What do you do for a living? (Page 2 of 5)

As my brother already mentioned, I recently started working with a friend of the family who does construction and general contracting. I'm good with my hands, learn really quick, and like to do a fast but thorough job which is good in this kind of work. I would actually prefer some hard muscle-building indoor/outdoor manual labor over the same routine in front of a desk/computer etc. It's also an apprenticeship, because I can learn the skills to go off on my own, which is actually what my friend and I are going to start doing almost immediately, build our own business and be our own bosses

I think physical work is better then the mental type, because you can think about whatever you want while you work, get physical exercise, and it can help keep you from getting too stressed out mentally.

My aforementioned friend was also taught by his father how to do the whole construction thing, but currently makes most of his living "redistributing" marijuana (I dislike the negative stigma of "drug dealer" LOL) I would do it too if I could (OK $, easy "work", loose schedule), but I would be more suited to actually growing it.

It's funny how that came out, without any regard to how illegal it is...rofl

I'm a professional acrobat and entertainer. I've been doing it for 15 years now. I left college where I was majoring in all sorts of things (astrophysics, history, philosophy.) but got bored with academia. I was lucky, as the path of the fakir pretty much choose ME. I'm my most centered and concentrated when I'm working with my body. Luckily the world still pays to see people do amazing things.
   I've worked the streets for years (where you make the most money, trust me.) but I've done everything from sideshows to Cirque du Soleil (three year tour of asia/pasific.).
   Initially I wasn't really sure WHY I was drawn to the circus, but after many years and many trials, I began to understand. Circus works the mind, the body and the spirit. The mind to find the work, understand the movements, and to teach them to others. The body for the obvious reasons. And most importantly the spirit. There are many circus artist that cannot emote. They either don't know how, or don't have anything to give. But when your on stage, in that moment, people are watching you and they are much more psychic than they know. A good performer will take it's audience to another place where they are fearless and real.
  I struggle alot, like most of the known world. And alot of the time I don't know where my next dollar will come from. But I thank my interests in History. Most of the history of civilization has been filled with more strife, uncertainty, and  toil than I ever have or will...and I just finished touring in a traditional circus, pounding tent stakes, doing two shows a day, for 12 weeks straight with no days off.
  I've had two surgeries, one of which was done under the table, in a x-doctors office with parts he got at the hardware store. Despite this, I'm 34 and look 10 years younger. Most acrobats I know have a 10 year career path, maxium. But I don't know, theres just something about cultivating the will and the body, and harnessing the spirit to do such, that makes it an amazing adventure I don't want to stop.
So you see, for survival reasons I CAN'T hold any tension or negative emotions in my body. So I had to learn to access and release them or I would have broken years ago. I almost have, and each time I've learned something more profound than a hundred self-help books.
  Like you, I cannot make millions for some suit up high. It just seems...dirty. A day doesn't go by where I don't think about my own death...and I'm curious as hell to see where THAT will lead.
  The only advice I could give would be forget about finding happiness through material comforts. You body will adjust to toil as long as it is nourishing your spirit. So move to indonesia and start a cafe, become a gardener in hawaii, go on an adventure and dream BIG. Society (especially america.) is designed to smother dreams. Movies, magazines, news papers bombard you with fear and meodicrity. I say bollocks to it....

   As Nietzsche said: "By my love and hope I conjure unto thee, cast not away the hero in thy soul, hold holy thy highest hopes!"

Thanks Carissa (lyra)!  You little sweetie, you!

