So, I'm going to get a little personal and take a little survey. What do you guys do for day jobs?
I ask because I'm, once again, completely fed up with my job (Then again, for all of you who are familiar with the Myers-Briggs test, I'm an INFP and will therefore always be dissatisfied).
All I want to do is play tunes. Or at least do something that is palatable until I can get home and play tunes. As it is, I'm living out the Dilbert cartoons. Have you guys seen the movie Office Space? Yeah, I'm Milton. Yesterday they actually did ask me to move desks *again*.
So, what do you guys do and how does your work interfere with your playing? Have any of you found a balance that you're happy with?
For the record, I'm a web developer. For now. I have a useless degree in history. Thinking of going back to school soon...maybe somplace where there's a lot of music...
It's been a while since we've had one of these threads, about time! Right now, I make Irish stepdance costumes, teach Irish stepdancing, and sometimes one of my old web clients will come back to haunt me... I mean, ask me to do some more work. *grin* However, I need some rather more steady income, so I'm thinking of taking on a part-time job to fill in the cracks from all this freelance stuff as my husband and I are shortly going to be buying a house.
I'm busy enough that sometimes music takes, gulp, a back seat. However, I have a feeling that it's about to come roaring back to the fore, our band's been asked to do some more stuff at our local, suddenly we have a show tomorrow, another wedding, etc. etc.
So it ebbs and flows.
Personally, I think everyone ought to somehow be given a million dollars at the age of 35 and then if you blow it, it's your own demm fault. *sigh*
Art dirctor.
But I used to do music for a living and hated it. I just can't be bothered with performance because, basically, I'm too selfish. I just wan't to play the tunes I want to play, not the ones punters want to hear. And that's the thing about diddly, it aint exactly popular.
And besides, all my "pro" mates are so poor, at least the've got me to buy them drinks.
Jerball, if you are fed up with your lot as a web developer, try Carpenter on the building sites, which I did for several "sabbatical" years.
You'll be back in front of your computer screen in no time.
Then again, if you like early starts, long hours of hard physical graft, or doing night-shifts, short breaks, working in filthy, unhealthy and often dangerous conditions, and sometimes with plonkers (not all - many very nice guys stuck in that job), being verbally abused by all sorts of foremen and other lackies, then going home late and by the time you've bathed the filth off it's time to go to bed, and so the cycle continues...
Then on top of that, when any little recession comes along, the first thing to go is construction, so there's no job security.
If you fancy that, maybe that's the career path just for you.
Been there. Done that. It was super cool because I got to be a "laborer". That meant that when the sewage pipes broke under a client's house...
I won't finish the story. Someone may be eating.
Yeah, yeah. I know. It could be worse. But maybe it could be better? I'm just whiney. And curious about everyone else's experiences. Maybe I should be a pollster.
Free lance writer, though I usually just say writer because so many clients fixate on the free part. When I'm not dismantling my house and recovering from laborer's joint problems, my real job gives me a flexible schedule to fit music in on a regular basis. But there's never enough time. I can't understand why 20,000 years of quasi civilization has yet to bring us to the point of real leisure. Why does our species insist on working for a living? There's so much non-productive fun stuff we could be doing....
Hey, Jerball, maybe you should see if you could find a web developer position someplace you can use your history degree as well. What the heck, get involved in academics -- then you'll really know the meaning of politics. Or museum work -- I loved working at the Denver Museum of Natural History for a short stint. Of course, then there's the funding issues, but what's life without gambling?
Will, maybe it's because we also like to eat? *grin*
I'm a student. Pretty boring eh??! Work part-time in a chemist. Hope to maybe do pharmacy in college but getting the points will be fairly impossible. Then again I am also thinking about studying Law and Irish. Basically I'm a confused student and don't know what I really want to be when I "grow up"!!
Carrie*
If I say 'I work at the BBC', it sounds momentarily interesting. But I would give a truer picture if I said 'I have a reeeeeeeally boring and pointless desk job'.
My previous jobs here had some redeeming features*, but the present one has none - I compile programme listings info for a commercial TV channel within the BBC. I feel like I'm in school detention most of the time. What did I do wrong? Running in the corridor?
However, I'm trying to wangle my way into radio (ideally World Service or Radio 4) which at least gives me something exciting to aim towards.
*previous team got axed - online jobs are getting cut very heavily here. Not good for web-heads.
I agree with Will - it seems all wrong. The sun is shining. Do I really have to be here? Does it make a positive difference in the world? I think I'll go home and re-read 'In Praise of Idleness' by Bertrand Russell - a great thesis for the natural skiver.
Danny writes: if you like early starts, long hours of hard physical graft, or doing night-shifts, short breaks, working in filthy, unhealthy and often dangerous conditions, and sometimes with plonkers (not all - many very nice guys stuck in that job), being verbally abused by all sorts of foremen and other lackies, then going home late and by the time you've bathed the filth off it's time to go to bed, and so the cycle continues...
Wow, that sounds almost like what I do. I'm an obstetrics nurse, covering labor, delivery, postpartum & newborn nursery for the Navajo Nation. I work 12 hour shifts, often back to back to back, which means days go by when I'm too exhausted to play, much less do anything else, like cook dinner or open the mail. If I'm not being abused by women in labor (we don't have epidurals) or changing nappies, generally I love my job.
One of the cool benefits that you guys might understand is the metronome-like beat of the fetal heart monitor. If any of you have been in a delivery room, you can hear the fetal heartbeat via ultrasound, & normal heart tones run between 120-160 beats per minute, a good clip for many tunes, so in between contractions, I'll be standing there humming a tune in my head to the baby's heartbeat. (Hopefully there's no decelerations in tempo, that's also an ominous sign for the kid.) I also play ITM in the nursery sometimes, but that's for another thread.
Zina, some of us could get by eating a lot less, and even in Montana (where the growing season is short and meat on the hoof runs fast or bites back) I could easily feed a family of four in less than 3 or 4 hours a day of work as a hunter-gatherer.
But I consider myself fortunate...I enjoy my work, I'm self-employed and work at home, the writing and consulting I do contributes to a more civil, informed, and cooperative society, and it keeps me ahead of the bill collectors. And it leaves me time for music now and then.... I highly recommend creating your own job and shucking the world of time clocks and bosses. It feels like a bit of a risk at first, but if it works, the flexibility and freedom are remarkable.
Yeah. But self employment takes a lot of discipline. I was self employed and very happy for about a year and a half, but I had to run toward an office. With all the instruments in my house it was like locking an alcoholic in an off-license. Got pretty good on the 'ole flute, though.
I like the reference to Russell. Perhaps part of my problem is that I minored in Philosophy and did my thesis research on his social philosophy. Let's hear it for idleness!!!!
BTW - Great e-craic coming out of this. Especially the delivery room humming. Go ahead everyone, let out your job frustrations. I'll be charging a small counseling fee later on.
Could you really, Will? I'm such a wimp, i'd have to turn into a vegetarian, because while I can garden right up there with the best of them, I sat in my front yard once for a half an hour trying to steel myself to kill a poor squirrel who had fallen out a tree and broken its back. I knew I should have put it out of its misery, but couldn't do it, and neither could the guy who stopped to find out why I was standing over a squirrel looking like I was going to cry... I can't imagine going out to catch a meal. It's the supermarket and the garden for me...
This sort of thing does not, however, extend to various garden pests; slugs, hornworm, cabbage worm, etc. I'm ruthless with them. Although I generally fling them over the fence for preference first, unless they keep coming back. heh.
As a child growing up, I can't count the times when I've looked up into that big Texas sky and said, 'Dear God, how I wish I could be a Project Coordinator for a software company that provides secure encrypted email services for health care organizations so they may be compliant to Federally mandated laws!'
