Or only a few days at most!
Looks like my hard work paid off. I'm moving into my 5th month of word-of-mouth work, and I was offered another decent project that will get my month of May off to a good start. It's hard to say no to work when they offer you such good money :)
So, while I'm not getting to take the time off like I initially planned, I am taking the rest of this week off. On Monday we are going to Metro and I should be picking up a new desk and a chair, as well as going over to a friend's house to grill up some steak strips and make fajitas, and I'm going to make my potato salad as well.
It's very satisfying to have a client be so happy with your work that their response is "hey, we've got three or four rather large projects coming up in the future, so if you want to stay busy, we can definitely keep you that way".
It's hard to work part-time :) People keep sending me work! I've turned down a couple of projects, but I do so enjoy the money, you know what I mean? And considering the fact I've been contemplating buying a laptop this summer (yeah I'm behind the times, but I rarely work outside of the office and when I'm on vacation I'm on vacation...I don't want to be bothered with networking and e-mailing), maybe it's a good thing.
Tomorrow I'm re-subbing two short stories that were rejected, and preparing to jump into my novel work again with the month of May. All these ideas brewing, and they're bubbling over!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The World is Your Oyster: Part Five
Low paying vs. high paying.
Over at one of the community websites I visit there is an ongoing discussion (let's not split hairs. It's a debate, perhaps even an argument) between myself and a select group of writers who look down their noses at writers willing to work for less than them. I'd like to take the opportunity to look at the numbers for a moment, to give people a clearer picture of what really is low and high paying, and the difference between realistic expectations and simple ego.
The average wage for a US citizen or resident is around 40 thousand USD per year. That's on the gross end. If you work that out to an hourly rate it's 21 dollars an hour.
Unskilled workers make less. That is, people who flip burgers at McDonalds, or work the graveyard shift at 7-11, make less than 21 dollars an hour. Skilled workers make more. Carpenters, nurses, IT guys, tech writers, these people make slightly more. Specialized skills, that is jobs which require a specialized degree OR 10+ years experience in the field, make double or more...that is, 40 dollars an hour or greater.
This isn't opinion. It's fact. I'm not going to take the time to link to all of my sources this morning. Suffice to say this comes from research I've done over the past few months working on a couple of specific projects for one of my clients.
So, looking at the statistics, the only people making greater than 40 dollars an hour are specialized skill workers, or people with greater than 10 years in their chosen profession. Those individuals with a Master's degree or their Doctorate are making even more...usually over 100k a year, depending on their position and profession.
So let's observe for a moment. If a freelance writer, regardless of their location in the world, can pick up work from a client and average greater than 21 dollars an hour, they are making more than the average individual. Would you consider this low paying, or high paying? You cannot consider it low paying, because in order to qualify for low paying it would have to be less than the 21 dollars an hour. It's not necessarily high paying, either. Let's call it "standard" rates, because we are working with the law of averages here.
If a writer can make 50 dollars an hour, is he working a low-paying job, or a high paying job? Statistically, he's making more than double what the average person in the US makes. This would be considered a high-paying job, simply based upon factual statistics.
I think ego has a lot to do with it. There are a few writers out there who enjoyed an unprecedented level of success in pre-recession America, when they were riding the tide of America being the only country with high speed Internet available to nearly everyone. Now, 5 years later, wi-fi nooks exist in every corner of the globe, and high-speed Internet is available to most people in most countries. The writers who enjoyed a period of higher-than-average rates during those times were living high on the hog, enjoying a situation that existed simply because the market hadn't expanded. Now that the market exists within the framework of the entire world, these same writers are experiencing job losses because there are other people out there who are willing to do the work for less than the 75 dollars an hour or more that these people charge.
Let's face it...if person A charges 75 dollars an hour to write website content and person B is willing to write the same content for 30 dollars an hour, and they both have the exact same qualifications...a smart employer is going to pick the 30 dollar an hour writer. Why? Because it's a better deal. It's smart business. Suddenly the 30 dollar an hour guy is swimming in work, but the 75 dollar an hour guy is finding his jobs getting fewer and farther between, until eventually, he ends up making less per year than the guy who worked 30 dollars an hour.
Now, sure, the guy who did the work for 30 dollars an hour probably worked more hours to get the same result, but if you have two people who are making relatively the same amount of money per-year...that is, greater than the average US median wage of 40k a year...it has less to do with high-paying vs. low-paying and more to do with simple ego. The writer charging 75 dollars an hour feels it is unfair that the guy doing it for 30 dollars an hour can make the same amount of money per year.
Fair enough, but we still haven't really uncovered why the ego writer feels that anything less than 50 dollars an hour is a "low paying" wage, because according to statistics, it's not. It's more than double the national median, which means by its very definition it is a high paying job.
Ego. That's all it boils down to. Statistically, 50 dollars an hour is an extremely high paying wage... double the national median. Now, maybe the ego writer lives in an area of the nation where their cost of living is more than the average, therefore they need to make more than the average. However, this does not change the fact that 50 dollars an hour is high paying wage. All it changes is the fact that they themselves are not part of the average, and therefore applying labels will result in a skewed viewpoint that has little to do with what is or isn't realistically low paying or high paying. Instead, their results are tainted by personal experiences and ego. They term low paying as anything that cannot support their way of life, which doesn't apply to the average person.
Low paying, high paying, and in between. A lot of writers like to label their work as "per word" or "per hour" or "per article". What does it matter? If an individual can make X amount of dollars per month/year, and it's greater than the average median, it is by its very definition a "high paying" job.
So for those of you freelance writers who worry about whether or not you are working a low paying gig or a high paying gig, look at the end results. Are you going to make roughly 25 dollars an hour for your work based upon the law of averages? Then you are making standard rates. If you are making 40 dollars an hour or more, you are getting high-paying gigs. Anything less than 20 an hour and you are in the low-paying range.
Don't let yourself be misled by egotistical writers. There is a realistic approach to this industry, and it can only be achieved by having a realistic view on how the industry works. Good luck in the job hunt, and I hope to see you on the other side!
Over at one of the community websites I visit there is an ongoing discussion (let's not split hairs. It's a debate, perhaps even an argument) between myself and a select group of writers who look down their noses at writers willing to work for less than them. I'd like to take the opportunity to look at the numbers for a moment, to give people a clearer picture of what really is low and high paying, and the difference between realistic expectations and simple ego.
The average wage for a US citizen or resident is around 40 thousand USD per year. That's on the gross end. If you work that out to an hourly rate it's 21 dollars an hour.
Unskilled workers make less. That is, people who flip burgers at McDonalds, or work the graveyard shift at 7-11, make less than 21 dollars an hour. Skilled workers make more. Carpenters, nurses, IT guys, tech writers, these people make slightly more. Specialized skills, that is jobs which require a specialized degree OR 10+ years experience in the field, make double or more...that is, 40 dollars an hour or greater.
This isn't opinion. It's fact. I'm not going to take the time to link to all of my sources this morning. Suffice to say this comes from research I've done over the past few months working on a couple of specific projects for one of my clients.
So, looking at the statistics, the only people making greater than 40 dollars an hour are specialized skill workers, or people with greater than 10 years in their chosen profession. Those individuals with a Master's degree or their Doctorate are making even more...usually over 100k a year, depending on their position and profession.
So let's observe for a moment. If a freelance writer, regardless of their location in the world, can pick up work from a client and average greater than 21 dollars an hour, they are making more than the average individual. Would you consider this low paying, or high paying? You cannot consider it low paying, because in order to qualify for low paying it would have to be less than the 21 dollars an hour. It's not necessarily high paying, either. Let's call it "standard" rates, because we are working with the law of averages here.
If a writer can make 50 dollars an hour, is he working a low-paying job, or a high paying job? Statistically, he's making more than double what the average person in the US makes. This would be considered a high-paying job, simply based upon factual statistics.
I think ego has a lot to do with it. There are a few writers out there who enjoyed an unprecedented level of success in pre-recession America, when they were riding the tide of America being the only country with high speed Internet available to nearly everyone. Now, 5 years later, wi-fi nooks exist in every corner of the globe, and high-speed Internet is available to most people in most countries. The writers who enjoyed a period of higher-than-average rates during those times were living high on the hog, enjoying a situation that existed simply because the market hadn't expanded. Now that the market exists within the framework of the entire world, these same writers are experiencing job losses because there are other people out there who are willing to do the work for less than the 75 dollars an hour or more that these people charge.
Let's face it...if person A charges 75 dollars an hour to write website content and person B is willing to write the same content for 30 dollars an hour, and they both have the exact same qualifications...a smart employer is going to pick the 30 dollar an hour writer. Why? Because it's a better deal. It's smart business. Suddenly the 30 dollar an hour guy is swimming in work, but the 75 dollar an hour guy is finding his jobs getting fewer and farther between, until eventually, he ends up making less per year than the guy who worked 30 dollars an hour.
Now, sure, the guy who did the work for 30 dollars an hour probably worked more hours to get the same result, but if you have two people who are making relatively the same amount of money per-year...that is, greater than the average US median wage of 40k a year...it has less to do with high-paying vs. low-paying and more to do with simple ego. The writer charging 75 dollars an hour feels it is unfair that the guy doing it for 30 dollars an hour can make the same amount of money per year.
Fair enough, but we still haven't really uncovered why the ego writer feels that anything less than 50 dollars an hour is a "low paying" wage, because according to statistics, it's not. It's more than double the national median, which means by its very definition it is a high paying job.
Ego. That's all it boils down to. Statistically, 50 dollars an hour is an extremely high paying wage... double the national median. Now, maybe the ego writer lives in an area of the nation where their cost of living is more than the average, therefore they need to make more than the average. However, this does not change the fact that 50 dollars an hour is high paying wage. All it changes is the fact that they themselves are not part of the average, and therefore applying labels will result in a skewed viewpoint that has little to do with what is or isn't realistically low paying or high paying. Instead, their results are tainted by personal experiences and ego. They term low paying as anything that cannot support their way of life, which doesn't apply to the average person.
