why carve?

[Norman Watts <Norman_Watts@zzzzzzz>]

I'd like to ask a question about why you all do what you do. What I
mean is, for those of you who are professional workers in stone, what
do you really like about what you do. In this case I don't mean going
to work everyday, but on those days when you either really want to go,
or, you don't want to but really have to.

To illustrate, in my case there are days when I can't wait to do a
certain experiment and I've gotten up at 3:00 in the morning and gone
to work because I wanted to know the answer then and there. But more
importantly, there are days when I am totally uninspired and at times
like that I sometimes put some viruses in the electron microscope and I
just pan along looking at them. This almost never fails to inspire me.
There! before my very eyes are these amazing things. Tiny beyond
comprehension yet intricate and exquisitely designed machines (by God
or chance I don't know). Sitting in that dark room, looking at the
green glowing screen makes me want to figure out how they work. Nature
has had a couple of billion years to come up with the living world and
these things are ancient. And they exist right on the edge, half alive
have non-alive. They are so small they that the next step down is the
vacuum of space. I've been working on these things for 20 years and
they can still boggle my mind. So for me its about figuring out this
amazingly tiny, complicated and perfected mechanical instrument that
gets me going. That and sometimes the possibility of writing up a
paper, but that is a far second to the main motivation.

I carve as a hobby and I'm not sure yet why. But for those of you who
do it day in day out, and who aren't tired of it yet, what drives you?
cr mentioned recognition. Personally, I can't relate to that. Even my
publications are not about the recognition but about putting the whole
story together. Except for the fact that my bread and butter depends on
it, I couldn't care less about publishing. I could write up the
manuscript and just give it to some friends who might want to read it.
I have no interest in seeing my publications in print. Does this happen
in your work?

n

Norman Watts, Ph. D.
National Institutes of Health
50 South Drive, Rm. 1509
Bethesda, MD 20892-8025
Phone: (301) 402-3418
Fax: (301) 480-7629