On being a Goddamn Industry Professional, and how you can be one TOO!

[Suu]

I've put some thought into my Goddamn Industry Professional^TM status, and this is what I've come up with.

We all know how the story went. I was drunk off my ass, accidentally punched Roger in the groin and got a little loud and stupid on the way home from the bar while Richter tried to make sure I was walking in a quasi-straight line.

But what exactly IS an industry professional? What makes you a PROFESSIONAL in your goddamn industry? Well, I'm here to tell you.

I'm a goddamn industry professional bartender, maybe. I dunno, I don't tend anymore and I even though I'm good, it's not me. Maybe I'm a writer, a student, a historian of shiny fabrics. I'm an artist, I'm a whiny dramatic bitch. I'm an industry professional douchebag dater, and a hipster hater. I'm a little ball of everything and nothing at exactly the same time.

Can you be an industry professional bum? Why not? Payne was a freelance bum for years, but he's the Messiah, and therefore we must worship him.

Richter is an industry professional, well...Richter. I can't think of anyone else like him.

Luna is an industry professional awesome friend, even when my industry professional mouth says something stupid and overdramatic. She's also an industry professional payroll clerk, and I can't even imagine doing the workload she does. Mine is bad enough for a staff of 10.

Roger is an industry professional maintenance manager, but he's also a motherfucking Holy Man^TM and a fantastic mind. I never doubt a word he's said. I just wish I had the focus he does to just put my thoughts down.

Freeky is an industry professional mother, student, and really smart woman. She's been through shit, we've ALL been through shit, but she's still unstoppable.

Nigel? Shit, she IS the industrial professional West Coast Supermom and an amazing artist and woman who has had to deal with my PMs and industry professional douchebag dramallama.

EoC is a dispatcher between the two shittiest cities in Massachusetts, but he's also a damn good asshole. The BEST kind of asshole.

Same with ECH, a total industry professional asshole, and also a mighty fine chef.

Cramulus is another amazing thinker, and Industry Professional Discordian. Oh, and a Professor, who professes shit.

LMNO...yeah, he's stuck in finance, but he's an amazing musician and if you haven't listened to his stuff, well, you should, damnit. He's also a very sweet guy in person, but he'll never admit it.

Squid is one hell of a fucking cook and a brewer and an artist, who my mom thinks is adorable. She has a great kid, a brood of fuzzy cats and a fantastic husband. Fuck her job at the bank, that doesn't define what or who she is.

RWHN is an industry professional punster. Fuck his job, though it's very important.

Kai, well, he's gonna be Doctor Kai someday soon, that makes him an industry professional in bugology, who love bugs. And a writer! HE JUST HAD A DAMN ARTICLE PUBLISHED! He's also a great listener.

Even Dartmouth Fett, who stole my Industry Professional title, and PUT IT ON HIS BUSINESS CARD WITHOUT ASKING ME FIRST, is, still, an industry professional. An industry professional douchebag.

I suppose the point I am laboriously trying to get to here is that we're ALL industry professionals, and not just in our jobs. A job or career doesn't define a human being, or hell, it doesn't even make you human, it just means your programmed to do something. To be an industry professional means that you have a different sort of wiring that allows you to be something else that isn't everything else. You're your own industry professional, and it's time to start living up to the title.

[Pæs]

I like this. I was going to respond to it in a similar theme, but I got confused about it and didn't want to risk threadjack.

I think I got messed up about when the Industry Professional title applies. To things that you aren't letting define you or to the things that you're using to define yourself?

[Suu]

I like this. I was going to respond to it in a similar theme, but I got confused about it and didn't want to risk threadjack.

I think I got messed up about when the Industry Professional title applies. To things that you aren't letting define you or to the things that you're using to define yourself?

A little of column A and a little of column B.

Being an Industry Professional is essentially being yourself and however you wish to define yourself. Your job may or may not define you, but a particular skill does. How do you identify with yourself?

[Pæs]

Yeah, I think I was going to redefine it as similar to eating the HELL out of the hamburger.
I get where you're coming from now.

Most of my understanding of my own identity is wrapped up in Discordianism.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

This might actually be pretty good for a bit of self-analysis.

What the fuck am I good at that defines me? I'm going to chew on this one a bit.

[Suu]

Oh, and the biggest perk of this, by the way, is calling yourself an industry professional.

"DON'T WORRY MA'AM, I'M AN INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL!!!"

"In?"

"...SOMETHING!"

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Nice post... I want to reply cogently, but it's too early and my brainparts aren't lubed enough to get unstuck yet.

[East Coast Hustle]

Fuck yeah.



