He blew a summer chasing an immature dream. The modern mid-life crisis for men is spending money on audio and video equipment to set up internet broadcasting studios in garages, basements, or bedrooms; to sit and speak to strangers in the hopes that they will find them interesting enough to throw a little money their way. Of all the ways to waste time this era, this is one of the worst. And he did it for a whole summer and never once did it occur to him that he had the personality of a wet piece of cardboard.
He was an “ideas guy”, which is a fancy way of saying “a person just like everyone else”. Ideas guys who call themselves ideas guys never realize this, though. They believe their ideas are superior to everyone else’s. In a way, they’re right: most people with ideas never express them in meaningful ways. Give them a breath, and self-professed idea guys will tell you all the plans they’ve got cooking. The trouble with ideas guys is that they lack the skills to bring their meals to plate.
The truth of the matter was that he hadn’t eaten a decent meal in years.
First draft: 230712
Published: 231217