Low paying, high paying, and in between. A lot of writers like to label their work as "per word" or "per hour" or "per article". What does it matter? If an individual can make X amount of dollars per month/year, and it's greater than the average median, it is by its very definition a "high paying" job.
So for those of you freelance writers who worry about whether or not you are working a low paying gig or a high paying gig, look at the end results. Are you going to make roughly 25 dollars an hour for your work based upon the law of averages? Then you are making standard rates. If you are making 40 dollars an hour or more, you are getting high-paying gigs. Anything less than 20 an hour and you are in the low-paying range.
Don't let yourself be misled by egotistical writers. There is a realistic approach to this industry, and it can only be achieved by having a realistic view on how the industry works. Good luck in the job hunt, and I hope to see you on the other side!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Almost!
Almost done with my huge April project! I've got about 3 hours worth of work, which I'll save for tomorrow.
In retrospect, this was my largest freelance project to-date. It took me the entire month to complete, and I worked pretty much 6 days a week, for at least 3-4 hours per day. I'm a little drained, and to be honest, I think I'd rather focus on smaller projects in the future so I can spend more time doing my creative writing. However, there's also the necessity to keep doing work to spread your reputation, so if the money's good, I'll probably keep going on large projects as well.
Still...I'd like to take the month of May off, other than a few select projects that I do around my chapter work. I don't have any short stories that are brewing at the present, only 6 in submissions, so I'm circulating those until they sell. I fully expect it to take the rest of the year, because it takes 6-8 weeks to hear back from the editors as to whether or not it's been accepted or rejected, and you can't dual-sub, so...it's a lengthy process.
I've been debating another post in my "The World is your Oyster" series, but it's a bit foggy at present...not nearly refined enough to post about. Maybe I'll have something up towards the end of the week. I've also been debating starting a "how to get started as a freelance writer" discussion/network, because I see a lot of college kids and other people struggling during the recession trying to break into this market without any real knowledge of how to do so. I think that practical knowledge is key, and too often you see the veteran writers giving out canned responses or generic replies such as "don't give up!" or "apply to more jobs!" as advice, which doesn't help the new writer whatsoever.
What's more important is practical application of common sense in order to land jobs. We'll see how the idea pans out. It won't be free, that's for sure. I'm thinking of hosting a seminar type webisode or something where I give a 45 min or so lecture + answer a few questions + a written guide on how-to's, where-to's, and otherwise. It's all in the "planning" phase, but it's bubbling.
That's it for now. My work for the day is done and I'm going to enjoy the rest of the sunny afternoon out and about. Cheers!
In retrospect, this was my largest freelance project to-date. It took me the entire month to complete, and I worked pretty much 6 days a week, for at least 3-4 hours per day. I'm a little drained, and to be honest, I think I'd rather focus on smaller projects in the future so I can spend more time doing my creative writing. However, there's also the necessity to keep doing work to spread your reputation, so if the money's good, I'll probably keep going on large projects as well.
Still...I'd like to take the month of May off, other than a few select projects that I do around my chapter work. I don't have any short stories that are brewing at the present, only 6 in submissions, so I'm circulating those until they sell. I fully expect it to take the rest of the year, because it takes 6-8 weeks to hear back from the editors as to whether or not it's been accepted or rejected, and you can't dual-sub, so...it's a lengthy process.
I've been debating another post in my "The World is your Oyster" series, but it's a bit foggy at present...not nearly refined enough to post about. Maybe I'll have something up towards the end of the week. I've also been debating starting a "how to get started as a freelance writer" discussion/network, because I see a lot of college kids and other people struggling during the recession trying to break into this market without any real knowledge of how to do so. I think that practical knowledge is key, and too often you see the veteran writers giving out canned responses or generic replies such as "don't give up!" or "apply to more jobs!" as advice, which doesn't help the new writer whatsoever.
What's more important is practical application of common sense in order to land jobs. We'll see how the idea pans out. It won't be free, that's for sure. I'm thinking of hosting a seminar type webisode or something where I give a 45 min or so lecture + answer a few questions + a written guide on how-to's, where-to's, and otherwise. It's all in the "planning" phase, but it's bubbling.
That's it for now. My work for the day is done and I'm going to enjoy the rest of the sunny afternoon out and about. Cheers!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Afternoon Naps
I just had one.
Once again I'm reminded of how lucky I am to work from home. Back in the days when I was in the field all the time, working 12-14 hour days, I could never rest. I'd come home, back aching, fingers worn out, knees throbbing, and slump down into my office chair for a few hours of gaming before I passed out in the evening.
Now, I can sneak a couple hours in the afternoon on the pinch. I love it! You wake up refreshed, invigorated, and ready to face whatever challenges the late afternoon and early evening have to offer.
In my case, it's working out (skipped it this morning) and finishing up the 45 min or so worth of work I have left. Cya!
Once again I'm reminded of how lucky I am to work from home. Back in the days when I was in the field all the time, working 12-14 hour days, I could never rest. I'd come home, back aching, fingers worn out, knees throbbing, and slump down into my office chair for a few hours of gaming before I passed out in the evening.
Now, I can sneak a couple hours in the afternoon on the pinch. I love it! You wake up refreshed, invigorated, and ready to face whatever challenges the late afternoon and early evening have to offer.
In my case, it's working out (skipped it this morning) and finishing up the 45 min or so worth of work I have left. Cya!
Update
A fine Monday morning! Wrapping up my April project (will be finished sometime Wednesday), I just finished the second round of interview-emails for another project I'm looking at potentially doing, and I'm about ready to cycle a couple of short stories that I got back.
Many people get discouraged or offended by rejections. I don't. I think the reason for that is I spent years prior to actually doing this for a living making connections and establishing friendships with people who do this for a living, full-time. I also studied the success stories of some of my most favorite authors, and I've been down the beat path of doing door-to-door sales calls when I was first starting out my construction company years ago using my OWN name, rather than relying on the family reputation to land me work.
It's business. Some of the writers I've connected with over the years were rejected even AFTER they won awards for their stories. One writer in particular I know of won a Nebula award for a story back in the late 90s, only to have the majority of his stories rejected over a six month period of time. It takes time to sell an idea.
The good thing is that there are hundreds of magazines, e-zines, anthologies, and contests out there compared to 15 or even 20 years ago, then market was drastically smaller. The potential for getting your work out there is a lot higher, and it's not only being graded by a select few elite editors who shrug off everyone but the biggest names who are going to bring in the fat paychecks. There are a lot of publications these days who focus on quality writing, rather than the name behind the story. I find this commendable. Too often you see big-name authors pushing out shit short stories simply because they were paid a few thousand dollars to write something for a magazine simply to boost its sales. It's good that there are publications out there who cater to the little guy who, like me, is working on getting his work out there and refining his craft.
I've had moderate success. On the plus side, while I'm circulating short stories to various publications, I've got a successful freelance career going, which means I'm building up credits even if they aren't in the short story market.
The way I do it? I simply look at a rejection with a "your loss" mentality. Years from now, when I've made more of a name for myself, I'll be able to look back and chuckle at the magazine that could have been for ignoring my early works.
Arrogance? Perhaps. But I like to look to my role models for examples. I may not like his writing style, but his stories are compelling. Dan Brown, he of Da Vinci Code fame. If you've not read his success story, you ought to. His first three novels sold so poorly that DVC was his last attempt at writing. The previous novels he wrote had only sold 3-4 thousand copies per, and he was going to go back to being a teacher if his fourth novel didn't sell. Then boom!, lo and behold, 250 million dollars later, he was an international best-seller who is now one of the most wealthy authors in the world.
Take Roger Zelazny. The guy worked for years in the social security office as a clerk, writing short stories for (as I remember) nearly 9 years before he had established enough of a reputation to work at it full time writing novels.
The key is to have patience and to remind yourself every day that no matter what, someone out there will eventually buy your work. That person will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, and even if it takes you 4-5 years, you will eventually transition to full-time novel writing.
I've researched this for years, preparing. I've done the workshops, I've done the conventions. My very first attempt at a short story last year sold to the very first place I sold it to. Luck? Possibly. I also know that I've got talent, and I'm honing my craft. Almost every author out there has to spend 3-5 years doing something else part-time before they get enough fans to buy their books and make it worthwhile to transition over to full-time novelist. My blessing is that I have a loving wife who supports my endeavour 100%, so even if it takes 5-6 years, I'm in this for the long haul.
That's my inspirational Monday afternoon post :) I'm going to take a break and watch some shows!
Many people get discouraged or offended by rejections. I don't. I think the reason for that is I spent years prior to actually doing this for a living making connections and establishing friendships with people who do this for a living, full-time. I also studied the success stories of some of my most favorite authors, and I've been down the beat path of doing door-to-door sales calls when I was first starting out my construction company years ago using my OWN name, rather than relying on the family reputation to land me work.
It's business. Some of the writers I've connected with over the years were rejected even AFTER they won awards for their stories. One writer in particular I know of won a Nebula award for a story back in the late 90s, only to have the majority of his stories rejected over a six month period of time. It takes time to sell an idea.
The good thing is that there are hundreds of magazines, e-zines, anthologies, and contests out there compared to 15 or even 20 years ago, then market was drastically smaller. The potential for getting your work out there is a lot higher, and it's not only being graded by a select few elite editors who shrug off everyone but the biggest names who are going to bring in the fat paychecks. There are a lot of publications these days who focus on quality writing, rather than the name behind the story. I find this commendable. Too often you see big-name authors pushing out shit short stories simply because they were paid a few thousand dollars to write something for a magazine simply to boost its sales. It's good that there are publications out there who cater to the little guy who, like me, is working on getting his work out there and refining his craft.
I've had moderate success. On the plus side, while I'm circulating short stories to various publications, I've got a successful freelance career going, which means I'm building up credits even if they aren't in the short story market.
