Have you had a double life?

Isn’t being online kind of like a double life?

Nimis, you posted what I was going to post.

JackA: Too slow, old man. ;)

How about aside from on the internet?

By day im just your average guy…. But by night I AM BATMAN!

…..or something like that

I don’t ever feel like I’m living a double life on the internet. That’s still me.

When I was a mom working outside the home I felt like that sometimes -especially when the kids were small. Store manager by day. Poopy diaper changer by night. Two more-than-full-time jobs running me ragged at once. My powers of running on autopilot while sleep-deprived were astounding!

yes, I have, many years ago. It is very exhausting. Was into an illegal and unsafe lifestyle/occupation. Very exciting, thrilling, well paying, risky and not for the faint of heart, shy, scared or SMART….. got hurt really bad many times, almost got killed a couple of times and saw a lot of the world and a lot of bad (not cool) people. Learned a lot about the “street”, fighting, guns, corruption, death, betrayal. Because of this life, I didn’t go to college, and don’t have a lot in common with “normal” people today…25 years later. I have great stories to tell, but not very many people can relate to me. Kinda lonely at times, but some of it WAS A BLAST!!!!. can’t really go into more detail….wanted to answer this great question. ;)

I worked for many years in the chocolate/pastry world, and acquired something of a reputation there. Then about seven years ago I took a job in the rehab engineering field, while I continue to teach chocolate at a culinary college.

Part of my week is spent in crisp kitchen whites and the toque, a respected authority in my field. Then I change into my grubby clothes and spend the rest of the week welding steel, machining aluminum, slicing foam and sewing vinyl, all in relative obscurity. The transition can be a bit mind-bending.

I often feel like i am leading a double life. i manage a bar at night and have a persona that i have developed that i think is pretty different than who i am when i am doing my work during the day. when i walk through the doors of the bar i feel as if i am stepping onto a stage and playing a character. when i eventually give up the night life (which may be coming soon) i think i will really miss the attention that i get playing that role. its like being on a stage. its weird being a natural introvert and wearing the guise of a wild extrovert each weekend.

MarcIsMyHero, I have yet to meet a bartender (or, barmaid) who wasn’t an excellent psychologist and/or counselor.

It’s amazing, the insights into human nature that you possess, and I would find myself confessing things to my bartender/barmaid, that I never told to anyone else, including my spouses (spice?).

@Jack, i am often amazed at the roles i have to play and hats i have to wear for my customers. psychologist, confidant, enabler, babysitter, mediator, bouncer/cop, entertainer, friend, and flirt, are all on the list. its truly always an amazing experience.

And, an amazing job, I bet.

I knew a bartender who once told me, “If I told in a courtroom, everrything that’s been told to me in confidence, 13,000 people would go to prison, and probably over 1,000 would go to a morgue.”

That’s funny. I’ve always heard this about bartenders, and I’ve seen it happen. But all I ever wanted from a bartender was a drink recommendation and…um… my drink. :^>

I had a rather lengthy answer but had to delete it. Although retired, I think I could still be prosecuted if my identity were known by some and if they obviously had nothing better to do. Suffice it to say my lifestyle including my long hair and possible recreational drug exposure (notice I didn’t say use) was diametrically opposed to my career, the conservative industry I worked in and the shall we say security-type clearances required and for which I may (let me reinforce ‘may’) not have been totally open about (security, like in, say, maybe a Brink’s guard, certainly not top secret James Bond stuff,,,,hey, James was a drinker). I led a double life, I advanced despite the long hair and I never, ever breached security or the confidence put in me. I think I may have said too much again but oh, how cathartic it has been!

—@Harp; You modestly left out the hand-made harps and the bug ID’s and perhaps the bike trip around France and your writing skills; (and the re-invention of chocolate-covered foam -remember that from Catch-22?)

OK, so I lack direction…

@Harp: Au contraire .You are simply jumping on your horse and riding off in all directions (Stephen Leacock wrote that) And you think that I am joking about the chocolate-covered cotton?

when my children and my employess got together to compare notes they couldn’t believe they were talking about the same person. Aparently at work, I am respected but a bit feared. At home it is my goal to maintain peace at all cost.

No. I hate them. People who lead double lives are incredibly selfish, and only care about others as adjuncts to themselves. They never give the person they are with the chance to choose whether they want to be sharing their partner with someone.

A friend’s wife left him after leading a double llife for years. She abandoned their children.

Lindbergh seems to have had at least two lives and families.

you hate them all?

Yes, in my spare time i’m plotting to stalk and capture @harp and hide him in my evil lair for all eternity. Dibs!

evil lairs are awesome!

Forts are pretty cool too!

@del I think brownlemur might object.

@cheeb I think it is the ultimate cheat and ultimate form of narcissism. I hope all the evil liars end up in evil lairs.

DAMN! You had to pick someone I respected.

I have had enough difficulty with a single life. And just think about the paper work. I shudder.