A Question
What would you do if you didn't have to work? That is to say, if there was no such thing as money (or you had an unlimited amount of it)?
This is a pretty broad question, so feel free to be as general or specific as you'd like. You can describe a trip you'd like to take, or something you've wanted to own. Or you can talk about what your life would be like if you could pursue your own projects, or just do what you feel like doing. You can describe anything from the many nuclear-powered submarines you would own, or the way you would spend every weekend staring into a campfire. You can talk about one small aspect of this dream, or the whole shabaam. It's up to you.
posted by Ryan @ 8:03 p.m.
5 comments
5 Comments:
- take one course at a time towards a psychology degree
- work with nonprofit educational groups at home and abroad
- own a quaint little house in Leaside
- eat a lot of Montreal-style bagels
- attend the Tigers fantasy camp in the winter in Florida
- spend weekends in libraries and bookstores, sipping coffee (no Starbucks! I will have already bought the chain and closed it down), chilling out and reading
- shoot, I'd buy all the bookstores and turn them into lending libraries
I could go on, but there's a finite number of electrons in the universe.
You know how penguins can't fly? You see I just think people haven't spent enough time working with penguins and rockets. I bet there's something to that.
'Nee: Have you ever been to Cooke's Fine Foods? They have a wicked selection of cheeses. They actually make a cheese that has Scotch whiskey in it. Also, the Wilton Cheese Factory is pretty damned awesome.
JTL: Nice. But I have no idea of what Leaside is, or what makes it so desireable. Care to explain?
Dave: Please tell me that you're going to the Antarctic. Also, please tell me that you're going to tackle a penguin while you're there.
Failing that, I think there would be a lot of people who would contribute to your scientific endeavour, should you set it up in the form of an NGO. Just a thought.
Everyone else: Keep 'em coming.
Leaside is the neighbourhood in TO in which I lived for four years (when I taught). For reasons into which James Kunstler goes in his The Geography of Nowhere, it's a good example of how to mix different types of residential (houses, rentals, duplexes, apartments), business, and green/public space. It's quiet and quaint, but within 25 minutes I can be anywhere downtown via bus/subway. Great little place, and I hope to return there next year when I go back to the Big Smoke.
The whole "retirement" thing is something that I think about more than most people do. That's for a couple of reasons.
First, my Dad's starting to look at retirement, and it's gotten me thinking on the subject.
Second, I've always been a "planner". My way to deal with uncertainty is to plot the myriad ways that life may unfold, and what I would want to happen. I think about what jobs I would like, where I would want to live, the kind of friends I want to have, etc., etc. I do this for about five years into the future (give or take).
At the end is a "goal state". That's where I want to be once I hit middle age. Retirement (or some other form of financial independance) usually fits in there somewhere.
I think I want to be exactly where I am right now.
That is to say, I want to be working part time at something I find meaningful, while still having time to spend with the important people in my life. I want to be surrounded by nature, and have the freedom to travel when I want to. I want to drink scotch, smoke cigars, and eat rare steaks.
Well, then why look for work?
Excluding the fact that I don't actually own my cottage (it belongs to my mother), I want to do something meaningful with my life. I feel I have a gift that can be applied in a worthwhile way, and I want to do that. Not just out of generosity, but because that's what I would enjoy doing, more than anything.
I think I would also take time out for crazy schemes. I tend to get crazy schemes from time to time. Things like starting a business that combines tanks and paintball, and calling it "Tank Ball". Or importing vintage cars from Uruguay. I would like to run with one of these schemes. It would probably involve me taking 5 years to start a cigar bar down in Costa Rica.
That, and I want a 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 roadster. Navy blue, with white stripes.
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