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It was pretty incredible, and so were the lines.

There was one to line up just to get a ticket, and another to get into the palace with your darn ticket.

Awful.

The palace was pretty incredible however. From what we could see of it.

This was off the beaten path.

Just down the street was this gorgeous building.

I think it’s the City Hall for that district?

I thought it was beautiful.

This is not near the Palace at all, but it’s one of those random photos I wasn’t sure where else to put.

So here’s the Moulin Rouge from the outside, in the “sex area”… which wasn’t that shocking in my opinion, being used to Toronto & Montreal.

Jeff from Bluenoser’s Soap Box said:

Money money money, I know so many people who are pissed all the time but say that they couldn’t change because the money is so good. When I have moved in the past, the money was one of the lower factors, however I didn’t move up in pay scale each time.

If you are going to hate the job, people or place, no amount of money is going to make that better in your everyday life.

My response:

Then I’d challenge them to cut back on expenses.

If money is such a big deal, then perhaps you’re spending too much and you’d be much happier with that $5000 pay cut, doing something you love.

Of course, there are limits to what I am proposing, but life is really too short to be stuck doing what you hate.

Mia said:

1. Be realistic about the “grunt” work you’ll have to do to *get* to your dream position. You’re going to have to put in your time as an Editorial Assistant and do a lot of fact-checking, running errands, etc. before becoming an Editor, and you’re going to have to be willing to do these seemingly mundane, tedious tasks with a good attitude if you want to get to an Editor position.

2. Though every industry has its good and bad companies, certain industries are going to lead to certain corporate cultures. Hate being around Alpha Males? Sure, there are exceptions, but in general, even if you like the actual work, you’re going to have a hard time finding a corporate culture that makes you happy in investment banking.

3. I hate to be a downer, and this seems against the whole idea of chasing your dream, but…Be *Somewhat* Realistic. Take risks and chase dreams, but don’t be shocked if you just can’t be a professional basketball player.

I’d like to also add:

Be Flexible.

If you are set on being a movie producer but just can’t make it, maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Just saying that you should know when to swallow your pride, give up your dream and take a job that will pay the bills and make you an independent adult.

You can always try for something else, another dream.

If you want to read the rest of these comments, please go back to yesterday’s post, located here.: “Finding the job that you love“.

Whenever I talk to my mom about my job (in the simplest terms possible), she inevitably sighs and says: I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m glad you’re happy. I could never do and understand what you do on a daily basis.

It made me realize that I really do love my job.

Sometimes the work is frustrating, the clients are difficult or the pressure is heavy at certain points… but the only stress I’ve ever really experienced on the job, was when I worked for someone else.

Working for myself really opened up a world of possibilities. I now don’t have to answer to a stressed out manager who is under pressure from his boss, and even though I have to learn all the functions and roles that go into running a business (such as taxes), I couldn’t be happier.

However, I realize that my job description as well as the fact that I am a freelancer, is not everyone’s cup of tea.

So how do you figure out what you want to do?

I (luckily), fell into it by chance, but I did spend a good part of my formative years starting in high school, trying to figure out what I wanted to do as a career.

Top 5 Ways To Finding your Dream Job

1. Find out all the BAD things about the job

You already know the good — you’ve seen the rosy descriptions!

But are there long hours? What is the work like? What are the lowest points of the job? Is it risky or dangerous?

If you think you can stomach & deal with all the downsides to the job, then you are mentally prepped for what is about to come your way.

I have a doctor friend who was mentally prepared for the long, strange shift hours of working at a hospital ever since he decided he wanted to become a doctor in high school. He was told about the super long hours, the change from night shifts to day with a blink of an eye, and watched a bit of Grey’s Anatomy to get a feel for the hours he’d be putting in.

As a result, he pre-adjusted his thinking to accept these kinds of “down” moments on the job, and felt like the good parts outweighed the bad.

I have another doctor friend who didn’t mentally prepare herself, and after getting the degree and going into her internship, she calls me on occasion to vent her frustration, and constantly repeat her love for wanting to travel the world instead, and just be anywhere but at her job.

