The Static Page

Less Work and More Play

"...makes a Johnny a happy boy", so goes the saying. Or something like that.

I remember receiving advice when I was rather younger about taking up a career in my hobby. It was basically "don't do it - it will destroy your hobby." At the time, computers weren't on the radar. They were too expensive for home and they hadn't invaded primary schools yet. My affinity with computers happened later, in high school. Now I do work with computers, in a manner of speaking. My working life revolves around computer security and much that that entails. Obviously, I didn't take that advice.

I'm still into computers as a hobby. The fact that it crosses over from time to time what I do at work is sometimes annoying. For me, work is definitely "work" and play quite clearly "play". It's true I get to "play" with computer security to an extent where I work, for instance I am authorised to occasionally go probing the network in a way most other people would Get Spoken To Sternly About if they were discovered. But there are still aspects of my Work that are a necessity and that I cannot categorise as Play in any shape or form. I suspect that this would be true for everyone getting paid to have fun. Even doing the most fun thing imaginable, doing exactly what they want to do, getting paid to do it means there will always be Something Else that is irksome.

So what do you get paid to do? Can you generally classify is as Play? How much is Unavoidable Work? Perhaps you can't call any of your paid time Play. Or perhaps I'm wrong about getting paid to Play and your paid Work time is 100% Play.

Wade Bowmer, aka Static.

Comments? Email me at static dash page at yceran dot org.