A friend of mine is an engineer. He and most of his siblings tested at genius level smarts. His kids are no slouches either. When he was in school, he was shy and nerdy, and to help himself combat that he learned how to be funny. He's hysterical - whip smart, whip fast with the jokes, keen insight, and stellar memory. Basically the things we enjoyed out of Carlin and still enjoy out of Lewis Black. He LOVES making people laugh, and he's a great writer in that respect. But his dad told him to be an engineer, because "that's where the money is."
So now he's got a great house and can provide amply for his kids, but spends all his non-family and non-work time (probably a good bit of work time) writing for various sites.
He said if he could do it all over, he'd have pursued some sort of comedic career - whether stand up, or writing like Dave Barry, he doesn't know - and since he can't do it all over, the best he can do is make sure all that money goes into giving his kid all the choices possible to do something he loves instead of "what makes the most money."
If I had the balls, I'd give up my car and go work for a green house. It'd halve my salary. I don't have the balls...and I'm part of a team that depends on that current salary now. So I keep searching for that elusive job that won't leave me stranded financially but will let me get into green stuff, because I hate accounting.
Although I don't think I'd have done much better at college age - I didn't even realize how much I loved plants until around the time I'd have been ending college. [shrugs]
So now he's got a great house and can provide amply for his kids, but spends all his non-family and non-work time (probably a good bit of work time) writing for various sites.
He said if he could do it all over, he'd have pursued some sort of comedic career - whether stand up, or writing like Dave Barry, he doesn't know - and since he can't do it all over, the best he can do is make sure all that money goes into giving his kid all the choices possible to do something he loves instead of "what makes the most money."
If I had the balls, I'd give up my car and go work for a green house. It'd halve my salary. I don't have the balls...and I'm part of a team that depends on that current salary now. So I keep searching for that elusive job that won't leave me stranded financially but will let me get into green stuff, because I hate accounting.
Although I don't think I'd have done much better at college age - I didn't even realize how much I loved plants until around the time I'd have been ending college. [shrugs]