The Virtual/Mobile Life

Does anybody remember the movie "Singles"? It was as much about the life of single almost-30-somethings in Seattle as it was the visual-mainstreaming (and killing) of grunge music. With Matt Dillon mockingly sporting Chris Cornell-inspired long locks and khaki cargo cut-offs, fronting a band named Citizen Dick (who's most famous song was, no kidding, "Touch Me, I'm Dick"...), and boasting, as it could, Eddie Vedder's (and other Pearl Jam members') first on-screen appearance, "Singles" showed us that nothing in youth culture was sacred anymore.

But, I digress... (The destruction of music-inspired rebellion and/or rebellion-inspired music in this country is certainly a discussion worth having, I'm just here to talk about something else right now).

If you look closely at the movie, carving your way through all the unnecessary stuff like, well, most of the movie, you'll see one of the main characters trying to do something revolutionary: design and build a commuter train that would be cafe, meeting place, and wireless workspot all in one. Actually, I can't remember if the character played by Campbell Scott was going to include wireless connectivity into his supertrain, but all of his other ideas for it are awesome.

As I work from home as well as "third places," this article struck a chord in me. I love being mobile, left alone, and connected anywhere I go. And no, I'm not cell or crackberry addicted, I just like to be able to read my various website of current news whenever I want. I think perhaps, instead of being called the Kinko's culture, we should be called the demanding culture. It annoys me beyond anything I can express here that we can send people to the Moon but still have to suffer roaming charges. Roaming is ridiculous. There are SATELLITES in the sky. Technology can't be so backward that a better repeater system hasn't been inevted yet. I know it's out there and I want it. Now.

But, I digress...

I find that I prefer working out of a "third place" because I get to meet people and somehow still get more work done, as the article's protagonist does. There's something about the freedom of managing my own time that makes me wake up earlier so I can get to the coffeeshop faster, so I can have time to chat with someone I meet and still get everything done that I need to. And it's gratifying to know that all the while I'm also benefitting my company by, as the article states, saving on office space, the overhead of having bodies in an office, gas money - which I would inevitably covertly bill to my company, especially since I live in Los Angeles - and, the big one: TIME.

In LA everything is at least an hour each way. And that's usually not counting traffic. With today's gas prices and the public's growing acceptance of the facts of global warming, more and more Angelenos are working from home. Before Netscape I worked at a company that was a 1 1/2 drive - each way - from my house. Traffic. When the current gas crisis began I tried driving into the office for one week before I caved and said: "Either you let me go or you let me work from home." I'm a video producer and editor. There is no meeting in the world that I have to participate in in the flesh. Always on the go, we're a phone, email and IM industry. You tell me I have to come into the office so I can respond to emails from my boss who sits across the hall, I'll tell you to stick your server where the Sun don't shine.

Anyway, I liked the article because it feels new. Feels like the first time someone is coming out and saying: "this is the way to do things. Work has to be conducted in a new way. Everything needs to be conducted in a new way."

Currently, I am writing from the lobby of the Westin Los Angeles airport. I am here accompanying M as she participates in a music conference. The revolution is here. We all just have to look up.