tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post5204840406491115988..comments2023-12-22T10:17:24.280-05:00Comments on Bookpuddle: All Aboard The American Dream/Nightmare!Ciprianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00254338542624853230noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-6853382811813785282007-02-23T20:44:00.000-05:002007-02-23T20:44:00.000-05:00Patricia, the answer is YES!Yes I DO!No.Just kiddi...Patricia, the answer is YES!<BR/>Yes I DO!<BR/>No.<BR/>Just kidding.<BR/>I could <I>never</I> hate you, even if you were a happily-working gazillionnaire.<BR/><I>But</I>...... I might ask to borrow some dough from ya... you know? I'll pay you back and all, as soon as my brother straightens out!<BR/>[Umm. P.S. --> He's a hunchback....]Ciprianohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00254338542624853230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-66056745284998042772007-02-23T12:08:00.000-05:002007-02-23T12:08:00.000-05:00I would certainly take a million. And immediately ...I would certainly take a million. And immediately pay off the mortgage! Woo-hoo!<BR/><BR/>But I wouldn't quite working. I love what I do! Sorry.<BR/><BR/>Does this mean you hate me?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-63099963138923766542007-02-22T22:56:00.000-05:002007-02-22T22:56:00.000-05:00Hey, I am with the consensus here, I would quit it...Hey, I am with the consensus here, I would quit it all for a cool mill$$$!<BR/>If I had like... an <I>extra</I> million, I would follow my life's goal. To visit as many coffee shops as I possibly could, in the entire world. And write about them.<BR/>And not work.<BR/>And call people on the phone and tell them that I'm not working.Ciprianohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00254338542624853230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-16070510395091999662007-02-22T22:26:00.000-05:002007-02-22T22:26:00.000-05:00This sounds like a great book. I think there is a...This sounds like a great book. I think there is a wide gulf between the haves and have nots--even the have lots and lots and the have enough to get by (and maybe I should just be content with that--I do have a damn good library if nothing much else!). I could be happy with a cool million by the way...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-65249618296226562432007-02-22T17:55:00.000-05:002007-02-22T17:55:00.000-05:00This sounds like a great book. The authors had a s...This sounds like a great book. The authors had a series of essays on this topic a year or two back in The Atlantic Monthly that were very good. As to how much is enough for me to not work? I could probably get by with a million but I'd like to maintain my lavish bookish lifestyle so I'd prefer 2 million :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-28396450353474728332007-02-22T08:41:00.000-05:002007-02-22T08:41:00.000-05:00I read the book cited by the Anonymous and liked i...I read the book cited by the Anonymous and liked it so much that I gave to a friend to read (never came back and it's out of print now, sigh).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-72403614989886547362007-02-21T23:40:00.000-05:002007-02-21T23:40:00.000-05:00I do agree. I (sorry) do love my work and sometim...I do agree. <BR/> <BR/>I (sorry) do love my work and sometimes I even feel apologetic for it because so many people do not. <BR/><BR/>I guess I ask myself, why should I have fallen into a profession (because it was really not the one I would have chosen for myself) that I enjoy so much? <BR/><BR/>I don't even consider it to be work most of the time. <BR/>(Monday morning is a notable exception.) <BR/><BR/>But it is not "me." <BR/><BR/>So, yes. I think your alternate question is the far better one. But I am afraid that as long as we are lured by enticements of "success" as equaling money and things, the leading question "So. What do you DO?" will continue to be a conversation starter.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-69645321663631855672007-02-21T23:14:00.000-05:002007-02-21T23:14:00.000-05:00What terrific comments.Much better stuff here than...What terrific comments.<BR/>Much better stuff here than my original posting, but that's OK.<BR/>Regarding what you said here:<BR/><B>I have heard that it is more common in America to ask of a new acquaintance the question "What do you DO" than it is in other countries. But what I "do" is often quite separate from what I "am."</B><BR/><BR/>I have often felt that we would learn much more accurate personality-type information from new acquaintances if we could just train ourselves to ask them the following question:<BR/><B>"So. What is it you like to do when you are not working?"</B><BR/><BR/>Do you agree, anonymous?Ciprianohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00254338542624853230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546017.post-51344456138707485102007-02-21T22:33:00.000-05:002007-02-21T22:33:00.000-05:00Interesting post. I might also recommend Nickel a...Interesting post. <BR/>I might also recommend Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. <BR/>There are plenty of people who are sounding the death knell of the infamous middle class in America and linking this phenomenon to our lack of initiative and marketable skills as well as our outsourcing a lot of our work. <BR/><BR/>Ehrenreich actually went out and tried to make a living at the so-called "loser" jobs (cleaning toilets, working as a greeter at WalMart) and found them so exhausting and demoralizing that her entire concept of her own self worth was immobilized.<BR/><BR/>This post goes well with your Death of a Salesman entry.<BR/><BR/>Though the approach differs, both express the same humanist cry: "Attention must be paid..." when we have a social construct that makes WORK a defining feature of a man. <BR/><BR/>I have heard that it is more common in America to ask of a new acquaintance the question "What do you DO" than it is in other countries. But what I "do" is often quite separate from what I "am." <BR/><BR/>To think that the human would be so tied inextricably to what he does to put bread on the table and his kids in school. . . in my mind, there is something wrong with that. But I don't know how to fix it.<BR/><BR/>Love your work, cipriano. <BR/>Nice photos too. . . So now to the heart of the matter: Not so much "What do you "do?" as "When do you get off work?"<BR/><BR/>See you then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com