Virtual kickball and cyber skinned knees?

One of the biggest projects I'm working on these days is a MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) designed for kids 5-9. It runs 24/7 and there are thousands of kids playing at any one time. The site is an amazing technical achievement and a real leap forward vs the competition. Plus, kids seem to love it.

And why not? It boosts their creativity, gives them interesting nature facts along the way, fosters independence, and builds self-esteem and social skills within the game. But it occurs to me that kids today probably can't do yo-yo tricks or get their pants muddy catching tadpoles like I used to.

Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. My kids are thinking critically and exploring and building in new ways. I was in the emergency room more times than I care to count by Age 10... Yet there's something visceral and sadly lost when interaction happen over a DSL line.

We never called them "play dates". It was just "summer" or "Tuesday" or "hanging out".

The power of Tae Kwon Do

My 6-year-old has started taking Tae Kwon Do. I'm beginning to think that they should videotape the sessions and distribute them as "laugh therapy" among the hospitals and nursing homes.

Not because there's anything especially comical about the movements themselves - if you saw photos, you'd probably just think they look cute in the outfits - but more because the personality of each kid really comes out.

When they stretch, they count: "One, sir. Two, sir. Three, sir." Some have a hard time recalling what comes after seven and mutter, hoping no one notices. Others, like Stephen, take it as a license to boom like a bullhorn. ONE SIR!!! TWO SIR!!! Big voice, tiny body.

And some of the kids concentrate SO intently, while others keep smiling and waving at Mom.

I also didn't realize that Tae Kwon Do (and probably most martial arts for kids) includes a lot of life-lessons/behavioral stuff. Like knowing when your brother's birthday is or memorizing rules about keeping the house clean. So there's always funny interplay when Master Yong asks if a kid is always kind to their siblings. "Sometimes, sir!" "When I can, sir!"

I get more LPH (laughs per hour) at Tae Kwon Do than anywhere else!

Networking happens...

...in the most unexpected places.

My wife is part of a big group of women who bring their kids to Torrance beach every Friday. I joined them a week or so again and found myself talking to a woman who looked and sounded familiar. Normally at the beach, I'm either digging in the sand with the boys or reading a book, but lately, I've felt very sociable...almost chatty. I never thought about it as a networking opportunity when I started talking to this friend of a friend.

Turns out we knew all the same people from our past and present lives, and we worked out that we must've been on a conference call or two over the years. She gave me a name to send my resume and samples to, and I immediately got a response back from their HR. Promising.

Then, last week, my family and I were having dinner with a friend who had moved away. The friend mentioned that she'd mentioned my job hunt to her dad, who still lives out here. The next day, her dad and I had traded emails, and he'd arranged for me to talk to their Senior VP for Operations.

So, yes, I'm still planning to reply to job listings on Monster, but so far, I'm having better lunch with conversations at the beach and over teriyaki chicken!

The flow of freelance

Like a lot of writers, I've picked up a little freelance here and there over the years, but until now, I've always been a full-time, in-house, on-staff writer.

Now that I'm freelancing as my primary gig, I'm having to operate so very differently.

The following is a sample scenario. Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't.

I wake up, get to my computer...I'm rarin' to go on the job that was supposed to be coming through.

I skype my boss - the one who said he'd have a ton of work for me on Tuesday. He's the Hardest Working Man in Design; he's wearing 11 hats; he hasn't been able to get back to me. I know it's not personal, but I wait expectantly for further instructions.

Hours later, I find out that we're "on hold" or "awaiting further feedback" or "the project has changed and I'm no longer needed" or 100 other completely understandable replies.

Every freelancer has been there.

In an office, I'd just wander down the hall and find out where the project stands. Someone always knows. Or I know we're all waiting together.

Sitting in front of my laptop at my house or looking up at the bulletin board at Starbucks, I'll send out an IM or email and hope I'm not being a pest. And wait.

There are a lot of benefits to freelancing. I'm doing fulfilling work that challenges me and keeps me motivated. I don't miss my hour-long commute. I can wash my car on any random Thursday morning, as a veteran freelancer told me. And, like anything, I know I'll adapt to the ebb and flow of it.

But every once in a while, I definitely pine for the familiar world of the Office (with its own challenges and issues). At least for now.

The world out there

I'm sure I sound like an old fuddy-duddy when I say this, but I marvel at how rapidly the information and marketing worlds have changed in the last few years.

My younger son wants to spend all his time on Club Penguin and Poptropica—virtual worlds for the under 10 set.

My wife, who could barely turn on the computer two years ago, is a FaceBook addict, connecting and posting and embedding videos of a dog rescuing another dog in the street.

My new job search is aided and abetted by not just job boards, but meta-search sites that can look across multiple boards and bring everything (well, not EVERYTHING) to me tied up in a little bow. Similarly, I no longer need to search Orbitz and Travelocity and Yahoo Travel for the lowest rates...a site like Kayak will look across multiple sites.

Today, it's Twitter and Facebook and YouTube. A year from now, those individual sites will probably be replaced by aggregators that bring all of your content on one screen, unpdated constantly.

Daunting yet exhilarating.

It's like Duran Duran...Bora Bora...or the dik-dik

"Second verse, same as the first."

For the second time in less than a year, I've gotten laid off. And the story is uncannily similar: agency loses a major client and "hard choices had to be made." Nobody feels good about it, but, well, there it is.

The whole thing is bookended. Last time, it was about a month before my kids and wife had to go back to school. This time, it's about a month from when they get out of school for the summer.

One big difference is my perspective on it. I'm motivated, but not frantic. And, as soon as I say that, I know that I should've gone back and read my blog posts from August/September. Because although I may've been trying to maintain a brave face back then, I wasn't feeling it.

We'll see what happens this time.

So THIS is what it feels like

Life is funny.

Six months ago, I wouldn't've told you that I had everything in life–that I was inordinately lucky. But I was.

Now, I'm not saying that I had the greatest gig in history, but I knew my job, I was good at my job, I was comfortable in my job, I like the people at my job. And I had a 21-minute commute.

Our kids weren't in daycare or afterschool programs.

Now, I think I'm feeling what most people have always felt. Run-run-running all week, then living for the weekends...and trying to catch a few blissful moments with my family whenever they arise. We're having more Family Movie Nights. And "Go Fish". And jigsaw puzzles and bike rides together (not at the same time).

And it feels good. And it feels right. And six months ago, I didn't know how lucky I could feel when my life is so much more complicated than it was.