Ahhhh! What a way to start the day. I’m just getting into my morning routine. I’m a freelance video editor. People take videos and send them to me. Then I make them look good, charge them money, and send them back.
I don’t have a boss or work for a company. I work directly with clients. They want something, and I can do it for them. Just like in the old days, when a shoemaker would tell everyone in the street that he can fix their shoes, and then they’d give him their shoes to be fixed, so I tell everyone online using social media that I can make their videos look good, and they pay me for it.
My morning routine is not always the same. What I do and when I do it depends on where I chose to work today. You see, since I work on my computer, I can work remotely. That means I don’t have to be at work to work. And since I am a freelancer, there is no place called work for me.
That makes me mobile. I can go wherever I want. I can work at home, or in a coffee shop, or in a library, or in a park! Well, if the park has a place to plug in, then I can work there. My battery doesn’t last all day, and you have to turn the brightness up when working outside so you can see the screen. That drains the battery really fast.
Today, I’m working in a coffee shop. So I start my morning routine by ordering the usual or if I’m feeling adventurous something different. This time it’s the usual cappuccino with vanilla. I like this coffee because it’s made of foamy milk which gives me extra energy as I sip it throughout the morning. And the vanilla reminds me a little of the homemade ice cream my dad used to make.
I always have coffee in the morning, even when working somewhere else. I just make it at home with my coffee machine and put it in a thermos. That keeps it warm for a long time. My brain needs coffee because of its caffeine. That’s the chemical in coffee that makes you feel awake. It doesn’t help your body much, but it wakes up your brain and gives it energy.
Since I work on the computer, and I use my brain all day, coffee is a must. It helps me concentrate. Programmers, the people who make applications and programs; web designers, the people who design websites; and anyone else working on a computer are well-known for their caffeine addictions because we need to focus for a long time.
Sugar gives the brain direct energy, too, so we are infamous for eating candy and unhealthy foods.
I’m using my laptop today. It tends to work better for video editing on the go. I like it’s big touchpad because it gives me lots of space to touch, drag, and click. The keyboard is standard, but I like how quiet it is when I press the keys. If I’m working in a quiet place, I don’t like to feel like everyone is listening to me type because of the clackity-clack-clack of a loud keyboard.
Hardware is important. I have a powerful desktop at home for when I need to do some heavy-duty computing, and I have a lightweight laptop for when I go out of the house and do less intense things.
Software is important, too, though. You can see on my screen that I’ve got a video open, but not in a video viewing application. I’m using a video editing application. So instead of seeing a big screen video, you see a series of short clips. I can edit the clips one at a time.
The hardware and software work together like a teacher and a curriculum. You listen to and interact with the teacher when you learn, while the curriculum guides the teacher and makes the teacher do something useful. The hardware is the physical thing you touch, in this case a laptop which is analogous to the teacher; the software is the programs on the computer you can’t touch, in this case the video editing application which is analogous to the curriculum. You touch, feel, and see the hardware (you could smell and taste, too, but that won’t get you anywhere), but it’s the software that makes it useful.
This video is actually an art project using colors, shapes, and plants. I’m not personally a fan, but I do know how to make it look better, and it’s my job. I don’t have to do anything heavy-duty. I’m just adding some finishing touches to this video. Nothing intensive. And since I’m indoors I’m keeping my brightness down. It will be easy to make my battery last a long time today, so I didn’t bring my charger.
I like working with computers. They make sense to me. I think they make more sense then people, and they are much easier to figure out. You probably guessed it: I’m an introvert. You’ll see that a lot of people working with computers are introverted like me. Not all, but many. Extroverts tend to stay away from computers, preferring “real” interactions with people.
Well, I should be going now. You’ve interrupted my morning routine! I’ve got to finish editing this video by lunch time, then I have another project to work on. Enjoy your hot drink as you continue learning English at the table next to me.
Now, whenever you hear my fingers typing away at lighting speeds you know that I’m working, whenever you see me stare off into the distance you know that I’m thinking, and whenever you hear me sip my coffee you know that I’m giving my brain another little dose of caffeine so it will keep concentrating the way I want it to. Have a nice morning!