They exuded danger and rough and a little crazy. I couldn’t get past that they were sitting in front of a liquor store up at 30th and Fraser, one of them strumming a guitar, at 8pm on a Sunday night in Vancouver.
If you were looking to make money by begging in front of a business establishment, you wouldn’t choose a liquor store in my neighborhood on a Sunday night.
That said I’munna (see that? “I’m gonna” ALL ONE WORD ) jump on board with homegirls Caligator & Gwen Bell’s December project called REVERB10 and slap right in the cheek with a blog post every day. Gwen gave me a shout out for some last minute geek tomfoolery, too, so what I’m saying is GET ON BOARD and reverb it, people.
It makes answering the ‘how are things going?’ question a very difficult one to answer, because until things are decidedly doing so well you’re almost surprised by it all, you’re really just surviving. Things are going well because you get to be inside of your project and the world revolves around your ideas.
No time for a shower and I’m honestly hoping I’ll get a minute to sneak up to the fitness center I joined for four months at some point. Missed a bus but oddly another one rolled up a minute later and I sat in the back where this woman carefully applied her makeup as we rolled into downtown and for a moment I remember thinking I was pretty happy to not be worried about some things.
I just got back from Chicago where I watched Chalise marry the man of her dreams and I really can’t imagine what kind of blog post it would take to express how deeply meaningful and heartwarming and significant it was to witness. I know I’ll watch my sisters get married and I know have a glimpse of what that will feel like.
My day was hectic, as a meeting-filled day tends to be. When building a web product it’s hard to feel productive unless you’re nestled up to your computer. For good or for bad I feel a deep sense of urgency about our website and product right now so my senses are probably heightened a bit, and I get tense when I’m not feeling as if I’m getting shit done.
I’m alone the other night, which isn’t all that weird, considering I’ve lived in this city for six months and we all know that once you hit thirty it’s different to make new friends. If you’re in Vancouver and I’ve met you please don’t take that to mean I don’t absolutely love you all. Everyone here is really, really incredible.
Before I got my scores back I heard the sing song everyone in the industry offered as advice: we hate this work. I worked for people I saw gripping smoke and coffee breaks like their day would explode without them. I saw the promise that going postal would provide wickedly smart people locked up in the depression afforded to the unfortunate and well-meaning people who settle for the restrictions of a typical career in a typical industry that pay a typically great salary for being typical.
I think it’s important to note that everyone involved, both founders and Bootup, did their best to deal with the challenges that presented themselves and lead to what happened. We were all frustrated when it looked as if the funding round was in jeopardy; having worked in finance and investments I wasn’t surprised that things like that could change quickly, but nevertheless I made the same sacrifices that Jamie made.
To uproot a life on those merits inherently under-weights the role your heartfelt relationships deserve in most of your major decisions. I was an hour from my parents and a walk from my best friends. I was awash in a sea of wonderful people doing incredible things…make no mistake. Some of the smartest people I know were the ones I spent my free time with each weekend in Chicago.