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May 02, 2005
Successful Investment
Before I have invested time in any serious venture my primary concern has always been associated with the return value I will glean from it. In fact, this ethic is what lies at the base of capitalism and the entire world economy itself. If the fuel we put into the machine is more valuable than the widget produced by it than the contraption is essentially worthless.
In a business environment, the application of this monetary cost-effectiveness principal is easily accepted as doctrine but becomes less pertinent when you begin using it to ascertain one's overall self-worth, or at least in the rubric with which it is evaluated.
Today I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the original Apple Computer, given at Gnomedex 4.0. He described the process in which he went from playing with electronics to the driving forces behind how his hobbies turned into something that ended up making him gads of money. Throughout those formative years, both pre- and post- Apple's founding, one theme remained present throughout; do something because you are passionate about it. His reward had nothing to do with any sort of guarantee of monetary pay-off but solely with finding enjoyment in the act of creation itself. Any additional benefits that arise as a result are merely the side-effects of your internal drive to make something great.
Though his idealism can appear non-applicable to the average observer, due to the fact that his 'hobby' earned him countless millions, the underlying principle is that satisfaction finds its source in the seemingly random, intangible motivations of the individual and not in some sort of societal doctrine.
One story of his in particular drove this point home: when Woz and Jobs received their first big order for the Apple ][ (100 units for $500 each) they sought out investors to front the money required to buy all the parts needed for the task. A venture capitalist offered to help them out on one condition, Wozniak had to leave his treasured job as electrical engineer at HP. At first he refused, citing that computers were his hobby and he was worried that if it became his full-time occupation he would lose his passion for it. Though Wozniak was eventually persuaded it does go to show that his concern was with making a great computer, not in the amount of money he could harvest from the practice.
Currently I am not living in the utopia I imagined I would be during the blissful haze that were my four years at Messiah College. I am working in my field and have a wonderful job but would rather be doing the more creative aspects of graphic design and not so much in the area of print production. Though this state is not uncommon to most designers fresh out of school with an undergraduate degree I am coming to terms with the fact that even if I one day land my dream job there are no guarantees that it will bring the state of lucid contentment I so desire.
I have a passionate love affair with graphic design but at the end of the day it is just the communication of ideas whose implications far out-weigh the manner in which they are packaged. The more I think about it the more I want what my life to be that which enriches the existences of those around me, even if the time invested to accomplish the aforementioned task doesn't return any sort of monetary gain, though I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it.
If we look to one aspect of living: love, status, wealth, accomplishment or companionship to define the validity of our existence then our contentment perches precariously on that which is temporary. A dependence on Christ however, and our whole and complete surrender to His perfect will guarantees not the treasures of this world but the security and permanence of the next. In more practical terms my hope lies in the possibility that sometime in the near future I will find myself receiving a paycheck for that which reflects those passions that monopolize the moments I spend free from the tyranny of a time clock.
Woo-hoo! Now for those fascinating trivial bits that surface in my daily rounds and late in the day come to a full, rolling boil.
It has recently come to my attention that the church doesn't condone file-sharing because its existence pits it against this age-old commandment. Though it is never good to justify ones actions through clever arguments I would contend that the real thieves are these deceitful bastards, whose vocation consists of screwing both artist and consumer. I always knew there would be a better way and after reading this I am certain I have found it. (There's two parts so make sure you read both.)
My voracious appetite for comics has spread from my daily internet ingestion into the realm of print. The release of Episode III looms ominously on the horizon and in anticipation I've been reading Dark Horse's General Grievous series and am anxiously awaiting the last two issues. In addition to this I've been reading Marvel's take on what happened between Episodes IV, V, VI which ran in the late 70s and early 80s. The stories are a departure from what could be considered traditional Star Wars story telling but the campy fell they exude adds a warm uniqueness all its own.
I've also been playing quite a bit of Halo 2 since I got a hardwire running to my XBOX as opposed to the lag-infested wireless connection I had. Turf is an absolute work of art and promises the potential for the sort of close-range bliss first introduced during our epic matches in Chill Out. My gamertag is 'kons0uL' so send me a friend request if you're interested in playing a few games.
Posted by Jon at May 2, 2005 08:15 PM