The Air Up There

Turns out my friend Ken ain't kidding when he says he goes to work at seven and returns after eleven. The past two nights he's arrived back home past midnight. My day has been getting started around five and after a few hours spent writing in his deluxe lounge, I'm feeling mentally exhausted and physically strung out. I wait downstairs in the lobby for him after he texts me that he's coming back. We have a quick cigarette together while I forage around the block for food. Then we go upstairs for some television before he has to shower and pass out. I stay awake for awhile longer but crash when the sun starts rising. Two hours later Ken's alarm starts to ring. And ring. And ring.

Every time I've seen him over the past two weeks he's complained about this job. The hours, the work, the utter ridiculousness of not having balance in his life. He has no time to play, I have no time to work. Together we're like one happy and fulfilled adult. I ask him where all this accumulated work hours and money will take him. He never has an answer. He probably tells his work friends about me lounging around on his couch all day, taking advantage of the space his rent pays for. I tell him to just up and quit but he's way too responsible for that. To make the big bucks and advance in this world you gotta sacrifice. But for what I say?

There's a spate of people quitting (or looking to quit) their jobs lately. People who have conquered various industries and are now looking for happiness. I talked to a friend of a friend awhile back about her budding business. In six months she had made the product, researched distribution, lined up a web presence, and was ready to take everything to market. It made me realize that when someone is a go getter, it doesn't matter what field they are in. She's an ex-lawyer but will soon be a successful entrepreneur, I'm sure of it. Accomplished people just accomplish. The idea of waiting to find something you really love in order to apply yourself is really a myth. Lazy is as lazy does. So now my world is going to be bifurcated into people who go out and conquer regardless of the hurdles and the people who are always making excuses.

I was reading an excerpt of a story about Manute Bol and how his teammates called him "Mr. Alibi" because of his excuses for everything. Then Michael Jordan up and dunked on him and Bol coined the phrase "my bad." That's probably my most used phrase on the court. I do something stupid and back pedal down to the other end screaming, "my bad, my bad!"