double the "HEY Seeking!"   i was thinking of actually--both u two.  u and lilmomma.  and i'll be darned--nixie too.  ur on track.  strength strength strength.  searching and seeking and always improving, and cutting thru the muck and mire.  i started out watching my mother care for ppl.  i was 3.  i couldnt go up and down stairs with both feet.  too little and off balance.  had to do it the old one foot stays on the step with the other, as one goes down, and up.  took a long time.  step by step.  she was a nurse's aid, took me to work with her.  she was a real RN but they wouldnt graduate her since she was pregnant by her first husband that she had divorced.  secretly.  they punished women/nurses real bad in those days.  i threaded the old ppl's needles.  they couldnt see anymore.  the wife of the janitor i found out later at my elementary school was dying there then.  in it was in the blood to be a healer, caregiver, she took me with her and i saw her bliss.  the ecstasy she had for healing.  for service in that mode.  it was to BE.  and i took it thru EVERY STEP there was.  started out to replace a friend with a broken leg at a nursing home.  passed out meds to hundreds a nite, at age 17.  did all the "treatments."  ran a crew of older women there.  with only 2 licensed nurses for over 400 patients. (all illegal and ran by the PTB--the county).   made $2.40 an hr.  got a raise--went up to $2.57.  yet, was rich.  had loads of responsibility.  learned pharmacopia, paid for my gas in junior college, which was 50 miles one way.  moved out at 17.  rent was $75.00 a month.  had my 14 yr old sister there and a few wayward roommates thru the yrs there.   took 22--24 units at a time.  included night classes.  went to work in the am washing dishes in the basement of a hospital, before that.  later ran whole hospitals, whole complex medical systems with several hospitals/medical centers in them.  big exec.  used to drive to school in illinois, in snowdrifts 5 ft high, on solid sheets of ice, in blizzards.  went anyway.  just did it.  worked full time going thru grad school.  running hospitals while doing that too.  always the hard way, the most stringent and rigorous.  more training of a gladiator.  got a ton of what i call--legitimized paper behind me, under me.  proving all of it.  grad school done, post grad done.  thats not the point tho, altho clearly, i paid my dues.  not even the half of it.  up and down those steps.  good to know that even the best laid plans have underlying realities one doesnt expect and i thot i was not naive.  how wrong i was.  i did not realize how deep the rabbit hole went, or how sick the bizness of healthcare really was, and who were the illuminati, even tho id worked in it my whole life.

the REAL deal is that i figured way way back that nobody NOBODY would ever carry me.  im not the carrying kind.  i carry others so i had to find something that would pay--no matter what or where.  us 3 kids learned real quick in our environment that while those 2 were at war with each other, we'd have to carry on despite. early sense of survival alone.  what will always support me?  what will always be there?  what will ppl need, always?  what could i do for money if i was to crashland in quatemala?  thats how i used to think then, still do.  i thot-- and this is weird--women will always menstruate and ppl will always be sick.  what could i do with those facts? always went for facts first.  the parents were good at that--do not trouble us kids.  all is expendable.  everybody was dis-attached kinda.  and were not responsible for u guys pretty much.  they were 2 strange but loveable ducks.   and i was already at the nursing home for gas money.  u could eat and buy ur cigs there.  they left the water in the mac and cheese to make it thicker and go 'round.  they had a commissary.  it was the old folks home and old county poor farm as they used to call it in the 1800's.  lots of old guys with their legs shot off, TB pts with most of their chest gone.  i loved it there.  i used to go to school, then drive there, and work til after midnite.  get up and get to school 50 miles away in the AM, then do it all over again.  did the night classes so it would work out that i did doubles on week-ends.  worked sometimes 3 and 4 days,  numerous shifts, in a row.  smoked and drank and everything else like a fiend.  partied continuously all thru it.  can remember sharpening my pencil in nursing school at 7AM in a hallway readying to take 2 back to back tests that would make or break graduation (old diploma school AFTER the first college and they sent us to another there so theres 2 degrees with a diploma RN thing from just that.  lived in a dorm with 17 yr olds straight from the farm.  i was 22, and wild.  it was hell)---so hungover, that i had to hold onto the wall and the pencil sharpener to stand up.  whiskey breath so bad i coulda knocked over a few truckers.  in lots of pain having to have to do this.  oh the the discipline to do it.  wasnt gonna let that crap wreck my social and experimental transcendence "calender" tho.  oh no.  we must party on and get an A anyway.  thats just the way it was.  trained mind.  all done to lead me eventually to the practice of medicine, as planned with my own office, i thot.  ultimately be an independent provider.  all those yrs i planned that.   big joke.  all was to end in a joke.  and i went all the way thru it, planned it all, it took over 13 years, with just the classes needed.  thats just the requirements, linearly.  one must also have yrs of experience to prove one is advanced.  so thats over 35 yrs now, with 10 yrs in the NP role now.  only to realize i'd be in enemy territory and not in a hospital or similar setting anymore where all is heavily regulated, went right in to enemy camp.  didnt know how that went.  found out soon.  unless nurses can get money for their services DIRECTLY from the patient, there will always be the/a pimp.   thats what i found when i got to the end.  so thats why i say im a whore.  all nurses will come to this conclusion, sooner or later.  i did long ago.

