“What Do You Do?”

People ask me what I do. I don’t always know what to say. I end up, uncharacteristically, at a loss for words.

As far as answers go, chances are they’re looking for something relatively concise, like what I do for a living or what I do for work. Well, I do lots of things that feel like work. Paying parking tickets feels like work. Does that count? Being social, that can be work at times. And writing this post… I’ve probably printed 25,000 words in the past 24 hours and come up with no finished piece to publish until just now. That certainly takes work. (As a point of reference, this post is approximately 1,000 words.)

And what I do for a living, well that one’s tougher. I get by, always do and always will until the day I don’t and then I’m dead, at which point it’s not really going to matter much, is it? Practically speaking though, I hustled. I earned commission. I earned a pay check. I lived off of school loans. I lived off of credit cards. I earned a salary. I earned consulting fees. I earned interest. I earned money in the stock market. I made money, I lost money. I made deals, I lost deals. I borrowed, I lent. Stole, got ripped off. Accepted generosity and gave to a friend’s family when their home burnt to the ground.

Making a “living” and working… not always the same thing.

Today my family takes care of me. They put me up and they help me out. And I am glad. Thank you to them.

So what are people looking for when they ask me what I do? Who knows. Regardless I feel compelled to answer since making funny noises and faces at them, breaking down and crying, or just walking away would in all probably be construed as “rude.” So I make something up that fits, maybe gets a laugh or at least frees me up to talk about myself more. I love to do that you know.

Let’s see…

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