Oops. Someone just stepped on my brain.
I once had a job.
At a place.
That knew nothing.
About getting things done.
And I remember. The day. I had. My performance review.
Me. All I wanted. Was to do. What I was paid for. Really, really bad.
I wanted to scream with excellence. To soar. To create.
My boss. Said I should schmooze more.
He didn't like it. That I focused. So much. On work. At my desk.
I no longer work there.
And he. Went elsewhere. And then was fired.
Two down.
I have never worked at a place that valued the only thing it has.
People.
Truly all a business has.
Life. The essence of business.
Today? What do you see? All over?
Well.
Recently, a guy moved to a poor country. He likes it.
Because life is slower, and things are more personal. More real. Less complex.
And now, what he wants. Is easier online shopping.
That is, he wants to destroy the life he sought.
Because it would be. More convenient. To buy things. That way.
The story of modernity.
I like the internet. A lot. The internet is my friend. We get along. I read all day.
But in some ways the internet? You know? It's like rebreathing air.
A person wants something. An idea, an image, whatever. What then?
Just do the internet. Copy it. Stick it on the side of whatever you have. And pass it on.
There are businesses looking at this.
For copyright violations.
For theft of ideas.
For defending the look of the feel and the feel of the look.
People are all antsy all over.
The world is now about fighting over details and ensuring dues.
Are paid.
Exactly.
There is another principle.
"Be alive".
It is not about shopping, or suing.
Someone steals your jacket, your hairstyle, the words in your poem?
OK.
They can't steal your imagination or your style.
Right. Apple. Bitchin company. In many ways. They have smarts and style and keep moving.
And they'll sue you until you are only a bitter-tasting, discolored rancid spot. Too.
They do both.
But the keys.
Are intelligence and life. They has 'em.
Be creative, and real, and the pirates. Will be stealing. Only your shadow.
Never catching. You.
Because you are alive. And you move. On.
You are new and fresh. Always. And they dress in your old clothes. And look it.
So a company that destroys its creativity? Destroys itself.
And that creativity is not the company's. Or "in" the company. Or owned by it.
It belongs to life. To those who work there.
Every few months a new compendium of web trends comes out. Logos. Graphics. Page designs. Usability. Feel. Tricks.
You notice?
You also notice? That these continue coming out? Every few months?
Because things keep changing?
Because things keep changing.
They do.
That's life.
That's creativity.
That's what you've got, if you've got it.
Someone steals a facsimile of what you sort of once looked like or did or sold.
What's that? Then. Only that. It is not now.
You own now.
They can't steal who you are. Or what you are.
If you think independently. If you act independently.
If you are alive. If your company is.
If you are the people and the people is you.
If you let no one step on your brain.
Circulating around the office being seen between coffee breaks isn't enough.
Nor searching for better shopping.
Nor following the rules.
As a person.
As a being.
As a creator.
Nor is the role of hunter-killer, for a company trying. To work the system. By suing the world.
You have to do.
You have to be.
You have to make.
To create.
Then you've got something. You have it.
Move.
From when I thought I'd start a business. But I retired instead. Good choice.
Have anything worth adding? Then try
sosayseff+nosey@gmail.com
Me? Still not working.
Etc...
so says eff: sporadic spurts of grade eff distraction
definitions: outdoor terms
fiyh: dave's little guide to ultralight backpacking stoves
boyb: dave's little guide to backpacks
snorpy bits: nibbling away at your sanity
last seen receding: missives from a certain mobile homer
noseyjoe: purposefully poking my proboscis into technicals