Refuge
Most people don’t realize just how impossible it is to work at home in peace, especially when everyone else is also at home. But even when nobody is at home to bug you, there’s still plenty of distractions:
“Have I paid the electric bill yet? I better do that now.”
“What’s that sound in the living room? Did one of the cats knock something off? I better go check it out.”
“Did the postman just drop off the mail? I better go get that…”
“Why doesn’t the neighbor pick up her phone? It rings so damn loud…”
It’s especially tough this month because my mom’s visiting, and I basically gave our spare bedroom, a.k.a. “my office”, to her and work on our dinning table in the kitchen where it’s almost impossible to work because Grace and mom watch Korean drama, marathon style. Besides, mom is always doing stuff in the kitchen when she’s not watching Korean drama with Grace… Then there’s Bryan playing with his toys just 3 feet away in the living room right next to me.
With my latest project being 2 months overdue, and I am under tremendous pressure to “show” something in 3 days, I have had to “escape” from the house and find refuge elsewhere to concentrate and just crank out codes. At first I tried the library, but then it’s almost eerily quiet after having been in a house where there’s always something going on.
The most unlikely refuge, I found out, is the Mall, of all places, the most crowded and noisy space. The interesting thing about the mall though, specifically Vally Fair Mall in Santa Clara, is that the music is always blasting in full volume (which I never noticed before). The crowd and the noise actually help me concentrate even more. It’s like I find peace in my little 15.4″ laptop screen in a massive crowd where I intended to find refuge away from a small crowd at home. What an oxymoron.
Just a couple of months ago I debated really hard whether or not to rent a small corner office for a few hundred bucks a month just so that I have a place to go and just focus on my programming, homework and everything else. But I just couldn’t justify having to spend that kind of money when we are trying to save every penny we can being in the situation that we are in.
The mall then becomes an interesting choice because it has no distractions (as long as I don’t lift my head up from the screen), no trivial household tasks to take care of, even going to the bathroom is inconvenient. And it’s got free wifi connection right next to the Sony Store where there are lots of seats, tables and even power outlets. So there, about the only thing I can do is bury my head in my thoughts and programming logics and just work.
The joke between me and Grace now is: if you ever need me, I’ll be in my “office” at the mall…. Hah!
Related PostsNo related posts
August 26th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Hey dude…this is a business interest of mine (to create some flex Starbucks-like space to give freelancers a place to get away from home and rent a space that either provides a refuge or allows them to cross-pollinate with other creatives), but there are a couple open-source initiatives doing stuff… check it out… http://coworking.pbwiki.com/CoworkingSpiralMuse
Hope you find a spot sometime! C
August 27th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
Thanks. That link is cool. I wish there are more places offering “coworking” in San Jose area. Seems like San Francisco and New York are the “happening” places (as always).
See, all I need is small corner with some privacy, wifi included, 24×7 access, bathroom, central air and peace. Everything else is “good-to-have”.
My “ideal” coworking place would be (all of the above plus the following):
1. Pay a small monthly fee for wifi, a place to sit and work;
2. For additional pay-per-use fee, get a private room to work in (first come, first serve);
3. For additional monthly fee, get a permanent private room;
4. Lockers (so I don’t have to lug all my PHP books with me… etc); naturally permanent private rooms don’t need lockers;
5. Easy access to food, either within building or within the area;
6. Easy access to transportation, either free parking or access to public transit.
I know similar facilities like that Moto used to rent in NYC… but have yet to come across any here. I also looked for office sublets without any satisfactory space for the budget I have.