All of this really is interesting to me, because I've long debated it myself, and it is good to hear Laura try to articulate her own doubts. I feel that even though I'm doing Engineering, and have had my ass handed to me on a silver platter by the mathematics, that there is still enough creativity in what I do that I can enjoy myself. The entire reason I don't have a job this summer is because I realised I was no longer going to "settle" for a job that didn't offer me creative outlets... if I can't find something even mildly creative (insofar as at least giving me design control, if not entirely a creative environment), then I'd rather not do anything. UPS about killed me. I felt oppressed and drowning in a sea of both futulity and mindless uncreativity. The environment there was almost completely "anti-creative"; creating new things and coming up with novel new idas was blasphemy. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and all that bullshit. The only reason I didn't go insane was that I wrote Meta-War, reread The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul, read the newspaper, and did the "Wonderword" and "Jumbles" in between those "fifteen minutes" of real work each day.
[14:21]<Laura> That's really sad, you know. (Sent AutoReply)
[14:21]<Laura>
And under the influence of alcohol myself, I have to say that it's
reasons like this that I wish you'd done something more artsy.
[14:21]<Laura>
I mean, it sounds horribly cliche, but I think you have the soul of an
artist. Or whatever you want to call it. You need passion as much as
any of us do; that's what sets us apart, after all.
[14:21]<Laura>
You're good at what you do, and I'm not saying that you should stop
doing it. It's just that... I don't know. I can't think of a way to say
it that doesn't sound horrible and cliche.
[14:21]<Laura> So I'll just stop sending you myriad messages.