How Soon is Now?

It’s been an interesting week. I left Chelsea last Wednesday morning around 9 ET. I tried to stop at Les Saisons for a Latte but it was closed. So I headed south to Ottawa, then the 417 and then east on the 401. I didn’t stop until after Kingston. I got gas and coffee. I listened to the CBC. I felt sick most of the time. The rest of the drive just happened. The border was friendly. I landed RunamuckB at about 9PM feeling displaced and woke up feeling even more lost.

Seven days later, things feel better. I am in a better space and glad that I got a chance to say goodbye to the people and to the city. What turned things around? Well last Thursday I discovered that Johnny Marr was playing Metro. This helped me remember why I love this city. Johnny Marr was heaven sent to me that night. I leaned into the front left speaker belting How Soon is Now. “I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. I am the son and heir, of nothing in particular.” Then the chorus ...  “I am human and I need to be loved. Just like everybody else does." Yeah – I was feeling pretty sorry for myself but it helped hearing Johnny Marr singing with me.

Netflix cheered me up as well. Re-watching Wilfred makes me giggle - every time. I watched Extract, Butter, Adventureland, and Charlie Bartlett. They all helped. Netflix just seems to understand my mood. There has been a steady drip of job board listings for roles requiring my background, experience and expertise. All very encouraging. No real bites but at least it’s encouraging to know that there are jobs in my field. I am sure I’ll land one. Somewhere during all of this I decided to rediscover my voice. It’s been a while since I read things that weren’t related to work or just transactional email.

I think being at home the week before during the Boston Marathon Bombing, while numbing, also contributed to my feeling that I have things to say. I turned up my Twitter watch and started going after more interesting people to follow. I’ve been reading, feeding my interest in technology and the Internet. I’ve been reflecting on my past 10 years of promoting learning and development for large software vendors. So what’s next? I hear you asking. Answers are developing but it may take more than one post to provide a coherent answer.

I last saw the Smiths during the summer of 1985. I guess you would expect me to say the time slipped by quickly but the reality is - it took 28 years. Twenty eight years is all of my working life. What I've learned is that Johhny Marr’s tremolo sound resonates still. Jobs have come and gone but the things that remain constant are that I remain interested in learning, I remain interested in people, I remain interested in technology, and I remain interested in media.

Sometime ideas take a while to incubate but I will find my riff. I leave you with some YouTube. Your comments are welcome.