The way I do it? I simply look at a rejection with a "your loss" mentality. Years from now, when I've made more of a name for myself, I'll be able to look back and chuckle at the magazine that could have been for ignoring my early works.
Arrogance? Perhaps. But I like to look to my role models for examples. I may not like his writing style, but his stories are compelling. Dan Brown, he of Da Vinci Code fame. If you've not read his success story, you ought to. His first three novels sold so poorly that DVC was his last attempt at writing. The previous novels he wrote had only sold 3-4 thousand copies per, and he was going to go back to being a teacher if his fourth novel didn't sell. Then boom!, lo and behold, 250 million dollars later, he was an international best-seller who is now one of the most wealthy authors in the world.
Take Roger Zelazny. The guy worked for years in the social security office as a clerk, writing short stories for (as I remember) nearly 9 years before he had established enough of a reputation to work at it full time writing novels.
The key is to have patience and to remind yourself every day that no matter what, someone out there will eventually buy your work. That person will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, and even if it takes you 4-5 years, you will eventually transition to full-time novel writing.
I've researched this for years, preparing. I've done the workshops, I've done the conventions. My very first attempt at a short story last year sold to the very first place I sold it to. Luck? Possibly. I also know that I've got talent, and I'm honing my craft. Almost every author out there has to spend 3-5 years doing something else part-time before they get enough fans to buy their books and make it worthwhile to transition over to full-time novelist. My blessing is that I have a loving wife who supports my endeavour 100%, so even if it takes 5-6 years, I'm in this for the long haul.
That's my inspirational Monday afternoon post :) I'm going to take a break and watch some shows!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
More Old School
Ok, so...I've been on an old-school kick recently. I'm in the middle of the downtime between all my favorite shows (everything is ending in May, and none of the shows we follow start up again until late fall), and I'm just about wrapped up with Stargate: SG-1. I was going to watch Stargate: Atlantis next, in order to prep for Stargate: Universe this fall, but I decided to take a drastic U-turn and go back to one of the original shows: Star Trek.
"WHAT!?" you gasp in disbelief. "How can you not have watched the single greatest science fiction show of all time?!"
First of all, I wasn't born. Second of all, I was never into Star Trek that much. I caught a few episodes of all of the other spin offs, including a brief period where I actually followed Deep Space Nine and Voyager, but that was about it. So I decided I'm going to go back and watch the entire sequence of shows, starting with the very first season of the first first show, the Original Star Trek. After that I'll slog my way through Next Gen, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.
In the meantime I'll also finish up Stargate and wait for new seasons of Dexter, True Blood, Burn Notice, and all the other shows we follow.
I've got my work cut out for me. Good thing I have plenty of spare time on my hands!
"WHAT!?" you gasp in disbelief. "How can you not have watched the single greatest science fiction show of all time?!"
First of all, I wasn't born. Second of all, I was never into Star Trek that much. I caught a few episodes of all of the other spin offs, including a brief period where I actually followed Deep Space Nine and Voyager, but that was about it. So I decided I'm going to go back and watch the entire sequence of shows, starting with the very first season of the first first show, the Original Star Trek. After that I'll slog my way through Next Gen, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.
In the meantime I'll also finish up Stargate and wait for new seasons of Dexter, True Blood, Burn Notice, and all the other shows we follow.
I've got my work cut out for me. Good thing I have plenty of spare time on my hands!
Old School Games vs. New School Games
In the past few years I have been sorely disappointed by the amount of content that games are putting out. Having been an avid gamer now for roughly 25 years, I've experienced most of the game world since the inception of MUDs, the first gaming systems, and so on and so forth.
To highlight a few of the games I've played in the last year: Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, just to name a few. And while those games have great graphics and awesome cinema sequences, the amount of gameplay is crap. Not a single one of those games gave me more than 20 hours of gameplay. I beat all of them within 2 gaming sessions, three at the most (Mass Effect was 3).
The point is, I got to thinking about the games of yesterday. One in particular that stands out, and is regularly pointed to as the crowning achievement of RPGs, is Baldur's Gate II. The game has roughly 120 hours of MAIN questlines and over 100 hours of additional side quests, bringing your total game time to over 220 hours if you play through the side quests for your party members and class quests.
Games today boast 40 hours of gameplay at most when they market the games. Fallout 3, for example, boasted 40 hours of gameplay. I beat the game in 14 hours. I know a friend who beat it in 9 hours. Now, granted, that's doing mostly only the main questlines, but for the main questlines to be beatable within a single game session? Pathetic!
To top it off, the game studios charge 60-70 bucks a pop for a few hours of entertainment. Back in the day I could spend 50 bucks on a game and know that I was going to get WEEKS of entertainment out of it. Now, I'm lucky if I get two days out of my favorite games.
I re-installed BG2 the other day and I'm already 20 hours into it and nowhere near the 120 hours of main questlines offered. The game is nearly 10 years old but the world graphics are still fairly good (character graphics are, sadly, not), and it just got me thinking about how epic the games of yesterday were compared to the crap that gets farmed out these days. Sure, the modern games LOOK great, and are fairly entertaining, but you don't get anywhere near the bang for your buck that you used to get.
Some games have multiplayer aspects that can make up for the lack of a single player element. Games such as Halo 3, sure. But what about the single player games? The closest thing I've come to old-school was Neverwinter Nights II, which gave me about a week's worth of play, doing 3-4 hours per session.
I'm looking forward to Dragon Age: Origins, but the foremost thought in my mind is the thought: Is the game going to give me more than 2 or 3 days of gameplay? I know it's being developed by Bioware, but it's the post-EA buyout Bioware, the same company who put out Mass Effect, which is one of the games I'm complaining about for its lack of substance.
Don't get me wrong...I loved Mass Effect. It was fun, it was breath-takingly beautiful, and I've played it through 4 times so far, twice on the X-box and twice on the updated PC version. However, the storyline is almost an exact copy of Babylon 5 (ancient race of beings comes back thousands of years later to wipe out everything yet again; a central "space station" where all of the races have their diplomatic meetings; I could go on), and it was too damn short.
I know that things have changed over the years, and I do appreciate the beauty of modern games in high def, but I seriously miss the games that had me spending 2-3 weeks worth of gaming sessions to beat. I haven't been sucked into a game since Baldur's Gate II, or an MMORPG outside of EQ1 and Vanguard, the only two MMORPGs I feel had substance behind them. But that's a topic for another day :)
To highlight a few of the games I've played in the last year: Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, just to name a few. And while those games have great graphics and awesome cinema sequences, the amount of gameplay is crap. Not a single one of those games gave me more than 20 hours of gameplay. I beat all of them within 2 gaming sessions, three at the most (Mass Effect was 3).
The point is, I got to thinking about the games of yesterday. One in particular that stands out, and is regularly pointed to as the crowning achievement of RPGs, is Baldur's Gate II. The game has roughly 120 hours of MAIN questlines and over 100 hours of additional side quests, bringing your total game time to over 220 hours if you play through the side quests for your party members and class quests.
Games today boast 40 hours of gameplay at most when they market the games. Fallout 3, for example, boasted 40 hours of gameplay. I beat the game in 14 hours. I know a friend who beat it in 9 hours. Now, granted, that's doing mostly only the main questlines, but for the main questlines to be beatable within a single game session? Pathetic!
To top it off, the game studios charge 60-70 bucks a pop for a few hours of entertainment. Back in the day I could spend 50 bucks on a game and know that I was going to get WEEKS of entertainment out of it. Now, I'm lucky if I get two days out of my favorite games.
I re-installed BG2 the other day and I'm already 20 hours into it and nowhere near the 120 hours of main questlines offered. The game is nearly 10 years old but the world graphics are still fairly good (character graphics are, sadly, not), and it just got me thinking about how epic the games of yesterday were compared to the crap that gets farmed out these days. Sure, the modern games LOOK great, and are fairly entertaining, but you don't get anywhere near the bang for your buck that you used to get.
Some games have multiplayer aspects that can make up for the lack of a single player element. Games such as Halo 3, sure. But what about the single player games? The closest thing I've come to old-school was Neverwinter Nights II, which gave me about a week's worth of play, doing 3-4 hours per session.
I'm looking forward to Dragon Age: Origins, but the foremost thought in my mind is the thought: Is the game going to give me more than 2 or 3 days of gameplay? I know it's being developed by Bioware, but it's the post-EA buyout Bioware, the same company who put out Mass Effect, which is one of the games I'm complaining about for its lack of substance.
Don't get me wrong...I loved Mass Effect. It was fun, it was breath-takingly beautiful, and I've played it through 4 times so far, twice on the X-box and twice on the updated PC version. However, the storyline is almost an exact copy of Babylon 5 (ancient race of beings comes back thousands of years later to wipe out everything yet again; a central "space station" where all of the races have their diplomatic meetings; I could go on), and it was too damn short.
I know that things have changed over the years, and I do appreciate the beauty of modern games in high def, but I seriously miss the games that had me spending 2-3 weeks worth of gaming sessions to beat. I haven't been sucked into a game since Baldur's Gate II, or an MMORPG outside of EQ1 and Vanguard, the only two MMORPGs I feel had substance behind them. But that's a topic for another day :)
Friday, April 24, 2009
Ponderings (how many of these can you have!?)
Not much new on the home front. Been busy with freelance projects and looking ahead to how the rest of the year is going to play out. Mostly I'm keen on getting one of our credit cards paid off by the end of May, after which my only concern is novel work and short story work.
I started doing freelancing as part of my resume-building process on the way to landing an agent for my first novel, when it's completed. It's hard enough to get a literary agent to read your work if you are a short story writer, and nearly impossible these days if you are a nobody without anything to your credit. When I decided to start doing this for a living I set a few goals for myself, the most important being "have 18-24 months of freelancing and/or short story sales" prior to searching for an agent.
