Dawn’s glow broke at 5:30 am, heralding my latest side hustle juggle. As the sun peeked above the horizon, the whine of the laser printers wound down. The parlor-converted-into-a-newsroom fell silent, but the hot, inky tang of the freshly printed pages lingered. The pages themselves sat neatly arranged on the brightly lit layout table. Hours earlier, my co-publisher scoffed, ‘Chris, it’s impossible,’ and left for bed. Her husband stayed to help finish a job that couldn’t be finished.
The paper was done. The deadline achieved. The fumes of adrenaline pumped through my veins. Juggling a newspaper, a job, and grad school, sleepless for twenty-four hours, most people would have flopped into bed at this point. I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
Everything was working just as the system promised. An outside observer would not have Continue Reading “The Side Hustle Juggle: How A Fair Game Taught Me The Secret To A Happy Life (Part II)”
The Last Manila Folder
Doesn’t matter. Every year around this time, I start filing away manila folders. It generally begins in mid-September, with the last one archived by the first week of October.
What’s in these mysterious folders?
A very small slice of my life.
Small.
But intense.
For, though the time may seem short, the mileage isn’t. And, if there’s one thing you have to remember, it’s not about the time, it’s about the mileage.
Now, here’s the misleading thing: this collection of folded manila card stock doesn’t even tell Continue Reading “The Last Manila Folder”