Most days I don’t give much thought to how I earn a living. Work is just a part of my daily routine: I show up. I type. I answer a few questions, attend some meetings, and I go home.

But over the past couple of days I’ve had more than a few moments that have left me asking, “How did I get here?”

Today I found myself sitting across from the former executive creative director of a huge agency and the new senior writer on my team, who happens to have two or three Clio Awards to his name. They were reading some scripts I’d written for an internal video, and they were laughing. Out loud.

In a nutshell: The three of us were asked to write several vignettes about saving for retirement based on reality TV shows. I was assigned Jon and Kate Plus 8, The Bachelorette, and Top Chef.

Watching a few episodes of those shows was an education in itself. But I’ll save my social commentary for another post.

What I will post is one of my favorite bits from the script I wrote for “The Investorette”. (Well, I didn’t write it so much as steal it and change a few words.) Anyway … in this scene, one of the financial advisors is attempting to woo “the investorette” and make her his client.

Shall I compare thee to an IRA?
Annuities are far more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the low-priced stocks of May,
And your CD hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of FINRA shines,
And often is gold bullion dimm’d;
And every bond from time to time declines,
By chance or the market’s course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal Vision shall not fade
Nor lose the interest it thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines your income growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives hope in your annuity.

Groan.

Well, it’s not poetry. But it’s also not too bad a way to earn a living.