Steve Jobs: Connecting the Dots

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."


- Steve Jobs at the Stanford 2005 Commencement speech 


Steve dropped out of college and dropped in classes that seemed impractical at the time.  One class he took was calligraphy.  This is where he learned about the subtle intricacies of Serif and Sans Serif type-face.  Fast forward 10 years.  While developing the Mac, Steve decided to incorporate what he had learned in the calligraphy class. The type-face you see before you in this blog is a result of Steve Jobs dropping out at Reed College and taking some seemingly impractical calligraphy class. Looking forward while taking that calligraphy class, Steve could not fathom that what he was learning would later be a ubiquitous part of these things called blogs.  Looking back, Steve is able to clearly connect the dots from being a  college drop out, to the present time where the serif and sans-serif type-face are as ever-present as the stars in the sky.


From where I currently stand, I can look back and see how the dots connect, but absolutely not in such a revolutionary and dramatic manner as  Steve Jobs' dots.  I can see how some of my minor achievements have been a result of events in the past. At the present though, I am a stagnated body of water accumulating waste.  Perhaps someday I will be able to connect the dots from this stagnant point in time to another point in time of goodness. All I know is that I need to dredge the waste  from this stagnant body of water.  If I allow the muck to build up for too long, I'll look back and will connect the dots from my currently horrible life to another horrible life.  I seem to lack dots of much significance and am trudging through life as a zombie.  It would be sad to have one dot for this prolonged chapter in my life with another dot representing the death and a loooooooooooong line connecting the two dots.

Adieu Coco

"All I ask of you, especially young people … is one thing — please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism. It’s my least favorite quality, and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen."

- Coco - Conan O'Brien


I've pretty much been a cynic all my life.  My cynicism, I believe, is partly inborn and partly due to my hectic environment growing up.  Never mind the details of the environment that caused my cynicism, from this day forward, I will endeavor to become less of a cynic.  I'm often going way beyond seeing the glass as half empty, and seeing it made of lead, chipped, and filled with raw sewage waste. Drinking from the half empty glass then causes my lip to bleed profusely, and the raw sewage then causes my cut to become infected leading to a flesh eating virus to kill me.  No more of that though.  It's time for me to quell the pangs of cynicism and to engender a more positive outlook on life.  I've been imprisoned for way to long by my cynicism, and today is the day that I am a free man.


Yes there are rotten people in the world, and yes there is a lot of figurative and literal chemical sludge in the world; nevertheless, there is a lot of good too.  I just need to recalibrate my mind to focus in on the positive aspects of life.


Anyhow, Conan, thanks for the nearly 2 decades of humor and inspiration!  I've been watching your show since the beginning.  I must admit, I thought the show was going to flounder shortly when you first did the Late Night Show.  But what did I know, I was only 10 years old.  Over the years, I gained a great appreciation for your comedic genius and your gift of being a great interviewer.  All good things must come to an end, but I suspect this is only the beginning.  Adieu Coco.