On October 9, I will be introducing my best app ever. This is my masterpiece, my game-changer, my coup d’état. This is my theory of relativity, my 747, my Macintosh. Of course, every bit of hype comes with a price — one more person to laugh at you when you realize your ass is hanging out. I am painfully aware that this could be my Ginger, so the only code name that’s appropriate is Mary Ann. Win or lose, never let it be said I didn’t have a sense of humor.
Meanwhile, back at The Shop
My last big hit, Tap Tap Revenge, is getting huge play from Apple right now. Louie’s amazing screenshots were behind Steve Jobs during the iTunes event. Congratulations, kid. You really are the king of iPhone graphics. I hope Bart and Andrew are taking good care of you. I’d hate to have you fall in with revolutionary elements on account of poverty.
Seriously, though, there are so many references to Tap Tap Revenge on Apple’s site, I thought I’d accidently typed tapulous.com. And hey, here’s a first — one of my products is on television! TTR is featured in Apple’s new commercials.
Of course, Nate True probably hasn’t even noticed. The guy is so humble, he makes Richard Dawkins look like Wil Shipley. I expect he’s working on something completely insane in that secret lab of his. He’s like the Mercedes S Class — if you want to know what the world is going to look like in the future, talk to Nate True.
Next I have to congratulate Guy English, from Rogue Amoeba. When Bart hired me, he asked if there was one engineer in the world I could work with, who would it be? I told him to hire Guy Motherfucking English. I knew Tap Tap Revenge was going to be huge, and I knew it was going to eventually need to be ported to OpenGL. In other words, I had to give it some English.
I’d been working on a United Lemur project with Guy. It amazed me how much crap he got done. He’s the best Objective-C coder I know. (With the exception of Wil, but Wil’s not really hirable. I’ve heard him turn down numbers I’d never even heard of.)
This is the other thing about Guy — he wrote Tap Tap Revenge for an unbelievably small amount of money, more or less as a favor to me. I heard that Tapulous, as a bonus, is giving him half the revenue from the App Store. He’ll be announcing his retirement any day now.
I kid! But I’m not the only one who can take credit for Guy. His boss at Rogue Amoeba, Paul Kafasis, was incredibly generous with Guy’s time. Engineering hours are our scarcest resource, and Paul’s attitude toward this whole thing has been nothing but supportive.
That brings me to the contribution of my friend Kevin Avila. Every piece of audio code I’ve shipped has been written or inspired by Kevin. His willingness to help — first with audio code, then with PHP back-end code — speaks to his love of his craft. Kevin is just good people. There’s no other way to put it.
I’d be remiss to not give a huge shout out to my pseudobrother Kalei Lee. When Bart told me TTR was too flat and not enough like a real game, I brought in Kalei. We knew each other since Kikaida had new episodes. When I was sleeping on the street, he’s the guy who took me in. And when I had to run from the cops, he was the random bystander who inexplicably got in their way.
Kalei just started a company called Five by Five with a bunch of his old mates from the trenches of Hawaii’s video game plantations. If you’re making a game and you need some design guys who can take you from a good idea to being Steve Jobs’ favorite video game, give Kalei and his team a call. They’re a little bit pricey, but you’re getting professional results.
Finally, there are so many people at Apple, nameless as always, whose help, patience, and encouragement have inspired me in my career, just as iPhone, and Macintosh before it, inspired a generation of engineers to put quality first; to build software that adapts to people, not the other way around; and to not just admire, but to truly believe, the ability of a few crazy ideas to change the world.
28 days later
As for Bart and Andrew, my former partners, they’re in for a fantastic month. You might say I have a passing familiarity with some of the products in the pipeline. I hope they don’t mind me telling you that there’s going to be a national run on socks, because yours are going to knocked off. We might as well just rename September Taptember because that’s all anyone is going to talk about for the next 18 days.
