Re: [Harp-L] Get a career!

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I can't tell you how often someone will ask me what I do and then say, 
> "but what do you do for a LIVING?"  So Blah.
>
>   Any thoughts?

My personal solution: Never, ever give the slightest thought to what other 
people think unless they have a paying job for you.

If this sounds glib, trust me, it is the only way I have made it through.

Most everyone I have ever encountered has a survival system that includes 
ways in which they can find a way to feel superior to you.  That is the 
real subtext of 'But what do you do for a living?'

I've never met anybody who doesn't feel superior to a diatonic harmonica 
player.  It's not a good business to be in if you that kind of stuff to heart.

If you must answer that stupid question, tell people you get paid to make 
life worth living for other people, because that is what you do.

That imbecilic young woman who insulted you outside of Antone's --- most 
nights I would have turned and walked away, as you probably did.  On a bad 
night I would have told her that as she grew older she was going to turn 
into her mother, no matter how much she fought against it.

That is the most devastating thing you can say to a mean young woman.