You're going to pay me to do *what*?

Well hello everybody! Happy Monday! Are you as stoked about it as I am? Are you all revved up? 

I'm telling you, when it's Monday, and it's grey and raining, and the roads are clogged with cars that have apparently lost all ability to drive about 20km/per hour due to a small amount of precipitation, I freakin' jump out of bed. I simply cannot wait to get on the bus and watch my fellow passengers eat their breakfast and paint their nails in public.

[An aside: Could someone please tell me, how long does it take to eat one slice of toast? Do you think, speaking theoretically of course, this act could be made to fill the comparative silence of a 45-minute bus ride? I mean, there's nothing quite like the slow rustling of foil and the soft crunch of clean teeth on buttered toast, eaten directly in your face, to really make you want to break into a dance of jubilation and shout, yes, YES, this is what I want. This is what I want every Monday morning for the rest of my non-arthritic life.]

Ahem. Pardon me.

Now that I've got that off my chest, here's what I'm sayin': You're going to pay me to do what this coming Wednesday?

Yes, I started teaching violin lessons - one of my goals for 2011, and so far I've had two sessions with my new student. Each time she hands me $20 for a half hour of help that I'd happy give anyone for free and I scratch my head and say, "Huh? What? Awesome!" This is the exact feeling I want to expand on, so that more of my working hours are like this. I realize not everyone has this luxury, and maybe I'd have to take a drastic pay cut to achieve it. Being paid to write creatively (my other favourite - though at times hair-pulling - pastime) would be equally as luxurious...

Are there people out there who get this feeling from their full-time job? How truly rare is it? Is it worth risking a certain kind of security for a certain kind of freedom?

Don't get me wrong, there are moments in my job when I do feel this way. Only I sense my role - and my industry - shifting. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling I'll be doing less and less of the things I love. It does makes me think...