Then, on the last day of September, all eyes are going to shift to the real story — the election. Barack Obama, champion of intelligent government and rational compromise, will be facing off with the empty carapace John McCain molted when he returned to planet Awesome.
Nine days later, on the anniversary of Che’s death, In the shadow of this momentous occasion, I will announce my solution to the problem of funding. It is so amazing, so ingenious, and yet so simple, people are going to slap their foreheads and ask why they didn’t think of it before I patented it. Luckily, software patents are the kind of exploitative bullshit United Lemur doesn’t do.
Yes, this invention is crazy, and if it works, it will make a lot of money. Like Sir Tim Berners-Lee — personal hero and NeXT user — I will share the beautiful elegance of this idea with the community, and I will let the community risk their reputations and build their fortunes on it, as I am now. This includes an implicit trust that the community will sanction people who abuse this power, keeping an ever-vigilant eye on reasonability and the common good.
October 9 is iPhone Liberation Day and our Chief Community Officer, Ash Ponders, will be leading the guerrilla marketing campaign. The guerrilla band is an armed nucleus, the fighting vanguard of the people. It draws its great force from the mass of the people themselves. Their weapons will be varied, but their chief tactic is always the same — hype.
Ah — but this hype is no mere bluster. It’s backed by Delicious Library 2 and an Apple Design Award. It’s backed by Jott, my vacation project turned business software favorite. Then there’s Tapulous, the best damned team on iPhone. Seriously, even the intern’s app is going to blow your mind.
What if I told you that Bertrand Serlet’s two favorite apps had a common thread? Wouldn’t you just have to know where it leads? I mean, with hits that big, don’t you have to be there. Now what if I promised you — promised you — that when you see this app, you are going to want to buy it? Then, wouldn’t you pretty much have to tell all your friends, alert the media, and start passing iPhones out to homeless people?
You are going to want to buy this app. You might not buy it. You might not be able to afford it, or you may have some moral objection to it, to me, to my personal ethos, or whatever. You may just be a contrarian asshole who loves tearing down anyone trying to make a difference in the world. But inside, if you were honest with yourself, you would admit — you want to buy this app.
Oh, I know, right? Damn you Mike Lee and your damned teasing. Don’t worry — between my diatribes, above said assholes spewing condescension and invective into the comments, and the next batch of treats out of Tapulous’ oven, you will be more than entertained. Just free your schedule on the 9th, because you are not going to want to miss the biggest launch — or biggest failure — in software history.
Secret’s in the sauce
As arrogant as I can come off in my writing, I’m humble enough to hire people who are smarter than me and trust them to do their jobs. There’s nothing magical about what I do. Describe the project, talk about our goals, and maybe give the occasional motivational speech. Then I try to find ways to empower my team to work at their most efficient, while being careful not to get in the way.
Ultimately, if you were to ask the people I’ve worked with about me, they would tell you that I genuinely care about the vision, the product, and the people. They would tell you that no matter what problem they have, be it technical or personal, I’m always there to listen, and to show how engineering principles can solve life’s problems. I should collaborate with Rands to bring engineering logic out of the office and into the world. We could call it “Engineering Humans.”
A lot of people have questioned my motives. It’s a sad state of affairs that altruism is considered suspicious behavior. I’ve proven myself, repeatedly shipping great applications, and walking away from potentially large amounts of money to pursue the next big idea. What could possibly compel somebody with obvious wealth potential to spend all their time trying to improve other people’s lives?
There’s a story I don’t like to tell about the day my childhood ended. It’s not a pleasant story to read, and it’s no great shakes writing it either. The long and the short of it is, when I was 7 years old, my soon-to-be stepfather tortured me so badly my mind snapped and I completely dissociated. Thus begins five years of virtual amnesia.
The biggest effect was on the way I feel emotion. For example, at a funeral, even though I know I’m supposed to be sad, I don’t feel sad. No matter how bad things are for me, I never cry. In fact, I used to be afraid I was a sociopath, and my mother had me pretty well convinced I was going to end up hurting someone.
