I find the concept of “Do what you like, like what you do” to be very important for life.  In the entertainment industry in particular I think that it is very important to find a job that you enjoy doing since the odds are that you will never make the money that you want to be making!  I personally think that this holds true for anyone in any industry.  Sure, it would be great to make lots of money, but I wouldn’t want to be in a job that made me not want to go to work every day.

I love doing what I do, working at the theatre.  I enjoy going to work.  Even though sometimes I complain, it is usually about being tired and having to get up in the morning.  I work with great people, I make enough to live happily, and I have great benefits.  Work is interesting and fun.  I do my best to make the atmosphere for the the people who work for me interesting, educational, and fun.  I even go so far as to tell people to let me know if they are not having fun because I want to know what I can do to make sure that people want to come back.

What made me think about this today is that one of my co-workers at the theatre is entertaining the idea of moving on to a different job.  What he wants to be doing and what he really enjoys doing is teaching and the fact that he has a lead on a teaching position is great.  It seems like he has had the itch to be doing something different for a while now so I hope that this pans out for him.

Yesterday I posted about living life and doing the things that you want to do.  This is no different.  For most of us, having a job is a must.  There are not too many people who can really just coast through life and not do anything.  So, if we have to work, if we have to do something to make a living in this world then I would rather be doing something that I like to do.  It doesn’t make sense to me to spend any time working at a job that you don’t like.  Do something that makes you happy and brings you some kind of fulfillment.

If you have never played Apples to Apples you should give it a shot, it is a lot of fun.  I played tonight with Ruth and her family.  It has been quite a long time since I have had this kind of fun with a game, and it has certainly been quite a while since I have had such a good laugh.  Here is what I am tonight (in order by rounds):

1. Naïve
2. Loud
3. Classic
4. Sultry
5. Worldly
6. Industrious
7. Creative
8. Tame
9. Saintly
10. Exquisite
11. European
12. Hot
13. Unusual
14. Violent
15. Useless
16. Twisted
17. Fantastic
18. Sweet
19. Snappy
20. Stereotyped

If you really don’t know the game at all, they say that the cards you win describe you.  It is always fun to discover “new” aspects of your personality as dictated by a game!  I am not sure that all of my wins really describe me, but I think that many might.  I am not entirely sure what that says about me, but hey!

There is not much that is more of a bummer than having to go in to work for a double header matinee day on a Saturday.  This is a great show and all, and I love my job, but it is still a bummer being inside all day on a Saturday.  We have a name for double header days: “Two Do Shays” since by the end of the second show you can’t even speak right.

Me with my marshmallow shooter

So I figured that today I would spice up life a little bit by bringing in my mini-marshmallow shooter and waiting in the dark for the crew to arrive.  Of course I had to go out and buy a bag of rainbow marshmallows, but it was totally worth it.  I think that every now and then you have to do something to break the mundane rut that we all fall in while working a show.  Needless to say, I managed to get everyone pretty riled up and happy, which is what I set out to do.  Even one of our actors joined in the antics.

So, make sure that whatever you are doing, you keep it fun and interesting!  If you are not having fun then you are doing something wrong.

As my parent’s visit to Salt Lake City came to an end they did offer me some great things.  First off I finally got a new pair of ski pants.  I have been skiing in my old Spyder pants for a really long time and they are starting to show their age as well as not really fitting well.  I did have to go back to REI to exchange the pants as the first pair was a funny cut that didn’t quite fit right, but I think I have landed on something that I am happy with.

Additionally, my father found a photo workshop that looks like it should be interesting.  The workshop is down in Moab and it is run by the Nikonians Academy.  I was going to do a similar workshop last summer, but that one was cancelled due to conflicts that the hosting photographer had.  I was kind of bummed out about that.  At that point in time, the workshop was going to be birthday gift for me from my parents, so they made me the same offer on the upcoming one.  So, I am all signed up to go on a photo workshop this summer down in Moab, which should be a lot of fun.  I think that doing something lie this will be good for me as a photographer.  I will get to meet new people and learn something, and hopefully continue to develop my eye.

I am actually not entirely sure where everyone is.  I know that Dan and Dad went out do deposit Dan’s check and do some shopping, but I am not sure where my mother is.  I though she was home.  We are supposed to make potato latkes today.  I am kinda looking forward to that.  i am also looking forward to seeing Jesi and going over the BU theatre to see “Radium Girls.”

In the mean time I have been killing time helping my dad set up a blog (which he will probably never really use) and messing with the format of mine.  My formatting is still a work in progress, but I have been learning a lot about CSS and customization.  I may just need to build the page from the ground up to really learn it ad make it my own.  I think that I spent way too much time in front of the computer yesterday working on it.  Had fun though.  I was using my dad’s iMac, which really made me want one.  I need a computer with a huge screen!

Possibly one of the best things about being home is good food.  Last night we had great fish, Hake, I think, and sweet potato fries.  It really doesn’t get much better than that!  Well, that might not be true because after dinner we walked up the street to Cabot’s to get ice cream sundaes.  Yeah, my mother won a bet with my dad and we all got sundaes.  Then this morning I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking.  Bacon bagels and eggs, what a breakfast.  We are also making loads of corned beef for the Hanukkah party tomorrow as well.  Of course there is also the obligatory Chinese lunch that we have with my grandparents any time I am visiting.  It may not be home cooked, but it is better than almost all of the Chinese places that I have tried in SLC!

So, here I am sitting and waiting for the next thing to happen.  So far this has been a pretty good trip.  Surprising my dad’s parents before they left for Florida was good.  It certainly made them happy.  Lots of good food, and friends.  It all amounts to a nice bit of time off!