The Big Buffet

Some people love a good buffet, others only settle for à la carte. In terms of life's experiences, I'm definitely a buffet eater. Take, for example, my various "projects" last year. Although I began 2004 with an empty plate, momentum picked up very quickly.

First I started with a job at the pizza shop, making just enough money to be a surf bum. Then I turned to the hors d'oevres section: Oooo, massage sounds good! So I enrolled in a 3 month course to become a certified massage therapist. I figure, $50/hour and a flexible schedule giving back rubs is a sweet deal. I'm mid-bite and I'm already eyeing the main course. A sailboat. Aha, if I buy a sailboat to live aboard, then I don't have to pay rent. I can sell it later and get my money back.

By that stage I'd already upgraded from the pizza shop to a catering job. Catering is great because every week is different- the hourly wage is decent, yet you can call ahead of time and say, "I'll be out of town on such-and-such a date so don't schedule me, please." That's how I managed to get a week off to pick up my boat in Long Beach. In the next few months I learned how wonderfully tough it is to live on a sailboat. A non-stop adventure. I love it.

As if I wasn't chewing on enough food yet, another entrée made its way to my plate: the flyfishing business. Hummm... "So Kristian, have you ever, like, gone flyfishing before?" "Uhh, no...." Well, it was a good opportunity to learn about the business world AND help out my dad and his friend, all at once. They had a bunch of new flyfishing baskets that were being sent from the chinese factory, and there was nobody to sell them. So I stepped up to the plate. The "plate" as in baseball, not the dinner "plate" from the buffet metaphor that I'm writing about. I know, I know, it's confusing.

Meanwhile, I found myself a gorgeous girlfriend. That was the desert, the sumptuously warm pecan pie with icecream right after a hearty meal. God, how delicious, but that big meal takes some energy to digest. I sat satisfied with a full tummy, eyes half-closed, when suddenly I realized: I had a day job (catering), two enterprises (massage and flyfishing), a floating home which wanted to float away (sailboat), and a lovely lady (girlfriend). I was just barely hanging in there. Good thing I'm not bulimic.

But the buffet wasn't over yet- only towards the second half of the year did I discover writing. Well, actually, I've been writing all along, mainly journal-keeping; but I prepared my first article for submission to a magazine, and the process revealed several things. I liked doing it, despite the rejection slip that came at the end. Yeah, they didn't accept my article at the Surfer's Journal but I'm going to try other publications. But I didn't care; just the thought of being able to make money from my words, regardless of where and how I wrote them, was very liberating. Here was a genuine career path that seemed to complement my need for flexibility. Wow! I never thought I'd actually consider a "career path".

Of course, making a living as a writer is far from easy. And since my stomach is so full already, I haven't been able to fit anymore food. I'm just stuffed. I haven't been able to put the time into writing that writing deserves.

Like the effects of eating at an infamous Las Vegas $10 buffet, I need a serious purge. I need to de-tox my system 'cause it's bogging me down. Some things really contribute to my direction; others are becoming more of a hindrance. Simplify is the verb which leads to success. That's the only way I'll get anywhere, by simplifying things so I can focus on what's important.

Simplify! Simplify! Simplify. Try to eat à la carte, for once, for heaven's sake.