This weekend i was at a wedding and at a family 'do', both full of people I'd never met before. Hence the question, "So what do you do?" was a decidedly common feature. I'm still never sure quite how to answer...
well, in the space of the last 4 days i...
- have written (almost) a 2500 assignment on creativity [student?]
- hung out with 14-16 year olds at an after school youth club, playing volleyball [youth worker?]
- helped deliver food to about 10 different projects in Brighton and Hove [charity volunteer?]
- telephoned various projects to carry out a survey for FareShare [researcher?]
- washed several hundred 3D glasses in a bath tub [uhhh...??!!]
- cleaned someone's bathroom [cleaner?]
- edited wedding photos taken last weekend [photographer?]
- manned church office [receptionist/administrator?]
- looked after friends' children [babysitter?]
I guess that's the cool thing about not having a job persae; or not being PAID for anything i do. It makes me able to bring in the variety of things i do during the week in answering the question (that is, when i think the person asking is genuinely interested. Usually i must admit i say something vague like 'working for my church'). Most people do plenty of interesting things that they may be more passionate about and that define them much more as a person than their 9-5 (or whenever) waged work. But often nobody asks about that! We just seem to want quick, easy answers that allow us to label people, classify them in grades of interest, intellect, ambition, etc. When we're probably only skimming the very surface!
well, in the space of the last 4 days i...
- have written (almost) a 2500 assignment on creativity [student?]
- hung out with 14-16 year olds at an after school youth club, playing volleyball [youth worker?]
- helped deliver food to about 10 different projects in Brighton and Hove [charity volunteer?]
- telephoned various projects to carry out a survey for FareShare [researcher?]
- washed several hundred 3D glasses in a bath tub [uhhh...??!!]
- cleaned someone's bathroom [cleaner?]
- edited wedding photos taken last weekend [photographer?]
- manned church office [receptionist/administrator?]
- looked after friends' children [babysitter?]
I guess that's the cool thing about not having a job persae; or not being PAID for anything i do. It makes me able to bring in the variety of things i do during the week in answering the question (that is, when i think the person asking is genuinely interested. Usually i must admit i say something vague like 'working for my church'). Most people do plenty of interesting things that they may be more passionate about and that define them much more as a person than their 9-5 (or whenever) waged work. But often nobody asks about that! We just seem to want quick, easy answers that allow us to label people, classify them in grades of interest, intellect, ambition, etc. When we're probably only skimming the very surface!
and even with all the doing listed above i think my favourite parts and what i think are some of the most important things in life are the cooking for friends and catching up and enjoying being together...
2 comments:
amen!
Great post.
This sounds an awful lot like my weekend.
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