Life story update, August 2002

A contact known to me by the name Eggplant has suggested that everyone should have blurbs describing their lives so folks won't have to talk to each other any more. I agree, at least about cutting down on the repetitive small talk that people use to avoid having real conversations. Not that this will work.

I am a contract programmer and sysadmin working through an umbrella corporation called the Professional Association of Contract Employees. On paper, I'm the CEO of a division of this corporation, and there's an administrator assigned to my division who keeps track of billing and managing division funds. The umbrella company doesn't find jobs for me or anything, just handles the money and makes me eligible for group benefits discounts.

I want to write, and someday make enough money writing that I don't have to deal with computers any more, on account of how I hate them. The problem is that I can't ever come up with anything to write. Why? Because I've spent my whole life (at least, from 15 or so on) making fun of things and picking them apart. This is a good attitude to have if you're a software engineer trying to stress test a design, but it makes it really hard to create anything if all your skills are about destroying.

I watch lots of tv shows, trying to discern plot formulas and figuring out how the writers make appealing characters. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and I will eat your brain whole if you make fun of it), The Sopranos and Six Feet Under are my favorites, and The Simpsons is up there, but I don't have much use for comedy for the sake of comedy. Comedy just isn't funny. I also watch MTV's Undressed, but I have no excuse for that. Complete trash.

Lately I've devoted a lot of brain to thinking about:

I'm on a two month break from making money. I'll be spending a week at home in Alaska, where my brother and one of my stepsisters are spending the summer with my dad and stepmother. Later, but not much later, I'll be going to a Spanish immersion school in Puebla, Mexico, which is the capital of the State (Puebla) directly southeast of Mexico City. I took a class at the school back in February at which time I was level 3 out of 5. I should be in level 4 this time. Also my brother's coming with me.