sabbatical

you know, it's funny; for all the times that m wishes that he had some specific event to attend on a given night, he is actually quite frustrated now that every night of his week has been the equivalent of 'booked'. at least it is a wide variety of people / places, not some clustered conspiracy. it has been far too long since he has witnessed any live music anyway. well, excluding jazz. which there is no reason to exclude...but you don't get that potent 'concert' feeling when you begin digging at a jazz club. it is breathtaking nonetheless, but also so, sway.

if matches heard guru correctly (of gangstarr, not of josh), then it is time to 'make moves'. time to plot, to plan, to thicken the stew of the future with a few de-soled boots and tin can lids. we need to give ourselves something to look forward to, don't we? jobs will not satisfy in the same way that adventure and anticipation can. that same old entryway to a job looks the same every morning...unnaturally fluorescent, flickering, stifled. there is this sensation one gets in job-spaces, this mummification, lethargy; this confinement, only expected to uncoil in certain directions and towards certain people. all in the name of some job description, some 'focus' that is supposed to be maintained. people would likely do their jobs much better in the time that they had if there were no hierarchical restrictions. certainly, people need guidance, but funneling them down to a precise stream of activity and vision just means that they get sick of it all the more quickly. people are so much more than their occupations. matches has faith in people's ability to get the job done, if only they are allowed to explore their interests in it and commit as capriciously as they would like to. nobody is really satisfied with burning all their minutes away on the internet, as the bosses fear. they only do it whenever they can because they feel the need to break ranks with their fixed position, to dissociate themselves from it at their leisure and so maintain their sanity / individuality. it is universally understood that the work needs to get done. people even do gleam a genuine sense of purpose from completing it. the real obstacle to its getting accomplished is people being forced to commit half-or-quarter-heartedly when they would rather refresh and reaffirm their senses of self. you want control over productivity? then distribute it to each individual. they know what to do with it; if anything they appreciate the deference to their own abilities and reflect all the more respect back for it.

anyway.

moves. makin'em. it struck mattress the other day, listening to someone speak so dreamily about a work 'sabbatical' far, far off in the future (a reward for consistent employability), that jobs are year-round. hah, you say...weren't you aware, matches? no, he wasn't, and probably, despite the assumed snootiness of the response, neither were you. think about that seriously. two to three weeks of vacation, per year? per year? obviously, still a gradient of relativity to the scholastic lifestyle here, but this is sheer absurdity. people need more time for personal exploration than a scrapped-together collection of days that can be counted between the fingers and toes~ here is something wrong. tell matches how this is wrong, presidential candidates. he is on the edge of his seat, ballot in hand. pen in the other, as per usual. speak soothing and poetic words to him; promise a future. promise an 'america' and a 'world'; make them realistic and simultaneously better (if you can squeeze a second scoop into the waffling cone; take care not to spill). earn your golden ticket.

but we have to make moves; we have to be discerning with our youth while is it available for discernment. this is why matches lives in portland now, as opposed to 5 months ago~ but even so, there are more moves to be had (not to limit the phrase in the physical sense). it is always time to forge the mind; to collide with reality. can we do it artfully?