Lucky

In the movie American Splendor (which is one of my favorites), there's a scene where Paul-Giamatti-as-Harvey-Pekar wakes up in a cold sweat saying, "I got a job."

I sometimes feel that way. Particularly now, when everything feels a bit unsettled and uncertain, it's a good thing to think. They hired me. Yay! I get a paycheck. I have something to do during the week between the hours of 8 and 5, and sometimes beyond that.

Even better?

I really do love my job. I really do love my field.

I'm still not entirely sure how I managed to stumble my way through working in restaurants, retail, temping, front desk clerking, etc. to wind up in an area where I just fit. My interests, my hobbies, my geekish tendencies all coalesce into a great big ball of, "Right here, yup, this is where you belong." I can, will, have, and do talk about my job and my area for hours. Thankfully, it's an area that friends and family can talk about as well, and have opinions on, and display (at least for my benefit) interest in.

Which is ever-so nice for me.

I went to a lecture this afternoon on a topic in my area that I'm particularly interested in, as it combines sustainability, technology, and common sense. The crowd was good, the speaker excited and passionate, and the setting lovely. I sat, listening and taking notes, and thinking, "I'm such a geek! I want to be more of a geek! I want to learn more about this, and how it works, and how to make it work better, and how it relates to things that we're working on!." And then I went to the post-lecture reception and spoke with others in the field, and in related areas, and the conversations were great, and the people were interesting and funny and engaged and I thought, over and over:

"Lucky. I am so lucky."

And I am.