Schinckel.net

Utopian Ideals

I have a little joke I make when people ask me how work is. It goes a little like this:

Other Person: How is work going?

Me: Okay, I suppose. I mean, it’s not like work is supposed to be fun or anything. That’s why it’s called ‘Work’, and not ‘Fun’. Can you imagine what the world would be like? “Well, I’m off to Fun now, I want to pop in there and have a little fun for a couple of hours”.

[Other Person walks away…]

Me: Hey, where are you going. Come back…

However, I don’t really believe this. I want to be in a situation where I can do something I love as the main [source of income thing I do each day]. I read an article which used to be at http://calacanis.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000540052285/ about this. I guess I don’t necessarily want to be a ‘professional blogger’, although it seems like it might be a fun job. I’d just like to be doing something I like, for the significant portion of my time. I already have a job where I do have a fair amount of time to ‘do my own thing’. If necessary (and meetings permit), I can leave work well before 3:30pm, and I get a fair chunk more holidays each year than the average worker. I don’t think I’d like to give up those aspects of the teacher lifestyle. But there are things about my job that I don’t really like. I’m not going to be too specific, but I forsee myself in the not to distant future not working full time as a teacher. Whilst some people don’t like the idea, and the ‘randomness’ of being a relief teacher (Supply Teacher in the UK, Substitute in the US), I think it sounds better than the alternative.

Not having to do a heap of marking and preparation.

Not having to attend staff meetings.

Not having to attend Parent-Teacher interviews.

Not having an income during holidays.

Okay, at the moment that last one is a bit of a kicker. My aim is to have some other sources of income, something that allows me to work ‘from home’, whether it’s building renovation and maintenance, coding or otherwise. I sometimes feel that my generation is the first one to decide that we don’t have to spend our whole lives working, to support our lifestyles. Our whole lives should be our lifestyles. Life is short. Enjoy every day.