The difference between a job, a career and work?

I got a new job.
It's not a BIG job, only part time. A nine-month contract to work on a special event. Total remuneration: $3,000.00.
It's not going to help me a lot. Financially, it will reduce my unemployment benefits short-term.
I don't care.
I like working! I like being able to get something done in the world, I like the challenges and frustrations. I get to interact with new people, established colleagues and professionals from a field related to work I've done before.
Since this is related to work I've done before and want to do again, it can also be seen as part of my career.
A career (dictionary):
noun
an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress.
• the time spent by a person in such an occupation or profession : the end of a distinguished career in the navy.
• the progress through history of an institution or organization : the court has had a checkered career.
• [as adj. ] working permanently in or committed to a particular profession : a career diplomat.
• [as adj. ] (of a woman) interested in pursuing a profession rather than devoting all her time to child care and housekeeping
So the career is not just about the work, it's about choice and duration. That implies a great measure of control. But consider the following supplemental definition:
verb [ intrans. ]
move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction : the car careered across the road and went through a hedge.
I like that. It also says a career is an adventure. As defined by a former intimate of mine, an adventure is anything that CAN kill you, but DOESN'T.
So a career is a wild ride through long-term work of your own choosing.
So what's work?
Dictionary:
noun
1 activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result : he was tired after a day's work in the fields. See note at labor .
• ( works) [in combination ] a place or premises for industrial activity, typically manufacturing : he found a job in the ironworks.
2 such activity as a means of earning income; employment : I'm still looking for work.
• the place where one engages in such activity : I was returning home from work on a packed subway.
• the period of time spent during the day engaged in such activity : he was going to the theater after work.
3 a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do : they made sure the work was progressing smoothly.
• the materials for this : she frequently took work home with her.
• ( works) Theology good or moral deeds : the Clapham sect was concerned with works rather than with faith.
4 something done or made : her work hangs in all the main American collections.
• the result of the action of a specified person or thing : the bombing had been the work of a German-based cell.
• a literary or musical composition or other piece of fine art : a work of fiction.
• ( works) all such pieces by a particular author, composer, or artist, regarded collectively : the works of Schubert fill several feet of shelf space.
• a piece of embroidery, sewing, or knitting, typically made using a specified stitch or method.
• (usu. works) Military a defensive structure.
• ( works) an architectural or engineering structure such as a bridge or dam.
• the record of the successive calculations made in solving a mathematical problem : show your work on a separate sheet of paper.
5 ( works) the operative part of a clock or other machine : she could almost hear the tick of its works.
6 Physics the exertion of force overcoming resistance or producing molecular change.
Pretty much as expected, aside from the last one. Work is forcing change. A career is a wild ride through long-term work of your own choosing. So a career is a constantly changing wild ride, ideally one that pays reasonably well!
In order to have this ride, someone has to agree to employ you. That's called GIVING you a job. I don't see where the giving part comes in, since it's a barter of services for specific remuneration. Seems to me it's more like contracting for a job, ANY job, no matter how big or small. If it's a gift, it's a gift to both parties, the employer and the employed.
Now what's this job thing?
Dictionary again:
noun
1 a paid position of regular employment : jobs are created in the private sector, not in Washington | a part-time job.
2 a task or piece of work, esp. one that is paid : she wants to be left alone to get on with the job | you did a good job of explaining.
• a responsibility or duty : it's our job to find things out.
• [in sing. ] informal a difficult task : we thought you'd have a job getting there.
• [with adj. ] informal a procedure to improve the appearance of something, esp. an operation involving plastic surgery : she's had a nose job | someone had done a skillful paint job.
• [with adj. ] informal a thing of a specified nature : the car was a blue malevolent-looking job.
• informal a crime, esp. a robbery : a series of daring bank jobs.
• Computing an operation or group of operations treated as a single and distinct unit.
verb ( jobbed, jobbing )
1 [ intrans. ] [usu. as adj. ] ( jobbing) do casual or occasional work : a jobbing builder.
2 [ trans. ] buy and sell (stocks) as a broker-dealer, esp. on a small scale.
3 [ trans. ] informal cheat; betray.
4 [ intrans. ] archaic turn a public office or a position of trust to private advantage.
Then, considering all meanings, a job can be thought of as something difficult, sometimes deceptive (as in surgery), sometimes immoral or illegal (as in bank job). But most often, it's a duty.
So to work at a job that supports your career is to do your duty to yourself in the constantly changing wild ride of your career.
When you look at it that way, the stability of the 50-year gold watch job seems rather mundane.
Here's to my new job, the latest leg of my wild ride!



Of course, since it's VERY part time, I still need a job!