Here's an easy one for me...

Random Thoughts for June 27th...

1) There are two types of people in the world; those who planned ahead and booked off the Monday before Tuesday’s Canada Day holiday and those who we’ll be calling in sick.

2) The “cool factor” of your new phone is exactly proportional to the “I want to strangle you factor” for your fellow street-car riders as you try to decide on a ring tone. Will be Jazz Notes 3 or Happy Techno? Dude, set up your phone at home.

3) HBO is new show is about vampire’s coming out of the closet in the Deep South, and it is being written by Alan Ball. Oh, and the vampires are discriminated against. Spot the subtext.

4) For reasons my lawyer has asked me not to go into, I never see any television commercials. Actually, I go to quite a bit of trouble to avoid them. So, yeah, feel free to describe your current favourite spot at length. Cause I really feel like I’m missing out.

5) Actually a follow up to the above. The commercial is only 30 seconds long. If your description of it hits the ten minute mark, something’s very, very wrong.

6) I actually hate people who have laptops with batteries that... you know... work. Look at you, sitting on the patio in the nice weather, totally unconcerned by a lack of electrical outlets. How I loathe thee.

7) I was just informed by a reliable source that nurses can’t get fired. How this policy can actually lead to a shortage of nurses is a mystery to me.

8) If you're going to put a date into your blog post, it is probably a good idea to actually post it on that date.

Being Lazy... in a Professional Kinda Way

I’m starting to realize just how good I’ve had it.

For the past little while I’ve been making a pretty comfortable living as a freelance writer. And now I’m facing something I had, without much faith, kinda hoped I could continue to avoid forever.

Tomorrow I am interviewing for a 9 to 5 job.

Don’t get the wrong idea. This isn’t a ‘real job.’ It’s not like I’m some struggling artist whose family has convinced to put his dreams on hold to pay the rent. In fact, it is probably a step forward in my writing career. Long term, it will open a lot of doors in the direction of my wildest dreams.

In the short term, it will mean getting up in the morning with everyone else. I’ve become so used to what I call ‘the freelance lifestyle’ that the idea of being on someone else’s schedule gives me chills. It has made me realize just how ridiculously easy my life has become. I get up when I want, I work when I want, I go for walks or lunches or meetings or shopping trips when I want. I do laundry at off-peek hours. As long as I meet my deadlines, if I want to take a day off and play video games, no one even knows.

All that and my fiancée works at home, too. It’s like working with your best friend for an absentee boss.

Sure, there are downsides to working freelance. You have to always be on the hunt for your next paycheque. No benefits. No paid sick days or vacation. It took a long, chronically broke period of my life to even get my foot in the door. But the lifestyle... the lifestyle is ideal for me.

So why leave all that behind? Because everything I hope to accomplish above and beyond what I already have involves working in some office somewhere from early until late. And here’s the thing - this may be the only story you will ever hear about an artist who will give up on his dream by not taking a 9 to 5 office job.

Been A While

Hey! How's it going? Long time no see! You're looking great! What's new?


Uh-huh...?


Nice...!


Oh, really?


What happened then?


Sounds great. Listen, we totally have to hook up more. I gotta...


Yeah. Good. I'm just going to...


Exactly. You know, I'm just off to...


No, sure. Let's do that. Really. But...


Okay, but...


Look. Shut it. I'm busy, okay? I'll see you when I see you.


No, don't...


Don't cry.


I'm not...


I'm sorry. I will try to post more regularly, okay? Okay? Let's see a smile... there you go... little smiley coming to visit...


And yes, I will stop talking about. No, I don't think you're an idiot, that's just how you come across to people.


Good lord, again with the waterworks.