Lawrence and Peter

“Well, you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he’s broke, don’t do shit.”  - Lawrence, Office Space 

(Excerpt from a recent email to Bronwen)

My dad texted me the “Office Space” question today, though I don’t even know if he’s seen that movie.  What would I do if money was not an object?  How would I want to spend my time?  I think he was trying to help me figure out what to do with my life.

I did not go Michael Bolton on him and tell him it was a bogus question, because no would clean up shit for a living if they had a million dollars.  Nor did I channel Peter and say “Nothing… I would do nothing.”

Of course I would do a lot of nothing if money was no object.  I’d travel a lot.  Work out a lot.  Buy lots of toys like kayaks and SUVs.  See the world.  Take my friends.  Eat lots of good food.  Sleep a lot.  Take classes at college for FUN and not because I’m being guilt-tripped into being “responsible” and spending thousands of dollars to get a degree I’ll probably never use.  But that doesn’t really help me decide what to do, because money IS an object.   … On one hand, I like the saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow…” but I’m not sure it’s true when you have real bills to pay.