I love things that make no money...

There. I've said it. High time I admitted that. Been living that way forever anyhow.

I do wonder what draws me to these things though. I mean, geez, I teach swing dancing for a living, I play the ukulele, I make audio documentaries, I do improv comedy. Lucky if you can scrape together coffee money if you are great at a number of those things. So what is it that drives me so strongly to them? I think it's 2 things. One, they're just different. They are all weird little subcultures and I dig that. There are very few people in the world that give a crap about any of them, but the ones who do, care about them with a passion. And 2, because they are all weird little subcultures, they have little chance of being cheapened by Madison Avenue, or anyone for that matter. The chances of a ukulele being exploited for financial gain are exactly zero. Nothing I do is sexy or would sell toothpaste and I really like that.

They also, without exception, fly in the face of the "do what you love and the money will follow" addage. Or maybe they don't and it's just that the money following me is about a buck fifty.