My Life, Intermission before Act II
One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
Which road do I take? she asked.
Where do you want to go? was his response.
I don't know, Alice answered.
Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter."
It's strange, this odd frontier.
When I was a worker bee, I rarely went outside during business hours, except perhaps for long lunches. My road trips for the automotive companies, or my air sampling expeditions were a long time ago.
Building the company I have now, the startup effort or consulting kept me busy. My escape was often late evenings, into the computer, into virtual worlds that I knew well.
Time was flexible, but behind the scenes I worked my ass off.
Now, not so much. My college road bicycle - a 12-speed Bianchi from an era when 'cycling' wasn't yet considered fashionable - is in fairly trim condition again. The scent of surf wax now overpowers the metalliplastic aroma of the computers. I don't 'log in' - it actually takes me time to get somewhere in this odd new world.
People are so busy, everywhere, during the day.
I have just enough to cover expenses and wander, kinda broke, amidst the masses. I went on the freeway - traffic is incredible. I forgot what it was like, when I spent 2 hours a day commuting all those years ago.
I have only a vague sense of guilt that I'm not 'busy' now, but then financially speaking, I've paid my dues and already made a lifetime's worth of money by many folk's standards.
Now if I only hadn't spent it all, that would be something.
At the office, I'm told I should go check out some Hong Kong trade shows, find some more stuff to import, clear my mind, and whatnot.
Yeah, I'd probably come back with some decent moneymaking stuff. And end up spending one day in Hong Kong and a week in Macau with friends, getting into all kinds of trouble. I think the triads would do some nasty things to one of my old college buddies, if they could ever find him. So even as cheap as it is ($600 weeklong tradeshow package deals abound) - I'm leaning toward not going.
I help my kids with their homework quite a bit; my daughter now has yahoo email and all that goes with it. I'd pop into the old virtual worlds I used to haunt from the office - but there is little reason for me to *be* at the office now - I set it up to run quite well without me. My presence won't change the company growth rate one bit - how's that for executive honesty?
And so it goes. I think another month or two of this, then glorious summer will revert to dog days and boredom, and I shall find something worth doing.
...your Invisible Pal
Which road do I take? she asked.
Where do you want to go? was his response.
I don't know, Alice answered.
Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter."
It's strange, this odd frontier.
When I was a worker bee, I rarely went outside during business hours, except perhaps for long lunches. My road trips for the automotive companies, or my air sampling expeditions were a long time ago.
Building the company I have now, the startup effort or consulting kept me busy. My escape was often late evenings, into the computer, into virtual worlds that I knew well.
Time was flexible, but behind the scenes I worked my ass off.
Now, not so much. My college road bicycle - a 12-speed Bianchi from an era when 'cycling' wasn't yet considered fashionable - is in fairly trim condition again. The scent of surf wax now overpowers the metalliplastic aroma of the computers. I don't 'log in' - it actually takes me time to get somewhere in this odd new world.
People are so busy, everywhere, during the day.
I have just enough to cover expenses and wander, kinda broke, amidst the masses. I went on the freeway - traffic is incredible. I forgot what it was like, when I spent 2 hours a day commuting all those years ago.
I have only a vague sense of guilt that I'm not 'busy' now, but then financially speaking, I've paid my dues and already made a lifetime's worth of money by many folk's standards.
Now if I only hadn't spent it all, that would be something.
At the office, I'm told I should go check out some Hong Kong trade shows, find some more stuff to import, clear my mind, and whatnot.
Yeah, I'd probably come back with some decent moneymaking stuff. And end up spending one day in Hong Kong and a week in Macau with friends, getting into all kinds of trouble. I think the triads would do some nasty things to one of my old college buddies, if they could ever find him. So even as cheap as it is ($600 weeklong tradeshow package deals abound) - I'm leaning toward not going.
I help my kids with their homework quite a bit; my daughter now has yahoo email and all that goes with it. I'd pop into the old virtual worlds I used to haunt from the office - but there is little reason for me to *be* at the office now - I set it up to run quite well without me. My presence won't change the company growth rate one bit - how's that for executive honesty?
And so it goes. I think another month or two of this, then glorious summer will revert to dog days and boredom, and I shall find something worth doing.
...your Invisible Pal