Off the Beaten Plan

plan: to devise or project the realization or achievement of

I Am My Worst Client

I am apparently impossible to please. I don’t know if it’s because I’m working for myself and not someone else, but geez! I’m just not happy with anything!

When I take a moment to sit back and try to treat me like someone else (are you following me, here?), I do much better. What would I think about if I was working for someone else? What would I want to know that would give me a hint about where to start? Those things help. Not completely, but a bit.

When I sit down and just draw, or doodle, as long as I don’t have a project in mind, it’s helpful. But when I start drawing with the intent on working on a current job? It’s hard.

(Oh, a fire alarm needs a battery. Note to self: buy 9 volts.)

Last night as I did my finances it became clear that I need to start getting the Internet to generate funds. I have a plan, but first I need to complete my own project first. Once that’s done, I think I can take it to the for-profit arena.

And now that October is almost over, it will become easier. This month was a flurry of activity. November is busy too, with National Novel Writing Month going on and me being a co-ML again this year, but it will be activities I’m now familiar with, and shouldn’t be too taxing. I think I’m also giving myself permission to not win at all costs this time around. November is a big month for me to gain weight, usually. Hmm, I wonder why? ;)

(I think I need a category for Gradually Off Topic…)

I Am My Worst Client was published on October 19th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the Business, Completely Off Topic, Financial, Planning category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

No Internets

(I wrote this post out by hand last night. By necessity, posts will now be appearing week-daily and possibly Saturdays.)

Photo by Ivan Petrov

Image by Ivan Petrov

It’s 9:30 p.m. and I’ve decided to go to bed. This is unheard of around here – usually I only go to bed this early when I’m sick. I would, under normal circumstances, certainly never go to bed this early when I have as many ideas racing through my head as I do tonight.

Car. Appliances. Reading. Nano. Website.

So you may presume that tonight isn’t “usual circumstances”, and you would be correct. The unsecured Internet connection that has been available to us up until now has finally been secured.

I use the Internet for the bulk of y entertainment in the evenings. Television shows, games, research, reading, and writing. I am of a culture where Internet access is no longer a privilege, perk, or luxury, but is now a necessity. Not having it is hard.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. Around here, I can’t get Internet without cable or phone service, and the cost isn’t cheap. Our budget is tight. Can we afford it? Can we make it work?

(This portion of the post was created this morning – real time!)

I’ve been thinking – currently we have a regular cell phone contract that is about the same cost per month as a Cable-Phone-Internet plan would be with the same company. We certainly can’t eliminate our cell phones, but perhaps with a home line for regular calls and then using our cell phones only as emergency lines, the cost would even out? Of course, then there is the cost of buying out our contract. Tsk, tsk…it’s all so complicated.

But I have to make the decision, and without Internet (or a phone book at home, because we’ve always had Internet and never needed one), I need to make it soon. At work. On Friday. Now.

I think to justify it to myself, to get Internet back at the house, I will have to make the Internet pay for itself. That means, for me, taking on more side jobs. Designing websites for others, even though that’s not my favorite activity. Perhaps I can start designing layouts for WordPress and sell them on ThemeForest.

Make this blog profitable.

You know what? I think I’ve finally made my decision.

No Internets was published on October 2nd, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the Financial, Planning category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.