Just another example of how big dreams can turn into big realities. I had a dream. I made it happen.
so far, i haven't figured out any way to play the fiddle in my cube without anyone knowing that i wasn't hard at work on yet another bad computer manual.
I'm a journalist --- copy editor and proofreader (really, ottery) for a newspaper. Yeah, Will, I agree --- everybody I know works too much. Maybe when my novel sells a million copies . . . .
Quick poll: How many of you are responding to this thread from work? (I am.)
The usual: Software developer, networking, BIG databases, mostly Java these days. Geek stuff. Long boring meetings. Insufficient light. Underpowered computers. The occasional humiliation in the hands of someone with more power than me.
Am I the only one who's actually retired? Worked as a corporate patent attorney, which often meant a 12-hour day, either at a desk, at meetings or travelling between widely separated company sites. This left little time for playing the music I loved - about one orchestra rehearsal in two - so when the opportunity for early retirement popped up I grabbed it with both hands. Health improved significantly since retiring and music (and one or two academic pursuits) has now pretty well taken over my life. Then The Music arrived on the scene (see my details in the membership), and I haven't looked back since.
Trevor
I was at work when I posted earlier... but I don't get to log on at work much any more. My boss and all of my co-workers can see my monitor. And they do not have a slacker mentality; they don't even have proper lunch breaks, which I personally take as a very bad sign. Some of them don't even chat.
I'd snuck onto here after the end of my respectable eight hours and still caused myself an episode of paranoia. A colleague came up to me and ask me if I'd finished (the day's work). I'm still trying to work out if she meant 'I don't know what that yellow background is but it doesn't look much like WORK'...
And I was also hoping she wouldn't read what I'd just said about my job... oops! Perhaps I'd better just log on at home!
Good God! Am I the only one here who actually enjoys going to work? Maybe I'm easily pleased, but memories of the building site experiences still plague me enough to know things aren't too bad. The pay might be sh*te compared to you high tech software/media dudes, but I get the opportunity to have fun with a very high-spec confocal microscope, some high-end imaging software, which, if all goes according to plan, will be like a star wars trip through brain cells. The other half of the job is much more normal lab-based, which, if more mundane, is like a Territory I care for. I design and do loads of little experiments, which, during warming up or delay periods, I can hit this and other sites, or do other related activities.
I'm proud to say I've never been anywhere near a 12-hour day since leaving the buildings. Nowadays, I feel sorry for people who boast about doing long hours. They have this thing in Germany these days called "presentee-ism", or whatever it is in Deutsch, like the old thing absenteeism, but meaning if you're in late at the office, you're not working efficiently, thus having to spend more time there.
However, I tend to do as much presenteeism at sessions as I can these days....
In defense of 12 hour shifts, yes there are some studies that show that a nurse in her 10th hour of a shift can make poorer decisions than a drunk driver, you do enjoy longer stretches off. Just last pay period I had 9 days off consecutively, without tapping into any Annual Leave. Doesn't mean I don't look forward to a simpler way of existence sometimes too....
Should have my commercial by June....then it's up to the wilds of Northern Alberta....have to say this"job" is anything but boring, in fact it takes a while to get down to earth and think about music again!
Gave up organic farming last year for a safer way of life....
Arrent there a lot of programmers/writers/computer operaters among us? but of course-a computer forum, dohhh
Good god, Kenn. Take care of yourself, willya? Helicopters make me very nervous.
We've talked about the seemingly high incidence of techies, writers, and other such geeks among Irish players. I really do think there's more than it having to do with this being an online thing. Seems like almost 60-70% of the players I know are some kind of geek...
Do you think being a techie maybe makes people want to harken back to something traditional Zina? or we'd be mostly into new age or techno if we had a traditional job?!
Dunno, Kenn, although it might be true. Lots of us enjoy all different kinds of music besides Irish trad. I'm often astonished at the different kinds of music we all listen to. Me, I'm sort of into that industrial techno grunge funk heavy gothish thing...but it takes a far second to the Irish.
Originally, industrial music was music that was made on, erm, stuff. Pipes. Metal storage drums. The purist stuff, anyway. Now it's more along the lines of keyboards and samplers and it's more an influence than a musical genre...everything from Nine Inch Nails to..to..well, I can't think of somebody else right at the moment, but that's because I'm dead tired and my cat is distracting me by throwing up a furball as I type this...
Seriously though, my music is taking a slightly further back seat than it used to lately, (and noticibly fewer postings!...maybe that's a good thing...) entirely 'cos of having a fulfilling day-life and a brain-knackered evening life.
Music still helps me float off into another world though, I think that is the biggest reason why me and probably most people enjoy it so much, specially the techies...heh heh
What's more serious than my cat throwing up!?! Now I have to go -- ecchhh -- clean up. Calgon, take me away -- or Irish music, or ANY thing, please! LOL
I love my cat when it's not throwing up. Dunno about that. Originally industrial music was pretty much art music, almost performance art. You'd get performances with people running around on stage hitting various metal bits with other metal bits amid clouds of steam and shadowy light effects. Of course, some would say heavy metal is a kind of performance art too... hee. Okay, I really have to go clean up after the furball.
Industrial? I'm still not sure if you're joking or not!, seams not, sorry!!
My cat always swallows furballs, it's the litter tray i don't like dealing with! He gets vaseline twice a week (for furballs)- loves it, licks it all up.
the tube stuff is expensive and my cat didn't like it either (and it stunk). Vaseline goes down a treat though. I think the tube stuff's just vaseline with extra flavours, preservatives and general crap added. Good 'ol vas does the job, and it's traditional!. And they probably use it in ireland too.
ALT in Japan. Yeah... I teach English to little Japanese kids. Usually fun... provided I get to go to class. Getting started on my underuse as a language teacher would be pointless so won't. But on the bright side... I can go off to a practice room any time I'm not in class. Wheee! And get lots of "ii na"s when I play for my kids (nice little "ooh, aah" phrase the Japanese use)... boosts confidence at least.
I'm a student but I teach also (opposite to you though scary - I teach Japanese to English-speaking students). Only the people I teach are only about 5 years younger than I am, so it's a bit weird. They're such good students too - far better than I was at that age (I was a *really* naughty student). Every week I get told off for swearing in class by my own students. I reckon they think I'm a bit coarse and uncouth...
My teaching methods are perhaps unconventional. The other day my class were being a bit wild so I stood up and said "F**K", annunciating it clearly and crisply. It worked; everyone was immediately quiet.
I've done a few different types of work from the labour type work that Danny describes (in warehouses and building sites) to crappy office jobs and now teaching in a university. Now I try to work as little as possible in my life because I don't believe in putting money in the pockets of people who are far too rich already. As a consequence I'm almost totally skint, but at least I'm happy!
im a full time art student and i work part time in the evenings in a youth centre. i love my job but it takes a lot of time out of my studies, but i cant survive off my student loan alone so i need to work. the kids are great, most of them are disadvantaged kids from poor backgrounds and our job is to keep them away from drugs and pimps etc.
I work in a big whole foods market--not the chain called Whole Foods, but an independantly owned place similar to it. I work in the supplements (herbs and vitamins) and "body care" type stuff section. One of our boasts is that none of our products contains any petroleum product! (see previous posts on Vaseline) It may be traditional, but it sure isn't very healthy! My cat would propably love it, too, though! She certainly loves to lick plastic and will grab the cellophane from a blank cassette right out of my hand and start chewing and licking!!
My job is usually fun and can be quite flexible. I only work 4 days a week--could work more if the someone needed a day off. Most days I don't have to be until noon, so I have all morning to practice. On the days that I have to be in at 9:00, I'll often bring the fiddle and go and an hour early and practice.