But then the casket begins to be lowered into the ground and people’s emotions surge. I’ve seen a mother dragged off a casket because her son had been killed in a senseless industrial accident. I’ve seen a beloved friend and community member die on the race track, leaving his friends to pick up the pieces. Then I feel emotion stronger than anyone. Overwhelmed my the sorrow around me, I begin to mourn like my own wife had just died in my arms. I’ve had other mourners stop and comfort me, and felt terrible about it, because I knew that I wasn’t the one in pain.
I am an empath. For the most part, I don’t feel happy for my own successes, or sorrow for my losses. Instead, I feel other people’s emotions, as strongly as if they were my own. This amazing gift was the bane of my existence until three years go, when I found out I had been diagnosed as a child with ADHD and finally started getting treatment. My uncanny — and un-engineer-like — instinct for human interface is to an artist’s work — an increasingly practiced and polish manifestation of an innate talent.
My parents also did a good job of making me feel useless. My mother let me know that it was wrong to be born male. She would recruit my sisters in emasculating me, saying things like, “you know what they say about Asian men.” If I worked on a project and showed it to my mother, she would throw it in the trash, and tell me things like, “You’re my son. You’re not an entrepreneur.”
I can make money all day long, but that’s not going to make me happy in the long run. Only by making other people happy can I experience the joy so much of my life has lacked. Only by making a big impact can I run from the feelings of inadequacy that sometimes wake me up at night, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat, heart pounding.
I’ve found salvation in working hard for other people. Maybe you find that weird, or a threat somehow. All I can say is, I’m sorry. Please exercise your right to close your browser and go care about something else. I’ve had enough of people telling me who I am and what I’m allowed to do. If you have something nice to say, I’d love to hear it. If you have legitimate feedback, I’m always trying to improve.
But if you want to tell me why my plans are stupid, how Obama is the antichrist, and how Ayn Rand is the only author worth reading, I’m just going to start deleting your posts. Self-important cynics who talk big and think small are traitors to their fellows. Asshole hypocrites no longer have a place here. Go back to your own pathetic lives and leave the adults to their work.
Addenda 
Ricky Irvine
Mike Lee. Your story telling is amazing. I love how you can bring a new software pre-announcement together with painful life memories. Thank you for sharing.
Mike Lee. Your story telling is amazing. I love how you can bring a new software pre-announcement together with painful life memories. Thank you for sharing.
Nate True
Hey man, your posts always keep me spellbound all the way through. Wonder what that new project is, sounds exciting.
Hey man, your posts always keep me spellbound all the way through. Wonder what that new project is, sounds exciting.
Random Lemur
I love how someone who’s early life seemingly sucked so much can be such a badass today. The best revenge is being better than your opponents, no?
I love how someone who’s early life seemingly sucked so much can be such a badass today. The best revenge is being better than your opponents, no?
Janine Sisk
Mike - that took a lot of courage to write. You’re an inspiration to those of us who are still working to overcome our own f’d up childhoods. Just keep going and ignore the jerks; they are only showing off their own limitations.
Mike - that took a lot of courage to write. You’re an inspiration to those of us who are still working to overcome our own f’d up childhoods. Just keep going and ignore the jerks; they are only showing off their own limitations.
Brandon Weiss
I second Nate True’s post. Your posts are always completely enthralling. Can’t wait to see what the new app is, thanks for all the hard work!
P.S. My United Lemur shirt is fantastic, and I get asked about it all the time.
I second Nate True’s post. Your posts are always completely enthralling. Can’t wait to see what the new app is, thanks for all the hard work!
P.S. My United Lemur shirt is fantastic, and I get asked about it all the time.
David Spector
Mike-
You and your former mentor Wil have an amazing capacity to inspire people showing how it’s possible to turn crisis, and circumstance (and in Wil’s case, a hiccup of serotonin re-uptake processing) into not something you shed/discard, but something you use as a creative force to drive you forward.
