Reality Check

It is now 10 months since I last had a full time job. Having been through this before, and thus gotten used to it, I just want to evaluate the situation to this point. Now that the busy season has passed and finding few options, I have gone to Plan B. I am being encouraged to get a full education (for free), and will have time since I am working so little. So have I spent the last 10 months fruitfully? I would say I met 50% of my goals. It is reflected in the fact that I am only making about 50% in income than I should be. Nevertheless, the general review of my reveals similarities to the period before my last full-time job.

Three Times the Charm
I previously worked three part-time jobs. Each of them had flexible hours and paid modestly well. This left me with time to schedule freelance work or one of my own projects. I gave this up for my last full-time job, but then was laid-off. 2007 turned into a project-to-project working situation. I would spend a week on one project, then another week on someone else's project. This kept me encouraged that I could keep looking for work and float a bit with the supplemental income. I also concentrated on my own projects, which I find necessary to keep myself from feeling that I lost my way. But I gave myself the deadline of September to either have another part-time job and be self-sustaining, or go to Plan B.

Half-Way There
The 50% is reflected in my own projects, where I only completed about half of them. Acid Snow, the movie, still needs at least another 100 hours of sound work. I am taking a break (yes, it is daunting), but then will be able to feel fresh going back to it (probably before next spring). I am only half way through my new pop album also, getting a feel for mixing with my Logic system. I also only got half-way completed with my new website. I spent two months learning and programming a working flash site, only to have no software to create the web pages.

The September Pact
At one point, Acid Snow was to be completed by September. I also anticipated that I would be in a situation where I could travel to Italy during this month. September is also the traditional time of year that I would return to school, as I did for almost 20 years of my life. I had figured it wouldn't be too hard to find another video editing job, given my credentials. But the job description has changed. Now, it is centred around the web. I would find many job listings that include shooting and editing video, but directly for web sites. So Plan B was to use the natural change of focus that occurs in September and get Web Design training. The work available could be potentially lucrative, and I could still work as freelance.

Changing Colours in the Fall
Here it is mid-September, and leads have dried up. I will be checking design schools this week, and make a choice. I have still been able to float along financially, and been able to fix my car, fix my bike, update some studio equipment, arrange to get my garage fixed for free, and travel in-state. I also have been able to blissfully indulge in music and video the likes I have never had the luxury of time to spend. Netflix is partially to blame. On the other hand, the desire to view lost video, such as cartoons made for the US Army in WWII, or collections of other Looney Tunes, or 50's educational films, or luscious landscape photography. The music I have collected has been a trip through my own past, especially 80's music that was once thought long lost. I have also been getting caught up with: Boards of Canada, Death Cab for Cutie, Radio Dept, Editors, Phoenix, Fountains of Wayne, Modest Mouse, Magnetic Fields, Futureheads, and M83, to name a few.

Zen and Art of Freelancing
So the reality of the situation, is that as long as I make the phone calls and keep the ball rolling, I should land some Web Design position a few months down the road. I still am able to live comfortably, and still have that optimism I had 10 months ago for some reason. To be contemplative, I know that I have thoroughly enjoyed sitting at my editing desk in my house almost every day, letting my imagination go wherever it wanted, with my cat keeping me company. I have posted some of this on my blog, and have more to come.