I retired from the Arizona State Police a couple of years ago and did some comercial jet charter work. The bottom fell out of that industry after 9-11, so now I work the Graveyard shift for the highway department, watching freeway cameras. Yawn! My music has gone to hell in a handbasket, so I'm thinking of chucking it all and re-retiring. I'll grab the missus and jump in the old motorhome and head for the Northwest! What do ya think?
This may post twice - I sent it before but it vanished
Kenn I am a Vet (Veterinarian or Veterinart Surgeon in UK - I haven't been a Soldier)
Do you have a poorly pet?
It is not a good Day job as it becomes a Night Job a lot and is somewhat stressful and too long hours.
You can also lose fingers
I also previously suggested Jeremy redesigns this page to simulate a Word Document with a boring title like 'Biannual Report 2003' This would help us Work Surfers.
I'm a physical therapist.
I have a little kid (9 months) so i can play (guitar) only at nights after he has gone to sleep , depending on what my wife does...
I enjoy my work but cant wait to get home and play(with the kid/wife/guitar).
Software Applications/Systems trainer. I actually like my job a great deal, despite having to talk non-stop about Microsoft products. I get to meet a wide range of people who really want to learn so it's very fulfilling. There's a lot of "chalk and talk" too, so I'm not constantly in front of a computer, except during breaks when I'm on here! Most of my wages go on festivals and CDs.
Mechanical Designer. I design custom automated equipment and robotic workcells. I think Zina and Kenn may be right. I know that when I'm playing the harp or the flute, I sure don't think about robotics. I also do woodworking for the same reason. The funny thing is; I love what I do for a living. It's kind of like being Karacticus Potts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but with a paycheck. I wish I had more time to play, but we just had our first child recently, and I haven't touched an instrument or been to a music lesson in almost two months. AAAAGH.
I'm a visual artist (painter and printmaker) and also teach those two disciplines at a university 2 days a week. Although my time is somewhat flexible, the pressure is always on to create lots of new work so that I can sell enough to make a decent living, but the fiddle is always close by in my studio, and it's SO tempting to crack open the case and play just a little bit...... The next thing you know, I look a tmy watch, and 2 hours has slipped by!!! So I really have to watch it. In spite of leading a precarious existence (in financial terms) I feel fortunate to do something that I love. I just wish I could integrate the art and music more seamlessly.....
I'm the director of a corporate day care center. 70+ kids from 6 weeks to 5 years old. The toughest part of the job is probably the other 25 kids that I personally need to take care of...I call them my staff of teachers, and they could drive me to drink (althought I normally don't need much motivation in that area). Worse yet are the parents...absolutely the most difficult part of my job. And yes, to keep sane, I not only run out of here most nights to grab my fiddle and hit a session, but there's usually a tune running through my head when I'm being reamed by a parent for something that happened to their more than perfect child while in our care. But I do love my job...most of us go into this field because we really want to be with kids, and certainly not for the paycheck. So the gigs on the side are a nice buffer to my regular pay. Thank God for talent...
Desert the desert for the rainy hinterlands? No no, in case I'm clocked going 90mph on those lovely expanses of I-17 (saguaro to red rock to snow capped peaks), I'll need someone in my corner!!! ("but, but officer, I was headed to Rosie McCaffrey's!" *blink blink blink*)
I'd like to take this opportunity to say, re: all these posts, Wow. & Wow.
I am an EFL teacher. It was a great way to live abroad for years, Korea, China, Cambodia, but now I'm momentarily grounded in Guildford, Surrey the shine has gone off it a bit. Still, hope to be a student again next year, yee haw, and then off on the road again.
I'm amazed how many of you have jobs related to development / teaching. Me too - although I yearn to become a potato farmer, or something useful like that!
I work in training & development for the BBC and am lucky enough to have a fairly flexible work schedule - if I can, I work at home in a small building opposite my front door here in the Gloucestershire (UK) countryside, or else I'm travelling to other places around the UK. A lot of fun working with all sorts of people but the best bit is when I play with the band or go out to pub sessions.
I have 2 cats, 1 wife, 4 harps and 2 children. If only I could survive without the day job, believe me, I would. But since I can't I just have to make it the best I can. But one day I'll probably crack and murder my boss!!!
PS impressed by all these web designers etc - I'm slowly learning photoshop / illustrator / 3D graphics, and trying to build an online shop. I really envy people who understand this stuff - it's such a learning curve.
I'm wondering if there's any correlation / inverse correlation between commercial, business skills and a love of music? Not a judgement, I'd just be interested to know. Are there any brokers / financiers / marketeers out there who also are passionate about music? What about musicians and professional qualifications? Are musicians really into PHD's etc - or are they people who prefer to be able to "do" without having certificates to prove it?
Kindergarten Teacher, Public School in Brooklyn, NY. And yes, I too, love my job. Every 45- minute lunch period is devoted to playing in tiled, very reverberating stairwells.
Arbo
Mark, in the three orchestras I play in there is a surprisingly high number of players with scientific or medical qualifications, and any number of school/college teachers, apart from those who are professionally trained musicians anyway. In each of my orchestras there is at least one physician/surgeon at consultant level, and several others at more junior grades. One doctor was a consultant before I was born, and she is still working as a consultant and playing violin in one of the orchestras, in her 90s.
I've noticed that of the scientists I know, physicists and mathematicians seem to be very musically inclined, and are often very competent performers, and sometimes composers.
Clergymen, too, are often musical. I know two who had to make the choice between becoming professional musicians and the church - they were both ordained in the Church of England. One of them, sadly recently deceased, played fiddle in a ceilidh band in his younger days, and in later years was the leader of Bristol Chamber Orchestra. He took a mischievous delight in shocking some of the more staid members of the audience at classical concerts in his church by warming up within earshot of them with five minutes of blue-grass or jazz! But when it came to the actual performance his attitude was nothing if fully professional. On one occasion his A-string snapped in the first bar of the opening overture. Revd Roger Thomas left his seat and returned perhaps fifteen seconds later from the vestry with his spare fiddle which was already tuned up and ready to go.
Trevor
I'm a tenant advocate - which means giving information and advice to renters re their dealings with the landlord. So i know all about tenancy law (in OZ) and can represent tenants at tribunal hearings. Also assist people in housing crisis to apply for government housing and liaise with the housing authority. Prior to that I was a youth worker for 16 years. My work can be very draining emotionally and I am looking at other career options, butd I find that nothing gets my energy levels back better than to rip into a few jigs/reels with my mates.
I have played in a Bush Band (Ozzie equivalent to playing the music for a barn dance / ho-down) which introduced me to playing ITM (most of the dances are traditional or based thereon, and the tunes will be familiar to you all, only played in a sort of more 'measured' way, to facilitate the coordinated rollicking and stomping and 'whooop'ing which passes as dancing Seriously, it was the most fun I've ever had. I'm now rehearsing in a duo (guitar/mando - fiddle/mando/whistle, and a smattering of song/tune medleys) and trying to get 'up to speed' to join in a few sessions.
Postie here, as in USPS. And love it! Not disgruntled at all, don't even own a gun. Actually have been caught singing tunes on the job by customers (and they weren't complaining!)
