Sold out!

[tyggerjai]

So I mentioned the bit where the Universe makes decisions for me, right?

I've recently had a ... not quite parting of the ways, but difference of opinion with one of my more frequent employers. Actually, let's be honest, working for them is the only thing that's paid the bills for the last year. That's ok - I've been wanting to get away from them and into more LX and theatre for a while - set building and draping are OK, but not my long-term goal. So I've got some more skills, and more contacts than I had a year ago. I'm ready to start looking around more. And I've had some Real Theatre gigs in the last month, and the circus, which rocks.

But it's not quite enough, not yet. And I was chatting yesterday abut the evil temptation of 3 days a week tech suport, just to keep the money rolling in. But that becomes 4 days a week, and then 5, and is frustrating as hell, for the crap money it pays. Last night I lost sleep, figuring out how long the bank balance would last, how I'd pay my tax bill at the end of the year, what work might be coming up .... And it's not pretty. I could do it, I guess. but there's not much till August/september and the Festival.

And this morning, my-friend-the-java-weenie rang. 6 weeks contracting to Telstra through Seimens. $55 an hour. 6 weeks. July, basically, and pay off the tax bill and have a little in the bank, and then hit the theatres.

The trouble with letting the Universe make your decisions is that you kinda then have to abide by them. Ah well. Oddly, I'm looking forward to it. Certainly looking forward to the money. It's about 50% of my yearly theatre wage. Properly saved, it's months of freelancing parachute.

And I never swore off IT for ever. I'm a freelancer, and if this buys me time to get back into theatre, it's ok ... right?

Right?

Ah well. I don't have any options, so I'm comfortable with it. It's the life, eh?

Just, in 6 weeks, drag me the hell out of it, ok?


Update: Oh wait! There's another downside to this "Universe, make my decisions!" thing! The bit where you say "Well, if I want work in theatre after the 6 weeks, I should start ringing now!", and the first person you ring says "Can you come in Monday and Tuesday??". Le sigh. Now I have to make my *own* decisions! But I need 6 weeks worth of Perl money, I think, anyway :)

sol.
.

Comments

[blithespirit.livejournal.com]

unguilded druid, alethea, wtb swedenborg for silliness and whacking bad guys.
oh yeah, and good luck with the temp gig.
;)

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

I thought you gave up the crack?

I'm now busy till Wednesday, but you wanna catch up maybe Saturday night on Proudmoore?

swede.
.

[blithespirit.livejournal.com]

naw, i gave up the guild and kept the game
;)
would love to hang out but saturday's no good, it's my birthday :)

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

Happy getting older day, then :)

sol.
.

[blithespirit.livejournal.com]

thanks. hobbit coming of age year!
you and megan are both welcome to come to the party which will be a day trip to olinda on saturday 1 july. lunch and stuff.
oo tell megan every time i see that dreadful looking "Vin plays a nanny" movie at the video store i think of her!
:)

[fnoo.livejournal.com]

$55/hr * 40hrs/w * 6 weeks is 50% of your yearly theatre income?

Yeow... living cheaply!

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

6 * 40 == 240
$55 * 240 = $13200

2* 13200 == $26K

Yup. About right. This theatre thing, we're not in it for the money ....

Fulltime gigs pull more like 35K, but you have to go to work every day ....

My hourly rate for theatre stuff varies from $17-$25 an hur. Call it $20.
26K == 1300 hours == 26 hours a week. That's about right, given downtime, slack periods, etc.

I am indeed hoping to ramp it up to more like 30 hours a week, but part of the point is to avoid 40 hours every week. 60 one week, 0 the next is just fine. And budgeting for 25K while earning 30K is the only way to survive as a freelancer, IME.

sol.
.

[fnoo.livejournal.com]

You're doing much better than I did in the lower tax bracket, I'll tell you that much.

It was the $3 coffees that did me in, in the end.

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

I have modest needs these days. Part of me says "And I'm still living off the redundancy payout", but I have as much money in the bank today as I did after my tax return a year ago, so no, actually, I'm breaking even. The next year is the test, though - without my regular employers, I really have to find enough work in theatre. Or Perl :)

sol.
.

[kitling.livejournal.com]

If you get bored and want some work, I'd love to get a quote on making a cat run. Needs to be portable....

Or is that completely not your thing?

[tyggerjai.livejournal.com]

By portable I assume you mean freestanding and able to be dismantled and moved to a new house relatively easily, rather than, say, easy to put in your pocket to take on a tram? Largely not my thing, because cats are sneaky buggers. I can come help Nigel build one, though, for a cheap hourly rate :)

sol.
.

[kitling.livejournal.com]

ooh pocket cat run. But yes, something that can move houses when we move.

To be honest, I'm rather uncertain about the how idea, I'm not sure I like it, but I do need to keep Skitch in and I hate cleaning litter trays. I suspect the fun would actually be in the designing rather than the making. We should at least talk sometime.

[kitling.livejournal.com]

how = whole

[ltempt.livejournal.com]

If you take the Telstra gig, let me know which building you end up in.