A Jack of All Trades
I wandered a lot when I was younger. I had a bunch of odd jobs. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in college. I am a Marine Veteran. I worked at Thom McAn, an old shoe store that I don’t know if still exists. I worked in retail at Kits Cameras. I was Head Maintenance at Camp Sacramento. I worked in mall security. I did voice-overs for radio commercials. I managed models. I was a club DJ. I am an editorial photographer. I’ve shot for the NYT, The Post, The SFO Chronicle, The WSJ, and Bloomberg Businessweek. I took flying lessons. I’m a musician. — and a baker.
I know you’re supposed to explore when you’re younger but I think I might’ve overdone it, so much so that my Dad referred to me as “a jack of all trades, master of none.” Did you know that the quote is “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” It quite literally flips the meaning. The full quote praises people who can adapt, connect different domains, and survive change.
Am I that kind of person, or was I just a very curious kid? Did I really not know what I wanted to do, or was I too interested in too many things? If you take all of the jobs I’ve ever had and break them down, maybe there was a method to the madness. I’m not defending what I did as being right or wrong; I don’t think there is a right or wrong here, just a thirst for knowledge. I still have that thirst, I still want to learn, I still want to do this and that, but not in the same way I did when I was younger. I have fine-tuned and honed what I want to add to my knowledge arsenal.
People and food, I think that’s where my interests, love, and desire for learning merge. Maybe the bakery we acquired in Daly City is the beginning of all those odd jobs I once held in my youth. Perhaps the culmination of that knowledge is where this is supposed to lead; I still don’t know where flying a plane relates to my life now, but it’s there, I think.
These days, I'm more intentional. My storytelling, my photography, my videography — they all have purpose now. I have end goals. I finally learned to set them after my parents spent 50+ years trying to teach me. Better late than never, right? But here's what I'm realizing: all those odd jobs, all that wandering — maybe that wasn't lost time. Maybe I was just gathering ingredients for whatever I'm making now.
