On 26-10-2009 16:57, Shay wrote:
> andrel wrote:
>  > On 26-10-2009 1:42, Shay wrote:
>  >> Jeremy "UncleHoot" Praay wrote:
>  >>>
>  >>> I'm 41 as of yesterday.
>  >>
>  >> Happy birthday.
>  >
>  > Thanks. Oh, it wasn't directed to me. (47 today)
> 
> Happy birthday to you, Andrel.
> 

Thanks ;)

>  >
>  > Some of those wheels may have been more like balls. Anyway,
>  > are you sure other people feel the same way about you being
>  > unproductive?
> 
> A matter of perspective. I have a very good analogy in mind.
> 
> My uncle creates custom carpentry. Today he'll build a chair, tomorrow a 
> door, and next week a roll-top desk. He is able to apply his aptitudes 
> and experience to each of these projects and produce an acceptable 
> number of quality pieces. As remuneration for this production, he 
> receives a nice living along with challenge and satisfaction for himself.
> 
> However, having one day spent six hours on a single custom chair, he 
> could the next day produce ten identical chairs in the same amount of 
> time. This would be less challenging and produce less job satisfaction 
> but would bring him other, more tangible rewards ($$$$, more time with 
> his wife).
> 
> There are rewards for doing and rewards for having done. I find the 
> former more appealing, but do recognize that the rewards for doing 
> evaporate the moment the doing is complete and (perhaps more 
> importantly) that the rewards for doing are not easily shared with 
> others. I suspect I will always prefer the rewards for doing, but am 
> curious to experience the rewards for having done.

For some reason I would still call your uncle productive and therefore 
you as well.

I do sort of the same. I have made plaster casts for ceramics. For me 
the process is the important thing. After the cast is finished I make 
one or at most a few ceramic things with it. If I do more than one that 
is because I want to see the effect of a different firing technique.
After I made them I don't care if somebody else uses them too.
If I want to make money with it (I don't, still happily working in 
cardiology and in teaching), I need somebody else to help me.

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