To-date, I'm coming up on the 14 month mark as a successful freelance writer. In the meantime I've published one short story professionally, and I've got 5 in circulation right now looking for a home. However, somewhere along the way I got sidetracked with the money, and my novel work got left to the side. The last time I worked on it was about 6 weeks ago, although I did write a short story about a month ago over a two day period when I was in between freelance projects.
First it was needing new computers after settling in. Then we needed a new digital camera. Then we wanted an elliptical/cross trainer for the house. Then I started looking at the fact that I was making 1k a month doing this part time and I said hmmmm, why not pay off our 4.5k worth of credit card debt and be 100% debt free?
We are lucky in that neither one of us has to work full time. The apartment is paid for, she works 15 hours a week, I work about the same, and her money pays our living expenses and entertainment. She's a full time student, and I'm writing for a living. If I wanted to pursue this full-time I could make a very healthy living at it, especially considering every penny I make goes straight into the bank account, not towards bills. It still gets spent on household and fluff shit, but that's what money's for, right? Savings are great, but you also need things or there's no point to having worked for the cash in the first place :)
Had a great hour long talk with Evy last night on our way back from the park about outline details for the rest of this book and the next several. I've got 11 chapters written so far, plus a prologue, and I'm sitting at around 70k words. I'm shooting for 30 chapters for the first novel, so it will be around 200k words when it's done, give or take. Plans for 5 in this series, so far. However, I started looking at the plotline for book one and realized I had a seriously unrealistic hole in the plot I hadn't seen before, so we discussed ways to re-write a couple of chapter portions in order to tie it up realistically and move back to the original plan. Sometimes two heads are better than one, ya know?
I've also already outlined two sci-fi novels and I'm starting to have the initial plans for another fantasy series after this first one gets done. One thing I'm not doing with the first series is trying to write an "epic" high fantasy series. I'm shooting for high fantasy, but not necessarily epic. I don't want to try for a Robert Jordan-esque series on my first try because let's face it, I'm not a seasoned author. I want to take a less aggressive approach and hone my craft via short stories and a few lesser novels before I attempt my "great work", if you catch my drift. Still, things are starting to come together and if it all pans out, I'll be spending 2010-2015 working on my first fantasy series, then 2015-2020 working on a couple of sci-fi novels and sundries, with a more detailed fantasy work coming in 2020 after I've had 10 years or so to work at being an author. I've still got a lot to learn in terms of plot development, character development, and the overall writing process.
But then again, who knows? Maybe my first series will evolve, sell thousands of copies, and become such a cash cow that I do like Terry Brooks or Raymond Feist and milk the series for every last drop I can get out of it.
I started doing freelancing as part of my resume-building process on the way to landing an agent for my first novel, when it's completed. It's hard enough to get a literary agent to read your work if you are a short story writer, and nearly impossible these days if you are a nobody without anything to your credit. When I decided to start doing this for a living I set a few goals for myself, the most important being "have 18-24 months of freelancing and/or short story sales" prior to searching for an agent.
To-date, I'm coming up on the 14 month mark as a successful freelance writer. In the meantime I've published one short story professionally, and I've got 5 in circulation right now looking for a home. However, somewhere along the way I got sidetracked with the money, and my novel work got left to the side. The last time I worked on it was about 6 weeks ago, although I did write a short story about a month ago over a two day period when I was in between freelance projects.
First it was needing new computers after settling in. Then we needed a new digital camera. Then we wanted an elliptical/cross trainer for the house. Then I started looking at the fact that I was making 1k a month doing this part time and I said hmmmm, why not pay off our 4.5k worth of credit card debt and be 100% debt free?
We are lucky in that neither one of us has to work full time. The apartment is paid for, she works 15 hours a week, I work about the same, and her money pays our living expenses and entertainment. She's a full time student, and I'm writing for a living. If I wanted to pursue this full-time I could make a very healthy living at it, especially considering every penny I make goes straight into the bank account, not towards bills. It still gets spent on household and fluff shit, but that's what money's for, right? Savings are great, but you also need things or there's no point to having worked for the cash in the first place :)
Had a great hour long talk with Evy last night on our way back from the park about outline details for the rest of this book and the next several. I've got 11 chapters written so far, plus a prologue, and I'm sitting at around 70k words. I'm shooting for 30 chapters for the first novel, so it will be around 200k words when it's done, give or take. Plans for 5 in this series, so far. However, I started looking at the plotline for book one and realized I had a seriously unrealistic hole in the plot I hadn't seen before, so we discussed ways to re-write a couple of chapter portions in order to tie it up realistically and move back to the original plan. Sometimes two heads are better than one, ya know?
I've also already outlined two sci-fi novels and I'm starting to have the initial plans for another fantasy series after this first one gets done. One thing I'm not doing with the first series is trying to write an "epic" high fantasy series. I'm shooting for high fantasy, but not necessarily epic. I don't want to try for a Robert Jordan-esque series on my first try because let's face it, I'm not a seasoned author. I want to take a less aggressive approach and hone my craft via short stories and a few lesser novels before I attempt my "great work", if you catch my drift. Still, things are starting to come together and if it all pans out, I'll be spending 2010-2015 working on my first fantasy series, then 2015-2020 working on a couple of sci-fi novels and sundries, with a more detailed fantasy work coming in 2020 after I've had 10 years or so to work at being an author. I've still got a lot to learn in terms of plot development, character development, and the overall writing process.
But then again, who knows? Maybe my first series will evolve, sell thousands of copies, and become such a cash cow that I do like Terry Brooks or Raymond Feist and milk the series for every last drop I can get out of it.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The World is your Oyster: Part Four
How do you stay competitive in a global market?
By being willing to do work that sometimes requires getting your hands dirty.
"But I have standards!", you decree. "A minimum rate that I refuse to go below, because otherwise I'm bastardizing the freelance market!"
Standards are great. And it's important to have them. However, the key is to have realistic standards. In the face of a global recession, where people's jobs are getting cut left and right, wages being reduced, or hours-per-week cut down, people are struggling to find the funds to pay all the bills. Everyone is feeling the crunch. And in the face of such a global issue, refusing to evolve with the times is bad for your health. As in, lack of food on your table or roof over your head bad.
If you research actors, business owners, authors, or anyone with money to their name, they almost all have a background of doing dirty work at some point in their history. By dirty work I mean the kind of work that you would consider beneath yourself, whether it be due to the amount of money it pays per hour or how much work it involves. But everyone starts somewhere, and while your standards most certainly evolved over time as you gained the respect of your peers and experience in your chosen industry, in much the same way you have to be able to adapt to the changing of the tides when the weather isn't blowing so fair in your direction.
I regularly see freelance writers complaining about a lack of work. In the same breath they criticize those writers who work jobs that pay lower than what the complainers deem "acceptable". They also go on to state they they refuse to work for lower than X. That's great, if you have a spouse who is supplementing your income or if you have a pension or can survive on part-time income. Because let's face it, in today's global climate charging 75 dollars an hour is going to get you part-time work at best, unless you happen to be in an extremely niche market with a Masters degree or 15+ years experience in that particular niche (a sports writer for the NY Times would be someone I consider a niche writer with such experience as to justify those rates). However, if you are average Joe, you have to be more realistic in your approach.
No millionaire out there would have become a millionaire by only accepting the jobs that paid what they considered to be acceptable. Part of building up your empire is the willingness to work hard for your money, and to sometimes do work that might be considered beneath you simply because of the long term effects. Take an actor who agrees to do a project for free, agreeing to a profit sharing program. He's taking a risk doing the project for no money, but because his name is attached to it, then the chances are that fans of his other work will come see it, which will drive up the percentage. In much the same way, freelance writers should be looking at those low paying jobs and using them to their advantage.
Again, standards are great to have. Everyone has them. I certainly do. But the important thing to remember is that if your standards are getting in the way of you putting food on the table for your family or paying the rent/mortgage, then perhaps you need to adjust your standards to adapt with the times. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk without an umbrella while it's pouring down rain and shouting at the top of your lungs "it's not raining, it's not raining!" doesn't change the fact that it is, in fact, raining. You can put your foot down as much as you want and say "my rates don't have to change!" but if you are suffering from a lack of work because your standards haven't adjust to the times, you aren't benefiting anyone. You certainly aren't benefiting yourself, and you aren't benefiting a client because you are refusing quality work.
Adaption is key. The willingness to be flexible. Gas prices rise and fall. Housing markets fluctuate. Banks adjust their interest rates. Employers give and take away raises. We are in a time of fiscal instability, and the waters are troubled. You have to be willing to adapt if you are going to make it through until the waters calm.
Be your own judge. If you have a bottom line you don't like to go under, that's all well and good, but the moment that bottom line starts interfering with your ability to put food on the table, you should re-evaluate your position in the grand scheme of things and be willing to adjust to the global market. And last but not least, don't allow yourself to be arrogant. There are millions of writers across the globe who are just as talented as you or I, who are more than willing to do the jobs for lower rates. That's the nature of the global beast. However, I'm more interested in putting food on my plate than I am on putting it on the plate of someone in another country, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get that job.
By being willing to do work that sometimes requires getting your hands dirty.
"But I have standards!", you decree. "A minimum rate that I refuse to go below, because otherwise I'm bastardizing the freelance market!"
Standards are great. And it's important to have them. However, the key is to have realistic standards. In the face of a global recession, where people's jobs are getting cut left and right, wages being reduced, or hours-per-week cut down, people are struggling to find the funds to pay all the bills. Everyone is feeling the crunch. And in the face of such a global issue, refusing to evolve with the times is bad for your health. As in, lack of food on your table or roof over your head bad.
If you research actors, business owners, authors, or anyone with money to their name, they almost all have a background of doing dirty work at some point in their history. By dirty work I mean the kind of work that you would consider beneath yourself, whether it be due to the amount of money it pays per hour or how much work it involves. But everyone starts somewhere, and while your standards most certainly evolved over time as you gained the respect of your peers and experience in your chosen industry, in much the same way you have to be able to adapt to the changing of the tides when the weather isn't blowing so fair in your direction.
