Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged being poor, budget, career change, copyeditor, copywriter, creative jobs, downsizing, economy, job stress, living on a budget, living wage, software developer, stress management on 06 Jul 2015| 9 Comments »
I used to love programming but it’s changed so much in the past 25 years, I can’t stand it anymore. When I only stay at a job for the salary and the time off, when I hate everything about what I do, when I wake up at 4AM with my heart pounding because my brain is preparing me for the day’s fight with a surge of adrenaline, it’s definitely time to go.
But, as I posed it in the previous post in this series, what career to I pick instead?
Posted in Culture, tagged being poor, budget, career change, downsizing, economy, job stress, living on a budget, living wage, stress management on 29 Jun 2015| 5 Comments »
Your reactions to Part I landed in one of two camps: Most readers remembered fondly their own youthful creativity when funds were thin, while a few wondered why the hell I’d even contemplate this at all.
I enjoyed the anecdotes you shared, and it reinforced my belief that being short of cash when young is a good thing; it helps us appreciate things more and teaches us skills we need later. As for why I’m considering this at all, well, that’s the subject of this installment.
Why be poor, if I don’t have to?
Posted in Culture, tagged being poor, budget, career change, downsizing, dumpster diving, economy, living on a budget, living wage, Structured Vegetable Protein on 19 Jun 2015| 13 Comments »
I know from poor. Not poverty–I’ve never known poverty–but I know what it is to be poor.
As a music major at SF State, I earned money playing orchestra and quartet gigs, worked minimum wage jobs, but still didn’t have much by way of money. To supplement my meager budget, I used to go around the back of United Market in San Rafael and pick fruit and veg out of the dumpsters. The produce manager was kind enough to turn a blind eye to my forays, occasionally even handing me old orange crates to pack up my booty. Beans and rice were the mainstays of my diet (I was a vegetarian, then), and any extra money I was able to cadge went to new strings for my viola and gas money for friends taking me to symphony gigs in Stockton or Santa Rosa. (more…)
Unraveling Time
Desert Wind
Ploughman's Son
Ploughman King
The Year the Cloud Fell
The Spirit of Thunder
Shadow of the Storm
The Cry of the Wind
Beneath a Wounded Sky
Cryptogenesis: A Memoir
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 