Screw the self-described libertarians who are pushing Ayn Rand on you -- blowhards and sociopaths... very hard to find a libertarian who has actually built anything with their own intellect or their own hard work. Most people with kids live for a while with small libertarians: 2 year olds. Their world revolves around two words: “me” and “mine.” “Adult libertarians are the same folks, just bigger, with the right to vote and (usually) money; but with the same level of social interaction and maturity. Kim Stanley Robinson, in Red Mars, put it very well: “A Libertarian is an anarchist who wants government protection from his slaves...”
Hang in there man, you’re doing good...
Mike-
You and your former mentor Wil have an amazing capacity to inspire people showing how it’s possible to turn crisis, and circumstance (and in Wil’s case, a hiccup of serotonin re-uptake processing) into not something you shed/discard, but something you use as a creative force to drive you forward.
Screw the self-described libertarians who are pushing Ayn Rand on you -- blowhards and sociopaths... very hard to find a libertarian who has actually built anything with their own intellect or their own hard work. Most people with kids live for a while with small libertarians: 2 year olds. Their world revolves around two words: “me” and “mine.” “Adult libertarians are the same folks, just bigger, with the right to vote and (usually) money; but with the same level of social interaction and maturity. Kim Stanley Robinson, in Red Mars, put it very well: “A Libertarian is an anarchist who wants government protection from his slaves...”
Hang in there man, you’re doing good...
WTL
I’m eager to see what your game-changing idea is. Keep up the most excellent writing.
I’m eager to see what your game-changing idea is. Keep up the most excellent writing.
Random Lemur
Eep!
Not going to say any of those stupid things. But I do worry for the people who put too much trust in any politician. It seems like a way to be disappointed in the long run, even if in the short and medium run it works out well. Be careful not to get hurt.
Eep!
Not going to say any of those stupid things. But I do worry for the people who put too much trust in any politician. It seems like a way to be disappointed in the long run, even if in the short and medium run it works out well. Be careful not to get hurt.
Half-Random Lemur
I want to have something nice to say, but I can’t find the words... Just let me say that I’m totally inspired right now, and you are a brave man.
Eep!
I want to have something nice to say, but I can’t find the words... Just let me say that I’m totally inspired right now, and you are a brave man.
Eep!
Paul Goracke
I may disagree with your goals, your methods, or your conclusions (although I haven’t had to yet). As someone who has had a few face-to-face conversations yet not to the point of “knowing” you, I just thought I’d say for the record: I can’t imagine _ever_ questioning your motives.
I look forward to Mary Ann.
I may disagree with your goals, your methods, or your conclusions (although I haven’t had to yet). As someone who has had a few face-to-face conversations yet not to the point of “knowing” you, I just thought I’d say for the record: I can’t imagine _ever_ questioning your motives.
I look forward to Mary Ann.
Mark Hughes
You shouldn’t judge Ayn Rand’s ideas by the Cato Institute wankers; they’re not libertarians or objectivists, they’re Republicans who misquote Rand like the Nazis misquoted Nietzsche.
Most relevantly, the point of the Fountainhead was that the individual artist, working alone and without interference from outside, is the only one who can really create art. If you let others impose their expectations on you, everything you create will be diluted and bland, and they will then steal your work. Howard Roark, genius architect, ends up breaking rocks in a quarry, creating nothing, because it’s better than having his work stolen.
Mike, does that story sound familiar to you? Maybe you’ve, I dunno, lived through it recently?
It’s a philosophy where FIRST, you learn to stand up and be a functioning, responsible, self-sufficient human being by yourself. THEN you can do something else, something bigger. If you can’t take care of yourself, your bigger plans will always fail or be destroyed.
Objectivism doesn’t have a problem with you helping others if that’s what you want to do, it just teaches that you shouldn’t bet your life or work on anyone else betraying their own self-interest to help you, you’ll be let down if you do that. Once you can take care of yourself, you can do something for others, and find others with similar goals willing to help.
