
The Waiting Place - olivercameron
http://dcurt.is/the-waiting-place
======
brandall10
I love Dr. Seuss... just a quick note to anyone who is a fan of his, the last
episode of South Park pays a nice homage.

But the one written work that really gets under my skin, in the vein of being
a spectator vs. participant in life... and this might be cliche, but it's Pink
Floyd's song Time.

    
    
       ...Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town 
       Waiting for someone or something to show you the way...
    
       ...And then the one day you find ten years have got behind you 
       No one told you when to run you missed the starting gun... 
    
       ...The time is gone the song is over, thought I'd something more to say...
    

But then it goes on, yet there is a shift in tone. Instead of worry, it is
utter resignation.

What I find particularly interesting is this was written when the band felt
they were losing relevance - by this point they had a run as long as and were
about as old as The Beatles when they had broken up. A rock band back then
entering their 30s who hadn't _really_ broken out was doomed, right? What
examples to the contrary were there? Yet Dark Side of the Moon is where their
life as cultural icons began. Time is the only song on the album credited to
all four members of the band.

I'm 36 years old and spent the first 15 years of my professional life working
in the enterprise doing C++/C#, with all the wonderful trappings of Office
Space. I'm proud of some of the work I did but overall I was pretty unhappy.

5 mos ago I quit my job to become a contractor. I do Rails work for a couple
long-term clients based in NYC. This might not be a big deal to most people
here... all I can say is I've never been happier. It's like, "I did it. And
this is just the beginning."

They say it takes only 21 days to cultivate a habit. They also say major life
decisions can happen in an instant, like a flick of the switch. I don't know
how much of that is actually true, perhaps it's best to not ponder things like
that too much.

~~~
atas
I have the same age as you. One year ago I was thinking of quitting my job to
turn my hobby into a business. I thought of staying in my hometown (cheap but
not start-up friendly and family and friends would just see me as
'unemployed'), but I took an offer instead for a more business-oriented role
to move abroad. Then one day, as a visitor in a nearby country (cheap and
start-up friendly, far away from anyone I know) I saw an advertisement on the
street of apartments for sale and it struck me. I now have a plan of moving to
this country with cheap cost of living after I finish with my current project.

I always thought of leaving my country as a good way to get me started
(leaving next to family would just give me a delusion of security, would make
me more complacent and/or I had to deal with discouragement), but cost of
living would be a factor for staying anyway.

Why I am saying all this? From just visiting a country as a tourist, a plan
came up. And if I hadn't taken that offer maybe I would have quit. Or maybe
not. And I am still considering of applying for some jobs abroad in the
meantime (more waiting). But at least a more solid long-term plan has formed
in the background now.

------
Swizec
This has always been a problem for me, I'm very huge on waiting and then doing
a bunch of shit in the mean time because I'm bored.

The problem is twofold:

1\. I keep creating stuff that I don't care enough about. Thus it doesn't get
the love it deserves and after a while starts looking bad on my "permanent
record".

2\. Because I keep being busy with things, the thing I'm waiting for keeps
getting pushed back.

This sucks and I often try very hard to avoid this problem. One thing I've
started doing is that whenever I get an impulse to say "I have to wait for X",
I try to understand _why_ I'm waiting.

if I can't come up with a really good reason (for instance, because the
market/tech opportunity for project X isn't there yet, or maybe I simply can't
fit another X into my life), then I shelf X for a while.

My biggest X is "move out of country". The reason for waiting is I don't have
enough money saved up for a buffer to tie me over possible/probable dips in
freelancing income. I think this is a good enough reason for waiting.

~~~
jacquesm
hey Swizec,

> The reason for waiting is I don't have enough money saved up for a buffer to
> tie me over possible/probable dips in freelancing income. I think this is a
> good enough reason for waiting.

There are always plenty of reasons for not doing stuff, but life is made up of
the stuff that you _do_ , not of the stuff that you postpone.