Executive Assistant with an OZ State Government Department, which helps to pay for my musical habits
I was a full time musician for 4 or 5 years (Celtic Harp - performing/teaching/publishing) but it's very very hard to make a full time living as a muso in Australian, especially if you don't have a classical music education/background. (These days I'm giving the harp a rest to concentrate of Concertina and other instruments
And you can count me as one of the few who really enjoy their job; they let me play CDs whlist I work
I am a drummer in Colorado USA. I have played the bodhran for about four years and drumset, symphonic and concert percussion for about 30. My day job is a 'semi-retired' certified professional accountant, a C.P.A. and a Equities DayTrader (stock market). Not the kind that tries to make millions on home runs, I make small, safe trades to pay the bills..., I also write vintage drum articles for several magazines, work at the local sporting clays range on the weekends, and buy and sell vintage drums and cymbals (mostly on eBay!!!). Much happier now than when I was in a 3pc suit at Citibank.... two divorces and three kids later... (whew). That's catharsic.
Zina
Re Vaseline in cats
Lots of people don't like oil based products taken internally,
there are lots of other more expensive products and hence more profitable
to the Vet Profession available.. err I mean safer and more effective.
Vaseline best used externally- Man goes into chemist and asks for vaseline. Is it for sores? asks the chemist, No its for chaps.
Does this so-called joke travel transatlantically? I think not
I used to be a biologist and then retrained in Computing and IT about 15 years ago and now teach IT to college students in Henley on Thames in the UK. So, in reference, to Zina's comment I don't know if that makes me a geek but I certainly teach a lot of kids who have high geek-potential. I also organise the annual college ski trip (next year we are going to Winter Park, Colorado so may be able to get to Zina's session!!), and I like to kayak and ride my mountain bike around the snow-capped peaks of the Chilterns when I'm not learning new tunes for the band.
Hi all, rereading this thread reminds me - does anyone else remember how people said in the future the because of computers / gadgets / hoverboots we'd all have so much leisure time that we wouldn't know what to do with it?
Sounds good Zina. I'll get in touch closer to the time and we can organise something.
(By Colorado standards the Chilterns, by the way, would barely qualify as zits but they are very pretty).
I'm President of Unique Perspectives, LTD., a computer services company in Taos, New Mexico, USA. I'm also the only employee. When I'm not making executive decisions I might be found unplugging the biffy. If computers worked like they're supposed to, I'd probably still be a Respiratory Therapist running a homecare agency, selling air for a living.
Someday I'll let you all know what that liquid stuff is that accumulates in your flutes and whistles, but if I do you'll never talk to me again. You really don't want to know anyway.
Almost ashamed to say it after reading all those exciting alternative employments. Also in EFL: it is a funny language but the "F" means Foreign. EFL -- or ESL -- English as a Foreign or Second Language. Out here in Riyadh, I look forward to my annual trips to Ennis and to my more frequent trips to Greece where I have a little session going in Thessaloniki.
Oh yeah Luke, big *yawn* @ Riyadh, Ennis & Greece. Sounds terribly tedious & grueling. My condolences. Please post your session in Greece if you haven't already. ;)
Elementary school teacher here. I'll be waving my arms around, teaching whatever and some STUPID tune will pop into my head that I've been trying to recall for the longest time. Of course it'll leak out my ears not to be remembered again until another time of stress.
Two years ago I "transistioned" from an environmental geologist to teaching science/math at a technical college - one of the best moves I've ever made (next to marrying my lovely wife). Summers are free for family and other pursuits...
In my office I have a bumper sticker that reads "Real Musicians Have Day Jobs". When I despair at my self-taught level of musicianship I'm reminded of a quote from William Bay, something to the effect that "its not how good you are, but how much you enjoy playing music". That sentiment helps me through my muscial plateaus, though I keep striving in my own way.
To Paul & Emily. Paul, I've sent you an email. Emily, yes, it sounds really pretentious BUT my wife is Greek, my kids are bilingual, I studied Greek, so Greece -- especially Thessaloniki --is my second home. I don't feel like I'm on holiday when I go there. The session is too irregular to be posted but I'm going to do something about that. Thanks for the prod. Luke
I am a translator and I combine this with some EFL teaching.
I also run a small agency which finds language courses for Spanish students in foreign countries i.e. English courses in UK and Ireland, etc.
In there somewhere I manage to find time to go to our weekly session and do some sporadic practice at home.
And if that wasn´t enough, I am also a reiki practitioner!
For Geoff Pollitt: Geoff, I think we´ve met. Did you use to play at a session in Staines (Middx) with Brian Parks? Remember the guy who turned up with a concertina one night?
No? well not to worry-it was a very brief encounter!
Property Manager for BT. (British telecommunications plc)
Interesting thread as our sessions in the real world have an eclectic mix of professions and trades.
The following is a list of day jobs in the various Down sessions
Solicitor
Town and Country Planner
Mental Health Nurse [very handy thing to have in our session!!!]
Telecommunications engineer
Teacher
Cartographer
Painter and decorator.
Blacksmith
Labourer
Curiosity shop owner
Architect
Senior Civil Servant
Tiler
Joiner
Social worker in conflict resolution in Bosnia and Serbia.
IT systems manager
Baker
Farmer
Stained glass window maker
Electrician
Dry stone wall builder
Flute maker
Luthier
Health Service Manager
Retired nursing lecturer
It's bloody amazing - what other form of enjoyment cuts across all social strata like diddley dee?
What's even more interesting is that you can be playing tunes with boys and girls for years and know almost nothing else about them other than their musical ability.
As Geordie Hanna once said - as long as you can play a tune, sing a song or tell a good lie you're alright!!
Day jobs
Day jobs
So, I'm going to get a little personal and take a little survey. What do you guys do for day jobs?
I ask because I'm, once again, completely fed up with my job (Then again, for all of you who are familiar with the Myers-Briggs test, I'm an INFP and will therefore always be dissatisfied).
All I want to do is play tunes. Or at least do something that is palatable until I can get home and play tunes. As it is, I'm living out the Dilbert cartoons. Have you guys seen the movie Office Space? Yeah, I'm Milton. Yesterday they actually did ask me to move desks *again*.
So, what do you guys do and how does your work interfere with your playing? Have any of you found a balance that you're happy with?
For the record, I'm a web developer. For now. I have a useless degree in history. Thinking of going back to school soon...maybe somplace where there's a lot of music...
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by jerball
Re: Day jobs
It's been a while since we've had one of these threads, about time! Right now, I make Irish stepdance costumes, teach Irish stepdancing, and sometimes one of my old web clients will come back to haunt me... I mean, ask me to do some more work. *grin* However, I need some rather more steady income, so I'm thinking of taking on a part-time job to fill in the cracks from all this freelance stuff as my husband and I are shortly going to be buying a house.
I'm busy enough that sometimes music takes, gulp, a back seat. However, I have a feeling that it's about to come roaring back to the fore, our band's been asked to do some more stuff at our local, suddenly we have a show tomorrow, another wedding, etc. etc.
So it ebbs and flows.
Personally, I think everyone ought to somehow be given a million dollars at the age of 35 and then if you blow it, it's your own demm fault. *sigh*
Zina
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Art dirctor.
But I used to do music for a living and hated it. I just can't be bothered with performance because, basically, I'm too selfish. I just wan't to play the tunes I want to play, not the ones punters want to hear. And that's the thing about diddly, it aint exactly popular.
And besides, all my "pro" mates are so poor, at least the've got me to buy them drinks.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by llig leahcim
Re: Day jobs
prufe reeder.
No only joking, Graphic Designer reeley!
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Ottery
Re: Day jobs
LOL
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Lab Manager.
Jerball, if you are fed up with your lot as a web developer, try Carpenter on the building sites, which I did for several "sabbatical" years.
You'll be back in front of your computer screen in no time.
Then again, if you like early starts, long hours of hard physical graft, or doing night-shifts, short breaks, working in filthy, unhealthy and often dangerous conditions, and sometimes with plonkers (not all - many very nice guys stuck in that job), being verbally abused by all sorts of foremen and other lackies, then going home late and by the time you've bathed the filth off it's time to go to bed, and so the cycle continues...