so here i was--in a SERVICE CYCLE.  was a temple prostie, had been remembering it once i got to the end.  realized how that was healing in thr past, all that weaved together.  when i really got it was when i began to reject my pimps in the new setting.  wanted to kill 'em.  finally got it REAL good when i worked in offices for "the man."  the man owns the world.  now on par with the big boys.  yet always reminded "NOT".  not welcome there.  began getting it when directly remembering pastlives as they bled thru.  the man doesnt like competition. too powerful, the ppl wanted to see me instead of them.  used my skills and 'potions', ppl were better overnite.  its the touch and the intent too.  the PTB dont like that--one bit.  it helped me see who i am, and why, and whats gone on.  it was there all along.  service.  shown to me by the HS.  insisting on all the LEGITIMIZED PAPER was symbolic, a test.  all the yrs, licenses, degrees,certifications.  THAT WAS WHY.  see the big play there to "make it right."  to clean it up and bump it up.  all disciplinary tests to get me to see all around and to prove if i wanted that cycle to end or not.  i got it and understood.  loved it that i had the power, knowledge.  but then when i realized the lone onus that i wasnt gonna have my own gig (illegal in CA) and that every single deal set up in the medical community is/was/has been designed to thwart nurse practitioners at every turn (insurance companies wont let u in, medicare pays at a fraction of the physician rate for the same services, not allowed to sign a death certificate or do a physical for a handicap placard, all on whim and legislation that changes overnight by TPTB.  some yrs its ok, then they change it.  treated like shit, used to do volume, told what to do by 5 dollar an hour medical assistants and the wives in doctor's offices, shunned by the pharmaceutical companies but write prescriptions all day.  blah blah blah)  i realized i dont DO PIMPS and ive hooked/serviced long enough.  so i see crats in there, the mission, how it began, and how it stands today.  it all tied together.  understood finally, why i despise false authorities. killed me more than once.  i was again, with the priest caste, but never legit enuf.  never good enuf.  i grokked it.

so i go to places that dont screw ME now.  i give SERVICES for money exchange. i cant change the status quo.  i race home to go on NR.  i live on the net pretty much everyday, since i gave up whoring.  i study now.  only lend my services when i feel like it.  purely do TEMP.  carved out a niche.  showed others how to do it, which secretly ruins the status quo from within, insidiously.  raises the bar.  yet, no investment anymore, what a surprise.  just in the pts, who literally 'belong' to the priest caste.  ur used to heal them, but theyre not "yours."  theyre commodities, traded, bought and sold.  if the public only knew.  always still at motel 6.  and every now and again i end up at the marriott.  and the sheets are clean.  its all been way grand since i woke up.  ur enemies can teach u lots.  i love to fix, heal, patch up, ppl.  i fix ppl "other providers"  screw up.  yep.  and im happy now that i take the money quietly.  and not as an employee.  i found the balance.   I CONTROL "it."  i have friends that r of the priestly caste.  so it works out.  never been happier, or fatter.  live good.  made that happen.  gift to self.  woulda had at least one PhD and an EdD by now, but saw the crap and couldnt do that anymore.  dont have the 6 bedroom house.  no--then id have to work and i learned to despise that.  working for masters, pimps, corps.  more theory to study?  a nursing PhD that focuses on?????  come on.  not what its cracked up to be.  be in academia and play those politics?  even in my short teaching adjunct university stints i go against the grain.  not ur typical instructor babe.  (i notice they havent called me this yr).   spew out metaphysical insights to all of them tho.  patients and students alike.  get em to think, wake a little, re-arrange their thinking.  charismatically.  saved money, every dime thru the yrs--just waiting for hard times, just in case.  just in case i'd have to crashland in quatemala.  always a fallback to save the self.  take complete and utter responsibility for the self.  big disappointment but made the best of it.  oh well.  took yrs to get over it.  im all done with it now, decreased bitterness, watch and observe. 