There is a song (in French) about a guy that his whole life long wants to go
see the gulf of Mexico, and on his dying bed his wife tells him 'If you'd have
had any guts you would have gone there to see it'. It's a pretty rude ending
to an otherwise perfectly sweet song but there is a grain of truth in there.

You're young, fairly talented. You could likely land anywhere and make it, and
even if you don't it'd be a fantastic adventure and you'll be smarter and with
a broader horizon regardless of the outcome. I've moved countries several
times and likely will do so again at some point in the future so this is not
me telling you how it could work in theory. It can work. It can work for you
too.

One way in which you could finance your move is by working free-lance for
companies via the net. I know a few people doing this right now and they can
pretty much work from anywhere in the world. Enjoy your freedom while you're
still mobile, young and healthy.

~~~
Swizec
> One way in which you could finance your move is by working free-lance for
> companies via the net. I know a few people doing this right now and they can
> pretty much work from anywhere in the world. Enjoy your freedom while you're
> still mobile, young and healthy.

That's exactly what I'm going to do! But doing it in a situation where any
delayed payment means I can't afford to buy food is just irresponsible and
borderline stupid.

So really I'm not so much waiting as I am spinning up a freelancing business
and getting it to a point where it's a somewhat reliable income stream and
making sure I don't find myself in a situation where I have to take on jobs
out of desperation.

~~~
precisioncoder
Desperation builds character and drives innovation, I've learned more in my
desperate times than I ever have in my stable times... in fact often those are
the times I miss the most. Do what's smart for you of course, but if you don't
have any dependents going into a situation beyond your current capacity is a
great way to expand that capacity. Also if you've starved due to lack of money
to buy food then food tastes sweeter for the rest of your life.

------
pooriaazimi
I remember reading this or something alarmingly similar (that too was about
_Oh, The Places You’ll Go!_ ) a while back on HN... But this one was published
today! What the hell is going on? Is it deja vu or it's just a happy
coincidence?!!

Edit: Good... "Oh, The Places You'll Go! site:news.ycombinator.com" Google
search helped me assure myself I'm not crazy. This is the other article:
<http://daltoncaldwell.com/oh-the-places-youll-go> and HN discussion:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4061059>

Funny thing is that both are using Svbtle, which helped further confuse me.

 _I won't remove this comment (which is definitely off-topic and non-
constructive) because I think others might experience the same shock as mine
and it would save them a bit of Googling..._

~~~
colinsidoti
I've quoted it before as well, not at all surprised to see it again. You
should buy and read the book.

Unlike most times people tell you to read a book, it'll actually only take 10
minutes.

------
mercuryrising
I fell into this trap recently. I had a pretty good PCB design that had been
lying around for a month, which I started designing about four months ago. I
kept waiting though. I wanted to think of something that would be a problem
and solve it before I have to. I want to jump a generation of iterating. And I
did this for about a month. I waited a month, when I could have spent $25 and
gotten boards by the time I started working on it again. Real world feedback
is unparalleled in its ability to let you see what you're doing. I'm still
waiting on the boards, but they'll be here soon and then I start making it...

Since I sent it out, I have thought of a couple nice 'features' that would
have reduced some of my work load, but only about 3 minutes a board. I waited
a month to save three minutes........

I forget what author I was reading (one of the many posts on 'doing
something') when I had a moment of clarity - JUST SEND THE DAMN THING OUT. I
reviewed it a little bit, said whatever, sent it out. We'll see how it works
when I get it.

It's easy to forget how nice it is do develop software. You get instant
feedback as to whether something works on the surface level. It would be much
worse to code on a system where you wrote 100 lines of code, had to send it
out and get the compiled version back in a week. Syntax error on line 4, no
feedback given for lines 5-100. Hardware is a much more elusive beast, but
having something physical, something that you can bring with you, that isn't
created from a plane of RGB lights, that you can hold, touch, and feel.

There's always a double edged sword, for every problem there is an
opportunity, you lose a little bit of something for every convenience you take
up in your life, the hardware software divide is one with the sense of touch
and smell. Software currently doesn't feel or smell like anything. It doesn't
weigh anything. It has no value outside of the tubes. A piece of hardware can
reach across different boundaries and engage different senses.