The best way to figure out the bad points are to ask someone who is already in the profession over a cup of coffee and/or ask to shadow them.

Keep in mind that they may love their jobs, and over coffee, may gloss over the bad parts because they can handle it — you, however, may not feel the same way, so I highly recommend shadowing them.

2. Don’t do it for the money

People get lured into jobs (such as law or medicine) because of the high salaries and possible early retirement.

What they fail to discover until it’s too late, is that money really isn’t everything.

I’ve heard from friends that law is pretty boring, nothing at all like Law & Order or Damages, as seen on TV.

It’s a lot of paperwork, it’s analytical, long hours and not what people expected it to be.

You may just end up getting mad at everything and hanging it all up to be a mentally-balanced, fulfilled barista at Starbucks.

3. Don’t be afraid to change

Even if you’ve already committed and you are 5 years into your career: don’t be afraid of changing or exploring other careers mid-career.

You do NOT want to be entering your golden years of retirement, only to say: I feel like I’ve wasted my life and my career, I should have gone into _____________ instead.

It is never too late. My mom is the best example of this, being a career changer when she was in her 40s. She went back to school, got her honours degree and is now doing what she loves.

40 years (50 weeks in a year) x 40 hours a week = 80,000 hours

Do you really want to spend 80,000 hours doing something you hate?

To put it into another perspective, if you assume 16 waking hours in a day, and you work for 8 of them, do you really want to spend

16 waking hours x 7 days = 112 hours in a week
8 working hours x 5 days = 40 hours in a week
40 working hours / 112 available hours = 36% of your week

Do you want to spend a third of your week in a job that makes you unhappy?

That’s not even including overtime.

4. Check out Best & Worst Job Lists

If you are stuck as to where to begin, get a clue.

Just to get an idea of what jobs are available, look at what people consider to be bad and good jobs.

Jobs Rated 2010: A ranking of 200 jobs from Best to Worst, and their list of 10 best jobs of 2010.

Maybe reading a job description will hit your brain like a thunderbolt and make you think: That’s what I want to do!

Knowing what you don’t want, is half the battle.

5. Don’t rule out “blue collar” jobs

Jobs that deal with very mundane things like plumbing, selling car parts, or anything that isn’t sitting in a cubicle pushing keys, can be goldmines.

If you love working with cars as a hobby, consider building on that. Keep your eyes open and see where you could make money or profit off it.

It may not be sexy, but it could make you happy and earn you a good bit of money to boot.

BF knew a guy who was supposedly mentally retarded. The guy loved to work with cars, and ended up opening his own mechanic shop after he saved his cash from being a mechanic for a while.

Years later when they met up, the guy nonchalantly said he was doing okay, and owned a couple of garages now.

At the age of 35, he “retired”, and hired mechanics to work in his shops for him, and working on occasion. He now does whatever he wants.

So if you want to work outdoors, look at being a lumberjack, ranger… whatever floats your boat!

Any other tips from readers who love their jobs? I’d love to hear them!

This is one of our classic Me & BF moments that always makes me laugh when I  look at a cake:

BF: I’m going to go cake now.

Me: You can’t use “cake” as a verb.

BF: Why not?

Me: Because you BAKE a cake. To bake is the verb.

BF: But my English books say that “to cake on” is also a verb of sorts.

Me: Yeah, well you can cake on the icing if you are baking a cake.

BF: Then I’m getting my cake on. Your language is so confusing.

Okay I have another one on my list.

How about “to tract”? Do you have that? It means to drive a tractor, like “I’m tracting”.

Me: WTF? No! Go get your cake on, I’ll talk to you later.

BF: Okay. Bye.

Never fails to make me laugh.

To be fair, I also don’t understand why when we say “I miss you” in French, it’s really “You will miss me” (Tu va me manque).

I heard that in Coco before Chanel and demanded BF explain to me that twisted logic.

I still don’t get it, but I’ve memorized it.

This is a separate area from Paris itself. This is where all the skyscrapers are allowed.

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I found it peaceful and relaxing… seeing as it was on a Saturday that we had visited