Good morning, fellow Steemians. I've been away for a long time working hard and reflecting on my life and what the hell I'm doing on this planet Earth. Some of you might remember that I work in Las Vegas as a butler for some of the city's most important high-rollers. Its hard to describe the job duties of a Las Vegas butler. The position includes many of the responsibilities of a traditional butler or house manager, as well as a bartender, casino host, server, front-desk agent, concierge, escort and even security. In short, my job is to make sure my guests want for nothing.
I've done the job for many years. Its an enjoyable job, albeit stressful at times. The physical demands are mild, but the mental stresses can be quite high. Especially since guests can be unpredictable in some ways and the job can go from leisurely to frantically busy at the drop of a hat. So one spends an entire 8-hour shift either being busy or being bored senseless.
But I've come to realize that this job is not for me anymore. For a number of reasons, the main one being that the job isn't very flexible. A butler must sacrifice some freedom to do the job, whether that means being forced to work in areas where the butler job even exists (not every place in the world needs a butler) or being at the beck and call of your employer 24/7. I'm getting older and I want to live my life for me. Of course I want to help others and live altruistically. But to use the airplane safety metaphor, I have to put on and secure my oxygen mask first before I can help others.
So I quit my job. To follow my passion.
Well, not exactly my "passion". I never grew up wanting to be a programmer. My entire childhood was spent around computers and game systems, but I never really had an interest in what happened behind the scenes at the processing level. I just wanted to be able to queue up a game or some software I needed for a project without giving much thought to how those lines of code allowed me to solve problems in the real world.
But my real passion is to always find ways to be better and learn more. Getting too comfortable is the death of the human spirit and so many people live out their years in this state, never knowing their true potential. The universe is built on the spirits of those who try things. The human animal has a deep need to seek out stimulating experiences and interact with others.
So why programming?
I'll tackle that topic and others as this blog develops. My programming bootcamp has its orientation tomorrow and officially starts on Monday. So for 12 weeks, 5 days a week I will be learning entirely new things and rewiring my brain in completely new patterns. It is the ultimate experiment!
Oh yeah, I'll be learning how to write a decent blog too!
I'm excited to share the experience with you all.