~~~
bisrig
Besides a generic wish of a pleasant board bring up, I just wanted to pass
along this message: the fear of cutting your board is only matched by the joy
of seeing it come up for the first time. And even better, that's when the
learning starts. Good luck!

------
grinich
I think my favorite reading of "Oh, the Places You'll Go" is the Burning Man
version. :)

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahv_1IS7SiE>

~~~
rms
Without a doubt!

------
kiba
I meant to start khanacademy after I finish a book on arduino, or a computer
science course. But of course, I never really got around to that with an
attitude like that.

Then I decided, "---- that shit!" and just go ahead and do khanacademy. The
result? I worked weeks after weeks on khanacademy,(spending at least an hour)
and now I completed 83% of all of the math exercises and concepts. 316
concepts are mastered out of 379, and 63 more concepts to go.

Combined with a couple of good habits, I have perpetual emotions like "OH
YEAH." or "---- YEAH" or "I AM A BADASS" because I keep doing thing that is
productive and meaningful to me. Which is kinda odd, because you expect the
hedonistic trendmill to catch up with the level you are at.

------
rushabh
Waiting has its own beauty. If you are waiting for the bus, you are reading HN
on phone, or listening music or just observing. In today's world, where you
are bombarded with stimulation, you will always have the impulse to do this or
that or visit someplace or follow a fashion. Sometimes is just nice to wait or
you won't be able to experience life fully.

Beautifully explained Elizabeth Jennings in Delay:

    
    
      The radiance of the star that leans on me
      Was shining years ago. The light that now
      Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
      And so the time lag teases me with how
    
      Love that loves now may not reach me until
      Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
      Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
      And love arrived may find us somewhere else.

------
mehulkar
Related poem I wrote a year and some ago: <http://mehulkar.com/posts/15>

------
notlisted
Loved that book. Agree on the advice. If only I'd read it 25 years ago.

For the young'uns: don't wait till it all makes sense to you. Every word in it
is true.

------
countessa
On the other hand, the trap of always "doing" something or "going" somewhere
is equally harmful. You can trick yourself into thinking you are achieving
something when you are just spinning your wheels. Like anything, balance is
the key.

"If you can wait and not be tired by waiting" - Kippling

------
tingletech
Geisel also did propaganda cartoons during WWII
<http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dswenttowar/>

------
pizza
I used to come up with, never implement, and completely forget about good
ideas. So I decided to make a rainy day ideas list. Somehow I've managed to
populate a text file with at least twenty ideas that I find at least somewhat
valuable, so those ideas are what I try to write to life whenever I have some
downtime, and it's been really rewarding to build some of them. My advice? Go
out and make your ideas.txt (or bucketlist.txt) file today!

------
troymc
Theodore Geisel _did_ start writing under his real name, for his college's
humor magazine. But then he and his friends got caught drinking gin and the
dean banned them from extracurricular activities, including writing for the
magazine. That's when he started writing under a pen name: his middle name...
Seuss.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#College>

------
noonespecial

      Again It seems we meet 
      In the spaces In between 
      We always say, "Won't be long" 
      Oh but something's always wrong

------
molbioguy
If Theodore Geisel felt he was stuck in the waiting place for too long (and
therefore missed his chance to write the great American novel), his work does
not reflect it and is obviously immensely important. So was he really right
about how bad the "waiting place" is, given the work he actually created while
there?

------
casca
A good reminder that we are often waiting for things that are within our power
to change. There might be a temptation on HN to read this as "you should quit
everything and do a startup!", but hopefully it will be read to apply to other
aspects of life too.

------
yeonhoyoon
For anyone interested in further development of the idea presented in the
article, I recommend books 'Power of Now' and 'A New Earth' by Eckhart Tolle.
Life changing books.

