Daily writing prompt

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?

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Hard work is fulfilling. Does there need to be more explanation than that?

For me, the biggest rush in my job comes from problem solving. A customer has an issue with their system. It’s something that we haven’t seen before. We dig into the data. We dig into the code. We step through the customer’s workflow. We follow the progression of the system. We find an inconsistency or a bug or something that needs to be enhanced. We tell the customer what’s going on and what they can do to get around it. We let Development know about it and make a suggestion on how to change the code.

A situation like that, solving a problem… it just feels good. Really good. Would I call it fulfilling? That seems a little strong, but I guess it fits. Maybe if you squint a little or look at it over time and see a trend. I don’t know. I just know I enjoy that and love how I feel when it happens.

It’s different than the feeling you get when you do some physical task around the house or something, but it’s good enough for me and my little brain and my heart and what passes for a soul.

Daily writing prompt

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

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I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I have decided that I am not going to come up with a serious answer. No, that would require more self reflection than I am comfortable with. You’ll get an answer, and it’s an honest answer, but it’s also a smart ass, sarcastic answer. I don’t do the whole self analysis thing very well. I go looking for positives and find an infinite number of negatives and I end up depressed and miserable and I just don’t want to go there today. No thank you.

Back in my Community College days I took an intro to psychology class and I learned a little factoid that turned my brain upside down and, unfortunately, confirmed a suspicion that I always had about myself. The factoid is that people who suffer from depression often have an accurate view of themselves, while people who don’t suffer from depression often have too rosy a view of themselves. They see themselves as better or more important than they actually are. I had always thought that was the case, but to read exactly that in a psych textbook blew my tiny little mind in a way that I had never imagined. It seemed to confirm why I was always so depressed.

So what is a trait that I value about myself? I am really, really tall. Six feet, four inches tall. Almost but not quite two meters. I can always reach the top shelf. I totally value my height. It’s one of my best traits.

There. I answered your damn question. Let’s all move on with our lives now.

Daily writing prompt

List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter.

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Three jobs I would have if I didn’t have to worry about money. I have two that come to me instantly. I will have to think on the third a little…

• Musician. Sure, there are people who make a lot of money in the music business but there are some false truths here. First, 99.999% of people who pursue careers in music don’t make any money. Second, with the notable exception of Miss Swift, the music industry doesn’t really exist anymore. There are a few folks hanging on to the past model by the skin of their teeth, and a lot of legacy artists who are too big to fail, but for the most part, again with the exception of a certain Miss Swift, there is nothing left of the industry. If money were no object though, that would be my first choice of a new career. Hell, in 1989 it was my first choice of any career. It didn’t work out though.
• Photographer. People make a living with it, but how many more fail than succeed? I don’t know for sure (unlike the music biz, where I absolutely do know for sure) but I bet the percentage is pretty high. If money weren’t a factor though, I would give it a try. I’d have a portrait studio and I would do landscape shoots and I would do travel photography and all of that stuff that I would do today just for fun.
• Blogger. I have no desire to try to make money off of this silly little personal blog. None at all. Zero inclination toward blogging for a living. Nope. However, if money were no object, I would totally do it. I would just write blog posts all day. No one would read them, but I wouldn’t need to make any money so it wouldn’t matter and it would more or less be exactly the same thing I am doing now. I would put a twist on it though and I would make this a travel blog so that I could use not needing any money as an excuse to travel all the time and I’d just write about everything I do while traveling. Jen and I were fantasizing about a where-we-came-from trip last night. It was inspired by yesterday’s writing prompt. Travel to Scotland and Ireland and see our heritage first hand. I could write blog entries about stuff like that for a living, you bet… assuming I didn’t actually have to make any money doing it. So I guess I would do it for a “living” if you know what I mean.

There you go. Three fantasy career choices that would not pay the bills, if I need not worry about ever having to pay the bills. As it is, being a programming supervisor at a medical software company is doing all right by me. I think I will stick with it.