Then on top of that, when any little recession comes along, the first thing to go is construction, so there's no job security.
If you fancy that, maybe that's the career path just for you.
Danny.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Alf Tupper
Re: Day jobs
Been there. Done that. It was super cool because I got to be a "laborer". That meant that when the sewage pipes broke under a client's house...
I won't finish the story. Someone may be eating.
Yeah, yeah. I know. It could be worse. But maybe it could be better? I'm just whiney. And curious about everyone else's experiences. Maybe I should be a pollster.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by jerball
Re: Day jobs
Free lance writer, though I usually just say writer because so many clients fixate on the free part. When I'm not dismantling my house and recovering from laborer's joint problems, my real job gives me a flexible schedule to fit music in on a regular basis. But there's never enough time. I can't understand why 20,000 years of quasi civilization has yet to bring us to the point of real leisure. Why does our species insist on working for a living? There's so much non-productive fun stuff we could be doing....
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Will CPT
Re: Day jobs
Hey, Jerball, maybe you should see if you could find a web developer position someplace you can use your history degree as well. What the heck, get involved in academics -- then you'll really know the meaning of politics. Or museum work -- I loved working at the Denver Museum of Natural History for a short stint. Of course, then there's the funding issues, but what's life without gambling?
Will, maybe it's because we also like to eat? *grin*
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
I'm a student. Pretty boring eh??! Work part-time in a chemist. Hope to maybe do pharmacy in college but getting the points will be fairly impossible. Then again I am also thinking about studying Law and Irish. Basically I'm a confused student and don't know what I really want to be when I "grow up"!!
Carrie*
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by carrie
Re: Day jobs
If I say 'I work at the BBC', it sounds momentarily interesting. But I would give a truer picture if I said 'I have a reeeeeeeally boring and pointless desk job'.
My previous jobs here had some redeeming features*, but the present one has none - I compile programme listings info for a commercial TV channel within the BBC. I feel like I'm in school detention most of the time. What did I do wrong? Running in the corridor?
However, I'm trying to wangle my way into radio (ideally World Service or Radio 4) which at least gives me something exciting to aim towards.
*previous team got axed - online jobs are getting cut very heavily here. Not good for web-heads.
I agree with Will - it seems all wrong. The sun is shining. Do I really have to be here? Does it make a positive difference in the world? I think I'll go home and re-read 'In Praise of Idleness' by Bertrand Russell - a great thesis for the natural skiver.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Nell
Re: Day jobs
Danny writes: if you like early starts, long hours of hard physical graft, or doing night-shifts, short breaks, working in filthy, unhealthy and often dangerous conditions, and sometimes with plonkers (not all - many very nice guys stuck in that job), being verbally abused by all sorts of foremen and other lackies, then going home late and by the time you've bathed the filth off it's time to go to bed, and so the cycle continues...
Wow, that sounds almost like what I do. I'm an obstetrics nurse, covering labor, delivery, postpartum & newborn nursery for the Navajo Nation. I work 12 hour shifts, often back to back to back, which means days go by when I'm too exhausted to play, much less do anything else, like cook dinner or open the mail. If I'm not being abused by women in labor (we don't have epidurals) or changing nappies, generally I love my job.
One of the cool benefits that you guys might understand is the metronome-like beat of the fetal heart monitor. If any of you have been in a delivery room, you can hear the fetal heartbeat via ultrasound, & normal heart tones run between 120-160 beats per minute, a good clip for many tunes, so in between contractions, I'll be standing there humming a tune in my head to the baby's heartbeat. (Hopefully there's no decelerations in tempo, that's also an ominous sign for the kid.) I also play ITM in the nursery sometimes, but that's for another thread.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Day jobs
one of my day jobs is over-estimating public taste.
no wonder i'm broke...
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by biggus dave
Re: Day jobs
Zina, some of us could get by eating a lot less, and even in Montana (where the growing season is short and meat on the hoof runs fast or bites back) I could easily feed a family of four in less than 3 or 4 hours a day of work as a hunter-gatherer.
But I consider myself fortunate...I enjoy my work, I'm self-employed and work at home, the writing and consulting I do contributes to a more civil, informed, and cooperative society, and it keeps me ahead of the bill collectors. And it leaves me time for music now and then.... I highly recommend creating your own job and shucking the world of time clocks and bosses. It feels like a bit of a risk at first, but if it works, the flexibility and freedom are remarkable.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Will CPT
Re: Day jobs
Yeah. But self employment takes a lot of discipline. I was self employed and very happy for about a year and a half, but I had to run toward an office. With all the instruments in my house it was like locking an alcoholic in an off-license. Got pretty good on the 'ole flute, though.
I like the reference to Russell. Perhaps part of my problem is that I minored in Philosophy and did my thesis research on his social philosophy. Let's hear it for idleness!!!!
BTW - Great e-craic coming out of this. Especially the delivery room humming. Go ahead everyone, let out your job frustrations. I'll be charging a small counseling fee later on.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by jerball
Re: Day jobs
Could you really, Will? I'm such a wimp, i'd have to turn into a vegetarian, because while I can garden right up there with the best of them, I sat in my front yard once for a half an hour trying to steel myself to kill a poor squirrel who had fallen out a tree and broken its back. I knew I should have put it out of its misery, but couldn't do it, and neither could the guy who stopped to find out why I was standing over a squirrel looking like I was going to cry... I can't imagine going out to catch a meal. It's the supermarket and the garden for me...
zls
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
P.S.
This sort of thing does not, however, extend to various garden pests; slugs, hornworm, cabbage worm, etc. I'm ruthless with them. Although I generally fling them over the fence for preference first, unless they keep coming back. heh.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
As a child growing up, I can't count the times when I've looked up into that big Texas sky and said, 'Dear God, how I wish I could be a Project Coordinator for a software company that provides secure encrypted email services for health care organizations so they may be compliant to Federally mandated laws!'
Just another example of how big dreams can turn into big realities. I had a dream. I made it happen.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Caoimghgin
Re: Day jobs
technical writer and history grad student.
so far, i haven't figured out any way to play the fiddle in my cube without anyone knowing that i wasn't hard at work on yet another bad computer manual.
sarah
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by eleyne
Re: Day jobs
I'm a journalist --- copy editor and proofreader (really, ottery) for a newspaper. Yeah, Will, I agree --- everybody I know works too much. Maybe when my novel sells a million copies . . . .
Quick poll: How many of you are responding to this thread from work? (I am.)
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by carolsviolin
Re: Day jobs
e-craic! I like it!
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Alf Tupper
Re: Day jobs
LOL Kevin...
Goodness, we have a lot of writers.
I work at home. I'm always responding from work, Carol!
zls
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Oh, yeah. I'm responding from work. Alt+Tab, baby!
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by jerball
Re: Day jobs
The usual: Software developer, networking, BIG databases, mostly Java these days. Geek stuff. Long boring meetings. Insufficient light. Underpowered computers. The occasional humiliation in the hands of someone with more power than me.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by glauber
Re: Day jobs
Am I the only one who's actually retired? Worked as a corporate patent attorney, which often meant a 12-hour day, either at a desk, at meetings or travelling between widely separated company sites. This left little time for playing the music I loved - about one orchestra rehearsal in two - so when the opportunity for early retirement popped up I grabbed it with both hands. Health improved significantly since retiring and music (and one or two academic pursuits) has now pretty well taken over my life. Then The Music arrived on the scene (see my details in the membership), and I haven't looked back since.
