise me newbie.
Duffie said tonight: "You know you're a yuppie when you've got more shirts with collars than without." I was trying to add something else, but that's as profound, and sad, as it gets.
Tonight Death Cab for Cutie plays on my laptop and sings that this is the sound of settling. Alea iacta est.