Worked into a corner?

On one of my free days this weekend, walking around the neighborhood, I began thinking about the job, and what pros and cons it offers me, and how will it affect my future path. I think all of us in the industry feel constricted at times, both with the quality (or lack there of) of the work, and the time we spend doing it. Ultimately it's a job, and many of us in this job enjoy the work. As we get older we realize that time is finite, and that working insanely long hours isn't for us. Wives and husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends, sons and daughters all grow up and have to deal with the spousal unit or mother and father away at work for 10-11 hours a day. This only gets worse as one rises up into the ranks of being a vfx lead and vfx supervisor. So, exactly, what to we have to gain from working like this?

Most of the artists in the field are content with where they are, be it a comper, a lighter, or just another cog in the machine. They're having fun, working an appropriate number of hours, but ultimately, they don't want to do anything else, both in the industry or elsewhere. Some people have the affinity to want to go further. With going further comes less time for other things, which includes a social life at times. It's a balancing act between all aspects of life and we have less time as we get older. I still wonder where I want to go, and what I want to be when I grow up. Life is content at the moment, being a compositor at Digital Domain, working on some extremely cool work. But what do I really want to do? Do I want to appease my affinity for going further, and head into compositing lead again? Or how about going further than that? VFX supervisor, here I come! Or do I want to be content with being a comper, and work the regular (semi-regular) hours, with meaningful relationships. Do I have the capacity for supervision? Do I have the eye for that? There are some talented supervisors out there who are definitely at the top of their game. It's a balance of politics, creativity, technicality, and personality. How do I break into something like that, and how do they manage to balance their life? Is it a matter of getting paid extremely well during the show, and then taking several months off to relax and have a life?

It seems that I've taken a lot on my plate. I have. I've also tried to fit even more onto it, but there just isn't enough time in the day to accomplish what I want to do. Apart from a full time job here at DD, I'm pursuing manufacturing and marketing for an unrelated to vfx product, contributing to VFXTalk, writing a book, reading several, helping several websites get off the ground, improving this one, riding the motorcycle, working out at the gym, working out my mind, and enjoying the wife. Why is life so complicated, or why do I make it so complicated? I could be content doing what I'm doing with no other additions, but somehow, I've decided to pursue my propensity for growth. It's what life is all about.

After all this, I've added some more details into my Biography and Filmography, be sure to check it out by clicking the link in the top bar.