Trevor
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by lazyhound
Re: Day jobs
I was at work when I posted earlier... but I don't get to log on at work much any more. My boss and all of my co-workers can see my monitor. And they do not have a slacker mentality; they don't even have proper lunch breaks, which I personally take as a very bad sign. Some of them don't even chat.
I'd snuck onto here after the end of my respectable eight hours and still caused myself an episode of paranoia. A colleague came up to me and ask me if I'd finished (the day's work). I'm still trying to work out if she meant 'I don't know what that yellow background is but it doesn't look much like WORK'...
And I was also hoping she wouldn't read what I'd just said about my job... oops! Perhaps I'd better just log on at home!
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Nell
Re: Day jobs
Good God! Am I the only one here who actually enjoys going to work? Maybe I'm easily pleased, but memories of the building site experiences still plague me enough to know things aren't too bad. The pay might be sh*te compared to you high tech software/media dudes, but I get the opportunity to have fun with a very high-spec confocal microscope, some high-end imaging software, which, if all goes according to plan, will be like a star wars trip through brain cells. The other half of the job is much more normal lab-based, which, if more mundane, is like a Territory I care for. I design and do loads of little experiments, which, during warming up or delay periods, I can hit this and other sites, or do other related activities.
I'm proud to say I've never been anywhere near a 12-hour day since leaving the buildings. Nowadays, I feel sorry for people who boast about doing long hours. They have this thing in Germany these days called "presentee-ism", or whatever it is in Deutsch, like the old thing absenteeism, but meaning if you're in late at the office, you're not working efficiently, thus having to spend more time there.
However, I tend to do as much presenteeism at sessions as I can these days....
Danny.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Alf Tupper
Re: Day jobs
In defense of 12 hour shifts, yes there are some studies that show that a nurse in her 10th hour of a shift can make poorer decisions than a drunk driver, you do enjoy longer stretches off. Just last pay period I had 9 days off consecutively, without tapping into any Annual Leave. Doesn't mean I don't look forward to a simpler way of existence sometimes too....
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Day jobs
Trainee helicopter pilot.
Should have my commercial by June....then it's up to the wilds of Northern Alberta....have to say this"job" is anything but boring, in fact it takes a while to get down to earth and think about music again!
Gave up organic farming last year for a safer way of life....
Arrent there a lot of programmers/writers/computer operaters among us? but of course-a computer forum, dohhh
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
Good god, Kenn. Take care of yourself, willya? Helicopters make me very nervous.
We've talked about the seemingly high incidence of techies, writers, and other such geeks among Irish players. I really do think there's more than it having to do with this being an online thing. Seems like almost 60-70% of the players I know are some kind of geek...
zls
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Do you think being a techie maybe makes people want to harken back to something traditional Zina? or we'd be mostly into new age or techno if we had a traditional job?!
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
Dunno, Kenn, although it might be true. Lots of us enjoy all different kinds of music besides Irish trad. I'm often astonished at the different kinds of music we all listen to. Me, I'm sort of into that industrial techno grunge funk heavy gothish thing...but it takes a far second to the Irish.
zls
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Industrial music: definition please?
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
Originally, industrial music was music that was made on, erm, stuff. Pipes. Metal storage drums. The purist stuff, anyway. Now it's more along the lines of keyboards and samplers and it's more an influence than a musical genre...everything from Nine Inch Nails to..to..well, I can't think of somebody else right at the moment, but that's because I'm dead tired and my cat is distracting me by throwing up a furball as I type this...
zls
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Seriously though, my music is taking a slightly further back seat than it used to lately, (and noticibly fewer postings!...maybe that's a good thing...) entirely 'cos of having a fulfilling day-life and a brain-knackered evening life.
Music still helps me float off into another world though, I think that is the biggest reason why me and probably most people enjoy it so much, specially the techies...heh heh
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
What's more serious than my cat throwing up!?! Now I have to go -- ecchhh -- clean up. Calgon, take me away -- or Irish music, or ANY thing, please! LOL
zls
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Industrial music had strong influences on heavy metal probably.
Hope the cat's ok, I love cat's.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
I love my cat when it's not throwing up.
Dunno about that. Originally industrial music was pretty much art music, almost performance art. You'd get performances with people running around on stage hitting various metal bits with other metal bits amid clouds of steam and shadowy light effects. Of course, some would say heavy metal is a kind of performance art too... hee. Okay, I really have to go clean up after the furball.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Industrial? I'm still not sure if you're joking or not!, seams not, sorry!!
My cat always swallows furballs, it's the litter tray i don't like dealing with! He gets vaseline twice a week (for furballs)- loves it, licks it all up.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
Totally not joking, dude!
Your cat likes vaseline? Wow. I'm going to have to try that. Mine won't eat that tube kind of stuff for furballs.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
the tube stuff is expensive and my cat didn't like it either (and it stunk). Vaseline goes down a treat though. I think the tube stuff's just vaseline with extra flavours, preservatives and general crap added. Good 'ol vas does the job, and it's traditional!. And they probably use it in ireland too.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
Anyone at the session have a day job as a vet?
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Kenn
Re: Day jobs
ALT in Japan. Yeah... I teach English to little Japanese kids. Usually fun... provided I get to go to class. Getting started on my underuse as a language teacher would be pointless so won't. But on the bright side... I can go off to a practice room any time I'm not in class. Wheee! And get lots of "ii na"s when I play for my kids (nice little "ooh, aah" phrase the Japanese use)... boosts confidence at least.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by scaryakgrl
Re: Day jobs
I'm a student but I teach also (opposite to you though scary - I teach Japanese to English-speaking students). Only the people I teach are only about 5 years younger than I am, so it's a bit weird. They're such good students too - far better than I was at that age (I was a *really* naughty student). Every week I get told off for swearing in class by my own students. I reckon they think I'm a bit coarse and uncouth...
My teaching methods are perhaps unconventional. The other day my class were being a bit wild so I stood up and said "F**K", annunciating it clearly and crisply. It worked; everyone was immediately quiet.
I've done a few different types of work from the labour type work that Danny describes (in warehouses and building sites) to crappy office jobs and now teaching in a university. Now I try to work as little as possible in my life because I don't believe in putting money in the pockets of people who are far too rich already. As a consequence I'm almost totally skint, but at least I'm happy!
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Dow
Re: Day jobs
im a full time art student and i work part time in the evenings in a youth centre. i love my job but it takes a lot of time out of my studies, but i cant survive off my student loan alone so i need to work. the kids are great, most of them are disadvantaged kids from poor backgrounds and our job is to keep them away from drugs and pimps etc.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by bunyip
Re: Day jobs
I work in a big whole foods market--not the chain called Whole Foods, but an independantly owned place similar to it. I work in the supplements (herbs and vitamins) and "body care" type stuff section. One of our boasts is that none of our products contains any petroleum product! (see previous posts on Vaseline) It may be traditional, but it sure isn't very healthy! My cat would propably love it, too, though! She certainly loves to lick plastic and will grab the cellophane from a blank cassette right out of my hand and start chewing and licking!!
My job is usually fun and can be quite flexible. I only work 4 days a week--could work more if the someone needed a day off. Most days I don't have to be until noon, so I have all morning to practice. On the days that I have to be in at 9:00, I'll often bring the fiddle and go and an hour early and practice.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Andee
Re: Day jobs
I retired from the Arizona State Police a couple of years ago and did some comercial jet charter work. The bottom fell out of that industry after 9-11, so now I work the Graveyard shift for the highway department, watching freeway cameras. Yawn! My music has gone to hell in a handbasket, so I'm thinking of chucking it all and re-retiring. I'll grab the missus and jump in the old motorhome and head for the Northwest! What do ya think?
