The work vs job thing is something I'm struggling with constantly. I work my arse off on a lot of things, but it's never seen as "real" work because I don't really get paid and more importantly I usually have too much fun doing it, work is supposed to suck after all and if it doesn't suck and you don't hate it there's no possible way it could ever be a "real" job XD
I'm right with you, I'll merrily work all the way to the grave and in my case I'll hope that "they" find a cure for aging as the way I'm going I'm not going to get out all the stories I've got in my head in time if they don't XD