Jonathan Field - Maker of Random Stuff

So I should probably mention that I’ve changed everything since my last post.

After two days at BluBet, I decided that in fact I am not able to go back to work at this time. I liked the people, the company vision, and the job… but I just don’t have it in me. In fact, I think the last 10 years was all I had, and it’s all used up. I have various theories and explanations to explain why I’m at where I’m at, but if you want to hear them you’ll have to buy me a latte at Ritual. Suffice it to say I’ve got too many things I want to do that I’ve been putting off for too long.

What are these things I want to do? I’m not 100% sure. I suppose the first thing I want to do is to figure that out. I’m lucky enough to have a little time to experiment, given that I do so in a very frugal manner. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m considering the feasibility of doing my own startup. I’m writing up an Indigarden business plan to shake the ideas out. If it looks good I’ll go for that. If not, I’ll look into something else.

I want to record some music again in any case.

Speaking of which, here’s a little clip of me practicing (sorry, no streaming… it has to download 10MB completely first). I just recorded it today. It wasn’t intended for public consumption, but what the heck: I only look of average dorkiness and I only make a few major mistakes. It’s a song I wrote back in Dec 2000 that applies just as well to my state of mind eight years later.

I’m not actually as sad and apathetic as I look in the video

I seem to have less reason and desire to blog these days — does that mean my life is less interesting or that I’m taking more interest in actually living my life?

Honestly, it’s the former at the moment. But here’s something: I’ve been interviewing and I got a few offers and after much deliberation I decided to work at BluBet.

It’s a very small startup, just a handful of people in a borrowed corner of someone else’s office at the moment. But they’re good folks, have a fun little site with a fast growing membership, and some cool ideas for the future. I start on Monday.

Ethiopian food last night at Assab… damn yummy!

So Alan and Donna have gone off for this year’s adventure in Dundee. They posted an ad for someone to come along with them, and found a young lady in the New England area that was up for it. So they’ll have help this year. Neat that someone would randomly join them like that!

I’m a little sad because I would love to go again myself. I just don’t have the money or time for it this year. But their good work goes on. Maybe I’ll be able to swing it next year…

I’m currently in Las Vegas, but I’m leaving first thing in the morning. Sophie and I drove here as part of her mom’s 60th birthday which we celebrated in Los Angeles. The plan was to be here for just a day, then for me to drive my one carful of stuff back up to SF.

Upon arriving in Las Vegas a few days ago, Lisa had organized a splendid barbecue so that I could see the maximum number of people during my brief visit. It was fun to see everyone but of course much too brief. However it did include some 12 varieties of meat and we finished off with four of us visiting old Vegas for deep-fried twinkies.

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Hmm… not a lot to report!

My political page got over 300 views, which was inspiring. In the day of web counters that may not seem like a lot, but I’d feel pretty good if even half of the visitors read some of what was there and watched a video or two. How often do we get to positively influence even a handful of people?

I’m enjoying San Francisco, but I’m listless these days. There are lots of things I’d like to do that aren’t really an option: like take another year off to record music or write or something. There’s also lots of opportunity to get paid for doing something I’m probably not that excited about at the moment, like developing web applications. I’ve interviewed at a couple places anyway.

On the upside, I found an N64 emulator and I’ve been playing a lot of Super Mario 64 on my laptop. I’ve won it before, back in 97, but only with 70 or so stars. Right now I’ve got 92 stars (out of 120) and I’m methodically playing through to completion.

Damn, it’s such a great game.

I put together a page about the presidential candidates because I wasn’t satisfied with the others out there.

It’s just an early idea, undeveloped and far from ideal, but it gives a flavor of my desire for more productive media coverage of our potential leaders.

So, you know, Get To Know Your Next President.

I just got a chain email me that attacks Barrack Obama as being unelectable because he is descended from the union of a Muslim and an atheist. The email goes on and makes various assertions about Obama trying to cover up his radical Muslim heritage. Much of this email has been debunked.

But true or not, the email made me feel like shit.

It was forwarded around by people who profess to love me.

Emails like this are an ongoing thing: this is just the latest one to circulate around with my friends and family. They are usually emails that rally people around distrust and hate of a particular group. Previous topics of distrust and hate have included liberals, homosexuals, and immigrants. Add that to the Muslims and atheists of this latest email, and the list of enemies must nearly be complete.

Since in the past I’ve spoken out against such divisive emails, I am no longer on the email list. I didn’t actually get this one directly: it was forwarded to me by someone still on the list who was upset by it as well.

There’s only a small number of people who get these emails and also read my blog, but for them I want to say this:

When you talk badly of atheists, you’re talking badly about me.

When you talk badly of liberals, you’re talking badly about me.

When you talk badly of homosexuals, immigrants, and muslims, you’re talking badly about people that I know and love.

And when you stand by and silently acknowledge such talk, you are betraying me and people that I know and love.

If that’s how you really feel about me and my choice in friends, fine, but then don’t tell me how wonderful I am. Resolve the contradiction: either decide that you don’t like me, or realize you like at least one atheist liberal homosexual-loving immigrant-loving muslim-loving secular humanist.

I don’t expect everyone to agree. I don’t agree with most of my family about a great many things. But I don’t partake in conspiratorial emails ignorantly deriding whole cultures, groups, or individuals based on what group they or their parents are members of. I’ve not yet seen an atheist email chain going around about how we should distrust all Christian presidential candidates, but if I did you can bet I’d be speaking out against that too.

Peace.

While doing some market research for Sophie’s photography business, I came across a photo collection that I really liked.

I think it’s worth going through the whole collection of 86 photos and reading the text.

Had a nice low-key New Year’s Eve with some friends. We hung out at Sophie’s place with snacks and drinks. And now it’s time for me to re-enter the job market. My year of adventure is at an end… yet it leaves me hungry for more. I think I’ll have to wait for the time being.

Sophie, Eric and I went to see the re-re-edit of Blade Runner tonight. Didn’t notice anything different from the director’s cut that came out in the 90′s. But that’s okay, because I love that cut and I’d never seen it on the big screen.

Man, I really dig that movie. It’s got one of the most morally ambiguous cast of characters I can think of. The run-down high-tech city atmosphere and the pervasive multiculturalism are spot on. It’s got a slow deliberate pacing that they just can’t do in Hollywood anymore. Such that you can think and feel as you watch. And it asks a great question without every stating it: “what is it about us, if anything, that makes us worthy of respect?”

Let’s see if I can answer that to my own satisfaction by the end of the year.

A quick group photo session with some friends before a night out on the town resulted in a photo that just begged to be turned into this.

Camryn was the first to note that the original photo looked like a TV sitcom title card, and that I looked like the “goofy guy”. I threw together the graphics, and then he created a facebook group.

And, lord willing, that’s where it will end.

(One open question is what my “catch phrase” would be…)