People are worried about you not taking care of yourself, and some think objectivism might help, because you can’t do anything else cool if you can’t take care of yourself.
(I would address Spector’s lies, but... not worth it. He’s wrong, and the briefest study of what libertarianism is about would reveal the depth of his ignorance.)
You shouldn’t judge Ayn Rand’s ideas by the Cato Institute wankers; they’re not libertarians or objectivists, they’re Republicans who misquote Rand like the Nazis misquoted Nietzsche.
Most relevantly, the point of the Fountainhead was that the individual artist, working alone and without interference from outside, is the only one who can really create art. If you let others impose their expectations on you, everything you create will be diluted and bland, and they will then steal your work. Howard Roark, genius architect, ends up breaking rocks in a quarry, creating nothing, because it’s better than having his work stolen.
Mike, does that story sound familiar to you? Maybe you’ve, I dunno, lived through it recently?
It’s a philosophy where FIRST, you learn to stand up and be a functioning, responsible, self-sufficient human being by yourself. THEN you can do something else, something bigger. If you can’t take care of yourself, your bigger plans will always fail or be destroyed.
Objectivism doesn’t have a problem with you helping others if that’s what you want to do, it just teaches that you shouldn’t bet your life or work on anyone else betraying their own self-interest to help you, you’ll be let down if you do that. Once you can take care of yourself, you can do something for others, and find others with similar goals willing to help.
People are worried about you not taking care of yourself, and some think objectivism might help, because you can’t do anything else cool if you can’t take care of yourself.
(I would address Spector’s lies, but... not worth it. He’s wrong, and the briefest study of what libertarianism is about would reveal the depth of his ignorance.)
Mike Lee
Mark, you’re absolutely right. I enjoy Rand, and I think like most philosophers, she was dead on in analyzing her particular problems. This revolution is ultimately a artisanal revolution, built on healthy self-interest and the humble realization that you are the only person who can help yourself.
I am fortunate enough to have reached a level in the hierarchy of needs that I’m ready to seek out other artisans and liberate them from the tyranny of subsistence employment — or worse, being forced to sacrifice their dreams over an ultimately surmountable set of problems.
Libertarianism, like Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism and any number of other -isms, has its heart in the right place. These are systems designed to explain the human condition and to offer some solution.
Unfortunately, ideas are useless. It is the implementation that matters. Just as the realities of left-wing politics kept me from ever heading that far from center, the reality of many so-called Libertarians destroys the movement’s ability to affect change.
I hope that my Reformed Capitalism, with its strongly rational bias, and its willingness to accept and incorporate new ideas, will prove to be the best implementation yet of Smith, Rand, Che, and other great minds. This revolution will be built by people like you, who actually read the books they talk about, and who understand that ideas are just that.
You buoy my spirits immensely, my friend. I look forward to standing beside you at the cusp of a brave new world.
Mark, you’re absolutely right. I enjoy Rand, and I think like most philosophers, she was dead on in analyzing her particular problems. This revolution is ultimately a artisanal revolution, built on healthy self-interest and the humble realization that you are the only person who can help yourself.
I am fortunate enough to have reached a level in the hierarchy of needs that I’m ready to seek out other artisans and liberate them from the tyranny of subsistence employment — or worse, being forced to sacrifice their dreams over an ultimately surmountable set of problems.
Libertarianism, like Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism and any number of other -isms, has its heart in the right place. These are systems designed to explain the human condition and to offer some solution.
Unfortunately, ideas are useless. It is the implementation that matters. Just as the realities of left-wing politics kept me from ever heading that far from center, the reality of many so-called Libertarians destroys the movement’s ability to affect change.
I hope that my Reformed Capitalism, with its strongly rational bias, and its willingness to accept and incorporate new ideas, will prove to be the best implementation yet of Smith, Rand, Che, and other great minds. This revolution will be built by people like you, who actually read the books they talk about, and who understand that ideas are just that.
