Congrats on connecting with your piano teacher's ex-wife! Lunch dates are fun-- and if you are out of the house, you are sure to be inundated with work, right?!

Re: jobs and bliss. I agree that most jobs are going to have fun and less fun elements... but for me, the less fun elements sort of ruin the fun. Hiking in the woods for pleasure is fun... but jobs where you get paid to hike are maybe not so much fun.

-You can act as a paid guide and take other people with you. Downside to that is acquiring customers will take at least as much time as actually guiding any of them - and they can be really, really awful. I hang out with a lot of guides and have heard some amazing stories
-You can write about it, but you have to be okay being poor (unless you are really good at networking) -- and diligent about finding people to pay you (and then follow up that they pay you).
-You can get someone to pay you for surveying or something, but that means you aren't choosing where you hike. You could be going through a housing development for 60% of the job.
-You could be a park ranger - but, again, you are dealing with people, have crappy pay, and don't really pick out where you go or what you do.

For me, hiking in the woods *alone* turns out to be a pretty big part of what I like about hiking... so it makes more sense (for me at this moment) to work doing something that pays better than any of those other things so I can take more time off to engage in that activity.

That having been said, one of the things I've been considering is an Americorps type program in our park system... but it pays less than minimum wage. If this job I am in now falls through, that might be the next option I go for So much for rational choices!

With not finishing up projects - I'm starting to see a pattern where I go for the easy tactical vs. the big project. I am going to try breaking up one of the projects into manageable chunks, stuff I can sit down for 30 minutes and do, and see if that helps.

I've had a tendency in the past to overplan projects, though, so... it's just frustrating. I know that the majority of people self sabotage in this way, but I hate doing it! I want to be different!

I also have this overwhelming sense that I used to be different - but was I? Maybe I am nostalgic for something that never was?

And it's 8:00 and I already want to go to bed! I don't want to do project planning. I want to fool around online. I actually need to finish a clay project I started yesterday, before it dries out...

I know what you mean about not getting excited about doing a volunteer work project because you don't want to be doing that kind of work... so maybe this is a cubicle vacation, a time to get paid to learn about the things that do interest you?

When you catch yourself feeling bad about the lack of work, can you tell yourself to stop? I am trying to do this when I get paranoid thoughts about my situation. I'm not good at it yet, but it does seem to take occasionally, lol.