Two Cents and a Thousand Words Maine, photography, technology, politics, and other selected ramblings

Life changes and where to go

I’ve been reconsidering a lot of things about myself lately. Probably at or near the top of the list is what I want to do in life; maybe web development isn’t the way I want to go. Work has been making me irritable lately and bringing out some of the personality traits I have that I don’t really love, and I’m not completely sure why. My best guess is that I seem to be doing a lot of the same things over and over, and it seems like I’ve had my time just working on the computer all day.

I’ve always wanted to make a difference. That’s probably the most important factor of whatever I do; the Web provides a great opportunity to provide information and change fundamental aspects of how people receive information. I have a couple of sites I want to build that I think could revolutionize some key parts of life, but I’ve been working so much on code that I’m basically sick of doing it.

That’s another thing. I left computer science because I ended up staring at code too much. Unfortunately, I’ve been staring at code a lot at work. It’s code I like better, yes, but it’s still code. I don’t want to be in front of a computer for my whole life.

That brings up yet another point – I want to be with people. Over the last few months I’ve become increasingly social; for the first time in my life I feel better when I’m doing things with others than when I’m working on the computer. I’ve been trying to make an effort this summer to get in touch with people I know, and I’ve been trying to schedule some time with everyone to meet up and catch up about what’s been going on. I’ve always really valued my close friends, and I think this summer that’s true more than ever.

What’s this all mean, then? Well, I’ve been considering some sort of public service role. I’m not sure exactly what I’d do, but it’s definitely an option. I’ve also thought about doing photography in some part of my life; I haven’t been doing much of it at all over the last couple months, and I really, really miss going out and doing it. A slight change, though: I now like photos of people better than landscapes. Score another one for socializing.