These are the kinds of conversations that leave me floating

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm going to 14th and Valencia."

"14th and Valencia, okay."

"Busy today?"

"No, actually. I'm surprised because yesterday was the last day of the big Oracle conference. Did you hear about that? 45,000 people were in town. I figured that a lot of them would be going to the airport today. But it has been really slow."

"Yeah, I heard about the conference. It seems so boring."

"I know. But a lot of the people there probably have really boring jobs."

"Yeah. Well, so do I."

"What do you do?"

"Computer stuff."

"You're a programmer?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been doing it?"

"About five years. I think I'm burnt out or something."

"Yeah, I've been there. I used to do programming too and I got burnt out, so I quit."

"Really? Well, I almost turned my back on programming permanently not too long ago."

"What would you like to do instead?"

"Music. But I couldn't figure out how to make a living with that. The only thing I could imagine doing, since I don't even have much experience yet, is to intern somewhere. And my programming salary is hard to beat. So I stuck with the programming."

"Yeah, I have been struggling with that as well. I had gotten used to that nice programmer salary as well. But there are other ways to make that kind of money."

"So now that you quit, did you have to move into a smaller place?"

"No. In fact, I moved into a bigger place right before I quit, and I'm still there. Somehow I have been able to make it."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah, it's definitely possible. Just don't give up."

"Okay."

"Sometimes you have to close a door in order for other doors to open. You know what I mean? I have found that to be very much true lately. If you always keep the door open that you don't really want to be open—the programming in your case—then you don't give other doors the chance to open. They won't open until you close that one."

"Hm. I think you might be right."

"Just don't give up, okay?"

"I won't."

He left my cab pensively but upbeat. Sometimes I feel like I'm some kind of ambassador, an ambassador for the "other side" where everybody does what they love and everybody is happy.