You buoy my spirits immensely, my friend. I look forward to standing beside you at the cusp of a brave new world.
Mike Lee
That being said, I don’t think David is wrong. He’s accurately reporting his observations, which I think are compatible with your own.
Both of you have a problem with so-called Libertarians. They ruin the good name of true Libertarians, and worse, they misrepresent the very important ideas found in Objectivism, just as Mercantilists have ruined the good name of Capitalism by misrepresenting Smith.
Let’s all strive to concentrate on what we have in common — not the individual -isms that drive us apart.
That being said, I don’t think David is wrong. He’s accurately reporting his observations, which I think are compatible with your own.
Both of you have a problem with so-called Libertarians. They ruin the good name of true Libertarians, and worse, they misrepresent the very important ideas found in Objectivism, just as Mercantilists have ruined the good name of Capitalism by misrepresenting Smith.
Let’s all strive to concentrate on what we have in common — not the individual -isms that drive us apart.
Random Lemur
Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.
Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.
Random Lemur
Just popping in to say that Lemur CATTA is absolutely brilliant! I’ve never seen it before today.
Just popping in to say that Lemur CATTA is absolutely brilliant! I’ve never seen it before today.
flydadfly
well, you’ve got your ass flappin’ in the breeze now! that must be one hell of an idea you’ve cooked up, but if it’s anything like your curry it’s gonna taste really, really good when it’s done! haha!
by the bye, i would agree with mr. hughes; you need to take care of yourself before you can help the rest of us reach our potential. you’re no good to anyone but the worms if you work yourself into an early grave...
well, you’ve got your ass flappin’ in the breeze now! that must be one hell of an idea you’ve cooked up, but if it’s anything like your curry it’s gonna taste really, really good when it’s done! haha!
by the bye, i would agree with mr. hughes; you need to take care of yourself before you can help the rest of us reach our potential. you’re no good to anyone but the worms if you work yourself into an early grave...
Mike Lee
I don’t fear death, only deadlines.
I don’t fear death, only deadlines.
Victoria Wang
It’s amazing to hear how much junk you’ve been through and how you’ve become such a caring person in spite of everything. I’m so glad you’re sharing this. We need more stories like this. We need more people like this in the software industry. +1 to ignoring the jerks. Keep it up!
It’s amazing to hear how much junk you’ve been through and how you’ve become such a caring person in spite of everything. I’m so glad you’re sharing this. We need more stories like this. We need more people like this in the software industry. +1 to ignoring the jerks. Keep it up!
greg
Unlike Jake, i am not drunk. Just enjoying the weather today. To me it just looks like you are swinging for the fences. Keep at it if you dig it.
I have always been one to play a safer game, grind the puck out of the corners. Regardless, it is all about the journey.
Rand’s books and ideas pissed me off/depressed me. Never even finished one book. The joy of art/creating is the creation, not the adulation of it. If those around you are sucking the joy out of your life (provided you are an adult) then you are allowing it. So when she and her vein opening book did that to me i moved on to something that would better my life. I like Dalton’s books, a tad dry but interesting. Taking hikes and seeing the beauty and grandeur of the world is good for the soul.On a related note fuck ‘into the wild’ go for ‘into the wilderness’.
take care
Unlike Jake, i am not drunk. Just enjoying the weather today. To me it just looks like you are swinging for the fences. Keep at it if you dig it.
I have always been one to play a safer game, grind the puck out of the corners. Regardless, it is all about the journey.
