The fact is, despite movie and TV portrayals ("Alias", etc.) 99.99% of espionage is boring, painstaking work.
The msot exciting action superspy Kim Philby ever accomplished was sneaking out of England before he was arrested.
Our military special operations forces do some pretty interesting work out in the field -- both in training and in real conflicts. Their job probably comes the closest to the excitement of the movies and TV.
For others involved in intelligence-gathering and espionage, I'm sure you're right about the work being 99.99% boring and painstaking.