I am the type who becomes easily bored so I have had not a career but a series of diversions. While in school I earned money by playing craps and writing essay homework assignments for lazy students. A couple of scholarships would have sent me to university but I found nothing interesting so played coffee house blues and jazz instead. Unfortunately I couldn't make much more than enough to pay for my food and drink so I eventually drifted into general insurance where I learned property and casualty insurance. Over the next 3 years I eventually became the youngest property inspector in Canada but tired of it a year later. Got married and decided to sell high end hi-fidelity systems instead. If you are going to make a change you may as well go all the way. My wife was in insurance and when the B.C. government got involved a lot of companies left the province. She was offered a promotion and transfer to Toronto so off we went and I became a clerk for a major photo equipment chain.
A series of promotions brought me into upper management. That was okay but there was not really very much to do. Meanwhile I had developed a small reputation as an art photographer so I quit and pursued that for a while. That was okay at first but I ran into a brick wall when I discovered just how political the art world was and that I had no stomach for it. Meanwhile we got tired of Toronto and moved to Ottawa where I discovered microcomputers and entered management at Zenith Data Systems. A series of accidents led me to set up a BBS which became immensely popular throughout both Canada and the U.S. (this was before the internet and web had really caught on.) I was asked to present an informal talk on the subject at the Ottawa Computer Club which had a membership of well over 1,ooo- mostly professionals. As a result I wound up earning a living by giving lectures to various large businesses and government institutions such as the RCMP and QETE.
My wife was also doing well and the pressures of our yuppie lifestyle and occupations left too little time for each other. So we decided to cut back and returned to Toronto where we bought a sailboat for relaxation. I became tired of management, etc and a simple, no-stress job seemed to be what I needed. So I sold pet food for a while. Turned out I didn't like not thinking so that didn't last.
Eventually we decided to just give up so we simplifed our lifestyle, moved onto the sailboat and retired in my mid-forties. We were amazed at how little money was needed once we left yuppieville so have remained retired for the last 10 years. Whenever unexpected expenses such as a new computer or software arise I design a few web sites or do some commercial artwork. Have also had a few small gallery shows and even manage to sell the occassional piece of "art".
This is not the career path I would recommend to those who seek financial success or public notoriety. But after more than 30 years of marriage my wife and I are still not bored with each other so it has its compensations. Definitely we do not have as much as in previous lifestyles but life is much more enjoyable for both of us. No idea what we'll be doing next year but we're sure it will be interesting.
ps. In between sessions I have also been a police dog trainer, writer, sold sailboat charters and did a number of other things you don't care about either. Had a tough time paying the bills by writing but it was infintely preferable to training dogs!
Are you bored yet? <grin>
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