Not dead yet
Just resting.
The Portland trip was unexpectedly thought-provoking. Thoughts like: do I wanna move back to Portland? Soon-ish? Is it better to live a marginal existence as, say, a copywriter (if lucky; otherwise, barista), in a place that feels like home, or cling to the dead shell of a hollowly prestigious occupation that has long ago ceased offering rewards (except in the remunerative sense, which is not to be sneezed at)?
Still mulling it all over. I'll be sure to let you know when I'm done.
In the meantime, can anyone explain why [insert relevant NGO or intergovernmental committee here] doesn't establish simple little platforms -- strung-together tires, say -- in the Arctic Ocean, one every hundred square miles or so just in the zone that until recently remained ice, to help out the polar bears? Obviously, not as a substitute for reducing greenhouse gases, or anything, but just to address their immediate needs? (That was a deeply disturbing episode of Planet Earth.)
The Portland trip was unexpectedly thought-provoking. Thoughts like: do I wanna move back to Portland? Soon-ish? Is it better to live a marginal existence as, say, a copywriter (if lucky; otherwise, barista), in a place that feels like home, or cling to the dead shell of a hollowly prestigious occupation that has long ago ceased offering rewards (except in the remunerative sense, which is not to be sneezed at)?
Still mulling it all over. I'll be sure to let you know when I'm done.
In the meantime, can anyone explain why [insert relevant NGO or intergovernmental committee here] doesn't establish simple little platforms -- strung-together tires, say -- in the Arctic Ocean, one every hundred square miles or so just in the zone that until recently remained ice, to help out the polar bears? Obviously, not as a substitute for reducing greenhouse gases, or anything, but just to address their immediate needs? (That was a deeply disturbing episode of Planet Earth.)
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Anonymous said...
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esquiver said...
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esquiver said...
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Anonymous said...
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Post a CommentI'm not sure about the second bit: I agree that steps such as the one you suggested seem so obvious. (We get a place to put our detritus; they get a better chance at survival.) Why don't you send an e-mail to a few organizations and see what kind of response you get? I'm serious; it's possible that they've got summer interns that they could put to work on analyzing what it would take to accomplish this, and doing "something" would reduce your frustration about the problem.
As for the first bit, I wrestle with the same question, the more so now that a major Seattle-based financial institution (and principal fall-back option) has laid off every one of my former colleagues.
You did an admirable job in evaluating the rationale for (not) moving to Ohio a few months ago, assessing your likely reaction to the probable elements of your day-to-day-existence. I assume you're doing that in this case, too.
Not that I'm arguing against a move, but simply suggesting that you consciously apply the same analytical framework to a place that you "want" to find reasons to accept as you used for a place that, let's face it, you wanted to find reasons to reject.
Yeah. What the Eye-Tie said.....
Maybe sometime you can plan a trip to Portland when my family isn't totally haywire----But you know (or at least you should), you'll always have a place to crash if & when you get laid off the barista job.....And it doesn't cost any money to walk in Forest Park, or along the Pacific Crest Trail......
Italo:
Hey, I like Seattle, too. But trading London for it? Crazy talk. The only reason I'm not desperately trying to find work in London (or Berlin, for that matter) is that I know it'd be exceedingly difficult to do so right now. (I did look into the British Foreign Service. Annoyingly, they require you to be British.)
But yeah, yeah, I know: Portland's not really practical, either. The biggest problem with the place is that it's strangely bereft of major industries (or at least the ones that'd be useful to me; having a big Kaiser Permanente presence doesn't help me much). I did look carefully at a Nike communications position, but I was only able to get as far as "must be totally into shoe culture." I'm getting much too old to be able to fake crap like that. Weird place, Portland: top-rated restaurants without a single veggie dish; materialism run amok through its allegedly hippie culture.
Anyway, my cunning plan is to drag K there at the end of the month and hope that he falls for it enough to start looking at Nike jobs.
But, to be safe, we're also having him apply for some London stuff.
Bill -
Thanks! And, er...well, see previous comment about upcoming travel plans. ;-)
Ah, cunning plans!
I love how a certain subset of the population here (read: my friends or people whom I'd like to have as my friends) almost instinctively correct themselves when they at first say they have a plan, adding that it is, in fact, a cunning plan.
As for Seattle: don't worry ... the Italian would never agree to it, no matter how many Seattle-based friends come trotting through with pictures of the mountain and tales of sane, polite Seattleites who -- unlike many Londoners -- seem to acknowledge actively that there are other people who live in the city, share their sidewalks, etc.
On top of that, Seattle does share many of the unsettling attributes of Portland, especially the thinly veiled materialism-run-amok.
RE: Seattle v. Portland: Not to mention, I think it rains in Seattle way more than it does in Portland...At least in my experience. The Seattle Marathon is the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I've run it three times....and have to admit that I was shocked the first time when there were actually a few snow flurries and lots of sleet.......
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