I don't want to romanticize physical and/or repetitive labor, but in some ways that's the perfect kind of job for a writer/composer/artist. I worked a number o

I don't want to romanticize physical and/or repetitive labor, but in some ways that's the perfect kind of job for a writer/composer/artist. I worked a number of different jobs during college: farm laborer, busboy, janitor. The thing all these jobs had in common was that once I learned the ropes I was bored and my mind roamed far and wide. I always carried a notebook with me, and I would work extra hard (physically) make time for writing down the crazy literary and musical ideas that popped into my head. I had time to mentally explore and develop ideas. If I wasn't going to school I would have gone home and worked on those ideas. Nowadays I write software during the day and my mind often feels drained at the end of the day and I have to be their for my family. I find myself looking back on those earlier jobs with a bit of wistfulness, but I could never afford to live on the pay they offer.