Toothbrushes and Pandora's box

In this day and age what used to be simple tasks are made so much harder, thanks to several dozen options that could be "perfect" for you in varying degrees.

Example: purchasing a new toothbrush.

I was grocery shopping today and planned to pick up a new toothbrush too, since oral health and well-being is kind of a good thing to keep up. I ran down the toothbrush/toothpaste/mouthwash aisle and planned to grab the first toothbrush that looked decent.

But no!

First I encountered the flimsy store brand toothbrushes. Nah, I thought; I can do better. Then I looked over at the highly overpriced multicolored gel-handled toothbrushes with several dentists' stars of approval.

Meh... I didn't want to pay $20 for a mere toothbrush. I have student loans.

I scanned the rows of bristled plastic sticks and pondered what my options were.

There were the clever double-packs; I mean, brushing your teeth is a lifelong commitment. But what if you don't like that type of toothbrush in the pack, and you're stuck with a second miserable toothbrush once you're through with the first?

Vocation

Recently I was talking with someone about what I do for a living. 

Somehow the conversation came up about my being a reporter in a career sense of the word. When I talk about my job, I say, "I'm a reporter." When I call someone to interview, I say I'm a reporter with this newspaper and I want to talk to you about this thing, etc. I don't introduce myself as a journalist. 

Yarn. More on that in a minute... 

But I am a journalist also. 

Our conversation turned to whether I use "journalist" and "reporter" interchangeably. I realized I define the two as separate but related concepts. 

For me, being a journalist is a vocation. A journalist is a communicator, a story-sharer, a truth-teller. 

I am a journalist, who happens to be a reporter as a way of having a job. A reporter, I feel, is a very specific role: you interview people and research stuff and write an article about it, or broadcast something about it or whatever you do to get your news out. It's very concrete.