Dude Yo-Yos for a Living
Meet Ooch (a.k.a. Brett Outchcunis), a professional yo-yoer (sp?). He does the most amazing tricks with a yo-yo, AND he gets paid by Yomega to promote their products and teach people how to yo-yo. He’s especially good with a crowd of kids, which we learned this past Saturday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Family Day in Boston.
How’s “professional yo-yo guy” for an unconventional job? Can’t you just hear the adults (but probably not his parents) in Ooch’s youth needling him with comments like, “Those yo-yo tricks are great, but you can’t get a job as a yo-yoer. Why don’t you apply yourself to school/work/something-serious-but-uninteresting like you do to that yo-yo.”
Heh. And here he is now, still playing with a toy and actually getting paid to do it, a living testament to do what you love and the money will follow.
You hear that kids? Do what you love, follow your dreams, and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t. [/steps off soapbox]
During Saturday’s show, which focused on the physics of yo-yos, Ooch invited my daughter on stage to demonstrate a key physical property of the ever-popular “around the world” yo-yo trick: centripetal force. Ooch is clearly blown away by my girl’s mad cup-swinging skillz. Who wouldn’t be?
piscesgrrl said,
March 2, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
Sing it sistah! I just had an interesting conversation today where I found myself explaining unschooling to some trying-to-be-polite questioners. After we got through the whole “but the real world has real expectations like being on time and meeting deadlines” thing, one man shared that the “reality” they are experiencing is entry-level workers who don’t even show up every day much less accomplish minimum requirements for the job. So I countered, “But you’re talking about young people who all went to school, right?” I think the word he floundered for was “touche” but he settled for a “Ya, I suppose they are.”
My main point was that unschoolers have the opportunity to do what they love and have it provide for them.
like yo-yo guy!
lori said,
March 4, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
Yo-yo guy is pretty cool, isn’t he. I think any child who is raised to believe being different is okay as long as it’s who you genuinely are (as opposed to some role you’re playing to get attention) has the potential to end up doing what they love for a living. A lot of kids who go to school do make their own way and break with convention, but it does seem like homeschooling in general and unschooling in particular would make that just soooo much easier for them.