There are certain advantages associated with being a home-based writer. One is that I usually don't shave until about 11:30 or so, which gives my skin time to wake up. On those days when I must appear in public early, I use the Gillette Mach 3, whose blades are inordinately expensive but thorough; on days when I don't have to shave until the late morning (or the late afternoon), I use a disposable, because I'm cheap and because I like to check how fast my blood clots.
Working at home has other advantages: I get to see my children whenever I want, I get to watch CNBC obsessively, and every day is dress-down day.
There are disadvantages, to be sure, which include isolation, desolation, panic, and ennui, but these are made up for by one other advantage--weekday shopping. On those days when I don't feel like dragging myself downtown for lunch, which, lately, is most days, I often use that window of time to shop, for a simple reason: Have you ever been to Price Club on Sunday afternoon? It's madness. I've seen homicides committed at Price Club on Sunday afternoons.
Slate, March 11, 1999
Incredibly funny passage. I love his succinct summation of the disadvantages; almost glossed-over, as if attempting to fool himself.
Posted by: Andrew McMillen | July 23, 2009 at 09:48 AM