Channeling Flynn
I spent the entire day buried in programming again. Another thousand lines of code, some user interface design, and some workflow wrangling. Don’t ask what I mean by workflow – it’s the thing I get paid to talk about in front of rooms full of business people all over the country – the reason I sit on planes and trains so often.
In recent months I’ve been parachuted into other people’s projects to help them out – to dig them out of holes, or throw water as flames lick at their feet. It’s rare that I get to design and build client solutions on my own – but that’s what’s happening this week. It’s kind of fun, but also soul-destroying in a way for the other consultants. What do I mean by that? Maybe that my arrival on a project is kind of like Flynn making his appearance in Tron Legacy.
Anyway – enough about work – even if it has been all-consuming in recent days.
This evening I visited Miss 17’s college to meet one of her tutors – to find out how she’s doing. Quite apart from recent dramas involving college friends, it turns out she’s doing remarkably well. The word “flying” was mentioned more than once. We left with not a small amount of relief, pride, and broad smiles. Of course none of it stopped the murmurs of “I still don’t like her” on the way back to the car.
I understand though. I remember nurturing quite the pathological hate for my economics tutor at college. It came to a head after a year when I sat in her classroom and said I wanted to drop the subject. She sat opposite me, staring at me, without saying anything for several minutes – I eventually broke the silence by getting up from my chair and leaving the room.
I’ll save the story about switching from Economics to Art, and staying at college for an extra year for another day.