Money talks

For much of last year, I worked on what you might call the tip of the iceberg. I did the visible stuff. I created travel itineraries, hosted guests, researched, wrote and translated resources, answered inquiries, proofread contracts. I mostly swam in lazy circles around the iceberg, perhaps glancing lazily under the surface or indulging in a quick snorkel to enjoy the aquatic wildlife. Then The Transition was announced, and I donned my scuba gear and submersed myself. I learned to understand the massive foundation that supports the visible work: the shaping of the vision, the relationships that buttress our efficacy, the omnipresent legal contingencies, the weaving together of mission statement and action.

And today I had to abandon my scuba gear in favor of a glass-bottomed submarine, in order to travel down to the very foundation to explore the tiny details that pile upon each other to craft the practical realities that are this place. In other words, I learned the bookkeeping.

When I worked at Subway in high school, it eventually dawned on the owner that I was the only worker who consistently managed to fill out the deposit slips accurately and balance the register at the end of my shift. I maintain it was because I was the only one not lining my pockets, but in any case he put me in charge of bookkeeping. I had no clue what I was doing at first, having done nothing more secretarial than balance my checkbook, but I was game. The first few weeks I did nothing but copycat, importing new numbers into old rubrics, but eventually I got a feeling for the logic behind each calculation, for the necessity of each knowledge byte.

My personal finances are always a little bit blurry around the edges. I don't charge much, I funnel off a bit of the paycheck into various responsible or philanthropic endeavors, I pay bills as soon as they come, and other than that I just sort of try to leave a big cushion so I don't have to worry about counting pennies. But this bookkeeping stuff, this is kinda fun. It's pretty cool to be able to account for every cent, to have a record of every transaction. Don't get me wrong - it's definitely work, and I wouldn't just go around for fun organizing my finances to death. But I like the fact that I know how.