in short (haha) none of this worked out EXACTLY like i planned and im one helluva planner. STEP BY STEP i paid and EARNED my way. would never have believed i did all this (worked every holiday or week-end when ppl were having fun with their families and loved ones, ran the streets at midnite when i got off duty which aint the best pickins for looking for mates/lovers after working PM's, always on duty, giving and giving and making everything alright for others).  i chose it.   the awakening of what i got myself into was a major turning point in my evolution.  and thankful for it.  turned out better really tho, than i wouldve ever guessed or projected.  if i wouldve stayed the old route id still be an exec, or a tenured professor.  glued to the career and compromising.  i dont do that anymore either, barely.  (watch michael moore's Sicko movie--i havent yet and why need to?  i LIVE IT) and u get it.  F'in crooks.  i have to stay as far from that as possible while still in it, straddling the reality of it in very short and planned bursts.  more now as a knowing neutral observer.  this is where my real heart lies anyway--studying metaphysics and the science of the soul.  yet applying it to everyday practice.  cant be around nor support demons every day.  its draining and will kill.  BUT i go in and out of it with personal power.  shielded.  i at least like to think.  and now i stay off the frontlines as much as possible. it no longer defines me. "the career"  puke.  it isnt my life's work.  anymore.  stay home the rest of the time, where its peaceful, fun, quiet, safe, CLEAN, and loving.  set up my own king/queendom.  jump in the pool that i built, from service money.  and i think all the time, about what im gonna research next and tie together and maybe post on.  sink it into the recesses for later.  will use it all.   how to get on out of here, knowing what i know, now.  uncover the divine secrets.  it couldnt have worked out better.  who woulda thot?!  not tied to career, an image, a job, a cycle.

so--is it a SERVICE or a PRODUCT, Seeking?  i'd first look at it intellectually and break it down that way.  what is it that can be done from home, that ppl NEED that u already do?  and do well?  that U ALREADY DO?  the key is in that.  can u shop for other ppl and buy organic for them?  and charge them and show them how.  or tutor their kids if ur good at that and i think u are.  or cook for them and send it over?  or do muffins from organics and send out for sale or pick up from home if u cook well.  set up rain barrels for them.  be an organic provider in ur own realm.  or write like u do for locals or for ur paper or local?  or even hang their laundry out on lines and sell urself as an organic home service and thats ur "product."  can u run a support group that helps other ppl out of what u found with ur own illness.  like that?  ill keep thinking of things.  its all there, only for u to pick and run with.  ur dreams too of the flooding represent this and the times ur going thru.  its just a holdover period.  all will change again and again.  ur in a temp pattern.  its all TEMP anyway.  and that gives relief, instead of grief.  all will 'tilt', again.  ur HS is telling u WATER.  it cleanses.  it floods, it purifies, its a new beginning.  u will figure it out.  we will help u from the tribe here.  just to talk about it is helpful, i realize.  ideas will FLOW.  just like WATER.

my wife and i are starting our own graphic design business after both getting laid off within the space of a month ealier this year. it's exciting and scary at the same time (as most lifechanges are). we've had some work in, got some work done (website, collateral, stationary) but really need to get the word out.

the scenario we are working towards is to make enough to be able to devote spare time to making music and setting up a small label online.

before that i had a 2 year stint at a Jewish Newpaper and in England I worked for a home interest magazine for 8 years then after a break freelanced for a couple.

in a former life i was an electrical draughtsman.

Most things I have done for employment have been in one service oriented job or another.  From waiting tables to being a personal chef and event coordinator to logistics.

Currently, I'm coming out of "retirement" heh. Sounds funny.  Anyways about a year ago I closed my computer company because of several stress related issues.  Most of those issues are now resolved and I actually opened a pc repair shop again last week.  It's good.  I have been serving this area for about ten years now and people know and trust me and my work.  They are also very glad to see me back in operation and even though I have officially been open only two full days so far, I have quite a bit of business.  Basically I am a problem solver for people.  I find or create solutions for people and implement them.  I am also a web programmer and now develop PHP applications and am a Unix Administrator and web host. 

I actually very much enjoy the work and working with languages and computers, sometimes though, people are a little much to handle.  That is usually just the very negative and generally angry people.  Who are apparently in a perpetually tumultuous state.  Such as this one lady that comes to me for help every so often.  She is so unhappy every time she talks I taste sulphur in my mouth.

Funny though. Until recently I have never really looked upon work as work.  I mean to say that to me employment is a part of life.  Whether I was working on AS/400 systems in factories or waiting tables at a greasy spoon or even in an elegant fine dining establishment...even when I worked construction, and worked on ranches out west... not a lot of it seemed like work.  Sure, I was tired a lot of days, banged up and bruised in some cases but... I am lucky maybe... whatever I have done whether out of choice or pure necessity, I've never really "hated" or very much disliked what I did.  Possibly this is due to growing up in a household of entrepreneurs.  Maybe it was because I had a child when I was 17 and was divorced when I was 18 and have never really had reliable help on the raising a child thing...basically learning to be happy and grow where I am planted rather than fighting what is.

Some days...and even most days...when I think I'd rather be doing something else, I cannot imagine what it would be.  I am thankful for the experiences I have had and even when times were rough there was always something good out of it.

