Wednesday, June 07, 2006

What do you do?

When you meet someone for the first time, they often ask: “What do you do?” Being well-trained capitalists, of course we all understand this question to really mean: “What job do you have?” or “How do you make a living?” or “Where do you rent yourself out for 8-10 hours a days in order to pay for all those consumer electronics?”

I was at a party recently where I met an experimental musician who asked me: “What sort of things do you do?” This refreshing variation led me to answer: “Well, one of the things I do is write.” From there, we talked about my books and his music with no mention if either of us has ever earned a penny from either.

The variation can also arrive in the answer. My wife Michele told me of an Australian woman she knew who encountered the “What do you do?” query. The woman replied: “I enjoy my life.” After that, Michele and I often repeated that phrase (in a thick Aussie accent, of course) when asked: “What do you do?”

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Watch the Marines win hearts and minds as they fight to protect our way of life.

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Test your Iran IQ.

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P.S. June is International Expendable Writing Month. How far have you gotten?

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Posted by Mickey Z on 06/07 at 04:11 AM
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