Electronics repair and manufacture. I do this sometimes professionally – however my special talent is doing it with none of the right tools or parts. It’s mostly hilarious and not useful at work, where I need to use the right parts so you can scale to manufacture.
I once fixed a DVD drive using a gas stove. A graphics card with a tube of toothpaste and some rubber bands. A Macbook with half a cardboard box. Today I built a microphone amplifier from a broken Android development board, a IC from a particle detector, and surface-mount resistors and capacitors from a dozen different things. I could probably work as an engineer in Kerbal Space Program :D
Sadly, my irritation with YouTube is fathomless and eternal :P
I can clue you in the the first case though – A faulty motor was unable to eject the drive, and a magnet held it in place. So I used the Curie effect to weaken the magnet by roasting it for a short time and putting it back in. I was very poor in those days so knowing these things was pretty useful.
Music. I can play close to a dozen instruments with enough skill that I could sit in as a stand in player for a large variety of genres. I do everything in my power to avoid letting people around me know.
I make music as a way to meditate and relax. I can throw down a synthesizer drone and spend an hour+ noodling on the piano, guitar, cello etc without doing any recording or writing down stuff. I’ve got probably 100 or so short 4-12 bar ideas saved on my computer. I probably will never do anything with them but I like going back and rediscovering where I was musically/emotionally.
I am in a similar boat. I don’t have the chops I used to, but I have taught music and played in a lot of bands over the years. At several points in my life I had experiences that led me to believe that if I made music my job I would end up hating it! Currently I am not “doing anything with it” except for very slowly recording my songs. Home recording is something I have not delved into too much, but I would like to properly record some of my stuff because it means a lot to my friends and family. I would also very much like to be in a band again, but just for the fun of playing in a band. I am not at all interested in brand, image, promotion, or all of the other bullshit that is involved in the “music industry.” I do really miss having friends to just jam with and have “musical conversations.”
My wife has something of a natural talent with music, but never really had the chance to explore it when she was younger. She is working really hard at learning guitar, and I really want to support her so she can have a good experience with music.
I’m just now learning this. I have told people for years that I didn’t want to do it professionally, but people convinced me to do photo shoots for them. I somehow ended up doing about 9 photo shoots in the course of two months. It really did take all the fun out of it.
I hate the deadlines, the communication, and the pressure of it. I like being in control of my photography, I don’t want to give the control to other people tbh
I guess my confidence and knowledge did grow a lot, but I don’t want to keep doing it
Writing. Specifically, tech writing. I’ve got an intuitive sense for it, but other than business communication and the occasional bit of internal documentation I don’t have any desire to do it professionally.
I get along great with our tech writer, though, since I’m the only other person at the company who can hold a discussion about the Oxford comma.
Argentine tango. I like doing it with my partner, but I have zero desire to compete or travel to Argentina or even seek out the best teachers available. I can lead strangers and have enough variety in vocabulary that I don’t get bored. That’s enough.
I had been involved with the labour board over a wrongful termination dispute. I made complaints about about an abusive workplace and was shitcanned as a result.
During the final settlement where the lawyers were fighting over what my settlement payment would be, my lawyer and I had a bit of a discussion revolving around mental health.
She suggested I should consider a move into mental health services as I was essentially writing off continuing my trade apprenticeship by this point. She noted that I am a good listener and have a very clear understanding of mental health. She even offered to get me in contact with those in the mental health field.
It’s been heavily on my mind to go down that path but a part of me is intimidated. I’ve been able to help a few close friends who all experienced some heavy mental issues over the past couple years but these are people who I’ve become close to and am able to help them through a deep understanding of them.
I tend to get attached to people easily and I’m not sure how I’ll be able to separate work thoughts from my own thoughts meant for my own time. What heavy burdens will make it home with me?
Would I be good at working in such a field? According to my lawyer and those closest to me, I’d be great. But what am I going to do about my own mental health if I follow that path path? I can barely handle children and I’m the biggest kid in my own life. It’s already a monumental effort to keep myself fed and not spontaneously running into traffic.
Lot of social workers or mental health workers are using their own experiences to improve the support provided to their beneficiaries. Also, if you undergo training in the field, you will obtain tools that can help you better manage your own experiences. And finally, it’s important to know that you’re not “helping” anyone; they do it themselves. You only provide them with the tools or a perspective that might motivate them to take action.
It depends where you could get in. People with insurance seeking therapy out for themselves are awesome. That kind of job probably pays enough and respects their employees. Don’t get anywhere near anything to do with Medicaid if you value your salary, your self respect, and your mental well-being.
I don't mean I'm better at them than everyone else, it's just that two of them are things people do sometimes nag me to do professionally, as per OP's question.
I find saying "so what, I'm good at sex too, doesn't mean I have to be a sex worker" gets my point across and stops the nagging, because that's something many people only enjoy as a hobby.
I like to draw portraits. I’m decent. I draw what I want when I want. Some people have told me to sell some of my drawings or even ask me to draw them. I don’t want to do that cause: 1. I know I wouldn’t enjoy it, and 2. There are MANY, MANY more people better than me out there who DO this for money. Go ask them
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