The Hero of daily life
On yesterday’s post, Earl said:
Paul, as i read your post I wondered if being in Charleston on your own each week with evening time to develop and scan has made your usage of film easier or more enjoyable? If you were home in Charlotte would finding time for film be harder to come by?
I was going to answer him in the comments, but thought that his question deserved a bit more elaboration than I could give, or wanted to give in a comment, thus, this post. I’ll start with a short story from back in the day … but, first a sidebar: I remember working with a bunch of ‘old guys’ when I was in my mid-twenties. They always seem to have an anecdote ready for most any situation. I thought that it was funny and interesting that they had experienced so much, but alas, I’m the old guy now and seem to have experiences for most anything that comes along. 
So, on with the story from the old guy:
Back when I was doing software development for MCI, I was a pretty gung-ho developer. I wanted a name for myself. I wanted to be the highest paid, most sought after, well known software developer in Dallas, Texas. Now, when I look back at that, I cringe! *shudder* Anyway, I put in countless hours reading technical books, practicing my craft, etc. My wife and I were both driven and our weekends consisted of hanging out in Borders books absorbing and buying new technical books, she more than I, but we both had quite a few books.
As one would expect, I quickly rose to the top of the ranks amongst my peers as did my pay and my reputation. Certainly I did not have fame and fortune, but I was fairly well known and well paid. A fellow developer, Donna, once asked me how did I get so good in such a short time. I told her about my trips to the book store, my late nights spending 5 or 6 hours after work studying and experimenting, etc. She was somewhat appalled saying that she’d rather watch television in the evening and unwind from the day’s work. Certainly nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t where my head was at that time. I believe that she was wise and I was foolish.
Anyway, to finally get to Earl’s question. Yes, having my evenings free from the rigors of everyday family life does play a huge role in my ability to use film. I had considered it some years ago, but wasn’t quite ready. There is a place in our house that would be ideal for loading film and I had my own separate room with my printer, scanner, and assorted photo gear. However, I think that had the film bug bitten, it might not have bitten so hard. Still, I’ve made decisions here that support my photography. I don’t own a television, which helps a lot. No boob-tube distraction. I balance my free times in the evenings between reading fiction and doing photography things.
Were I to have never left Charlotte and come to Charleston, I do wonder if I would have been developing film at this point in my life. Who knows, but here I am and I’m making good use of my time, I think. It’s not like when I was trying to be the ‘best’ of this or that, it’s more comfortable than that. It’s fulfilling to be able to do something just for the sake of it without worrying about or wanting a reward.
Lastly, Earl, I would imagine that since you retired some time ago, your life has blossomed and turned in directions that you never would have expected nor have had time to do when you were working 5 days/week. No? I would expect that when I reach that point, I would do something else. Perhaps I’ll make my own emulsions and use glass plates! LOL!
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6 Responses to “Time, opportunity, and choices.”
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What comes to mind for me is that, in life, there are seasons. There was a time for the pursuit of excellence in your occupation, and it is likely that it served you well. I think the pursuit of excellence is healthy. But, maybe if career enhancement is an obsession that is never allowed to wane—making room for other things in life, it creates an unhealthy lack of balance. It would appear that because you have changed with “the seasons”, your life abounds in true riches.
Yes. there’s been changes in my life, some related to retirement. others simply due to the passage of time. I tend to agree with Anita that there are seasons in our life. I also believe we often get what we need even if it’s not always what we want.
In my original comment I was interested how your physical environment perhaps influenced or enabled a fuller pursuit of film photography. Thanks for your thoughts on this. I find it interesting to note the currents in life that tend to change our course slightly.
I love your comment about being the “old guy” on the job. I worked just over thirty years in the same office and that was me! No one ever called me “old guy” but when you are with a bunch of 20 and 30 years old folks that’s who I was. I did however hold a wealth of intuitional knowledge in my head and frequently “the kids” would stop by my office for a lesson in forestry history! It’s funny how things change with time.
I can relate as my work as a flight attendant does classify me as the ‘old guy.’ I also put in the extra hours to be as good as I could be in my field of test engineering and because of that lost out on some opportunities in life. I also accept those ‘seasons’ of life we all live through. As my work requires me to travel a lot it also allows me to have 10-13 days off a month, plenty of time to chase passions. And, yes things change with time.
I worked for over 20 years as an engineer making photographic emulsions. Believe me, you don’t want to mess with all that crap! Besides, given today’s prices, I doubt you could afford the primary ingredient – silver nitrate.
By the way, I bought a hat recently that proudly says, “Old Guys Rule”. It’s a lie, of course, but it’s a nice hat.
Ok, so at my last job I was twenty years older than my boss and thirty years older than most of the people that reported to me. the year I started doing my type of job, most of the younger members of my team hadn’t been born. I’m not sure where that puts me, the only thing I can say is that I don’t feel that old until we start talking about popular music. Then I’m in big trouble.