I'm also not sure what the bringing together of two lives together means for others.  I started on my path of magic when I was 12...all the metaphysical stuff started when I was 4 or so.  To me, it's all part of one life...one world.... I do not distinguish between magical me and other people....at least not to the extent that some people seem to do.  Some people seem to draw these invisible lines and divisions, as if we do not already have enough.

I have worn what I consider a magical symbol on a necklace for as long as I can remember.  Some people feel this symbol is religious, some demonic or related to Satanism.  Some insist it only belongs in certain schools of thought or certain magical beliefs.  I have never been too concerned what it means to others, what it means to me is all I need to know or be concerned about.  But in wearing this symbol I have learned that people are generally more tolerant than they are given credit for.  Also, it has lead to a great many good acquaintences and friendships and conversations and I think that in that way I am helping relieve some of the stigma related to such things...the magical or metaphysical or spiritual (whatever you wanna call it) "world" is not something separate from the rest of tangible reality...in fact...it is through that percieved and incorrect thought that many people have the troubles they have today.  What is of this world, tangible or not, is of this world and should not be hidden away only at home or in some closet or some secret place only spoken of with those of "like kind"... it needs to be embraced and brought out and combined with the rest, as it is anyways.

HAH.  Sorry... I kinda went on and on there.  I also write books, poems and short stories and have in the past taken side jobs as an editor, proofreader and ghost writer of several ... I guess spiritually related books and also some technical manuals and program manuals.  That stuff was pretty satisfying actually and my ghost writing jobs were a lot of fun and good pay to boot.

You know, sometimes when we are searching too hard we need to just let it all be.  Because I am a natural problem solver I guess I see situations like these a bit differently.  When one is searching for a solution too hard, thinking about it too much, they seem not to come as easily.  Just as they say as soon as you stop searching for something, it shows up.  I have had this happen to me from time to time.  Actually for about 7 months here I have had a very hard time.  But I was reminded of all of this and my own innate abilities as they pertain to the universe and my life and time.... that a good portion of the time, instead of figuring out what to do or what should happen, if we just let it all happen, don't fight, the universe let's us know when to do and what to do...and more, what is right.

Good luck

That wasn't in reference to you.  I was just saying that in general, people think temping is lowly, and even admin girls usually don't want to do it.  They're always looking for temp to hire.  So it was generalities.  Like I mentioned in another thread this weekend, I'm usually pretty specific when I'm addressing comments to people - you'll know if I'm talking about you or referencing something you said because I'll say your name directly or even quote you, and just in general will spell things out.  So you won't have to second guess and wonder that I'm referring to you.  It alleviates a lot of confusion.   Being that you've never stated your feelings about temping, I would never just assume you felt that way and then make comments accordingly.  But I have seen or heard others' opinions on it all, so that's what I was talking about.

Again, it was a generality.  I've seen that whole "find your passion and make money doing it" before in several places, but I think there are flaws with it.  Even though I myself have written about the idea of not committing ourself to "Illuminati" corporations and trying to go into business for ourselves if possible, I think the "find your passion" thing leads people to think for instance that they can make a living selling beaded necklaces on a blanket downtown, or other random handicrafts, to use one example.  That this will net them all their cost of living expenses, and then some.   In reality it usually nets a person extra fun money at best, but rare is the person who's actually going to make say, 2 grand a month, every single month, making the little handicrafts or other small sorts of endeavors that they have "passion" for.  Sure, it's possible, but probably not very likely.  Also a lot of times what people have passion for isn't something that can necessarily be turned into an actual "career" of sorts that again, will net them all of their cost of living expenses every single month, month after month.   But I might be thinking in a narrow minded way, so I'm not saying my point of view is necessarily right.  I'd actually like to hear from anybody out there who may have been able to do this, the whole finding your passion and making a career out of it.  That would be interesting and motivating if indeed I'm just being a bit narrow here. 

My idea is, what about going into business for oneself providing a practical and much needed service or product to one's community (but not of the "dream logic manufactured industry" variety!  haha) ...........even though it may not be a "passionate" thing necessarily?  It's still taking the power away from "Illuminati" corporations, becoming your own boss, provding real products and services versus the manufactured dream logic variety, and fostering a sense of community.   That's one compromise that's not necessarily talked about.  It's either be the soulless pod person working for someone else, or take some side hobby that one has "passion!" for and try to parlay it into a career that's supposed to make us enough money to live off of permanently.   Anyway, not trying to be cynical in case it sounds like it.  It's just my perspective on it all.....