Getting out ... just to get out

Been out for a bit over a year. Left on my own, but under unpleasant circumstances.

Fell into a large sum of money unrelated to journalism, so finances are not an issue. But I feel somewhat bored and disconnected from the world. I watch plenty of sports on TV, but rarely have the itch to go buy a ticket and sit in the stands.

I've investigated several different potential careers, but get turned off by them pretty quickly. Sports and media, in various capacities, is really all I've done or had a desire to do. So I can't really see myself as a salesman or lawyer or teacher or whatever. Officially, I tell people that I'm retired, even in my mid 40s. But, we'll see.

My desire to get back into the media business runs hot and cold. It would definitely have to be the right opportunity, right location, etc. But I guess I haven't closed the door on it entirely and occasionally feel the need to scratch the itch. But, like others, there are plenty of aspects to the job that I didn't like, which make it harder to commit to anything less than ideal.

 

Very true.

I doubt most people get into it for the money to begin with. That would be dumb, because we all know there are plenty of things that pay more and demand less. I've seen plenty of people who weren't very passionate about it leave after 1-2 years.

The real satisfaction for me was being in the middle of the action, whether covering an event, writing a feature or even designing pages. That's probably the part I miss the most.

 

There are a lot of people who wuld rather part with their money than give you information which you may or may not fuck up in text. Sales and interviewing are both about gaining the trust of the source/customer.

 

Are you a big Billy Ocean fan, or is your avatar just strangely Billy Ocean like?

 

Have you ever seen Bob Newhart?

 

Dig up the "RIP Whitney Houston" thread from last year and it should become somewhat more clear, emphasis on the word "somewhat." You'll never see that many Phil Collins nut swingers in one place on the internet ever again.

 

Only in my dreams.

 

For those who disagree, I understand exactly where you're coming from, but is it possible that M_G meant to say "those who are sports journalist junkies"?

I got out voluntarily for reasons not related to the economy or the recession. Worked healthcare for three years, including the last half of that in a financial office. It was really worthwhile when educating someone who was clearly educated, but not so much about healthcare in particular and the financial risks one is taking having little or no coverage despite having the financial means or helping those who showed a trace of gratitude toward someone trying to help them make things as painless as possible while going though clinical and personal hell. Then there were all the people who felt entitled and thought they had perfected the art of gaming the system. Those factors didn't help, even in spite of almost normal work hours.

I worked for stellar people, had some of the best supervisors anywhere in any industry (who were also people worth knowing regardless of professional setting). But after a move to a place that had zero job prospects, I got the chance to scratch the journalistic itch in a market that fits quite well. Unbelievable luck.

 

It's more likely he meant to say, "those whose journalism careers included being columnists in major metro areas and writing biweekly columns about top-level pro teams and never dealing with much of the monotonous bullshit most of the journalists on this board have to deal with on a daily basis."

 

I just got a job delivering newspapers. I'm sure the task of carting around 200 papers will be as thrilling as typing high school track agate.

 

It's about the same. It's a cheap thrill.

 

That's entirely possible, too. In fact, that's a better guess than mine (not that this is at all difficult to do).