Trends and Themes: or, Okay, I’ve identified it, so what can I do with it now?

Okay, so I’ve detected an underlying theme in the things that I derive the most enjoyment from.

I LOVE taking things apart and seeing how they work.  Love it.  And not just physical things, although I can give you a list as long as my arm of things I’ve disassembled just for this purpose.  I also like this in a mental sense, but it’s easier to describe this in a metaphorical sense, in that it’s not unlike peeling away the layers of an onion and finding out what’s underneath, until you get down to the prime beginning that is no longer divisible.  Down to the atom particles (which, as we know, the atom is not the end all anymore, because it can be further broken down,) so to speak. The only thing is, I’m never satisfied until I get down to the bedrock (to mix metaphors), and then even analyze the components of that.  To find links and relationships that are not visible to the untrained eye.  From analyzing the government’s structures and what makes it go, to taking apart my dishwasher to see if I can make it work better, I LOVE taking stuff apart, and I ALWAYS derive something from it, even if I don’t realize it at the time.  I took apart my stove to clean out underneath it, and learned that there is no ‘trap’ between the drawer under the oven and the bottom of the oven, meaning that crumbs that fall off of my Totino’s Pizzas collect in that drawer (and in all of my cookie sheets, muffin pans and other metal cookware that’s stored down there), which makes me have to wash them before use.  Blah, yes, but necessary.

For further example:

One of the reasons I took up knitting is because I like to deconstruct fashion, and learn how fabric shaping affects fit on various different body types.  Which later made me curious about yarn construction, and how it can affect fabric shaping (see: bias), which made me take up spinning (making yarn), and learning about the different ways yarn can be constructed and the outcomes of each method (granted, these are ongoing projects, but they still marinate in my mind), which made me wonder about how different fibers respond to spinning and how spinning different fibers in several different ways and finding out how the different methods (in different fibers), respond to being knit, crocheted, woven, sewn, felted, etc. up and how that might be applied to making garments.   I’d like to learn to weave, to see how handspun yarns and millspun yarns perform differently in weaving than in knitting or crochet.  I’m currently infatuated with toy construction in crochet, amigurumi (ding!) in particular, and how it differs from knitted and/or felted toys. 

On a totally different note,

I love to look at company structures and see how some corporate dynamics affect different people types, and what kind of company structure is the best fit for a person, based on personality or job  responsibilities. Which also opens the door to learning about what kind of personality feeds into one or another job specialty, or if there is a trend in personality types toward one profession or another.  In an armchair analysis way, I can tell you (and you can probably tell me) stories that relate to this, and can give me concrete examples of specific personality traits that are suited to jobs.  Along with that, they couldn’t create personality/occupational/educational tests if these traits didn’t exist in some fashion.

Yet another example:

I like to watch the Weather Channel and analyze how climate changes affect farming outcomes, and, further, how that affects the economy, both on a micro and macro scale. I like to look at the patterns, and I ‘armchair’ speculate about what might happen in the future, but I would never ever presume to speculate and have someone rely on those conclusions.

The thing that kind of gets to me about all this, is that I don’t know how to turn it to a profession, or what kind of post-graduate studies I could apply this to that would turn into a career that I would like to work in for a lifetime.   I know that right now, I live to work, because I have bills to pay and I’m not ‘comfortable’ (as that word is applied in a personal finance sense) , but I don’t LOVE my work, and I’d really, really like to be able to claim that for myself.  

So… I’ve taken a step.  I sent an e-mail to the undergraduate advisor for my degree type at UT-Dallas and asked for advice about what I should do next.  Grad school?  Go back and get another Bachelor’s?  Give up and keep steaming along?

I haven’t gotten a reply yet, but I’ve been stewing about all this.  I don’t really know where to go at this point, or what would be the best choice for me in the future.  But I’m stewing.  I’ve been talking with a lot of people via e-mail threads and at work too about this, but I haven’t come to any conclusions yet.  More details later.