Skip to main content

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.


Lately I've been thinking quite a bit about work. More specifically, finding a line of work that I, well, am a little more enthused about. Très diplomatique Monsieur McCracken!

So I was testing out my skills as seagull papparazzo, and snared this little lady trying to evade capture. I got her just in time though. So, ideas about alternate careers, anyone have any?

Anyone know of any jobs? I'm open to suggestion!

Comments

You should be writing a column in one of the local newspapers and answer questions to who writes to you. I am sure you would have a lot of success among the youngsters in your age-group! Try!!
smudgeon said…
Ever considered the exciting world of lower-level government drudgery? I can heartily recommend it if you wish to end up with the deepest loathing of all living beings.
Priyanka Khot said…
you should write a book... a nice caustic take on life, but not necessarily an earth worm's view of the world.

with your sense of humour i am pretty sure the book would be a best seller and might grab one of those Booker prizes as well. :-)
Miles McClagan said…
I went to a soccer game once between St Mirren (yay!) and Hearts (boo!) and in the middle of the ground at 1/2 time there was a lone seagull just standing there that wouldn't bugger off and slowly but surely, a chant echoed from the Love Street end..."SEEEEEEEE....GULLLLL..."

Went round the whole ground, fantastic it was. It flew theatrically away to a big round of applause.
USelaine said…
You are capable of doing anything, Kris.

I can imagine you...

... producing and presenting a weekly, multi-media television hour. Or as a talk/chat show host (or both of the above combined).

... writer of children's books.

... teacher of anything to anyone.

... goat farmer and cheese maker.

... International Youth Hostel operator.

... a Vespa scooter dealer.

... novelty furniture maker.

... a museum director.

... a social services centre director.

... a summer camp developer and director, serving special needs populations.

What do you love?
Dina said…
Oi Kris, is it that bad? Sorry about that.
I was going to suggest being a goatherd or a sheep farmer and cheesemaker, but Elaine got that one already.
If you opened a kindergarten and taught little kids, I'd send my grandsons there. Always thought kids deserved having more men teachers, esp. at an early age.

In 1993 I rebelled and quit my desk job and never went back to indoor, sitting-down work. Never regretted the new life this brought me. But then, my kids were almost independent in '93, not like your Sitz in Leben.

Good luck to you.
Anonymous said…
Miles I love that Love Street story! You know that St Mirren have just played their final game there and are moving to a new stadium?
Kris McCracken said…
Blognote, unfortunately the local rag would not have me. I have far too keen a grasp on spelling, grammar and syntax for them!

Me, unfortunately I inhibit the world of middle to upper level management in the Community Sector, although the nature of policy work (and for the moment Acting-CEO work) means that I spend more time in liaison the assorted chancers in DHHS.

I cannot say that either side of the fence enthuses me.

Priyanka, I have started one or two. I would gladly take a Booker!
Kris McCracken said…
Miles, as a Hearts man, I resent that boo! I’m surprised that they didn’t kick it to death.

I saw a bit of graffiti on either the Edinburgh or Glasgow photo blog that read “[Partick] Thistle fans riot! Both were arrested.”

Well I liked it.

Wonderful names, Scottish clubs: Heart of Midlothian; Partick Thistle; Hamilton Academical; Inverness Caledonian Thistle; Greenock Morton; Queen of the South; Stirling Albion; Forfar Athletic; Stenhousemuir. And not to forget poor old Airdrieonians!

USelaine, TV? Hmmm.

Children's books? Already done one of those (Henry’s first b’day; it involved a cat, a hat, and the ‘Happy Birthday’ song).

Teacher? Done the uni teaching stuff. Couldn’t hack a daily gig.

Goat farmer and cheese maker? I like cheese, not so keen on goats.

International Youth Hostel operator? Hotels/hostels/motels/B&Bs = too much work!

Vespa scooter dealer? The Vespa market has crashed.

Novelty furniture maker? If you’d seen my woodworking from high school, you would be correct in assuming that it was a ‘novelty’ piece.

A museum director? Interesting, but the HR stuff is annoying. Do I have to have staff?

A social services centre director? Christ almighty NO!

A summer camp developer and director, serving special needs populations? Special needs populations make me uncomfortable. I can fake being comfortable with no problem, but deep down I’m still a bit uncomfortable. I am aware that this makes me a bad person.

What do I love? Henry, Ezra, Jen, pizza, sleeping, peace and quiet.

Not a lot to work with there. A family pizza parlour with a mime theme?

