Getting my life back on track!

[Michaelaw]

Though I have worked a lot this year, I've had to reduce my rates in some areas and my income is down from this time last year. Consequently I worry that my lifestyle will slide and In order for me to have total happiness I must give myself hope! I decided to create the illusion of prosperity in order to feel as good as I did this time last year. With this in mind, I asked and received a full upfront advance on my next show in the spring. With this money I bought a Nikon D3x along with a D3 as a backup. Next I turfed my room mate and am completely redecorating the Apartment which Includes a hot tub for each bathroom. My poor little Focus is going on six years old and since I've always wanted a Muscle car I ordered a sixty thousand dollar Mustang which will be delivered when I get back from the Bahamas at the end of the month. I'm still looking at getting a Canon 7d just in case the Nikon's go down and since I got the room mate out I decided to get a 52" LCD and New home theater system for the space she occupied. I now feel so much better and my life is back to normal. I am now even more prosperous than at this same time last year! Life is good :):)

[JAS_Photo]

Sounds like you got things under control. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/Sparkle2/Smilies/dance2.gif

[Marko]

Holy Moly that's some nice spending Maw :D

[Mad Aussie]

I'd like to live half that well!!

[kat]

I'd like to live half that well!!


:clap:

[Mad Aussie]

Hey Michael, the other side of the coin ... my usual work has been non existent for almost 5 weeks now thanks to the global decline and it's effect on the building industry here.

Going into Christmas I've picked up a couple of weeks work with my carpentry skills, but with the tax bills I have, and an accountants bill arriving soon, I expect to start next year with many thousands of dollars of credit card debt in order to survive. Considering it took us many years to get the credit cards down to nothing and we achieved that about 3 months ago, this is not easy to swallow.

I'm about two shakes away from depression medication ... and so is my wife ... no, life's not good!

[Bambi]

Michael, I am happy that you feel that you have taken control back over you life. MA, I am sorry that your's is looking wee bit bleak at the moment. I didn't realize that you were a carpenter too!

Mine is going as usual. The nice thing about working in Health Care, there's always a need for it.

sometimes you have to go on faith that better things will prevail.


but what can I say? I'm a 'the-glass-is-half-full-kind-of-girl' ;)

(I also love my 52" plasma tv)

[Michaelaw]

Well Marko, it would be a good spending spree if it were in fact true, my life remains unchanged. Maybe I just didn't embellish my tale enough, maybe I should have tripled my client rates, bought a Lear jet and a BMW too. I thought in all honesty you guys would say I had lost it! When I look to the south, this is what I see the USA doing, creating the illusion of prosperity. If I had spent all the money I claimed, I would be bankrupt well before Christmas. I don't have the same amount of work this year and next year who knows. My clients continually cry for cheaper bills for much the same workload. My point was trying to be...Look at me! I'm not as prosperous this year so I'll bankroll and spend a hundred thousand to make it look like I'm doing well and who knows where the money to pay for it will come from? Maybe the Chinese will buy some of my debt? I would have to have a screw loose to spend what I claimed but if I call it maybe a stimulus package then...Well who knows? Yes it was a failed experiment on my part:) I sure hope things get better for you down there MA, as a carpenter, you would have kicked butt up here as this is still a city full of cranes! when the Olympics concludes who knows? I was teching an awards show tonight though and in one of the video segments I played a local real estate hot shot was saying that Canadians were sick and tired of the doom and gloom scenarios and were forging ahead as per usual and buying up property just as they always have. He went on to say that yes there is a sag in the market pricing but no shortage of customers:)

[Marko]

I'm happy you fessed up Maw. Sarcasm on the Net isn't always crystal clear.

It seemed weird to me alright...but I have no idea how rich some people are...and I missed the sarcasm here. I was teetering on, he's rich somehow and good for him, or he's manic and I hope he does not crash. And you are soooo right...many Americans and people living in Toronto spend their cash in this frivolous way.

Sorry you are going through a bad time MA..I hope it turns soon.

[kat]

Ha ha..I mentioned this to my husband and all I said was..what is he going to do come spring????

[JAS_Photo]

Lol, I got the satire but thought Marko had as well. :headslap:

[Mad Aussie]

I was torn between 'Wow good on him ... glad life's going well for someone who has put in the effort' and then wanting to fly over and give you a good slap Michael and see if the real world still existed in there. I decided on simply providing another perspective.
I should have embellished mine and added I'd lost both legs, and was living in a cardboard box with terminal cancer slowing killing me. Unfortunately I didn't see the joke and thought you were serious, drunk maybe, but serious.

[Michaelaw]

Sorry MA...The whole idea was poorly conceived on my part:(

[Mad Aussie]

Sorry MA...The whole idea was poorly conceived on my part:(
Your sense of humour was just a little advanced for us literal thinkers me thinks :)

[Michaelaw]

I was going for the "Shock and Awe" method that Shrub used when he was president! It was just about as effective:D Truth be told, I just delivered my second large production of the year on the fourth. In order to complete said production, I had to take my name off the freelance roster. All the work I should have been booked for has been parceled out to others resulting in no work for me next week:(. save a pre production meeting for a show in January, I'm flatlined till the following week! With a major slowdown over the Xmas season, this does not bode well for my bank account. Hopefully being this close to the start of the Olympics here, the Xmas slowdown will be just a moderate thrust reduction:D I live entirely in the "I owe, I owe it's off to work I go" mode!

[Mad Aussie]

What exactly do you do Michael?

