Changing jobs
Did you ever make a major change and find yourself thinking "Damn, why didn't I do this sooner?"
I just shifted jobs. Goodbye theater, hello broomsmithing. And you know what? I absolutely love it.
Not that theater wasn't fun. I had a grand time in theater. I made some excellent friends there, I helped create art, and I enjoyed the collaborative process. I guess needs change as a life moves on, though, and I've found that joining my stepdad's business is actually a lot better for me now. Mandy's more than enough madness and excitement for anyone. I like the work itself more in general, but that's always been true. I'm a good carpenter, and doing custom handles on brooms requires a lot more art on my part than just putting up flats does. The real fun comes when we're tweaking and refining the set of charms for a broom. We get to spend pretty much all the time and money necessary to create a perfect piece of customized work for a client, and there's a lot of fun in that. I like problem-solving.
The project I'm working on today involves a lot of that problem-solving. The client's lost the use of his legs due to an accident at his work. Since a broom customarily reads muscle movement in the legs for stopping and accelerating, I'm doing some major revisions in the charms that usually take care of those functions. Anything that would normally be controlled by any part of the body from the waist down, I'm reworking completely. It's a ton of fun.
I've also got another piece that's a lot more artsy. One of Liam's big clients has requested a really unusual shaft on his broom, with a lot of decorative copper, silver, and gold. I'm working with an absolutely ridiculous amount of money on this one, which is actually a little intimidating. It'll be gorgeous when it's finished, though.
And the other nice thing about this job is that it's actually got a schedule that bears some resemblance to that of a normal human. For instance, I'm actually off on Saturdays and Sundays again, for the most part. Outside of meeting with clients, my work hours are completely flexible - as long as I put in my eight hours a day, it doesn't matter when I do them. I feel like I should go do something on a Saturday evening just because I can.
I just shifted jobs. Goodbye theater, hello broomsmithing. And you know what? I absolutely love it.
Not that theater wasn't fun. I had a grand time in theater. I made some excellent friends there, I helped create art, and I enjoyed the collaborative process. I guess needs change as a life moves on, though, and I've found that joining my stepdad's business is actually a lot better for me now. Mandy's more than enough madness and excitement for anyone. I like the work itself more in general, but that's always been true. I'm a good carpenter, and doing custom handles on brooms requires a lot more art on my part than just putting up flats does. The real fun comes when we're tweaking and refining the set of charms for a broom. We get to spend pretty much all the time and money necessary to create a perfect piece of customized work for a client, and there's a lot of fun in that. I like problem-solving.
The project I'm working on today involves a lot of that problem-solving. The client's lost the use of his legs due to an accident at his work. Since a broom customarily reads muscle movement in the legs for stopping and accelerating, I'm doing some major revisions in the charms that usually take care of those functions. Anything that would normally be controlled by any part of the body from the waist down, I'm reworking completely. It's a ton of fun.
I've also got another piece that's a lot more artsy. One of Liam's big clients has requested a really unusual shaft on his broom, with a lot of decorative copper, silver, and gold. I'm working with an absolutely ridiculous amount of money on this one, which is actually a little intimidating. It'll be gorgeous when it's finished, though.
And the other nice thing about this job is that it's actually got a schedule that bears some resemblance to that of a normal human. For instance, I'm actually off on Saturdays and Sundays again, for the most part. Outside of meeting with clients, my work hours are completely flexible - as long as I put in my eight hours a day, it doesn't matter when I do them. I feel like I should go do something on a Saturday evening just because I can.