I regularly see freelance writers complaining about a lack of work. In the same breath they criticize those writers who work jobs that pay lower than what the complainers deem "acceptable". They also go on to state they they refuse to work for lower than X. That's great, if you have a spouse who is supplementing your income or if you have a pension or can survive on part-time income. Because let's face it, in today's global climate charging 75 dollars an hour is going to get you part-time work at best, unless you happen to be in an extremely niche market with a Masters degree or 15+ years experience in that particular niche (a sports writer for the NY Times would be someone I consider a niche writer with such experience as to justify those rates). However, if you are average Joe, you have to be more realistic in your approach.
No millionaire out there would have become a millionaire by only accepting the jobs that paid what they considered to be acceptable. Part of building up your empire is the willingness to work hard for your money, and to sometimes do work that might be considered beneath you simply because of the long term effects. Take an actor who agrees to do a project for free, agreeing to a profit sharing program. He's taking a risk doing the project for no money, but because his name is attached to it, then the chances are that fans of his other work will come see it, which will drive up the percentage. In much the same way, freelance writers should be looking at those low paying jobs and using them to their advantage.
Again, standards are great to have. Everyone has them. I certainly do. But the important thing to remember is that if your standards are getting in the way of you putting food on the table for your family or paying the rent/mortgage, then perhaps you need to adjust your standards to adapt with the times. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk without an umbrella while it's pouring down rain and shouting at the top of your lungs "it's not raining, it's not raining!" doesn't change the fact that it is, in fact, raining. You can put your foot down as much as you want and say "my rates don't have to change!" but if you are suffering from a lack of work because your standards haven't adjust to the times, you aren't benefiting anyone. You certainly aren't benefiting yourself, and you aren't benefiting a client because you are refusing quality work.
Adaption is key. The willingness to be flexible. Gas prices rise and fall. Housing markets fluctuate. Banks adjust their interest rates. Employers give and take away raises. We are in a time of fiscal instability, and the waters are troubled. You have to be willing to adapt if you are going to make it through until the waters calm.
Be your own judge. If you have a bottom line you don't like to go under, that's all well and good, but the moment that bottom line starts interfering with your ability to put food on the table, you should re-evaluate your position in the grand scheme of things and be willing to adjust to the global market. And last but not least, don't allow yourself to be arrogant. There are millions of writers across the globe who are just as talented as you or I, who are more than willing to do the jobs for lower rates. That's the nature of the global beast. However, I'm more interested in putting food on my plate than I am on putting it on the plate of someone in another country, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get that job.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Shows We Love, part II
So at the moment we are watching the latest season of The Tudors, as well as wrapping up the latest Heroes season. We are also following Castle, Lost, and Dollhouse, as well as Fringe and Legend of the Seeker. Waiting on the next season of Dexter, True Blood, Burn Notice, and the new series of Caprica next year. Among others which I might have forgotten, since we follow so many.
In my spare time I watch older shows that I didn't catch the first time around. I'm in season 7 of Stargate: SG-1, but I watch that one by myself. And recently I decided to watch Deadwood, which I didn't watch the first time around because I was too busy with Rome.
I'm enthralled. Deadwood was an amazing show. I've only got a few episodes left in season 3, and I know it's the end of it because the show was cancelled, but I've been in awe over the acting and the dialogue since day one. Of particular note is Bard Dourif's epic rant at God in the end of season 1, when he is questioning God's motives for letting the preacher man live on despite his tumor, and remembering the cries on the battlefield when he served in the Civil War. His screams as he remembers the man crying out for his mother, "Mommy, mommy, they shot my leg off!" was simply breath-taking. I literally watched the scene twice because I was so moved by his performance. In all actuality I have to say it ranks in my top 3 performances of all time.
However, Ian McShane's role is simply beyond words. This is a character you love to hate, and hate to love. His dead-pan delivery of dialogue and the dry wit infused behind the most convoluted sentences laced with "fucks" and "cocksuckers", is simply a wonderment to behold. The speeches he gives while on the receiving end of a blowjob by the whores in his employ are enough to leave my jaw hinged wide. Here is an actor worthy of the title.
A lot of people have given offense over the amount of language in the film, but you have to consider the fact that it's a modern interpretation of the language back then. It was a lawless camp, not a civilized city or town, and it sounded corny to have the characters talking in period speech, using "goldarn" and otherwise. Instead, they updated it to a more modern variety, so that the modern audience would understand the nature of the camp, and the vulgarity of it all. The sheer rawness of the Wild West, the ruthlessness, the lack of human decency.
I have to say that Deadwood is ranking in my top 5 favorite shows of all time. Maybe even my top three. I have sat here and poured through the first two seasons in a matter of days during my spare time and I have been in awe the entire time. While many of the actors give standard performances, those given by Brad Dourif, Ian McShane, and William Sanderson are way beyond average. Sanderson's personal discussions while in character as E. B. Farnum are a dizzying wonder to watch as the character wanders from self-musing to loathing of the townsfolk, and McShane's character of Al Swearengen clearly carries the show. As for Brad Dourif, I honestly think this is one of his crowning achievements as an actor. He's done a lot of guest spots over the years, but I have never seen him act with such vigor as on this show. I'm tempted to see if I can find a way to contact him and write a message of adulation because I've been awe-struck by his scenes here.
In any case, what an amazing show.
In my spare time I watch older shows that I didn't catch the first time around. I'm in season 7 of Stargate: SG-1, but I watch that one by myself. And recently I decided to watch Deadwood, which I didn't watch the first time around because I was too busy with Rome.
I'm enthralled. Deadwood was an amazing show. I've only got a few episodes left in season 3, and I know it's the end of it because the show was cancelled, but I've been in awe over the acting and the dialogue since day one. Of particular note is Bard Dourif's epic rant at God in the end of season 1, when he is questioning God's motives for letting the preacher man live on despite his tumor, and remembering the cries on the battlefield when he served in the Civil War. His screams as he remembers the man crying out for his mother, "Mommy, mommy, they shot my leg off!" was simply breath-taking. I literally watched the scene twice because I was so moved by his performance. In all actuality I have to say it ranks in my top 3 performances of all time.
However, Ian McShane's role is simply beyond words. This is a character you love to hate, and hate to love. His dead-pan delivery of dialogue and the dry wit infused behind the most convoluted sentences laced with "fucks" and "cocksuckers", is simply a wonderment to behold. The speeches he gives while on the receiving end of a blowjob by the whores in his employ are enough to leave my jaw hinged wide. Here is an actor worthy of the title.
A lot of people have given offense over the amount of language in the film, but you have to consider the fact that it's a modern interpretation of the language back then. It was a lawless camp, not a civilized city or town, and it sounded corny to have the characters talking in period speech, using "goldarn" and otherwise. Instead, they updated it to a more modern variety, so that the modern audience would understand the nature of the camp, and the vulgarity of it all. The sheer rawness of the Wild West, the ruthlessness, the lack of human decency.
I have to say that Deadwood is ranking in my top 5 favorite shows of all time. Maybe even my top three. I have sat here and poured through the first two seasons in a matter of days during my spare time and I have been in awe the entire time. While many of the actors give standard performances, those given by Brad Dourif, Ian McShane, and William Sanderson are way beyond average. Sanderson's personal discussions while in character as E. B. Farnum are a dizzying wonder to watch as the character wanders from self-musing to loathing of the townsfolk, and McShane's character of Al Swearengen clearly carries the show. As for Brad Dourif, I honestly think this is one of his crowning achievements as an actor. He's done a lot of guest spots over the years, but I have never seen him act with such vigor as on this show. I'm tempted to see if I can find a way to contact him and write a message of adulation because I've been awe-struck by his scenes here.
In any case, what an amazing show.
Summer Projects
So, on top of working on my novel and short stories (which will hopefully begin again in May, providing I don't have any lucrative projects dropped into my lap), I'm planning on creating an e-cookbook. I've already saved up over two dozen recipes, and I'm shooting for 100 recipes for this first try.
Along with combining Mediterranean recipes I've come across in my travels, I'm also going to include traditional Turkish and traditional Bulgarian recipes, with the main focus being on heart-healthy foods. There'll be some Mexican dishes in there as well, and background information on the food products being used.
The beauty of doing something like this is it doesn't take me any extra time, other than compiling the information and doing some of the graphic design work...which I may end up shopping out. I cook 4-5 times a week as it is, and we've been compiling our favorite healthy recipes as well as snapping pictures of the cooking process and the "after" shots, to include in the book. Really the only time investment is in the compilation process, because since we are already cooking the food, it's not like we have to do research in advance.
And it's something fun. I don't expect to generate a ton of money from the project, I'm mostly doing it for fun and for additional writing credits to my name. E-publishing is rising dramatically, and with the latest Kindle out, it's only getting more lucrative. I know several people who are making 1500 a month extra simply from informative e-books, and I'd like to hop on the bandwagon and see if we can't generate some additional income as well.
E-publishing still isn't large enough to cannibalize paper publishing, so I'm still not exactly keen on publishing my novel via E-book format. However, recipes are great in e-format because: They don't take up any space on a shelf; you can store thousands of recipes on your computer, vs. the limited space on your countertop/book shelf; it's far more convenient to scroll through your Kindle to a recipe than it is to bring out the 10 lb cook book and flip through to the right tab; it's keeping up with the modern trends and trying to stay on top of the technology as it moves ahead.
Short stories I could care less where or how they get published, simply because it's credits and writing experience that helps me become a better writer. Speaking of which, don't forget that "Medallions of Lashiva" is out in the May issue of Flashing Swords Press!
Along with combining Mediterranean recipes I've come across in my travels, I'm also going to include traditional Turkish and traditional Bulgarian recipes, with the main focus being on heart-healthy foods. There'll be some Mexican dishes in there as well, and background information on the food products being used.
