The only constant thing in life is change

16th of March at 11:36 o’clock is kind of historical moment for me. At that time I ‘officially’ announced that I’m no longer a programmer professionally. What becomes of me I don’t know yet, but decision is made and bridges burned, only way is forward, options are unlimited, possibilities endless. Beware exciting times ahead!

This photo is interesting in many ways. It was made in 1996. The girl on the backseat it my brothers girl-friend at the time, I’m the driver, of course. But the reason why I added this photo is really the motorcycle. It’s IZH-56, which belonged to my grandfather, then to my father, then to my brother and I took it over around 11-13 years ago. So it has quite an history. When I was in technical school I befriended with a guy who was also a fan of bikes (and we both liked trance music). I guess it was around 1998 when he and some of his friends gave this motorcycle a face lift. Painted it over, repaired some things etc. This picture is made before the restoration, just for your information. But at the time this bike still wasn’t completed fully, so I couldn’t register it and drive officially. Few days ago I thought I’d like to restore it fully, bring it back to life, so to speak, but for that I need new parts. Next logical step was to call my friend and ask his help. It would be nice to talk to him anyway, because it’s been quite a few years since we met last time. Now, here comes the fun part. When he called me back he said he does have some parts for this bike, but he’s currently in Dubai, working for Harley Davidson. Now this was real surprise for me. But then again, not really that big. He has always been very-very big fan of motorcycles and had loads of energy. So what happens when you concentrate lots of energy into one direction? You get great results. He drives 2006 year Harley Davidson and buys a Corvette for birthday, I drive loaned car and buy 2 books for my birthday. Quite a difference, but I believe this all comes down to what you appreciate in life. I enjoy my life very much, thank you, and don’t need much for happiness. But one motorcycle has always been part of my dreams…

At the crossroads

I wrote some time ago that exciting times are ahead and indeed they are, actually they’re right here right now. No need to wait for them anymore.

From the beginning of this year I started to work from home and only half-time. This gave me quite a lot of free time and absolutely stress free life, which I enjoy very much indeed. This free time gave me time to think about life, universe and meaning of life (besides watching a lot of movies). After this pondering I arrived to crossroads – I realized that I don’t want to be a professional computer programmer anymore, which has been my main source of income for last 6 years.

So, what the bleep shall I do?

That is the question.

Fortunately there are a lot of options. One thing that I want do to, is to create something ‘touchable’, which would give pleasure to both the maker and to receiver/buyer and earn living out of it. One of the possibilities is to become a blacksmith and to specialize on making knives, daggers, swords and other kinds weapons. For me this is a leap of faith. I’ve never done any blacksmithing in my life (but I enjoyed watching one old blacksmith working when I was around 10 years old AND my grand-grandfather was blacksmith, it’s in my blood then, right?), so I don’t know if I’m any good at it, or whether it is possible to sell my products. But I believe that when I enjoy this, don’t stress about it and really want to learn it, I’ll make it.

One thing is certain, I don’t want to work for others anymore (unless it’s really-really interesting and fulfilling job, but it’s still kind of cop out) .

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.