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by lrheaume
Re: Day jobs
This may post twice - I sent it before but it vanished
Kenn I am a Vet (Veterinarian or Veterinart Surgeon in UK - I haven't been a Soldier)
Do you have a poorly pet?
It is not a good Day job as it becomes a Night Job a lot and is somewhat stressful and too long hours.
You can also lose fingers
I also previously suggested Jeremy redesigns this page to simulate a Word Document with a boring title like 'Biannual Report 2003' This would help us Work Surfers.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by timjellies
Re: Day jobs
I'm a physical therapist.
I have a little kid (9 months) so i can play (guitar) only at nights after he has gone to sleep , depending on what my wife does...
I enjoy my work but cant wait to get home and play(with the kid/wife/guitar).
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by azo
Re: Day jobs
Ex coal-miner, now software consultant. But singing ITM in my head at work all day.
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by geoffwright
Re: Day jobs
Software Applications/Systems trainer. I actually like my job a great deal, despite having to talk non-stop about Microsoft products. I get to meet a wide range of people who really want to learn so it's very fulfilling. There's a lot of "chalk and talk" too, so I'm not constantly in front of a computer, except during breaks when I'm on here! Most of my wages go on festivals and CDs.
Conán
# Posted on May 7th 2003 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Day jobs
Mechanical Designer. I design custom automated equipment and robotic workcells. I think Zina and Kenn may be right. I know that when I'm playing the harp or the flute, I sure don't think about robotics. I also do woodworking for the same reason. The funny thing is; I love what I do for a living. It's kind of like being Karacticus Potts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but with a paycheck. I wish I had more time to play, but we just had our first child recently, and I haven't touched an instrument or been to a music lesson in almost two months. AAAAGH.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by bpfrocket
Re: Day jobs
congratulations! - don't worry, you can always pick up the thread on the music again later but the early days wi the weans are gold dust
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Alf Tupper
Commercial break!
So, Timjellies, solve the mystery for us! Is Vaseline okay to give your cat for furballs, or not!?
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
I'm a visual artist (painter and printmaker) and also teach those two disciplines at a university 2 days a week. Although my time is somewhat flexible, the pressure is always on to create lots of new work so that I can sell enough to make a decent living, but the fiddle is always close by in my studio, and it's SO tempting to crack open the case and play just a little bit...... The next thing you know, I look a tmy watch, and 2 hours has slipped by!!! So I really have to watch it. In spite of leading a precarious existence (in financial terms) I feel fortunate to do something that I love. I just wish I could integrate the art and music more seamlessly.....
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by aoife
Re: Day jobs
I'm the director of a corporate day care center. 70+ kids from 6 weeks to 5 years old. The toughest part of the job is probably the other 25 kids that I personally need to take care of...I call them my staff of teachers, and they could drive me to drink (althought I normally don't need much motivation in that area). Worse yet are the parents...absolutely the most difficult part of my job. And yes, to keep sane, I not only run out of here most nights to grab my fiddle and hit a session, but there's usually a tune running through my head when I'm being reamed by a parent for something that happened to their more than perfect child while in our care. But I do love my job...most of us go into this field because we really want to be with kids, and certainly not for the paycheck. So the gigs on the side are a nice buffer to my regular pay. Thank God for talent...
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by irishfiddler32
Re: Day jobs
Irheaume,
Desert the desert for the rainy hinterlands? No no, in case I'm clocked going 90mph on those lovely expanses of I-17 (saguaro to red rock to snow capped peaks), I'll need someone in my corner!!! ("but, but officer, I was headed to Rosie McCaffrey's!" *blink blink blink*)
I'd like to take this opportunity to say, re: all these posts, Wow. & Wow.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Day jobs
I am an EFL teacher. It was a great way to live abroad for years, Korea, China, Cambodia, but now I'm momentarily grounded in Guildford, Surrey the shine has gone off it a bit. Still, hope to be a student again next year, yee haw, and then off on the road again.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by sergeant fox
Re: Day jobs
EFL? English as a first language? How does that work?
zls
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
I'm amazed how many of you have jobs related to development / teaching. Me too - although I yearn to become a potato farmer, or something useful like that!
I work in training & development for the BBC and am lucky enough to have a fairly flexible work schedule - if I can, I work at home in a small building opposite my front door here in the Gloucestershire (UK) countryside, or else I'm travelling to other places around the UK. A lot of fun working with all sorts of people but the best bit is when I play with the band or go out to pub sessions.
I have 2 cats, 1 wife, 4 harps and 2 children. If only I could survive without the day job, believe me, I would. But since I can't I just have to make it the best I can. But one day I'll probably crack and murder my boss!!!
PS impressed by all these web designers etc - I'm slowly learning photoshop / illustrator / 3D graphics, and trying to build an online shop. I really envy people who understand this stuff - it's such a learning curve.
I'm wondering if there's any correlation / inverse correlation between commercial, business skills and a love of music? Not a judgement, I'd just be interested to know. Are there any brokers / financiers / marketeers out there who also are passionate about music? What about musicians and professional qualifications? Are musicians really into PHD's etc - or are they people who prefer to be able to "do" without having certificates to prove it?
Mark
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Mark Harmer
Re: Day jobs
no,no,Zina - EFL= english as a funny language,surely!!
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by biggus dave
Re: Day jobs
Put me firmly in the category of people who love their jobs.
I'm a software engineer working in computer and video game development.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Dave Weinstein
Re: Day jobs
Kindergarten Teacher, Public School in Brooklyn, NY. And yes, I too, love my job. Every 45- minute lunch period is devoted to playing in tiled, very reverberating stairwells.
Arbo
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Imnotirish
Re: Day jobs
Mark, in the three orchestras I play in there is a surprisingly high number of players with scientific or medical qualifications, and any number of school/college teachers, apart from those who are professionally trained musicians anyway. In each of my orchestras there is at least one physician/surgeon at consultant level, and several others at more junior grades. One doctor was a consultant before I was born, and she is still working as a consultant and playing violin in one of the orchestras, in her 90s.
I've noticed that of the scientists I know, physicists and mathematicians seem to be very musically inclined, and are often very competent performers, and sometimes composers.
Clergymen, too, are often musical. I know two who had to make the choice between becoming professional musicians and the church - they were both ordained in the Church of England. One of them, sadly recently deceased, played fiddle in a ceilidh band in his younger days, and in later years was the leader of Bristol Chamber Orchestra. He took a mischievous delight in shocking some of the more staid members of the audience at classical concerts in his church by warming up within earshot of them with five minutes of blue-grass or jazz! But when it came to the actual performance his attitude was nothing if fully professional. On one occasion his A-string snapped in the first bar of the opening overture. Revd Roger Thomas left his seat and returned perhaps fifteen seconds later from the vestry with his spare fiddle which was already tuned up and ready to go.
Trevor
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by lazyhound
Re: Day jobs
I'm a tenant advocate - which means giving information and advice to renters re their dealings with the landlord. So i know all about tenancy law (in OZ) and can represent tenants at tribunal hearings. Also assist people in housing crisis to apply for government housing and liaise with the housing authority. Prior to that I was a youth worker for 16 years. My work can be very draining emotionally and I am looking at other career options, butd I find that nothing gets my energy levels back better than to rip into a few jigs/reels with my mates.
I have played in a Bush Band (Ozzie equivalent to playing the music for a barn dance / ho-down) which introduced me to playing ITM (most of the dances are traditional or based thereon, and the tunes will be familiar to you all, only played in a sort of more 'measured' way, to facilitate the coordinated rollicking and stomping and 'whooop'ing which passes as dancing
Seriously, it was the most fun I've ever had. I'm now rehearsing in a duo (guitar/mando - fiddle/mando/whistle, and a smattering of song/tune medleys) and trying to get 'up to speed' to join in a few sessions.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by GerryTh
Re: Day jobs
Postie here, as in USPS. And love it! Not disgruntled at all, don't even own a gun. Actually have been caught singing tunes on the job by customers (and they weren't complaining!)
