Why do I do it?

Sure, we all can just be bankers, or doctors or lawyers, just by waving a magic wand.

It ain't that simple.

Everyone has their own skill sets. I don't think anybody would want me to perform brain surgery. At the same time, there are people who make a heckuva lot more money than I do who can't write a complete sentence, much less crank out a 400-word story in 20 minutes that makes sense. And yeah, the world needs ditchdiggers, too.

Thinking that people can just wish upon a star and change careers is pure fantasy.

 

I guess that's possible. But I really haven't see it yet.

Where? What kind of jobs? Where do I apply?

 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
You do it because it's your job and it beats digging a ditch or asking some if they want to biggie size their meal. You do until you can find something better or until they tell you it's time to go.

 

Thanks to those, except most notably notepad, who posted.

Their levity helped brighten what was an exasperating day.

Special to Notepad -- I know I choose to do this job. I know I can leave and do something else. But it was just a little venting.

Why do I do it?

Because, sometimes, the story is so good it has to be told.

Why do I do it?

For No. 15 seeds upsetting No. 2 seeds. For buzzer-beater threes ... For game-winning 80-yard touchdown runs ... For 1-2 combinations that snap a guy's head back and drop him to the canvas ... For one-timers that freeze goalies ... For finishing kicks ... For two-run doubles and two-out lightning and even turning two ... For two-year olds and Triple Crown winners ... For two-time champions ... For two-handed dunks ... For "Let's play two" enthusiasm ... For three-peats ... For Amen Corner ... For lunkers ... For Heartbreak Hill ... For 65-foot lag putts that find the bottom of the cup ... For cheerleaders ... For Dr. J ... For Air Jordan ... For Arnie's Army ... For Jim Brown ... For A-Rod and the Babe ... For the Lambeau Leap ... For the flying tomato ... For gold medal winners and flag bearers ... For kids playing in front of packed gyms and for kids finishing last in front of empty bleachers.

For that one phone call that seldom comes that says 'Thank you. I respect and appreciate your work.' For the section that comes out even better than you imagined it. Because, every day, I get to be creative and use my mind to try and improve the human condition through communication.

Because I would be telling stories even if nobody paid me.

That said, sometimes, enough is enough and you need to purge some bad blood, before it completely infects your psyche.

Maybe you just had a little negativity you had to vent.

 

You are spot on, Baron.

I'm consider myself one of those brave souls who wanted to, and actually did, look into the possibility of making a leap to another field.

It's something I've thought about for some time, something about which I'd always said that if I wasn't working in newspapers, this was something I thought I might like to pursue. And it was something that doesn't pay exorbitantly, but even so, I'd start at a salary that is more than I've ever made in my life as a journalist.

Sounds good, right?

Well, I recently got serious about considering it, and even went to see a community-college guidance counselor to check on if there were any missing classes I might need in order to start along this new path, and just to get some general information on their program and how to go about starting the enrollment process.

It turned out that, even though I have a bachelor's degree, because my new field is unrelated, it seems that there are two or three classes I still would need to take in order to fulfill prerequisites for the new coursework. And I was advised that I needed to complete them before I could even apply to the school's two-year program. (I'm interested in something in the health-care field).

Well, doing that would take at least a semester, and more realistically, a year, considering I'd be going to school while still doing my current work. Still, I went in knowing that might happen, and was willing to still consider it.

But then, the counselor said, there is a 1 1/2-year waiting list for students -- even those with all the prerequisites and who are able to put in their applications right away -- to get into the program.

Well, that's two to 2 1/2 years, right there, and then I'd still have to actually go through the two-year program.

So, she said, I could be working in a regular job in my new field by, oh, about 2013.

Well, you know what? I needed something yesterday. I'm an adult, I have bills, I own a condo, I don't live with my parents (yet, although I'm considering it), and I don't have another partner to support me.

The reality is that, I'd gone into that guidance office finally feeling like I'd made a firm decision, and had taken a big step, and was proud that I'd done it. I'd been prepared for the fact that I might have to do a little work, and be a little patient, before the changes could be fully implemented.

But I wasn't prepared for what I got, and heard, and wound up leaving that place not excited and inspired, but rather, completely dejected, and almost demoralized.

And now, as Pete said, correctly, I don't know what else to do. Again.

Making these kinds of changes is not as easy as just making up your mind. If it was, many, many more of us would have made the leap out by now.

 

see if you can work in a few more cliches.

 

See if you can add anything to this conversation. Or any, for that matter.

 

Speaking as someone who once dug ditches in 10 degree weather and has shelped pipe along the Mississippi River in 100 degree heat, I can tell one and all that what we do in the sports writing gig is a hell of a lot easier and far more fun than just about any other profession you can choose. For all of the negatives that have surrounded our profession in recent months, there is nothing else I'd rather be doing and I'll do it until I'm forced out the door.

 

I don't see why notepad has to be so rude about this. Of course we chose this career, but maybe with the hopes of it being about the news and journalism, and not all coming down to the bottom line and how many clicks we can register on our Web sites.

Also, having chose this it's kind of hard to say leave if you don't like it, once you have bills to pay and are too old to move back in with mommy and daddy, and while I love what I do for the most part, I can certainly relate to the frustrations kimrod expressed, and understand wanting a forum to express it, without insulting and demeaning retort.

 

You must have worked on a sports desk south of Philly.

 

So what is there to do? What can those of us who love the field for the writing and the stories, not the clicks and distance between decimals and dollar signs?

Or is there anything?

 

BLOGS?