Love your job
February of 2008 marked a significant anniversary that I perhaps subconsciously chose to not celebrate. You see, February of 1998, a date 10 years previous, signifies what I officially mark as my first venture into an adult working career. I had landed my first position in a computer repair shop courtesy of the US Air Force. Technically, I joined the service back in February of 1997, but I don't count my first year since it was spent training and sitting in a classroom. Most college students drag through 2-4 years, but in the fast track that is the Air Force I zipped through an education in 1 year before being sent to my first duty station to do "real" work.
Fast forward 10 years to February of this year. I was on the verge of starting a call center (aka tech support) position with a bank which will remain unnamed. Only 3 1/2 weeks into my "new" opportunity I decided to call it quits. It was the first time I had ever voluntarily terminated my own employment. Don't get me wrong - I've never been fired before and don't hope to anytime soon, but if you consider that my call center job was my 9th job since my journey started in the military, then I can comfortably sit here and say with certainty that it was a job not meant for me. How on earth did I go through NINE jobs in TEN years?! I'm still scratching my head over that.
Just a few weeks ago we had the pleasure of a visit from Shanti's sister Risa and our good friend Patrick who lives just down the road in Raleigh. On a walk through downtown Winston after dinner, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a somewhat odd oxymoronic setting. There was a man perched above what appears to be computers and copier equipment painting a mural. Only now, as I write this, am I making the connection as to what I was intrigued by. I saw myself standing on that scaffolding. When I consider my current employment situation - enjoying computer work, passionate about photography - I wonder if perhaps that man was me reincarnated or some brother from another mother. Mind you, I don't paint, but I do enjoy the intricasy that is finding light, color, shape, etc. in a subject. I capture with a camera while a painter creates with a brush.
I have had some unfortunate luck over the years with my career. I have had 3 employers close shop and I have experimented unsuccessfully with other career possibilities; yet, here I am tapping a keyboard and clicking a mouse for a living. I was recently having an online exchange with a friend from Florida about my misfortunes. She encapsulated my experience over the years in one word - adventurous. When I think back to every job I've had I can easily conjure fond memories. For instance, I remember goofing off with an old co-worker while handling thousands of dollars worth of expensive military computer systems in a frigid open doored hanger in Alaska. I still remember how awesome those F-15 fighters were just parked a few feet away. And then there was a time when I somehow found myself piloting an inflatable radio controlled blimp over a packed NHL hockey arena during a live game! I was just an intern. While working at a law firm, I made a great friend who somehow got me aboard a sailing yacht - a first for me. I've had the opportunity to run out of a tunnel with an NFL team during a halftime, chat with a celebrity football player during a runway model photo shoot sponsored by his charity, and I remember a summer in 2001 when I was at the bottom of a drained swimming pool shoveling sludge, frogs, and avoiding snakes for my "Uncle Freddy" who at that time was recovering from his surgery. He needed my help to avoid losing his pool business. Here I am - 10 years later and not even a month into my 10th job and I had a moment to sit down and enjoy eating an Arby's roast beef sandwich in the chair across from a famous NASCAR racecar driver. How exactly did I end up here? Why? I don't care, but I love my newest job for its richness in experience.
I look back at all of my jobs and hold very little regret. I loved those jobs. Sometimes not so much for what I was doing at the time, but for the memorable life experiences I had while performing those tasks. As the great poet Thoreau once explained his purpose in wandering into the woods in the book "Walden", "...to suck the marrow out of life," I hope you love your experiences while you are "doing your job" even if what you do is not what you love. I have surely wandered into the unknown with both fear and excitement. What I discover next is a big unknown.
When I look back at this picture of a guy painting his mural, close to the midnight hour in some office downtown, all the while bopping to music playing through earbuds in his ears, I have to stop and think - he must love his job.
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This area is somewhat of a mecca for trail riders. In all, there are about 12 different trails to choose from varying from an easy afternoon ride to a full Saturday workout. I had today off and chose to give myself the torture treatment. I rode for about 3 1/2 grueling hours and covered about 17 miles of rough terrain. Along the way I stopped at a few creek crossings to peer at the aquatic life and to catch a breath here and there. Last year I did not ever get a chance to spot any deer, but this year they seem to have been more abundant. As pictured below, I was upset to come upon a fawn dead not even but a few weeks old or less. 
