It seems that his beatnik dreams were still largely based on the things he'd own. Instead of shiny future-clothes, he'd wear Red Wing boots and horn-rimmed glasses. Instead of a computer, he has the typewriter and his vinyl records. He already couldn't afford to eat or pay rent on his bakery salary, can't afford a $10 library card (a purchase explicitly called out as part of Project Beatnik), but his new plan doesn't include moving or getting a new job. I guess the good intentions of buying all his clothes at Goodwill or the hardware store (clothes are not cheap at the hardware store) would just magically allow him to afford prints of classic Abstract Expressionism paintings?

My read is that "the guy I almost was" would be a homeless dude who lugged around an old typewriter with him.

I enjoyed the critique of the whole cyber/futurism movement, though.