Wading in the Velvet Sea

(And I have to say I lucked out…our apartment is the nicest I’ve ever been in, and actually, the cheapest I’ve ever been in, with a roughly 45-minute commute time door to door. But what I consider to be my share of this “cheap” rent is the mortgage payment on the good majority of houses in this country, so you know, perspective and all.)

I’m no economics expert. In fact, it took me a good decade to learn how to balance my checkbook, so analyzing market forces isn’t my bag, baby. But I have to imagine, and the aforelinked article indicates, that there’s nothing good that comes from a workforce collectively saying, “Eff this” and moving to the Midwest. I’m lucky, in that a good night for us is a bottle of wine and an old Rita Hayworth movie (saw “Gilda” last night, hubba hubba), but I shouldn’t have to acquiesce to that lifestyle out of economic necessity. Throw in student loans, a car I’m still making payments on, and credit card debt derived from a few leaner years than I have now, and then multiply that by some 5-digit figure, and you have a cost of living crisis in the state.

I do wonder, given all my recent musings about the cusp of technologies, whether or not true telecommuting will ever catch on in my lifetime. We’re approaching a confluence of technology, economics, and social mobility that makes the notion seem to make a whole lot of sense. And it’s not simply about wanting to work in my Pac-Man pajamas, although heck, that would rule, especially if the floors are newly waxed and I can surf atop my footies. Now, obviously not every industry can go the telecommuting route (IM’ing one’s parolee probably wouldn’t cut it), but there’s not a lot I couldn’t do from a remote location, a good computer, decent phone, and a VPN. And if I could do it from Virginia, for instance…well, I’d effectively get a pay raise that could go a long way towards alleviating that burden of debt.

I’m making strides as it is towards relieving it, no doubt, but for a lot of people, it’s the difference between cruising along in medium-sized traffic and speeding downhill on an open road. And I mean that economically as well as socially. Many people couldn’t imagine not having a work environment filled with people they barely tolerate. That’s weird to me, but OK, I get it. You need validation at the water cooler. That’s, um, cool. I’m not here hatin’ on my coworkers or anything, but I can definitely see working from home. I’m pretty sure the thousands of miserable faces I see on the Massachusetts public transportation system would agree with me. And though I can’t seem them, I’m sure those stuck on the Pike at 5:45 am would likewise happily wake up at 8 am and arrive at work five minutes later, after a quick trip to the bathroom on the way to their home computer.

I wonder about all these things because I keep thinking all these forces will hit a ceiling: gas prices, college tuition, housing, etc, and they never stop. And I’m not talking about inflation, I’m talking about leaps and bounds beyond what it “should”, and yet, having no salary leaps that mimic the costs that surround. I just don’t see how there’s a social or economic benefit of placing huge burdens of debt upon students who then move to the big cities to make the big bucks only to pay the big rents so they can’t move into the big houses and start the big families because they’ve got too many big bills. And so they move away and companies lose employees and the big ol’ reset button’s hit but nothing’s any cheaper for the next person to fill that new vacancy.

My generation of men has it easier than ever to put off marriage, because we don’t even have to lie. All we have to say is, “Hon, I can barely afford to take you clubbing. Do you want cubic zirconia? Didn’t think so.” And don’t get my started on the whole kids thing…if you can, that’s great, and I have fam and friends my age or so who have already started, but yours truly is looking at that and wondering what it is I’m doing wrong. And I don’t want to call living in my favorite area in the world wrong, but hey, you can always read the Boston Globe online. Don’t much need it delivered to my doorstep, do I?

None of this should indicate I am packing it up, packing it in. (Let me begin. Battle me? That’s a sin.) I get NESN on my basic cable package, we live right near a great park in which we tossed around a Frisbee Saturday afternoon, and there are sunsets where the Charles River skyline is the most beautiful place on earth. I’ll miss all of these things if/when the time comes to move somewhere where peace of mind will be a bit easier to come by. But there comes a time when what you want and what you need conflict. Getting older often means having your needs supplant your wants. That’s “maturity” in a nutshell. But me, well, I’d rather determine how often I have to choose between those two. Still working on that. Come back in five years, and I’ll probably still be working on it. But that’s OK.

I don’t mind the work. Even if I’m still not working from home, I’ll know where home is.