Well, let that be a lesson to me. I toasted my alarm clock by plugging it in without any converter. At least there was an alarm clock already here for me, although setting the time on it is extremely tedious since you must step by the minute from 0:00. It took me approximately 1,000 clicks to set it the first time. I wonder how much clicking (of keys, mouse buttons) I do in one day. Perhaps I'll try to find a program to measure this, and I'm sure it will scare the bejusus out of me when I find out.
Most people try to separate their work from their play--it is the way of businessmen and blue collar workers alike. Even Einstein said something to this effect: "It is best, it seems to me, to separate one's inner striving from one's trade as far as possible. It is not good when one's daily break is tied to God's special blessing."
With all due respect to Einstein, the idea still strikes me as an odd one. Why should I engage myself in something I find odious for 8 hours a day in order to enjoy the remaining 4? Is this really a fair trade? And why must there be an exchange of unhappiness for happiness? Partitioning one's life into two compartments seems unnatural to me, and this economic exchange of unhappiness for happiness makes even less sense.
We are expected to access happiness indirectly through the mechanism of work, but I say forget what you're expected to do. Enjoy your work. Take pride in it. Do what you love to do, whatever it is that you're passionate about, because chances are it's also what you're best at. If you don't like your job then you're wasting your life.
But I suppose if everyone followed my advice we'd have way too many musicians, artists, and professional drug users, and way too few garbage men and construction workers. There are many tasks necessary for the upkeep of soceity that no human would do for pleasure.
So thanks, garbagemen and construction workers and gas station attendants of the world, please forget what I just said and don't start a revolution or anything crazy like that. And definitely don't follow your lifelong dream of becoming a synchronized swimmer, because nobody wants to see that. Trust me on this one.
Posted by Alan at April 25, 2002 06:59 PM