He had a gig where he could come early, leave early, and work remotely instead of taking vacation. With the potential for life-changing money. He left because they made him follow the same rules as everyone else. He thought oddball office space management was worthy of hundreds and hundreds of words in an essay. He said more about himself in this piece than I dare say he meant to.
That said, the short stories might have worked in an unreliable-narrator way.
Not meaning to pass judgement on the author, but I agree that the literary value of this article holds promise!
To me, there was something vaguely Dostoevskyan about this piece. There's the dithering nature of the conversations described (never addressing the point, always going in circles), the incessant references to people by their acts of intrigue and rank (is the "associate director" today's "titular councilor"?), the general absence of content describing the "real" work the characters are nominally paid for, except as an accessory to some greater plot point that circles back into the previous two themes.
I guess that medium-to-large-sizd tech orgs are good on the path towards becoming a labyrinthine, 19th Century, Russian bureaucracy! I hope that some comparable literature emerges from such fertile soil .
> I guess that medium-to-large-sized tech orgs are good on the path towards becoming a labyrinthine, 19th Century, Russian bureaucracy! I hope that some comparable literature emerges from such fertile soil .
Here's a revolution that actually starts at home. Government policy aside, Americans are free to follow much of the German advice if they choose. Treat your kids as if their lives are primarily theirs, not yours. Let them take risks (for themselves, not others) and bear consequences. Exult with them when those risks are successful. Above all be a role model. This is all really easy to contemplate, but very hard to do because it is isolating. In my suburban parenting experience, we are a competitively paranoid nation. So many people raise their kids as if they're in the twin towers and they are totally going to know when to press that elevator button to get out safely. We do not have to be that way.
I've found this technique also helps when trying to learn challenging (for me) things on the guitar. The act of learning to play something new means inducing muscle memory as well as simply memorizing the tune. I work on it in the evening to the point where I don't feel like I'm making progress any more. When I come back to it the next day, I find I've made progress.
I had the same experience when I played the guitar.
Another thing is, a study was done where one group practiced the piano, the other group just sat in front of the piano imagining practicing, and another group did no practice.
The group that just imagined practicing ended up playing almost as well as the group that was actually practicing, and both groups were obviously better than the group that did no practice.
totally. i always think of it as "letting the glue dry"... you put the pieces together by practicing, apply glue by repeating it, and then let it set by sleeping.
That particular form presents an interesting challenge. Many performers tend to stay with memorized breaks, or within certain patterns, that they can do on stage without breaking a sweat. The blood only shows in jams or informal performances. Unlike jazz, where it is not. cool. to play the same solo twice anywhere.
I love the idea of the drop of blood and I value that in live music. In all fairness, though, it probably helps to be so fantastically talented that you can get farther with 1 hour of practice than other musicians get in 10 hours. I wonder if Rubenstein ever lost a gig or missed a meal because the risk went really poorly.
That said, the short stories might have worked in an unreliable-narrator way.