“How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 8:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so? ”
Charles Bukowski, Factotum
I don’t boot up immediately upon waking. I take time to get going. I cannot simply get up and immediately be productive. I think this is common. And we live in a world where, if we wish to build a life outside the typical rat race of wage slavery, we must build that life on our own time. And in the world of the rat race, our own time is found in scattered bits across the day.
This presents a challenge for those of us who want something more. You read an article about somebody who did just that: seemingly building a life by pulling them up by the bootstraps. And you think, maybe I could do that. And then you read further, and discover that their parents were wealthy and provided them with living accommodation, contacts, and seed capital. And you despair, because you have the next morning.
Some slip through the cracks. Enough people actually make the American dream, just enough to keep the myth alive. The system is designed to eat you alive. And if you want to get out, you need to cheat.
Professor Harbinger's School for Villains 