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 By Patrick Hurley June 12, 2006 Are you happy in your career? Some of you are retired. You are older than dirt. Your career goal at this point is BREATHING! Keep at it. Don't let it up. You may not be ready for THAT pink slip. Some of you are obviously out of work. That is why you spend so much time in here. This is your workplace. Without UK, you would not have a LIFE! So, you rush to your keyboards in the morning, spilling your coffee and see the latest rebuttal to the clever one you left at midnight. Yep, there it IS! Someone has defied you again. Time to validate your identity and refute them immediately. You sit back and savor your brilliant retort and take a satisfying sip of java as if you really do have meaning and purpose in your life. Some of you are open to a career CHANGE. This may be because your boss played the lead character in, "The Omen." You just cannot take it any longer. No one appreciates your contributions and your potential and it is time to seek employment elsewhere. The problem may be your age. At your chronological point in life, you may find that working as a crossing guard in New Mexico is your best option. Hmm...maybe your boss is not so bad after all. I read an article last night on MSNBC that more and more baby boomers are going back to college. That caught my attention because I have the summer off and it might be fun to get my Masters Degree. But, my intellectual challenge is to determine the area of expertise best suited for me. I do savor some secret dreams of grandeur in my soul. Dare I pursue one of them with earnest? One of my fantasies is to sing with the Beach Boys before all of them die. I know they will continue touring for another twenty years because that is the only job they have ever had in their lives. I am waiting for Mike Love, the nasal lead singer to retire so I can step up and belt out, "California Girls" on stage in front of 10,000 frenzied 45 year-old women throwing their zantac tablets at me. That would be the LIFE! Another wish of mine is to be a cartoonist. With my wit and insights into life I would love to create a daily column along the lines of, "Herman." That dude lays me out! I could come up with someone everyone could identify with and draw his ongoing travails as he tries to cope with life and disappointment. My problem of course, is that I have zero talent as an artist. I still draw the sun setting like a first grader, with the yellow circle and spokes coming out of it. Unfortunately with my limitations, a career as a stick figure cartoonist is not going anywhere. I have one arrow left in my second career quiver. I have always wanted to own a restaurant and have all my friends come in so I could treat them. The problem with this idea has three strikes against it. First, I have absolutely NO experience or talent in food service. I can barely grill a burger much less sell one. Secondly, 90% of restaurants fail and finally, if I treat all my friends, I will go broke! But, lying in bed late at night imagining the tiffany lamps and the dark cedar wood of, "PJ's," makes me crazy with excitement. Even though I don't think it will ever happen... It would be fun to be a sportswriter or a sportscaster, but that would involve a lot of travel and I am tired of living out of a suitcase after speaking in 47 states since 1974. Running my own Comedy Club would be great but most of my performers would be stoned all the time. A roller rink would be fun, if this was 1961. I have always thought of being a DJ but real music died in 1969. It is time for bed. Another day of dreams has kept me smiling but I am not going to quit my day job. I love my boss. He is fair. Understanding. Motivational. Hilarious and...someone I have known for a long time even though he can be a pain in the butt now and then and I don't always like him. Yes, I enjoy working for myself. Until that day when I get tired of challenging young people with my humor, I guess my career is going to stay the same as it always has since 1974 when someone handed me an envelope with Phoenix, Berkeley, Orange County, Sacramento, Riverside and San Bernardino written on it in pencil. That was my first tour of classroom speaking in schools and I have never looked back. Those classrooms are now full assemblies in gyms and auditoriums so I guess I have found my working niche. But, I can still dream that someday I will try something new. Maybe. By the way....what's your dream? ------------ About the author: Pat Hurley has won three Emmy awards for writing, hosting and producing television shows. He resides in Southern California. Email: coolhumor@sbcglobal.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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