Fun And Fulfillment

 Life in General  No Responses »
May 162012
 

I remember being in church the other day and the pastor was talking about diversions; those things we spend our lives doing that keep us from really living. Among those things he called diversions were television, video games, and randomly surfing the Internet. I pretty much dismissed that entire part of the sermon because those things in particular were things I liked doing. I considered doing those things living, at least to a small degree, and made time for them because they were fun and brought me joy. Honestly they still do but they don’t tend to provide enough fodder to blog about, at least not lately.

Not to eliminate the above from my life but I have come to accept that I also need more fulfilling fun in my world. I need the fun that comes from working to obtain a goal, exercising my commitment, being of service, and learning new things that contribute to my being. In the absence of this, there comes a time when even TV, video, games, and the Internet just don’t do it. I guess too much of anything brings diminishing returns.

On top of this I have also come to realize that I have a soulless job, totally devoid of anything fulfilling or fun, but I need money and the job market is tough. As I am working to promote to the next level, it appears that those positions and the ones above them are possibly worse in terms of personal fulfillment but at least they pay more. More pay is important because it will be years, actually decades, before I’m likely to be able to retire at this rate and I need to build things and set others in motion that will enable me to thrive in the absence of an actual job.

When A Job Becomes A Career

 Life in General  No Responses »
Apr 082012
 

In my life I have had many jobs and fewer careers. The jobs always paid less. It’s been said that it is important to find a job that you enjoy, something you love doing, then it’s not so much a job anymore. Contrary to the actual definition, for me, the difference between a job and a career should be simply a commitment to do the job you love and to grow in it. If you love it and choose it as your pathway then it is your profession, your career. If the purpose of a job is to make money, is the purpose of a career just to make more money?

When the current job market situation hit, I found myself out of work and unable to go back to what I used to do. I’ve had to find a new career and I don’t think I like it very much. It is work. I’m not terrible at it. In fact, over time, I’ll probably be great at it. It’s not excruciating, but it definitely isn’t fun. Lately I’ve been looking into studying to advance in this profession. I’d like to earn more and this is the way to do it. If not, I have to commit to getting paid at this level or find another profession and risk getting paid even less, at least in the beginning. Continue reading »

Last Week: 2/26/12 – 3/3/12

 Recap  No Responses »
Mar 062012
 

All in all, not a bad week. The de-cluttering continues as does my rise from the ashes of unemployment.

Noteworthy happenings:

  • Sent in my 2010 taxes finally and had to pay the man for which he promptly cashed my check almost immediately. I be broke.
  • Washed about 6 loads of laundry. Yes I have that many clothes. Not sure they were all dirty though but I had no better way to get them off the floor.
  • Wasted almost a whole day on Sid Meier’s Civilization V. Man, that game is addicting.
  • Started going to church online. It’s not as good as being there but it makes me feel a lot less guilty about staying home on Sunday.

Stuff I thought about:

  • If I’m so smart, why aren’t I rich?
  • I need to come up with a step by step plan to eliminate the need to work for food, rent, entertainment, travel, etc.
  • So that’s what the floor of my bedroom looks like!
  • I need an awesome hand held camera with an series set of lenses. I need to take some awe-inspiring photos. Maybe even start a photo blog.

Less Than Homeless

 Some Have It Worse  No Responses »
Feb 272012
 

As much as I like to complain about my situation, I find myself frequently humbled by someone or some people who have it worse. Lately I’ve been complaining about the cost of living, especially the absurdly high cost of living in Southern California. I swear it costs a minimum of $500 to $1000 a month more here than it would in the Mid-west or the South. Even though I complain, I never miss a meal, am somehow able to pay all my bills on time, have a little fun and actually save a bit each month. I guess I feel like I should be doing even better.

Today I was reading this article about a billion or so people that live in slums. I’m not just talking about being poor. I know a little something about that. I’m talking about being poor, homeless, or nearly so, and lacking clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services. How does one go through his or her entire life like that and still have hope? At the very least I feel thankful for what I have especially knowing that I can have even more if I just worked a little harder.

For Those Of Us Who Loved Ferris Bueller

 The 80's  No Responses »
Feb 062012
 

I own a few movies that are strictly guilty pleasures. It doesn’t matter if anyone likes them but me. One of those movies is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Like me it’s over 20 years old and I’ve added it to my collection of things that still fascinate me about the 80′s. If you’ve never seen it, I’m sure it’s available on Netflix or somewhere else online. Anyway Honda recently presented an advertisement that pays homage the character. In it Matthew Broderick reprises his role but this time as himself. He’s older than me by the way, just in case you wanted to know. Anyway, I liked the extended commercial and thought I’d share it. If you haven’t seen the movie, most of it will be lost on you but I think it’s still worth a watch. Here it is in all its hi-def crunchy goodness:

Plenty Of Entertainment

 Couldn't have said it better!  No Responses »
Jan 292012
 

Okay so I haven’t had cable TV in years and while I can pick up the big networks over the antenna, I don’t watch the news. I get most of my info from reading and face to face conversation and that suits me fine. I read a lot and a decent portion of it is online. Sometimes I run into things others have written or said that I wish I’d have said so I’m starting this new piece called “Couldn’t have said it better!”

This piece entitled “His Reasoning Is Askew” is by a guy named David Brothers who I follow online. Like me he’s been reading comics since he was a kid and this article talks from that point of view and another I share; that of the huge amount of content available online and all the choices we now have. Check him out.