My wife and I have our Web Design company which she basically runs while I go out and get the bread and butter from my other skills ... carpentry related work. Office Fitouts mostly, but next week it's with a company that makes sets for television game shows, Casino's etc. We are currently building the Christmas decorations for the Brisbane Mall and hopefully, seeing as I know the work factory manager and ride bikes with him, I'll get more work from them while my usual work is so slow.

In the past I worked 12 years in retail and managed a store for a couple of years near the end of that era. Back then, my wife and I had our own Graphics Design business also which morphed into the Web Design over time.

I've also had various other jobs in my history like working for Burger King, Retreading Tyres, Plastering (drywalling) which I still do some of at times, and Exporting Live Eels to Hong Kong.

That's the working me in a nutshell I guess.

[Michaelaw]

I'm a freelance Audiovisual technician. Think of it as a corporate roadie:D We build large shows in Hotel ballrooms and convention centers. Screens, Flown projectors, lighting systems for the stage ares, Sound systems, video and data are all part of these events. I don't so much build the shows these days, I show up when they're all put together, sit my but behind the Audio boards, video/data switchers, lighting consoles etc. and push buttons, slide faders and make sure the right signal is sent to the screens at the right time and all the audio sounds good Nerve racking work on the high end shows:wall-an: I also build shows meaning I design the look, capture the images/ video, record the voice over material and mix the sound and when It's complete, I head down to the Ballroom/ theater, load it all into the system and push the buttons to make it go:) Much like you, when the biz slows down predictably in August to mid September, I put on another hat and paint houses for my buddy's company for six weeks or so. Before that, moons ago I was a cook for the Canadian National Railroad, Denny's etc. That was in my no roots days, I could drift anywhere and someone would always need a line cook or short order cook. That wasn't such a bad life, work, pay rent, drink beer, get bored and move on...I was a cooking hobo! :D

[Mad Aussie]

Cool ... it's interesting to hear what you do exactly. Very technical work.

Maybe we'll entice a few others to tell us more about them ;)

[Xenos]

I was kinda wondering how much you were getting for your next contract with all that... I assume you do own a Focus though, as mentioned. If you're looking for advice about it, check out focusbc.net I'm a member on there, as I own a focus as well, slightly modified. If you're looking for anything for it from simple maintenance advice to giving it some suck or blow (turbo or supercharger) that's the loca forum to check out. Hit me a PM if you have any needs about it to. I've had mine since 01 right off the showroom floor. She's going through some semi major changes this winter hopefully, as long as work goes as planned... I just want to win the damn lottery.

Interesting work Michael. I have a feeling, if you've been in Vancouver long that we may have crossed paths. I did some work at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the Ford Centre a number of years ago and have sat in on some recording sessions in a couple local studios out here in the valley recently. Chad Kroeger of Nickelback has a studio at his house and I recently sat in on a session there and did some work for an afternoon as a DJ for a session they were doing.

Since the comment was made about other people saying what they do. I've worked in the industrial parts industry, everything you can imagine to specific areas of expertise to do with heavy equipment, cranes, snow removal equipmetn etc. for the past 7 yrs. alongside of that I've DJ'd on and off since I was 15 (18 yrs ago) and for a 3.8 yrs stint I worked as a chef. I'm just shy of having my Red Seal as a chef and since being a victim of the economy last May, I am in the process of helping a friend open up a new restaurant and will be doing a few months in solitary confinement, I mean, the kitchen, there for him to help it get up and running.

I'm actually in what my mom called the other day, my first midlife crisis. I was really sick of the job I was doing, wasn't passionate about it at all and was ready to quit and move on when I got laid off. Now I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. I've taken some time off from DJ'ing except for an occasional gig.

I've thought about being a professional hitman for the local gangs that seem to have a problem hitting the broad side of a barn with a sniper scope from 20 ft away...

If I went on a major diet, I could maybe be a stripper... meh, I have standards, they may be pretty low at times but they are standards...

[casil403]

I'm actually in what my mom called the other day, my first midlife crisis. I was really sick of the job I was doing, wasn't passionate about it at all and was ready to quit and move on when I got laid off.

I know that feeling. I'm right in the middle of it now. :)
I am a professional Chef with the Red Seal who lost the passion for it. Just over a year ago I got hit in the head literally (fairly significant concussion that still affects my vision to this day) and while on medical leave, I realized how burned out and tired I was working in the industry...I just couldn't do it anymore.
So I decided while on my time off to figure out what else I wanted to do with the latter half of my working life. I used to work with special needs children and it always seemed like unfinished business so I applied, got accepted and am now in school studying to be an Occupational Therapist Asistant. I love learning again, and I am sitting prettywith a straight A+ average so far. I just did my first placement last week working in Neurology Rehabilitation Unit at a local hospital and I loved it! Some of the best experiences in my life happened last week and I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing.
Funny how things happen sometimes...it's funny for me, the events of last year has exactly fallen into place how they were supposed to although I didn't realize it until I look back.
I guess sometimes everything really does happen for a reason!

Money yes is incredibly tight right now, but it's a means to an end and I think in order to get something sometimes you have to give something up. For me that was steady cash flow, a partner, and a dog. But I have a bunch of new goals I've set for myself to accomplish within the nest 2 years so i am completely focused on that. :highfive:

[Mad Aussie]

Hopefully Xenos, in a short amount of time, you'll be able to look back and tell us something similar to what Casil has just said about finding her calling work wise.

Great to hear you know where your working life needs to head Casil!