today was a typical friday for me:
wake up at noon. shower, shave, groom, quick straighten-up of my room. walk about a mile through dc to get to etrusco where i fix myself a double espresso and get a liter of evian out of the fridge to have with a small apple spice cake from the night before for breakfast. check email and browse the internet while eating.
at 2amys at 3pm. i figure out the specials for the day, print the menus, then deal with some minor issues with the new register (that only i know how to fix). lunch/dinner is a neapolitan style pizza with prosciutto, salami, pancetta, onions, and buffalo mozzarella. i go over the new shit for the day with the servers, then spend the next six hours running food and dealing with various miscellanous bullshit. a few snacks at 7pm and 9pm: a bite of fava bean crostini, a cantabrian anchovy with bread and butter, half of a potato and prosciutto croquette, a quarter of a roasted chicken and romesco panini.
after tallying all the tips for the night and making sure everyone's doing their sidework, i have two small cups of dekonnick (new belgian beer on tap) and bullshit with bartender sarah, then close up and drive her home.
back at etrusco, there is a touch each of three new wines on the bar, so i try each one (an upfront chunky red, a spicy pinot noir, and a tannic bright syrah).
now i'm fiddling on the computer before going home.
is this what i'd be happy doing?
let's think about this for a minute. really. because what the fuck are we all doing? it's SO EASY to get stuck in routine; everyday more or less the same thing, until 5, 10, or 20 years have passed, and you don't even realize it. and it wasn't even like that time spent was necessarily that good, but it just distracted you so you didn't really even think about how satisfied or completely miserable you were.
in all honesty, there's a lot of things about today that i really liked. i like waking up at noon - just whenever i happen to get up - no alarm, no pressure, just whenever. i like walking through dc in the afternoon. yeah, it's not ideal in terms of efficiency, but it keeps me active, and forces me to go outside. it's an easy way to automatically feel productive. "i was outside today." i like managing a restaurant. true, there's a lot of bullshit to deal with, but if you've got your shit straight, it really all becomes just small tidbits which can be solved by 15 seconds of delegating or walking into the next room to find something. it's as easy a job as you make it for yourself. and eating and drinking interesting things. there are few activities which surpass that in the human experience.
could i do this long term - for the rest of my life?
yes and no. i love this schedule. it fits my biorhythms (is that a legitimate thing?) perfectly. it also affords me the opportunity to eat and drink really exceptional things. the only downside is the necessity of dealing with the various minutae that comes up constantly.
so the obvious answer: be the owner and hire someone else to handle it. that way i'm in charge, i'm on a schedule i like, i get to consume all types of fascinating and delicious things everyday, and i make money from other people appreciating an idea i came up with (or my concept for the restaurant, if you will).
the hardest part about finding what my best possible life should be is understanding enough about yourself and your interests to know what you want. i'm finally getting to that point. obviously none of this is easy. managing people isn't easy. starting a business involves all kinds of headaches. understanding yourself is a life-long process. but moving forward in the right direction; that's so key, and so often people just don't do it.
my only problem now is impatience. i want to be there now. i want results now. i suppose that impatience is the next bit of the puzzle to work on.