City Work

Well I'm now officially applying for jobs.

A lot of my friends work a proportion of the time here and fly to a city (Melbourne or Sydney) for the rest of the time. It seems I am now considering this option, or perhaps have finished considering.

Pretty good option in so many ways. Big decisions sometimes take a long time to brew and a short time to enact.

Creatively Bored

Have you heard of Richard Florida and his Creative Class?

In short, he wrote a book in 2003 which "describes the emergence of a new social class" This new class is made up of people who use creativity as a key factor in their work. He says this class makes up 30% of the workforce.

Not insubstantial.

My partner and I are Creative Classers. We live on next to nothing so we can do what we enjoy and live in paradise in order to afford it. We don't lounge in the sun with a book. We have the work ethic thing to contend with. And a drive to succeed eventually. And of course there are the three bumpkins to feed, clothe and supervise.

But we do it in a great setting and we do get to hang out with the kids a bit and there's no traffic and we only do jobs we want to do.

I am finding though as I can start the steps towards 40 that I am gazing away from my class of lifestyle and wondering how green that turf in the other class really is. Is money worth all the rest? I mean how can it be? But so many people choose it with such fervor and with such utter disregard for any other desire or rights to pleasure.

Perhaps we missed something in the middle class gene.

I've been quietly, mostly, pondering the reason for life over the last few years. Quietly because it sounds so drab, what's the meaning of life? But it feels so raw and like something is just beyond my fingertips.

Perhaps the solution is partly to create the reason myself, to do things in life that feel worthy and worthwhile. If I'm lucky enough to have a moment to ponder what has been when I die a long time from now, I think it will make more sense if I feel pride about my choices.

But then am I desiring to do good purely for selfish reasons and does that matter?

I'm reading AS Byatt's "The Children's Book" at the moment, enjoying it too. And there's a moment early on where two adult brothers are arguing over altruism and greed. A boy who the liberal minded man has recently saved from poverty is listening and is more offended by the liberal minded brother's touting of equality than he is by the straight talking of the entrepreneurial brother who has done some shady deals.

And sometimes I feel like that, like I'm the liberal man with all the politically correct friends - wanting to feel good about myself and perhaps being a little dishonest about it in the process.

So what is the answer. Stuff it all and do what you want?

Be honest about your motives?

Just earn shit loads of money and ignore the inequities in life?

Life for the sea changer is good. The beaches are practically deserted, the friends are adorable and more diverse than they'd be in the city, the lifestyle is cheap and the kids are free living. But in the 8 years we've been living beach rural, we've gradually become a little less idealistic about the drugs, boredom, schools and transport. And we are the mynah birds. House prices are shoving the locals west while we enjoy the breezes and mutter about the mozzies while sipping on Pinot Gris.