To me, it's a matter of being dedicated/focused enough at whatever you're an INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL of to keep your skills at a certain level of competence while not allowing the rest of your life and sense of identity to be swallowed by that focus. There are alot of people who are better chefs than I am but if that's ALL they are, then what's the point?

[Suu]

Fuck yeah.



To me, it's a matter of being dedicated/focused enough at whatever you're an INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL of to keep your skills at a certain level of competence while not allowing the rest of your life and sense of identity to be swallowed by that focus. There are alot of people who are better chefs than I am but if that's ALL they are, then what's the point?

My brother is a hell of a chef, but he hates it. He said it was ruining his love of cooking. I can't say that bartending ruined my love of drinking, but now that I'm NOT tending bar anymore, I don't drink nearly as much as I did.

It's not easy finding a career that is definably *you*. I wasn't a fan of graphic design once I got in the field, either. That's why I know I'm doing the right thing now by getting my obscure degree, no matter how long it takes, because then I know that it is something that does define me, and something that I love very much.

Don't just apply it to work, though. A job is a job, but a passion is an entirely different story.

ECH, you fucking ADORE fantasy football, you're kind of an industry professional fantasy coach. 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I love this thread.

I am an industry professional in two things. 

1.  Industrial Maintenance - Something that takes years of training, yet everyone else in the industry feels qualified to interfere with.

2.  Jackass - I don't think I need to expand on this much.  I am the Mayor of Dicksville.

[Kai]

Kai, well, he's gonna be Doctor Kai someday soon, that makes him an industry professional in bugology, who love bugs. And a writer! HE JUST HAD A DAMN ARTICLE PUBLISHED! He's also a great listener.

I'll have you know, I'm also an industry professional in janitorial maintenance. I just made a deep fryer and a grill look sparkling brand new after scraping and cleaning off 2 years worth of oil, grease and meat particles. I make Mike Rowe look like an amateur; you haven't lived until you're kneeling in an inch of old beef fat scraping sheets of crystallized oils off a wall.

[Suu]

Kai, well, he's gonna be Doctor Kai someday soon, that makes him an industry professional in bugology, who love bugs. And a writer! HE JUST HAD A DAMN ARTICLE PUBLISHED! He's also a great listener.

I'll have you know, I'm also an industry professional in janitorial maintenance. I just made a deep fryer and a grill look sparkling brand new after scraping and cleaning off 2 years worth of oil, grease and meat particles. I make Mike Rowe look like an amateur; you haven't lived until you're kneeling in an inch of old beef fat scraping sheets of crystallized oils off a wall.

That's hot.

[Kai]

Kai, well, he's gonna be Doctor Kai someday soon, that makes him an industry professional in bugology, who love bugs. And a writer! HE JUST HAD A DAMN ARTICLE PUBLISHED! He's also a great listener.

I'll have you know, I'm also an industry professional in janitorial maintenance. I just made a deep fryer and a grill look sparkling brand new after scraping and cleaning off 2 years worth of oil, grease and meat particles. I make Mike Rowe look like an amateur; you haven't lived until you're kneeling in an inch of old beef fat scraping sheets of crystallized oils off a wall.

That's hot.

Well, I was two feet from a hot oven with my face ten inches from a 300 degree sheet of metal.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Kai, well, he's gonna be Doctor Kai someday soon, that makes him an industry professional in bugology, who love bugs. And a writer! HE JUST HAD A DAMN ARTICLE PUBLISHED! He's also a great listener.

I'll have you know, I'm also an industry professional in janitorial maintenance. I just made a deep fryer and a grill look sparkling brand new after scraping and cleaning off 2 years worth of oil, grease and meat particles. I make Mike Rowe look like an amateur; you haven't lived until you're kneeling in an inch of old beef fat scraping sheets of crystallized oils off a wall.

That's hot.

Well, I was two feet from a hot oven with my face ten inches from a 300 degree sheet of metal.

Damn. You know those skills will come in handy later in life, in some completely unpredictable scenario.

[Kai]

Kai, well, he's gonna be Doctor Kai someday soon, that makes him an industry professional in bugology, who love bugs. And a writer! HE JUST HAD A DAMN ARTICLE PUBLISHED! He's also a great listener.

I'll have you know, I'm also an industry professional in janitorial maintenance. I just made a deep fryer and a grill look sparkling brand new after scraping and cleaning off 2 years worth of oil, grease and meat particles. I make Mike Rowe look like an amateur; you haven't lived until you're kneeling in an inch of old beef fat scraping sheets of crystallized oils off a wall.

That's hot.

Well, I was two feet from a hot oven with my face ten inches from a 300 degree sheet of metal.

Damn. You know those skills will come in handy later in life, in some completely unpredictable scenario.

Maybe. But they're allowing me to pay back loans right now, because I'm just so darn meticulous about cleaning. Just like my dad.