Vacation time. That’s what this feels like.
Actually, I’m working twenty hours a week, teaching GMAT and GRE Prep for Kaplan Graduate Testing. And we’re still unpacking boxes – just this morning, I emptied a dozen boxes in the office.
But it feel like vacation. The fact is my adult life has been full of serious responsibility — companies, employees, creditors and investors. I’ve had to worry in some way, shape or form every day since founding my first firm in Taiwan in 1989. No one depends on me in quite that way right now.
Today, there is a clear plan — prepare for law school, which starts in 19 days. The family is safe and comfortable in its new surroundings. We’ve been exploring the territory (Sacramento, Truckee and Lake Tahoe this past weekend). And no one needs anything from me (save two dozen students who require ministrations four nights a week).
In my adult life, I’ve had only one paid holiday. RUI Apple Computer Moscow gave me two weeks paid leave in the summer of 1993. I flew to Bali free first class as frequent flyer number 56 on Czech Airlines. I read The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Paul Kennedy (purchased in Singapore) on the beach. I rented a motorcycle and purchased a painting –virtually the sole physical momento of my nine odd years abroad from 1986 to 1995. It was all good fun, but I don’t think my life has been lessened for not having more such holidays.
More updates later.