cellini's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Checking In As time goes by, I find myself wanting to go fishing more. I have it in my head to go somewhere in February or March where I can set up a campsite next to a river or lagoon or inlet in a more or less tropical setting and wake up and see the water and walk to it and catch something to eat. F. is probably about to finally quit his stupid job in the construction industry and take a totally different job running a coffee shop. At the coffee shop he can get days off. Right now he is managing the construction of a $24M apartment complex. He has several hundred employees under him, deals with a massive budget of millions of dollars, and is totally miserable. The guy works 16 hour days and is away from home 5 or 6 days at a stretch. He should quit the stupid fucking job that he hates already, and work this coffee shop thing for a fraction of the money, and work on the book that I convinced him to start writing (which I sincerely believe can net him a solid $15k or so advance, if he writes well enough). Then he can take off for a few weeks and we can drive down to some God-forsaken stretch of nowhere in southern Florida this winter and go fishing. I've got the pop-up camper and he has the tow vehicle. It would be perfect if he would just shake this stupid day job already. I find that I am a changed creature now. Its been a matter of almost 3 months since I left my day job to be... whatever the fuck you call what I do now. I think that it is time for an assessment. Am I happier? Yes. Yes, I definitely am. And I can see more clearly the terrible trap that I was in and that so many people who I know are still in. Pursuing careers that seem to pay well enough and have some type of social status, yet which are utterly non-satisfying in the real basic human way. We want to create things. We do. We want to do things and make things and create experiences that MATTER. Sitting at a fucking desk and producing income for someone else by fiddling with bits of paper does not accomplish that. My most satisfying day of work ever was a few weeks ago when that South African client of mine shot his first deer while I had him out on a guided hunt. It was better than every day of the11 years of work that I ever had in my old career. It was better than all but 1 day of hunting that I have ever done on my own. Having that guy so absolutely elated and nearly in tears at what he had pulled off was easily my most satisfying day of work in my entire life. And the crazy son of a bitch PAID ME for that day. Wow. I absolutely love taking new people out to hunt. In fact, I find that I keep doing it even when they aren't paying me. Like the other day when I went to get the geese for this event and I had that kid who works for the vineyard coming along. Nobody was paying me but I took him along anyhow. And that shit made his day. Hell, it made his fucking year. He was absolutely elated! Even when we were gutting and plucking, he was still smiling for hours. Working as a hunting guide, incidental though it is to my overall situation, is absolutely the most satisfying work I have ever done in my life. If I could/had to choose, I would rather do that 5 days a week and 50 weeks a year for, say, $40k than do any desk job for $500k a year. It is better to be a carpenter than to be a professor of architecture. Seriously, because that carpenter gets to actually make shit. As it happens, my career move has taken me up a notch in terms of social status. The professional author is still somewhat well regarded in western society. Especially if his niche is as romantic as mine has become. In only about 2 weeks I leave for Eleuthera. Today I ordered a special diving mask that has a built in digital video camera. It cost me a lto of money but I think its a smart investment. Video of me spear-fishing li0nfish will be good for promoting the new book when the time comes. I have already decided that I'm going to leave it with Mojo, the guy who is hosting me and hunting with me. 12:29 a.m. - 2010-11-28 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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