The beauty of doing something like this is it doesn't take me any extra time, other than compiling the information and doing some of the graphic design work...which I may end up shopping out. I cook 4-5 times a week as it is, and we've been compiling our favorite healthy recipes as well as snapping pictures of the cooking process and the "after" shots, to include in the book. Really the only time investment is in the compilation process, because since we are already cooking the food, it's not like we have to do research in advance.
And it's something fun. I don't expect to generate a ton of money from the project, I'm mostly doing it for fun and for additional writing credits to my name. E-publishing is rising dramatically, and with the latest Kindle out, it's only getting more lucrative. I know several people who are making 1500 a month extra simply from informative e-books, and I'd like to hop on the bandwagon and see if we can't generate some additional income as well.
E-publishing still isn't large enough to cannibalize paper publishing, so I'm still not exactly keen on publishing my novel via E-book format. However, recipes are great in e-format because: They don't take up any space on a shelf; you can store thousands of recipes on your computer, vs. the limited space on your countertop/book shelf; it's far more convenient to scroll through your Kindle to a recipe than it is to bring out the 10 lb cook book and flip through to the right tab; it's keeping up with the modern trends and trying to stay on top of the technology as it moves ahead.
Short stories I could care less where or how they get published, simply because it's credits and writing experience that helps me become a better writer. Speaking of which, don't forget that "Medallions of Lashiva" is out in the May issue of Flashing Swords Press!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Burning the midnight oil
11:30 p .m. and I just finished my writing for the day. Talk about slacking :)
The topic I was referencing earlier that we were discussing last night before going to bed was this:
The average American's cost of living is 2k USD a month. If they live in a place like Manhattan or San Fransisco, you can double that. That is the average, meaning that some people live for less, while others live for more. The point is...the average is 2k USD a month.
In this part of the world, specifically Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin regions, the cost of living is dramatically lower. Try less than half. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but the primary ones are:
Americans usually call Europeans lazy. I call them relaxed. People here understand there are far more important things in life than accumulating tons of useless shit that gets stored in an attic or thrown out in two years when you are ready to upgrade to the next. Europeans enjoy naps in the afternoon, 4-5 hour work days, rich cultural history, longer lives because they have less stress and healthier diets, and at the end of the day they still make the same amount of money.
Sure, Americans might have tons of gadgets and toys, but at what cost? Frankly, I much prefer the more relaxed lifestyle that you can have in Europe.
That's the short version :)
The topic I was referencing earlier that we were discussing last night before going to bed was this:
The average American's cost of living is 2k USD a month. If they live in a place like Manhattan or San Fransisco, you can double that. That is the average, meaning that some people live for less, while others live for more. The point is...the average is 2k USD a month.
In this part of the world, specifically Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin regions, the cost of living is dramatically lower. Try less than half. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but the primary ones are:
- People in this region live on land or in houses/apartments that have been in the family for years and are 100% paid for. They don't have mortgages like most Americans.
- Public transportation is huge in Europe. In the aforementioned regions people drive scooters more often than cars, and public transportation or walking is most people's ticket. This means they don't have ridiculously high car payments, maintenance fees, gas, insurance, and other sundries.
- Europeans aren't addicted to consumption like Americans.
- Europeans aren't addicted to non-necessities, like a TV in every room of the house, an X-Box 360 + a Wii + a PS3 + a gaming computer for every member of the household. They also don't feel the need for iPhones or random thousand-dollar gadgets.
Americans usually call Europeans lazy. I call them relaxed. People here understand there are far more important things in life than accumulating tons of useless shit that gets stored in an attic or thrown out in two years when you are ready to upgrade to the next. Europeans enjoy naps in the afternoon, 4-5 hour work days, rich cultural history, longer lives because they have less stress and healthier diets, and at the end of the day they still make the same amount of money.
Sure, Americans might have tons of gadgets and toys, but at what cost? Frankly, I much prefer the more relaxed lifestyle that you can have in Europe.
That's the short version :)
Holidays
I love European holidays. Each country has so many of them, and unlike American holidays, a holiday in Europe means week-long vacations.
For example, Bulgaria has several week-long holidays. These are times when everyone--and I mean everyone--takes off work for a week at a time. These are national holidays. 4th of July = 3 day weekend? How about an independence celebration that lasts 7-8 days?
The hard part is knowing that my work waits for no holiday. If I'm under contract with a deadline, I work no matter what. It makes it difficult when everyone else around me is celebrating, but I console myself with the fact that I take time off on days that are typically working days for everyone else. Often times I will take a whole week off "just because", or if I feel like working more on a creative project rather than a paying project. So I suppose it's a switch-off.
Today is a holiday here, in ties with Easter. We are about to head over to Dessy's house for some grilling and lunch, then I'll come back and do some writing this afternoon. I've got another idea for a blog post but it'll have to wait till later. It's along the lines of something I talked about with Evy last night while going to bed, and how people in Europe tend to only work 4-5 hours a day vs. Americans working 8+ hours a day, and the reason behind it being how many people over here have property/homes that have been in the family for generations, thus reducing their need to work 8 hour days because they don't have property/mortgage payments.
Basically, most Americans have a cost of living that is around 3-4k for the average couple. The average European's cost of living is half of that, and in some cases, even less. The reasons why? More on that later.
For example, Bulgaria has several week-long holidays. These are times when everyone--and I mean everyone--takes off work for a week at a time. These are national holidays. 4th of July = 3 day weekend? How about an independence celebration that lasts 7-8 days?
The hard part is knowing that my work waits for no holiday. If I'm under contract with a deadline, I work no matter what. It makes it difficult when everyone else around me is celebrating, but I console myself with the fact that I take time off on days that are typically working days for everyone else. Often times I will take a whole week off "just because", or if I feel like working more on a creative project rather than a paying project. So I suppose it's a switch-off.
Today is a holiday here, in ties with Easter. We are about to head over to Dessy's house for some grilling and lunch, then I'll come back and do some writing this afternoon. I've got another idea for a blog post but it'll have to wait till later. It's along the lines of something I talked about with Evy last night while going to bed, and how people in Europe tend to only work 4-5 hours a day vs. Americans working 8+ hours a day, and the reason behind it being how many people over here have property/homes that have been in the family for generations, thus reducing their need to work 8 hour days because they don't have property/mortgage payments.
Basically, most Americans have a cost of living that is around 3-4k for the average couple. The average European's cost of living is half of that, and in some cases, even less. The reasons why? More on that later.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The World is Your Oyster: Part Three
Following along in the same vein as the first two parts of "The World is Your Oyster", I'd like to take a look at global networking.
I am a freelance writer. I do content generation, investigative journalism, blogs, informative articles, how-to articles, and a variety of topics and formats dependent upon the needs of my clients. I have successfully published creative fiction, and my goal is to eventually transition into full-time novel writing. However, publishing fiction, or even content for the Internet, is no longer the way it used to be in the 20th century.
In the 20th century there was a fairly straight-forward and nationally-accepted standard to submit your manuscripts: two spaces after periods, double lined, and be prepared to sit on your thumbs for 6-8 months while you waited for a publisher to get back to you on whether or not your manuscript had passed or failed.
Enter the 21st century. Manuscript formats abound. Every e-zine and paper magazine has a different submission guideline and format preference. In order to stay on top of things you have to learn how to be flexible, how to format your work into a variety of different ways to satisfy your client's needs. It doesn't just apply to manuscripts, either. Some people want you to submit work to their websites directly via their Wordpress login. Others want a Word document. Some prefer Open Office documents. Others still would rather have it in a PDF. Some want double spaced, others don't. Some want 12 point Arial, while others want 11 point Times New Roman. Some want underlined, some prefer italics.
The point is, everyone's needs are different. As a freelance writer you have to be flexible. You have to be willing to adjust in order to move ahead, and keep generating new clients.
I'm still a relative newbie at the freelance world. What I am not a newbie at is business in general. I ran a successful construction business in Colorado for several years, as well as spent time as a foreman and superintendent for my father's company, which was a multi-million dollar commercial construction company, from the time I was 19 years old. I've seen the ins and outs of corporate business for over 10 years now, and while I'm not a suit-and-tie white-collar worker, I've learned a few things over the years that have helped me become reasonably successful in my current position, despite the fact that I've only been doing freelance writing as a career now for a little over a year.
Being flexible is key. You have to be willing and able to adapt to the circumstances. Part of that is keeping up with the current document programs. Another is networking. I'm not a huge fan of social networking other than for keeping tabs with my friends, but I'll have to admit...in the past week or so of having started a Twitter account and linking things to my Facebook I've generated hundreds of hits on my blog, as well as expanded my client base. I've also been expanding my contacts on a global level, which brings me to the point I was beginning to make before I started to ramble.
Global networking. By this I mean expanding your client base, as well as your reader base, to include people on a global scale. Too often I see writers--especially writers in the United States--refusing to think outside of the box. Many times I see writers in the US assuming--incorrectly, I might add--that the only client base and reader base they need to worry about is the one at home. These same writers are the very ones I've talked about in my first two "The World is Your Oyster" discussions. They are the farmers standing in the field with their torches, the smoldering ashes of the threshing machines at their feet, proud in their stance, proud that they stood up for the principle of it all, proud that they refused to lower their rates to accommodate for global growth, but in the same breath railing against the advance of technology, woefully looking back to the past when they were the only ones capable of fulfilling their clients needs. And as they look around on the horizon they see thousands, nay millions!, of threshing machines springing up, churning out content at a pace that fills them with dread, because with mass production comes competition, and competition is bad.
Unless you can learn to adapt and move with the times.
It's happened before. Many times. The threshing machine. The construction market in America, inundated by illegal Mexican workers. The gold mines of America, the coal mines of Australia, full of Asian migrants, willing to work for pennies compared to the local residents. And in each and every scenario the businesses have gone with the cheapest labor, regardless of the principles. Why? Because it's business. The low man wins 9 times out of 10. And yes, you can try and hold to your principles and hope that you can win that 1 out of 10 to your side, but grit your teeth in frustrating as you watch the other 9 jobs go to people you feel aren't qualified to do the work.
