Granted, I haven't tried a slew of different jobs. I did a lot of retail and office work in college, and of course the obligatory doughnut shop waitress in high school (oh, how I hated the smell of doughnuts...). Once I got out of college, I mostly worked for myself, doing costume design for various theatres and then artwork full time, never wanting to work for "The Man". I do much better by myself, with maybe a partner, but not a boss.
Mostly, it's the diversity of the life. Recently I've done a lot of glassblowing, and then the subsequent polishing. Some days I get to work on glass casting, some days writing (like yesterday), and today, something totally different -- I get to drill holes into wood to start making a 20 inch carved hardwood cherry rocket! It will be drilled first, because once I do more work on it, I won't have any flat sides to line up with anymore. Then I'll start to turn it on my lathe to get the right shape. I haven't been able to work with my lathe for a long time, so it will be very fun.
When I do lathe work, it's quite messy, with wood shavings going everywhere. It's a loud job, so I get to wear my earphones and crank the tunes. It's outdoors, so I can sing loud with no one being bothered and I get to be in the fresh air (which hopefully will warm up a little by then....). It's fun to see a big ole block of wood shaved down to a sculpture that's hiding inside.
If it gets too cold to do the turning, I'll go down into the shop (which isn't heated, but at least it's enclosed) and start cutting and carving the rocket fins with my macho radial arm saw!
Doesn't get any better than that! OK, maybe if I had a chocolate pizza down there with me.....
Peace,
Joy