Dina, I might be able to explore archaeology, but need a new sun hat.

Jackie, typical St Mirren.
USelaine said…
Yup, TV. Go for it.

Museum Director - You don't have to have staff (think small), but you have to report to a board of directors if it's a proper non-profit, etc. There will be people. Otherwise, it'll just be a business, with the attendant B&B-type pitfalls.

But now I understand the source of your anguish. Any management role prefixed by "Interim" or "Acting" is pure hell. All of the responsibility, none of the power to make lasting, or even short-term, plans and institutional renovations, or implement any other remedies. Just sign the checks while "they" dawdle over filling the position for real, with the corresponding money, perquisites, and authority.

You could learn to love goats.
Dina said…
So how 'bout I send you an Indiana Jones hat?
Elaine is right. Give goats a chance. They are such individualistic creatures, just like a blogger I know.
Anonymous said…
Well I'd never have had you down as a Hearts man - there's a turn up for the books. Hey, maybe Henry isn't gearing up to be the next Mussolini or Khrushchev, but is actually going to be the next Vladimir Romanov?

The Thistle graffiti was on my blog by the way. I laughed out loud when I saw it. I agree, there are some cracking team names up here (I'm a Stenhousemuir supporter myself).
Kris McCracken said…
USelaine, I haven’t the head for TV.

The ‘acting’ bit is even more unbearable when you tell them you don’t want the gig for the long run (for many reasons). It’s like people are incapable of understanding why you’d knock back a promotion, despite have dozens of legitimate (and very good) reasons. Thus, you’re seen even more as a non-entity.

Goats are just plain nasty. There, I said it. I’m more a cow man anyway.

Dina, as long as the hat is dusty and beat up!

So, all you are saying, is give goats a chance?

Jackie, there is a long family connection to Hearts, my mother’s grandfather apparently captained them (and later Dunfermline) before WWI. Romanov is yet another blow in.

Always had a soft spot for Stenhousemuir based purely on the name. That fellow on the BBC World Service does great justice to the Scots’ names, “[as one word] InvernessCaledonianThisle NIL, ForfarAthletic TWO”. Far more entertaining than The Shipping News.

Popular posts from this blog

Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it...

I still have the robot on the job. Here you can see the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery . And here is a poem: Soliloquy for One Dead Bruce Dawe Ah, no, Joe, you never knew the whole of it, the whistling which is only the wind in the chimney's smoking belly, the footsteps on the muddy path that are always somebody else's. I think of your limbs down there, softly becoming mineral, the life of grasses, and the old love of you thrusts the tears up into my eyes, with the family aware and looking everywhere else. Sometimes when summer is over the land, when the heat quickens the deaf timbers, and birds are thick in the plumbs again, my heart sickens, Joe, calling for the water of your voice and the gone agony of your nearness. I try hard to forget, saying: If God wills, it must be so, because of His goodness, because- but the grasshopper memory leaps in the long thicket, knowing no ease. Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it... I like Bruce Dawe. He just my be my favourite Austral...

There was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong.

Here is a self portrait. I’m calling it Portrait of a lady in a dirty window . Shocking, isn’t it? However, it is apt! Samhain , Nos Galan Gaeaf , Hop-tu-Naa , All Saints , All Hallows , Hallowmas , Hallowe'en or HALLOWEEN . It’s Theme Thursday and we’re talking about the festivals traditionally held at the end of the harvest season. Huh? No wonder Australians have trouble with the concept of HALLOWEEN. For the record, in my thirty-two L O N G years on the planet, I can’t say I’ve ever seen ghosts ‘n goblins, trick ‘n treaters or Michael Myers stalking Tasmania’s streets at the end of October. [That said, I did once see a woman as pale as a ghost turning tricks that looked like Michael Myers in late November one time.] Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, sitcoms, and innumerable companies; it seems Australians are impervious to the [ahem] charms of a corporatized variant of a celebration of the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darke...

In dreams begin responsibilities.

A life at sea, that's for me, only I just don't have the BREAD. That's right, Theme Thursday yet again and I post a photo of a yacht dicking about in Bass Strait just off Wynyard. The problem is, I am yet again stuck at work, slogging away, because I knead need the dough . My understanding is that it is the dough that makes the BREAD. And it is the BREAD that buys the yacht. On my salary though, I will be lucky to have enough dough or BREAD for a half dozen dinner rolls. Happy Theme Thursday people, sorry for the rush.