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by ketida
Re: Day jobs
Executive Assistant with an OZ State Government Department, which helps to pay for my musical habits
I was a full time musician for 4 or 5 years (Celtic Harp - performing/teaching/publishing) but it's very very hard to make a full time living as a muso in Australian, especially if you don't have a classical music education/background. (These days I'm giving the harp a rest to concentrate of Concertina and other instruments
And you can count me as one of the few who really enjoy their job; they let me play CDs whlist I work
Regards
Morgana
(a.k.a. Ptollemy
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Ptollemy
Re: Day jobs
I am a drummer in Colorado USA. I have played the bodhran for about four years and drumset, symphonic and concert percussion for about 30. My day job is a 'semi-retired' certified professional accountant, a C.P.A. and a Equities DayTrader (stock market). Not the kind that tries to make millions on home runs, I make small, safe trades to pay the bills..., I also write vintage drum articles for several magazines, work at the local sporting clays range on the weekends, and buy and sell vintage drums and cymbals (mostly on eBay!!!). Much happier now than when I was in a 3pc suit at Citibank.... two divorces and three kids later... (whew). That's catharsic.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by irish ruff
Re: Day jobs
Zina
Re Vaseline in cats
Lots of people don't like oil based products taken internally,
there are lots of other more expensive products and hence more profitable
to the Vet Profession available.. err I mean safer and more effective.
Vaseline best used externally- Man goes into chemist and asks for vaseline. Is it for sores? asks the chemist, No its for chaps.
Does this so-called joke travel transatlantically? I think not
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by timjellies
Re: Day jobs
Good thread!
I used to be a biologist and then retrained in Computing and IT about 15 years ago and now teach IT to college students in Henley on Thames in the UK. So, in reference, to Zina's comment I don't know if that makes me a geek but I certainly teach a lot of kids who have high geek-potential. I also organise the annual college ski trip (next year we are going to Winter Park, Colorado so may be able to get to Zina's session!!), and I like to kayak and ride my mountain bike around the snow-capped peaks of the Chilterns when I'm not learning new tunes for the band.
# Posted on May 8th 2003 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Day jobs
Hi all, rereading this thread reminds me - does anyone else remember how people said in the future the because of computers / gadgets / hoverboots we'd all have so much leisure time that we wouldn't know what to do with it?
...
Ha!
Mark
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by Mark Harmer
Re: Day jobs
Don't forget the word school comes from the Greek "Skol", meaning "Leisure".
Conán
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Day jobs
I thought that was Norwegian for Lager
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by Alf Tupper
Re: Day jobs
Geoff, if you can't make it down, I'll come up to Winter Park! Always up for an excuse.
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: Day jobs
Sounds good Zina. I'll get in touch closer to the time and we can organise something.
(By Colorado standards the Chilterns, by the way, would barely qualify as zits but they are very pretty).
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Day jobs
I'm President of Unique Perspectives, LTD., a computer services company in Taos, New Mexico, USA. I'm also the only employee. When I'm not making executive decisions I might be found unplugging the biffy. If computers worked like they're supposed to, I'd probably still be a Respiratory Therapist running a homecare agency, selling air for a living.
Someday I'll let you all know what that liquid stuff is that accumulates in your flutes and whistles, but if I do you'll never talk to me again. You really don't want to know anyway.
# Posted on May 9th 2003 by unique
Re: Day jobs
Conán,you sly classicist you!!
# Posted on May 10th 2003 by biggus dave
Re: Day jobs
Almost ashamed to say it after reading all those exciting alternative employments. Also in EFL: it is a funny language but the "F" means Foreign. EFL -- or ESL -- English as a Foreign or Second Language. Out here in Riyadh, I look forward to my annual trips to Ennis and to my more frequent trips to Greece where I have a little session going in Thessaloniki.
# Posted on May 10th 2003 by lukegarry
Re: Day jobs
What's the EFL set up, and your school in particular, like in Riyadh, Luke? How long have you been at it and what are your long-term EFL plans?
# Posted on May 10th 2003 by sergeant fox
Re: Day jobs
Oh yeah Luke, big *yawn* @ Riyadh, Ennis & Greece. Sounds terribly tedious & grueling. My condolences. Please post your session in Greece if you haven't already. ;)
# Posted on May 10th 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Day jobs
Elementary school teacher here. I'll be waving my arms around, teaching whatever and some STUPID tune will pop into my head that I've been trying to recall for the longest time. Of course it'll leak out my ears not to be remembered again until another time of stress.
Jim
# Posted on May 11th 2003 by jrathbun
Re: Day jobs
Two years ago I "transistioned" from an environmental geologist to teaching science/math at a technical college - one of the best moves I've ever made (next to marrying my lovely wife). Summers are free for family and other pursuits...
In my office I have a bumper sticker that reads "Real Musicians Have Day Jobs". When I despair at my self-taught level of musicianship I'm reminded of a quote from William Bay, something to the effect that "its not how good you are, but how much you enjoy playing music". That sentiment helps me through my muscial plateaus, though I keep striving in my own way.
# Posted on May 11th 2003 by SteveM
Re: Day jobs
To Paul & Emily. Paul, I've sent you an email. Emily, yes, it sounds really pretentious BUT my wife is Greek, my kids are bilingual, I studied Greek, so Greece -- especially Thessaloniki --is my second home. I don't feel like I'm on holiday when I go there. The session is too irregular to be posted but I'm going to do something about that. Thanks for the prod. Luke
# Posted on May 12th 2003 by lukegarry
Re: Day jobs
no, pretentious was never a word that entered my mind, Luke! Sounds like a pretty sweet life to me. Doubt you'll ever lack for a bouzouki player, eh?
# Posted on May 12th 2003 by emily_bmore
Re: Day jobs
I am a translator and I combine this with some EFL teaching.
I also run a small agency which finds language courses for Spanish students in foreign countries i.e. English courses in UK and Ireland, etc.
In there somewhere I manage to find time to go to our weekly session and do some sporadic practice at home.
And if that wasn´t enough, I am also a reiki practitioner!
For Geoff Pollitt: Geoff, I think we´ve met. Did you use to play at a session in Staines (Middx) with Brian Parks? Remember the guy who turned up with a concertina one night?
No? well not to worry-it was a very brief encounter!
Mike
# Posted on May 13th 2003 by murfbox
Re: Day jobs
Property Manager for BT. (British telecommunications plc)
Interesting thread as our sessions in the real world have an eclectic mix of professions and trades.
The following is a list of day jobs in the various Down sessions
Solicitor
Town and Country Planner
Mental Health Nurse [very handy thing to have in our session!!!]
Telecommunications engineer
Teacher
Cartographer
Painter and decorator.
Blacksmith
Labourer
Curiosity shop owner
Architect
Senior Civil Servant
Tiler
Joiner
Social worker in conflict resolution in Bosnia and Serbia.
IT systems manager
Baker
Farmer
Stained glass window maker
Electrician
Dry stone wall builder
Flute maker
Luthier
Health Service Manager
Retired nursing lecturer
It's bloody amazing - what other form of enjoyment cuts across all social strata like diddley dee?
What's even more interesting is that you can be playing tunes with boys and girls for years and know almost nothing else about them other than their musical ability.
As Geordie Hanna once said - as long as you can play a tune, sing a song or tell a good lie you're alright!!
# Posted on May 16th 2003 by breandan