I think of myself as a tinker. Specifically, as an educator, I think of myself as a tinker-thinker. The word tinker refers to an itinerant, a gypsy, or one who enjoys experimenting with things or a travelling repairer of useful items. The word also refers to random unplanned work or activities. In my work and teaching, the more I engage with what makes learning possible, the further away from a well-defined occupational identity I seem to travel. In my forties, I discovered the possibility of "being an academic" after completing a master's degree and beginning to toy with the idea of doctoral study.