Instead of having a full- and part-time job, now I’m down to just one gig for the next eleven days. I do have scripts to revise and lectures to prep, but basically, this is a vacation.

I’m not a gratitude freak, but I try not to grouse about being a copywriter or a teacher. There is stress. Deadlines. All that human interaction. But ad work is interesting, as is writing almost anything, and class time can be as lively as the effort I put into it.

Growing up, I thought I would be a truck driver like my father. My brother, also a truck driver, once asked me what time I woke up in the morning for my agency job. “Seven-thirty? The sweat is already running down the crack of my ass at 7:30!”

I still turned out like my father, however. Appreciative.