The first mistake is in assuming that the competition--that is, the workers willing to do the work for what you consider pennies--is somehow less qualified. The second mistake is in dwelling on the past, holding your torch, railing against the threshing machines, the printing press, the digital camera, the hand-held camcorder. The world changes. The world evolves. Technology advances. Humanity moves forward, regardless of those few who stand staunch against the change, waving their torches and going fearlessly into the night.
Who does history remember? The laborers who burned the threshing machines, or the threshing machines themselves? The threshing machine, of course, because it advanced humanity. And in the case of today's environment, and the work place as it exists today, what will be remembered is that the Internet opened the doors of the entire world, allowing people who previously had little hope of advancing themselves beyond the restrictions of their economy and cultural differences the opportunity to suddenly embrace the fact that they are no different in fact than the very Western civilizations that have for years been the only ones at the top of the heap.
Should we embrace our brethren, or should we rail against them for becoming our competition? Many writers of today's generations are for the latter. Many writers in the US feel that their jobs are being unfairly shopped out to "paper mills" in unethical fashion, stealing jobs that should "rightfully" be theirs, and theirs alone. Such writers do not embrace humanity, they do not embrace change. They would have the world remain in repression, the only jobs existing being the ones they themselves work. They view the Internet as a threshing machine, ready to be burned in an attempt to keep evolution from occurring.
I am an advocate for the former. I met my wife specifically because the barriers of communication have been toppled with the advent of world-wide connectivity. I have been expanding my client base on a global scale, working with people from the UK, from Australia, from Taiwan, and from the US. I have met people from all of those countries, from Greece, from Italy, Germany, Sweden, and beyond. All of these people share a common purpose, a common goal: survival.
Should I alone bear the responsibility for dictating who is or isn't allowed to complete the tasks a client puts forth? How have I earned the right to do so, when my fellow writers--regardless of their location on this green Earth--are no less qualified than myself, and have no less of a right at competing for the jobs as I?
I have talked with many people in the recent weeks. I have met people in third world countries who do work for what many US writers consider pennies. Some US writers would have these jobs be eradicated because they believe it is perpetuating a system that undermines their own rates and forces them to adjust accordingly in order to be competitive. Who are they to judge what should or shouldn't be considered work, or relevant pay? If an employer pays a rate I find too low for my personal standards, I move along and find a client who pays what I want to make. The job I passed on will go to someone who needs the money, and perhaps to someone in a third world country where the USD is worth 3 times more than their local currency, allowing them to make triple what the average citizen makes. To me, the fact that such jobs exist and allow an individual the chance for opportunity supersedes my ability to judge. In much the same way I am sure there are those out there who pass over jobs I myself consider a fair wage with nothing more than a sneering glance and the thought of "I pity the poor wanker who would work a job for such pay."
One lady who posts at a community site I frequent gave a relative's position recently. He was one of those who valiantly stamps his foot down and says "I refuse to budge!". He has been unemployed for months, unable to provide for his family because his principles are outdated. His principles were those of a world before global networking, before global communication, before a global pool of employees for clients to choose from. His rates no longer apply because the market has gone on without him, has evolved beyond his comprehension while he remains mired in the muck of self-pride at the expense of his family.
As I sit here on this Sunday evening I would remind you fellow writers to think global. The world is your oyster. Global communication and global networking are key to the survival of your job, and your ability to adapt to the changes that are affecting our workplace on a daily basis. Embrace your fellow writers, regardless of where they hail from on the map. Be glad that they too can find work, even if it is at a wage you find below your present needs or standards. But do not judge, or dictate terms, or apply labels such as "ignorant" to those who are willing to work for rates you would not yourself. Be happy for the work you have, and be willing to adapt and evolve with the rest of the world.
Change is on the wind. Will you embrace the change, or stand alone in the dark, railing against the change with your sputtering torch in hand, the smoldering ashes of the threshing machine at your feet while the world moves on without you, leaving you in darkness as the flames of your torch are finally snuffed out by the wind?
I am a freelance writer. I do content generation, investigative journalism, blogs, informative articles, how-to articles, and a variety of topics and formats dependent upon the needs of my clients. I have successfully published creative fiction, and my goal is to eventually transition into full-time novel writing. However, publishing fiction, or even content for the Internet, is no longer the way it used to be in the 20th century.
In the 20th century there was a fairly straight-forward and nationally-accepted standard to submit your manuscripts: two spaces after periods, double lined, and be prepared to sit on your thumbs for 6-8 months while you waited for a publisher to get back to you on whether or not your manuscript had passed or failed.
Enter the 21st century. Manuscript formats abound. Every e-zine and paper magazine has a different submission guideline and format preference. In order to stay on top of things you have to learn how to be flexible, how to format your work into a variety of different ways to satisfy your client's needs. It doesn't just apply to manuscripts, either. Some people want you to submit work to their websites directly via their Wordpress login. Others want a Word document. Some prefer Open Office documents. Others still would rather have it in a PDF. Some want double spaced, others don't. Some want 12 point Arial, while others want 11 point Times New Roman. Some want underlined, some prefer italics.
The point is, everyone's needs are different. As a freelance writer you have to be flexible. You have to be willing to adjust in order to move ahead, and keep generating new clients.
I'm still a relative newbie at the freelance world. What I am not a newbie at is business in general. I ran a successful construction business in Colorado for several years, as well as spent time as a foreman and superintendent for my father's company, which was a multi-million dollar commercial construction company, from the time I was 19 years old. I've seen the ins and outs of corporate business for over 10 years now, and while I'm not a suit-and-tie white-collar worker, I've learned a few things over the years that have helped me become reasonably successful in my current position, despite the fact that I've only been doing freelance writing as a career now for a little over a year.
Being flexible is key. You have to be willing and able to adapt to the circumstances. Part of that is keeping up with the current document programs. Another is networking. I'm not a huge fan of social networking other than for keeping tabs with my friends, but I'll have to admit...in the past week or so of having started a Twitter account and linking things to my Facebook I've generated hundreds of hits on my blog, as well as expanded my client base. I've also been expanding my contacts on a global level, which brings me to the point I was beginning to make before I started to ramble.
Global networking. By this I mean expanding your client base, as well as your reader base, to include people on a global scale. Too often I see writers--especially writers in the United States--refusing to think outside of the box. Many times I see writers in the US assuming--incorrectly, I might add--that the only client base and reader base they need to worry about is the one at home. These same writers are the very ones I've talked about in my first two "The World is Your Oyster" discussions. They are the farmers standing in the field with their torches, the smoldering ashes of the threshing machines at their feet, proud in their stance, proud that they stood up for the principle of it all, proud that they refused to lower their rates to accommodate for global growth, but in the same breath railing against the advance of technology, woefully looking back to the past when they were the only ones capable of fulfilling their clients needs. And as they look around on the horizon they see thousands, nay millions!, of threshing machines springing up, churning out content at a pace that fills them with dread, because with mass production comes competition, and competition is bad.
Unless you can learn to adapt and move with the times.
It's happened before. Many times. The threshing machine. The construction market in America, inundated by illegal Mexican workers. The gold mines of America, the coal mines of Australia, full of Asian migrants, willing to work for pennies compared to the local residents. And in each and every scenario the businesses have gone with the cheapest labor, regardless of the principles. Why? Because it's business. The low man wins 9 times out of 10. And yes, you can try and hold to your principles and hope that you can win that 1 out of 10 to your side, but grit your teeth in frustrating as you watch the other 9 jobs go to people you feel aren't qualified to do the work.
The first mistake is in assuming that the competition--that is, the workers willing to do the work for what you consider pennies--is somehow less qualified. The second mistake is in dwelling on the past, holding your torch, railing against the threshing machines, the printing press, the digital camera, the hand-held camcorder. The world changes. The world evolves. Technology advances. Humanity moves forward, regardless of those few who stand staunch against the change, waving their torches and going fearlessly into the night.
Who does history remember? The laborers who burned the threshing machines, or the threshing machines themselves? The threshing machine, of course, because it advanced humanity. And in the case of today's environment, and the work place as it exists today, what will be remembered is that the Internet opened the doors of the entire world, allowing people who previously had little hope of advancing themselves beyond the restrictions of their economy and cultural differences the opportunity to suddenly embrace the fact that they are no different in fact than the very Western civilizations that have for years been the only ones at the top of the heap.
Should we embrace our brethren, or should we rail against them for becoming our competition? Many writers of today's generations are for the latter. Many writers in the US feel that their jobs are being unfairly shopped out to "paper mills" in unethical fashion, stealing jobs that should "rightfully" be theirs, and theirs alone. Such writers do not embrace humanity, they do not embrace change. They would have the world remain in repression, the only jobs existing being the ones they themselves work. They view the Internet as a threshing machine, ready to be burned in an attempt to keep evolution from occurring.
I am an advocate for the former. I met my wife specifically because the barriers of communication have been toppled with the advent of world-wide connectivity. I have been expanding my client base on a global scale, working with people from the UK, from Australia, from Taiwan, and from the US. I have met people from all of those countries, from Greece, from Italy, Germany, Sweden, and beyond. All of these people share a common purpose, a common goal: survival.
Should I alone bear the responsibility for dictating who is or isn't allowed to complete the tasks a client puts forth? How have I earned the right to do so, when my fellow writers--regardless of their location on this green Earth--are no less qualified than myself, and have no less of a right at competing for the jobs as I?
