Pablo Picasso Month - Day 2

Thinking about work/play... you know – balance...

Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.

~ Pablo Picasso

I am pretty lucky in that I actually like the work I do at work. Some of it almost sucks, but for the most part I get to be creative now and then and I get to "make" things, even if they're only pixels on a screen. And I do have time (and resources) to make art, which is a joy. And I get to have a great home life – another joy.

Still, sometimes I think about the whole idea of success and the la la la that goes along with that (stress, responsibility, strange/long hours). I think about having a simpler lifestyle which would allow me to downsize my job. I think about not having a job where the first thing I do in the morning is to turn on the computer and check to see if the university's website is up and running and the last thing I do before going to bed is to turn on the computer and check to see if the university's website is up and running (or to check if there are any emergency emails that need immediate response). I wonder what it would be like to go on a vacation and not take my computer (and a mobile hotspot) with me. I think about actually being done for the day, reaching the end of the to-do list and going home (at quitting time) instead of always being behind and having a mile-long list facing me every morning. I worry about not having the time to do the research I need to do to stay current with the technology I need to understand.

I think about a plain old 9-5 job...

And I know I'd be miserable, even if it gave me more time to make art. I guess I like all the stuff that goes along with the job I have.

Even so...
I might like to teach someday.
I think I'd be good at it...