Occupation Ideas subforum - any takers?

I retired from teaching about a year ago, and haven't really done very much since. Just coped with getting an assessment for the thing that I'd already self-identified, and then looked for ways to get over the chronic anxiety and depression. What used to be anxiety about work has now morphed into anxiety about trying to exist in this distant and somewhat alien land until my UK pension kicks in. There is no doubt about it that I want to work again, and likely until I eventually drop. Sure I could bite the bullet and go back to teaching, but I think that would probably lead to premature death, through boredom and loneliness. It just does not appeal. Now I seem to be on the point of picking up some work on academic materials that I can do at home, but I also rather like the idea of returning to some of the practical skills I once earned a living by. I'm a bit of an experimenter really. Although I have no claim to inventive genius, and my scientific knowledge is a bit patchy.

Today, I started thinking again about an idea I have had several times over the last few years. The idea is to again pursue my experimental and DIY side, as a means to be doing things that make me happy. (I've always tried to fix things up, or even make my own stuff, even though you might have described me as a rather dyspraxic tradesman in the past.) Now, I'm not expecting to make much money out of that, but it occurs to me that it eventually lead me along some new paths that could even provide a little pocket money. In effect, I think you might say that I would be operating a sort of idea lab, although that is perhaps a rather pretentious way of looking at it given my clumsiness and patchy education.

It occurs to me that it would be good to have a section in this forum where people can inspire and motivate each other with their occupational ideas and actions. I'm most certainly not asking people to give away the secrets of their greatest occupational advantages, but just saying that if you were to describe some of the things that have worked for you, there might well be considerable space for cooperation. And even those things that didn't quite work out, because some others of us might just figure that there are ways to make these things work. And of course, we could also draw on our careers, hobbies and pastimes to help each other out. I have the Sibermanian notion that we might well be better off figuring out our own lives and occupations. and having read quite a lot here, it seems to me that there are loads of interesting ideas knocking around.

My big problem is I've done too many different jobs, and have never really been particularly outstanding at any of them, but I do rather like the idea of trying to pursue new skills - especially if I'm allowed to learn by making mistakes in my inimitable fashion.

So just to sort of state the real point of this new post, perhaps NAS might consider dedicating a special section of this forum to discussion of occupational ideas, opportunities and cooperative fixes etc. etc. I suppose if we were to get quite a discussion going here, the mods might figure it is an idea worth pursuing. And to be honest, I rather like the idea of moderating such a section of a forum myself. Forum moderation/operation is something I have done in the past.

And if it leads to more acquaintances and friends, it won't be entirely in vain. I also believe that this might be better than any therapy for anxiety - and I say that because I reckon I can't afford the attentions of a psychotherapist (life has not been too lucrative), and no one is available to do that sort of work hereabouts anyway.

  • I second the idea of a Jobs and Employment Forum.  Maybe also to include volunteering, as that can sometimes lead to work.

  • I imagine the first thing to ask is if it is possible to devote a new section of the forum to work and occupation issues, as that would have to be partially coordinated with the AT WORK section on the main site. But my idea would be to look at a broader range of issues about 'work' and pastimes. Better to suggest a new section first, just in case I don't quite measure up to the task, as someone else might be better suited. Although I'm not without experience in moderating, using online educational systems, and a qualification in the actual subject of open and distance education.

  • Thanks Nellie,

    I'll check to see if it is acceptable to be a UK citizen who has lived for decades abroad

  • Hi ,

    It's great to hear that you'd consider moderating on this forum in a voluntary capacity. Please find below a link to our page all about how you can volunteer with the NAS. If you have any questions about this then please don't hesitate to post them on here so that they are seen by a moderator, or alternatively you can email communitymanager@nas.org.uk to speak to the community manager directly.

    http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer.aspx

    Best wishes,

    Nellie-Mod

  • From H.G. Wells, you know 'the country of the blinds?'