Rand’s books and ideas pissed me off/depressed me. Never even finished one book. The joy of art/creating is the creation, not the adulation of it. If those around you are sucking the joy out of your life (provided you are an adult) then you are allowing it. So when she and her vein opening book did that to me i moved on to something that would better my life. I like Dalton’s books, a tad dry but interesting. Taking hikes and seeing the beauty and grandeur of the world is good for the soul.On a related note fuck ‘into the wild’ go for ‘into the wilderness’.
take care
greg
Pardon, I meant ‘alone in the wilderness’
Pardon, I meant ‘alone in the wilderness’
Jake
“as arrogant as I come off in my writing...”
no shit
This came up today at work -- in a different context, but it applies. I was explaining that if I believe in the Golden Rule, then I must judge people by their actions, and not their words, because that is how I want people to judge me.
Frankly, I’ve had a helluva time reading this blog lately, because I’m just seeing... blah blah blah. What also strikes me is how many people are seemingly hanging on your every word. I see this and begin to understand the “cult of personality” that sees people like Obama and Palin skyrocket to power [ACK!! *high voltage thru my body for referencing politics* AUGH!!]
If this is all hype and buzz-generation to sell a product, then so be it. I will gladly agree that such activity is a “necessary evil” [ACK!! *insipid platitude alert* AUGH!!]
but one I generally have no interest in.
At any rate, I’m with Greg, as far as mucking and grinding and enjoying the journey. Maybe I’m jealous because no one ever listens to me [but my mom says I’m cool]
I’ll leave you with this quote:
...We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last...
Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.
-- Robert Falcon Scott, “Scott’s Last Expedition”
“as arrogant as I come off in my writing...”
no shit
This came up today at work -- in a different context, but it applies. I was explaining that if I believe in the Golden Rule, then I must judge people by their actions, and not their words, because that is how I want people to judge me.
Frankly, I’ve had a helluva time reading this blog lately, because I’m just seeing... blah blah blah. What also strikes me is how many people are seemingly hanging on your every word. I see this and begin to understand the “cult of personality” that sees people like Obama and Palin skyrocket to power [ACK!! *high voltage thru my body for referencing politics* AUGH!!]
If this is all hype and buzz-generation to sell a product, then so be it. I will gladly agree that such activity is a “necessary evil” [ACK!! *insipid platitude alert* AUGH!!]
but one I generally have no interest in.
At any rate, I’m with Greg, as far as mucking and grinding and enjoying the journey. Maybe I’m jealous because no one ever listens to me [but my mom says I’m cool]
I’ll leave you with this quote:
...We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last...
Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.
-- Robert Falcon Scott, “Scott’s Last Expedition”
Brent S
I’ve been wondering for months what it was that I so instantly connected with when I read your writings. I would continually think “this guy is so much like me”, but there were so many glaring inconsistencies in that thought. Now I know. I, too, am an empath. A blessing and a curse, isn’t it?
I’ve been wondering for months what it was that I so instantly connected with when I read your writings. I would continually think “this guy is so much like me”, but there were so many glaring inconsistencies in that thought. Now I know. I, too, am an empath. A blessing and a curse, isn’t it?
Glover
You’re a dreamer, Mike, and I mean that in the best possible way. Not to be too Kerouac, but the thing I like about this blog is seeing someone I love taking wild, huge gulps of life in pursuit of his vision. Whatever may come, you will not be able to say that you lived boring, or that you failed to try to do what you wanted. Acting and engineering for the sake of what you want your life to be. Keep at it, and fuck the haters.
You’re a dreamer, Mike, and I mean that in the best possible way. Not to be too Kerouac, but the thing I like about this blog is seeing someone I love taking wild, huge gulps of life in pursuit of his vision. Whatever may come, you will not be able to say that you lived boring, or that you failed to try to do what you wanted. Acting and engineering for the sake of what you want your life to be. Keep at it, and fuck the haters.
Lloyd Y. Asato
I, for one,
am ve ve ve very interested...
to see...
what’s going to happen next.
I, for one,
am ve ve ve very interested...
to see...
what’s going to happen next.
On the anniversary of Che’s death, In the shadow of this momentous occasion, I will announce my solution to the problem of funding. Image credit: segway.de
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Mary Ann, Motives, and Madness
