New Job, New Life

I got a new job. I get to work with my heroes. I get to drop f bombs in the office space and listen to banjo music or speed metal as my mood dictates. I get to bring my puppy to work. I get to make cool stuff and learn to be smart and follow my coworkers' footsteps into the magical place where good ideas come from.

This week, I started full time as senior copywriter at Nemo Design. I've worked from Nemo for like 12 years. Trevor and Jeff were nice to me. Like a little lost orphan, I put my desk in a corner here and fed off their fun and creativity to do my own work for other companies in other places. Now I'm here, and I'm working here. It's exciting.

I remember reading a passage in Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids—it was about how at some point in her life, she just gave up the idea of working for someone else and entered the artist's life, where she'd always make her own way and be her own boss. As a perma-freelancer, I related. I thought that would be me, a lone-wolf mercenary riding a MacBook Pro off into the sunset. That was me—but now it isn't. I'm on a team, and it feels totally right.