$ and more $

I was talking with my friend Scrooge last night about this and that, complaining about everything, basically, postulating that the world would be a much better place if we were in charge (well, if I were in charge, anyway -- he would make a mess of things) and our dialogue drifted into the realm of money. I'm sure I was helping him more than he was helping me, which is the case with most of my friendships. I am Horseface Steve, after all.

The economy is not in great shape and it's natural for this to be a concern for a lot of us. Money is a big trigger if I want to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes: being afraid. I think I said something unusually profound that really resonated with him, even more so that my normal, run-of-the-mill profound comments. He was saying things like "wow" and "unbelievably perceptive and profound." That's how I knew he was impressed.

Anyway, he suggested that I may have found a topic for tomorrow's blog. "That's a great idea," I said, while thinking: "You arrogant twit, thinking I can't come up with my own topics." I think that's how it went. Sometimes I say what I'm thinking and sometimes I think I've said something which, in actuality, I have only thought about. Sometimes people will say to me: "Yeah, you just said that." I thought it, got distracted, and didn't remember what I did or did not say two minutes ago. Lot of LSD in college.

I got up this morning with absolutely no idea what to write about. If you could see inside my head when I'm thinking intently you would see a goat playing a ukulele, riding on a choo choo train. Money would be a great topic, I thought, certain that I came up with this all on my own, even though I had nothing to do with it. Perception is reality as far as I'm concerned.

His job is very structured and secure and he has found this frustrating from time to time. I'm self-employed so my job is totally unstructured and allows me the free time to pursue some things that I'm interested in, which has been really quite very nice. And I do whatever I can to make sure this sticks in the craw of my friends with structured jobs. Now, things have changed and Scrooge is grateful for his stability and my free time might become a liability. The hunter has become the hunted.

The point of all of this is that we have both arrived at a place in our lives where money is not the sole goal and aim. Don't get me wrong -- I like money as much as the next guy, even though it usually blows up in my face and causes more problems than it solves. It's just not worth worrying about.

All of the time.