kurtiss.org | giving is receiving

A Bit of History

It’s been almost two years now since I wrote a post listing the factors that I consider to be the most effective measures of a meaningful, contented engagement with one’s existence.  Operating at capacity, these metrics ravel into a sort of divine sonata–a pied melody–whose ability to compel and comfort goes unmatched.  It sure makes sense, then, to make some projections when you’ve got a big decision coming up.  And that’s what I did back in June of 2006.  I decided to leave my frustrating, corporate job and join a startup, leading to my eventual move out here to San Francisco.

Paul Graham is Wrong

Since then, I’ve managed to not lose all faith in the utopian scenes of entrepreneurship painted by the influential figures in my community.  It’d be hard for me to refute the central point Paul Graham makes when he implies that employees at large companies are working under sub-human conditions.

Unfortunately, Paul consistently restricts the set of affirming traits to just a few of those on my list, with all its shortcomings.  In so doing, he damages the integrity of his point.  While my life’s recipe contains the lot of Paul’s prescribed ingredients, his essays and the populist reaction which amplifies them, would leave me wondering why I’m not writhing in a state of radiant bliss.

Onward and Upward

And so begins an in-depth examination of the set of traits I find essential to a satisfying tousle with my own humanity.  By exploring each trait individually, I hope to achieve the following: unearth the sometimes subtle affections that make the trait worthy of appearing on the list, gauge my own standing as it relates to my discoveries, and to reclaim my voice.  The mob mentality of nerdy navel-gazers can be an effective muffling force, but I must reassert my axiom assigning nerdiness to just one (important) aspect of greatness and not its whole.