Tony,

I can't tell you how happy that makes me that I was able to offer a bit of help in you finding a job you love!

I'm struggling now in that area. I'm a mechanical engineer by training, who moved to the software industry as a technical expert (finite element analysis software for engineers), then moved into the sales side of business and ERP software. After doing that for a while, I did some stright-up business consulting. I love the problem solving aspects of these jobs, but more than anything I enjoyed learning the skills for the new jobs. After 12-18 months or so, they became repetitive and boring. I'm not very good at doing work that bores me. This is a major struggle for me in my life. I think I would find *any* job enjoyable at first. When I was in high school I ran printing machinery and loved it -- as long as I was learning and trying to do it faster and better. Then, well, you know...

I've supported myself with blackjack for the last 9 months or so (yes, you can make good money at it), but the career lifetime of that is short because you'll eventually get "barred" everywhere. Poker is much more fun, much more difficult, and an expert has a much greater advantage with a much smaller statistical variance (smaller standard deviation vs. expectation). Casinos don't care if you have a mathematical edge in poker, but they *definitely* care if you are playing against *them*, like you are with blackjack.

For now, poker is a fun and profitable diversion. I'm still playing small limits, but it appears that I can make $200-300 a day without killing myself. I have read that poker is considered by many to be the most complex card game, even more so than bridge. I don't know anything about bridge, but I can see that poker is a truely fascinating, complex and challenging game to master. I've studied it very intensely for about 4 or 5 months and I have barely scratched the surface of a single variant. I'm hoping that I can keep interested and learning at it for quite a while. There are two things I like about it: 1. you are paid based upon your abilities. 2., there is almost no limit to what you can achieve. Bellagio "spreads" limit games of $3000-$6000, and there are some ridiculous no-limit games. For now, I'm playing strictly small-stakes internet poker, but the game potentially offers a lifetime of challenge.

I still want to find my "life's work", and I'm afraid and depressed over the idea that I never will. I have a few ideas about what that may be, but I feel that I've either missed my opportunity in those areas, or that I just can't get there from here. Its a very stuck feeling.

That might be way too much information. Anyhow, I'm delighted that you are in a job you love. I think this is one of the most important things a person can do for themselves.

Jim