    I have a fascination for expressions, for they show the feebleness of NT-logic...

    In the land of the blind, one-eye king? I don't think so... I think they will get very annoyed with all his fabrications about colors, shapes, day/night, I think H.G. Wells threw a bone to the NT-publishers of his work I think H.G. Wells wanted to put on the last page: 'and so they took Nunez's eyes out, and he lived happy ever after', and why not, he had Medina-Saroté to love and cherish for the rest of his days. I would have given up my eyesight, and you know why? Because I would have seen Medina-Saroté with my own eyes, and that would have been enough to last me a blind existence afterwards... and if I would have been in H.G. Wells's universe, I would have loved Medina-Saroté, and that's a force of nature and nurture you all better reckon with... If I would have decided Medina-Saroté should be loved and cherished by me, and she would be ok with that, being able to tell day from night would be really not all that important.

  • I didn't know about that movie. Predicting the importance of air superiority in future warfare.

    On older movies, I saw 'citizen kane' not so long ago. and was impressed by how well it had aged... 

    I adored the new series 'black mirror'. 

    On H.G. Wells and his time machine... an entertaining use of time machines would be to bring people from the dark ages over here and show them some trivial consumer electronics like a microwave, a laptop, a smartphone, show them 'Game of Thrones on an IMAX screen'...  take them on a plane, ...

  • Moloch and Skynet (Terminator) were just brothers of another mother...

  • Did you see the movie 'The Black Hole'? 

    Of course. When I was a child. 

    How about H. G. Wells' "Things to Come" (1936)?

  • I looked up the plot. I'll surely see the movie! thanks for the tip. 

    When you do eventually see it, remember that they accomplished that feat with the technology available in the 1920s. Almost one hundred years ago... that just amazes me, every time...

  • *cough*

    oh, you hit a nerve with that one...(!)

  • Some iconic machines still give me a fuzzy feeling when I'm up close to them. Steamtrains, airplanes, the ICE train, the Thallys/TGV,   

  • And animal farm. Try not to be like Boxer the horse.

  • Sorry, of course the robot-lady and the futuristic settings I've seen before... as a background to Kraftwerk. (This song will automatically shut down the system after playing...)

    I looked up the plot. I'll surely see the movie! thanks for the tip. 

    Did you see the movie 'The Black Hole'? 

    Somehow I'm an optimist when it comes to robots. I like the Bladerunner-mysticism, where the android shows 'more human than human' behavior... I love Harrison Ford for his professionalism in upholding the conviction that the bladerunner must be human - he contradicted Ridley Scott, and has no reason to believe why he himself would be an android too... 

    There's this idea about android-armies... America builds one, Russia builds one. They meet in Europe, and after the first devastating battles, all goes silent on the battlefield... The robots made peace. 

  • They were from the planet Vogon. To them it was poetry in motion.

  • Designers! the scourge of engineering!  Form before function!

    The bean counters wanting it to be done cheaper. 

    Marketing giving their perceived customer needs.

    Then some bright spark who thinks it should have a breakable piece so it has an expiry and then user has to buy another one - but that can backfire because the customer will buy from another more dependable manufacturer....

    Manufacturing having to redesign it so that it can be made with the machines and tools they have. 

    When doing my engineering degree they told us that very few of us would be engineers after 5 years because of the above.  They were right.  I was in and out of engineering and management roles. Left it all behind now. 

  • Glad to be of service, . Hope you have a good day.

  • Your joint recall of Douglas has lightened my Boxing Day mood immensely. 

  • Have you ever seen Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"?

  • Maybe their finance folk went to the same schools as Enron's?

  • If you look them up on google, you find a disease of the collagen...

    And on wikipedia on their full name you find '*** WAS an American multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Plano, Texas' on wikipedia...

    WAS is an important word in this description... They were taken over, restructed and shrunk at a rate of about 7% per year. They only had the direction of the growth wrong.