I’ve been occupied this year, so much so that I’ve had little time to make regular posts. I’m a software engineer by trade, you see. Photography is a hobby. I’m fond of saying, “I’d rather be a software engineer with a photography habit than a photographer with a software engineering habit.”
I took a personality test on Yahoo once a long while back in a rather humorous attempt to divine a post-navy career path. I was then working at Booz | Allen | Hamilton as a consultant. I found myself sitting in an office on a nice, bright, early Spring morning, wearing pressed slacks, white shirt, and a tie, wondering, as only a 39-year-old recently retired navy officer might, if there were more to life? I believe every man pressing against his 40th birthday ponders the same timeless question.
I found the test results enlightening. They revealed I was ideally suited for two career paths: 1. Information Technology, and 2. Acting. I stuck with the IT career and focused on software engineering. Acting did sound appealing, but didn’t Shakespeare say:
“Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow,
A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”Macbeth (c. 1605), Act V, Scene 5, Line 23
There are a lot of former actors on the dole. No thanks. I’m blessed in that computer programming is easy for me, so easy in fact that if feels, as the saying goes, like stealing candy from a baby.
Besides, I’m a natural introvert. Specifically, I’m an INTP and care little for managing people and can only take crowds in measured doses. You won’t find me on the list of the dead from a capsized ferry crowded with pilgrims on a quest to find spiritual awakening. I see God Almighty in a crystal clean dewdrop on a blade of grass and feel his presence when the sunrise warms my face on a winter morning. I enjoy my solitude and computers don’t talk back.
So, thanks to my decision to stick with software engineering, I’ve been happily occupied this year writing code for applications I never dreamed I’d be working on, teaching incredible students the fundamentals of Computer Science, and writing a book about Python — and loving every single minute. I’d say at this point, that the key to happiness is to earn your living doing what you love to do. Cultivate hobbies and interests, of course! Try new things, tickle different parts of your brain, for sure. But do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.
Yes, I have been occupied, but I still managed to acquire a new-to-me camera. It’s an Olympus Pen F half-frame 35mm film camera. I’m looking forward to running a few rolls of Tri-X through this bad boy.
Adieu 2024 — Adieu! Yes, I’ve been occupied. Perhaps in 2025 I can carve out more time for all things photography.