Sometimes I wish blogs were more personal. It is a good medium to communicate to lots of people at once, friends and acquaintances--even the random stranger who shares my interest. However, when you want to really share your problems or open your heart, it's not the place. Much like those crazy kids and their myspace pages, we all have to realize that anything committed to the public aethyr can be forever referenced and used to profile you in your career. Do I care if a future employer knows that I like poker, fooseball and Mini Coopers? Or that I'm a firm believer that The Police were (are!) the best band ever, or that Microsoft inhibits innovation and has caused more bad than good with their contributions to the world's desktops? Naah, we're all entitled to opinions. Should I tell you my feelings about unions, affirmative action, flag burning or same-sex marriage though? Okay, now we're getting more into the area where your opinion that your friends respectfully disagree with can hurt you someday with someone who's not your friend. What about sharing medical history, past or present? Some things are best kept private, or at least private enough that they're not one google click away from anyone who may not have our best interests at heart. Are you censoring yourself? Sure. Is that sad? Yeah, it is. A private diary the 'net is not. A blog is great for sharing some things, but not for all.
A coffee house and a friend are worth more than all the bandwidth and audience in the world.
How was London? Good, bad, indifferent. Tough. Busy. A few days were great. A few were way bad. It's been a rough few weeks...work can be hard. That makes taking care of/being part of your family hard. It's a balancing act and many will tell you that there are clear times you must choose one or the other, and yes, some will tell you that the choice is simple and always should go one way, but nothing is that simple. I wish life wasn't so hard, but that's like yelling into the storm. What will be, will be. To quote Mr. Gump, that's about all I have to say about that.
Random thoughts of the week:
Shout out to the Freemans, going travelling soon, have fun, good luck.
Happy Birthday to Matt
I'm looking forward to FOMO XIII
Nick Skupnik is engaged, grats Nick
Follow up to conversation of the week (a.k.a. ill-advised thought of the week):
For the record, a few of us discussed this touchy subject this week and I wanted to clarify my view: I think doing the multiple jobs of both raising a family and having a professional career is worthy of slightly more respect than managing just one. I respect both situations, but I can't say they're equal. I would say the same about someone who does multiples of either...two jobs, more impressive than one. Raising three kids, more impressive than raising two. Handling a marriage and a job and kids, more props. Going to school and having a career with kids and the marriage, well, even tougher, etc etc. I'm not knocking anyone's personal choice--that's just my opinion.
Two incomes, no kids. Single parent, with career and kids. A couple with one career, one stay-at-home. A 5-year window where you do something else than what you prefer until the kids are out of those early formative years, whatever. There are lots of combos that work for different folks. My point is that people who have kids and/or a spouse, and then go to an office all day don't come home and just go to sleep--they parent and work on their marriage as well once they're back and they're behind now because they were gone all day. There are exceptions to everything, and every situation is different, but I tend to think the juggling act is tougher than concentrating on just one. Are both activities work? I'm not saying they're not. Some jobs you don't get paid for, and some jobs you don't leave the house for, yes, but at the end of the day, if you can quit the job and you don't lose the roof over your head and your other possessions, then in my opinion it's not the same stress as one where you have that consequence. As important as both things are, that is just the economic reality.
Every person must make their own choice on what they do with their life and how much time they spend at it, and what works for some of us won't work for all. Some of us don't get the same choices as others too, remember. Finances dictate a lot of what people decide on things like career and family. Still, you should do what makes you happy, or at least try to. We all try not to judge others, yes, but everyone has an opinion and it's human nature to think yours is more valid than others. Remember if you ask for someone's opinion to listen to it and not disagree with it. If you want to know what someone thinks, be prepared to hear a slightly different view than your own. That makes the world more interesting anyway.
Peace out yo. (and flame away)
