Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back!!!

First impressions? Well, the page templates are nice, but there's no Microsoft Sans Serif font option; I don't mean to be a sellout, but it's a very crisp, clean, yet genuine font if I've ever seen one (seriously, try it out sometime in Word). On the flip-side it is a free blog which took me approximately .36 minutes to set up and I am a sucker for efficiency and intuitive procedures. Anyhoo, onto the blog-licious-ness....

You know how when you're in that second semester of your senior year in high school, talking to the career counselor(s) and they insist you need to find a job, nay a career, which not only stimulates and challenges you, but also represents a natural talent you've never had to work to foster. It's a task you'd be performing whether someone paid you for it or not. Yea...I never, ever bought that crap. I knew those were the people who, though fulfilled and probably much less sleep deprived, would likely struggle to earn a living or even to find work in a fiercely competitive market. I, on the other hand, decided to make the primary subject(s) of my career decision; market demand and monetary potential versus educational investment. Hence, I become a computer scientist.

That's right...I spent more all nighters in the computer lab than I care to count, bribed more TA's than I care to remember, and performed more sexual favors than.... well you get the idea. Anyhoo, here I am; approximately a year and a half following my college graduation with approximately 3.5 years (or 5 if you're reading my resume) of industry experience under my belt and I'm feeling a little lost. I have spent the last 10 or so years very successfully convinced that one's career needs only one simple ingredient: challenge.

There's no question computer science has provided challenge; not so much just a challenge of pure intellect, but also strict discipline and die-hard perseverance. Yet, here I sit, a mere 10 hours away from another stimulating 8.5 hour day of coding problems, solutions, and creation; somehow wishing I could wake and do something else. What else; I'm not sure.

Now maybe it's just that second glass of wine I had with dinner or maybe it's because I've watched Office Space twice this week, but I'm not so sure anymore that challenge alone is enough to vocationally fulfill me for a large portion of my life.

There were 'tasks' I performed as a child that nobody ever had to ask me to do. On the contrary I often had to ask or beg my parents to be given the resources/time to perform such 'tasks'. Such items included (but were not limited to); creative writing, fictional reading, cooking, riding horses, and dancing (mostly ballet).

Could I potentially have made a lucrative career out of one of those items? With a lot of commitment, hard work, and support; maybe. Did I miss the mark in my career discrimination? Should I have chosen a task that I have genuinely always enjoyed rather than just something I happen to be good at? Maybe.