I have talked with many people in the recent weeks. I have met people in third world countries who do work for what many US writers consider pennies. Some US writers would have these jobs be eradicated because they believe it is perpetuating a system that undermines their own rates and forces them to adjust accordingly in order to be competitive. Who are they to judge what should or shouldn't be considered work, or relevant pay? If an employer pays a rate I find too low for my personal standards, I move along and find a client who pays what I want to make. The job I passed on will go to someone who needs the money, and perhaps to someone in a third world country where the USD is worth 3 times more than their local currency, allowing them to make triple what the average citizen makes. To me, the fact that such jobs exist and allow an individual the chance for opportunity supersedes my ability to judge. In much the same way I am sure there are those out there who pass over jobs I myself consider a fair wage with nothing more than a sneering glance and the thought of "I pity the poor wanker who would work a job for such pay."
One lady who posts at a community site I frequent gave a relative's position recently. He was one of those who valiantly stamps his foot down and says "I refuse to budge!". He has been unemployed for months, unable to provide for his family because his principles are outdated. His principles were those of a world before global networking, before global communication, before a global pool of employees for clients to choose from. His rates no longer apply because the market has gone on without him, has evolved beyond his comprehension while he remains mired in the muck of self-pride at the expense of his family.
As I sit here on this Sunday evening I would remind you fellow writers to think global. The world is your oyster. Global communication and global networking are key to the survival of your job, and your ability to adapt to the changes that are affecting our workplace on a daily basis. Embrace your fellow writers, regardless of where they hail from on the map. Be glad that they too can find work, even if it is at a wage you find below your present needs or standards. But do not judge, or dictate terms, or apply labels such as "ignorant" to those who are willing to work for rates you would not yourself. Be happy for the work you have, and be willing to adapt and evolve with the rest of the world.
Change is on the wind. Will you embrace the change, or stand alone in the dark, railing against the change with your sputtering torch in hand, the smoldering ashes of the threshing machine at your feet while the world moves on without you, leaving you in darkness as the flames of your torch are finally snuffed out by the wind?
meh
On a side note, my sourdough starter didn't turn out.
Not to fear, however. I've spent a few weeks perusing the sourdough website, and all of the posts about getting a starter going say that it can take a few tries to get it right and get one going.
The good thing is that my starter wasn't infected with bad bacteria. In fact, it was going great the first few days. However, once I progressed into the 7th day it became quite obvious that my starter had pretty much "died", in the sense that it wasn't active anymore. I'm not quite sure what went wrong but after reading the troubleshooting guide it could have been any number of reasons, from the fluctuation of temperature to simply a bad batch of flour that didn't have enough bacteria present. My 8th day batch had started to collect "hooch" on the surface, rather than growing, which means that the alcohol byproduct was collecting on the surface rather than the bacteria growing, which resulted in my starter dying.
No worries. I'll be starting another batch this week with the same flour, only trying a couple of different techniques to see if I can't get it to work this time. Some of the people on that website, even the veteran bakers, suggest that even they sometimes have starters that refuse to get going and simply need to be restarted, so I'm not losing hope, not in the least :) It was a first time try, and I'll be doing another one shortly.
Not to fear, however. I've spent a few weeks perusing the sourdough website, and all of the posts about getting a starter going say that it can take a few tries to get it right and get one going.
The good thing is that my starter wasn't infected with bad bacteria. In fact, it was going great the first few days. However, once I progressed into the 7th day it became quite obvious that my starter had pretty much "died", in the sense that it wasn't active anymore. I'm not quite sure what went wrong but after reading the troubleshooting guide it could have been any number of reasons, from the fluctuation of temperature to simply a bad batch of flour that didn't have enough bacteria present. My 8th day batch had started to collect "hooch" on the surface, rather than growing, which means that the alcohol byproduct was collecting on the surface rather than the bacteria growing, which resulted in my starter dying.
No worries. I'll be starting another batch this week with the same flour, only trying a couple of different techniques to see if I can't get it to work this time. Some of the people on that website, even the veteran bakers, suggest that even they sometimes have starters that refuse to get going and simply need to be restarted, so I'm not losing hope, not in the least :) It was a first time try, and I'll be doing another one shortly.
Another holiday bites the dust.
Another Easter past. Well, technically not yet, since it's still Sunday and we actually haven't gotten past the holiday yet, but since I likely won't have time to post tomorrow, I figured I'd sneak it in today.
This week's going to be a busy one. Tomorrow we have a BBQ lunch over at a friend's house, and we are going to be cleaning the cupboards in the kitchen of all the crap that's been accumulating in the years leading up to our moving here. Yes, it's scary...there's things in there we haven't even seen before because up until recently we weren't needing to utilize all of the cabinets. However, as we accumulate more kitchen accessories...space must be arranged.
Her mother is not a cook. She runs a multi-million dollar company. As a result, she eats out. Almost always. The only thing she cooks at home is rice or buckwheat, which is in essence boiling water and letting something soften. She is also a notorious buyer of things which are then subsequently forgotten about within a few days of the initial purchase, only to be shoved back into the darkness of a cabinet shelf to be left until the end of time.
We recently acquired a vegetable steamer. When I went to find space for it in one of the bottom cupboards...well let's just say I went on a cleaning frenzy and found myself confronted with UFOs (Unidentified foreign objects) of a nature that left me wondering if perhaps I shouldn't be wearing a HAZMAT suit. There were jars of substances that had easily been left in the darkness for longer than 8 years, and I am not joking in the least about the passage of time.
Her mom has been in this apartment for 26 years. The freezer has been defrosted once. Once, folks. Years ago. How many years, I'm afraid to know. All I do know is that I can only fit about two ice trays and one jar of coffee and one bag of frozen vegetables into its confines. The rest is solid ice. I'm terrified of defrosting that freezer. Lord knows what I'm going to find hidden beneath the surface. A frozen head? Freeze-dried rats from centuries past? Vegetables long forgotten, only to be discovered in a future where they would be categorized as prehistoric relics of an ancient history?
We've got our work cut out for us, that's for sure. On Tuesday we have a brief respite, then on Wednesday we have to dismantle the fold-a-bed that's been in this room for the past umpteen years, and deal with the arrival of our new bed and mattress. Another all-day project.
And somehow in the middle of all this, I've got to maintain my quota, find time to shop for a new desk for myself, an office chair, a grill for the balcony, shades for the bedroom, and somehow find time to get a repair man over here to discuss the ass-raping I'll be needing to prep for in terms of getting the AC unit in the living room moved and fixed.
So Easter, I salute you, for providing a brief respite from the terrifying possibilities that await me in the darker recesses of the month of April. I will cling to your fleeting bliss as I squint upwards, unsure if the light at the top of the hole I'm digging is getting smaller, or if my eyesight is simply dimming with old age.
This week's going to be a busy one. Tomorrow we have a BBQ lunch over at a friend's house, and we are going to be cleaning the cupboards in the kitchen of all the crap that's been accumulating in the years leading up to our moving here. Yes, it's scary...there's things in there we haven't even seen before because up until recently we weren't needing to utilize all of the cabinets. However, as we accumulate more kitchen accessories...space must be arranged.
Her mother is not a cook. She runs a multi-million dollar company. As a result, she eats out. Almost always. The only thing she cooks at home is rice or buckwheat, which is in essence boiling water and letting something soften. She is also a notorious buyer of things which are then subsequently forgotten about within a few days of the initial purchase, only to be shoved back into the darkness of a cabinet shelf to be left until the end of time.
We recently acquired a vegetable steamer. When I went to find space for it in one of the bottom cupboards...well let's just say I went on a cleaning frenzy and found myself confronted with UFOs (Unidentified foreign objects) of a nature that left me wondering if perhaps I shouldn't be wearing a HAZMAT suit. There were jars of substances that had easily been left in the darkness for longer than 8 years, and I am not joking in the least about the passage of time.
Her mom has been in this apartment for 26 years. The freezer has been defrosted once. Once, folks. Years ago. How many years, I'm afraid to know. All I do know is that I can only fit about two ice trays and one jar of coffee and one bag of frozen vegetables into its confines. The rest is solid ice. I'm terrified of defrosting that freezer. Lord knows what I'm going to find hidden beneath the surface. A frozen head? Freeze-dried rats from centuries past? Vegetables long forgotten, only to be discovered in a future where they would be categorized as prehistoric relics of an ancient history?
We've got our work cut out for us, that's for sure. On Tuesday we have a brief respite, then on Wednesday we have to dismantle the fold-a-bed that's been in this room for the past umpteen years, and deal with the arrival of our new bed and mattress. Another all-day project.
And somehow in the middle of all this, I've got to maintain my quota, find time to shop for a new desk for myself, an office chair, a grill for the balcony, shades for the bedroom, and somehow find time to get a repair man over here to discuss the ass-raping I'll be needing to prep for in terms of getting the AC unit in the living room moved and fixed.
So Easter, I salute you, for providing a brief respite from the terrifying possibilities that await me in the darker recesses of the month of April. I will cling to your fleeting bliss as I squint upwards, unsure if the light at the top of the hole I'm digging is getting smaller, or if my eyesight is simply dimming with old age.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Woot!
Our comfort foods arrived today. We started small, just getting a few things we wanted, like Ranch dressing, some French's mustard, salsa, and British malt vinegar (any other vinegar just won't do for chips/fries). I talked with the guy, Andrew, and I'll absolutely be using his services again. Specifically, I'm going to order some steaks and sausages, and some bacon.
I've also been looking at ordering some wine from Italy later on this summer. For personal use, of course, and specialty wines. Cabernet and Syrah I can get here, but there are Italian wines I cannot get here. I actually do miss the US wine stores, because Colorado in particular had some really good wine stores I could go to and stock up on things.
In any case...need to get my writing done for the day. We'll be gone most of Saturday and Sunday for the Easter holiday. Catch you later!
I've also been looking at ordering some wine from Italy later on this summer. For personal use, of course, and specialty wines. Cabernet and Syrah I can get here, but there are Italian wines I cannot get here. I actually do miss the US wine stores, because Colorado in particular had some really good wine stores I could go to and stock up on things.
In any case...need to get my writing done for the day. We'll be gone most of Saturday and Sunday for the Easter holiday. Catch you later!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Happy...Easter?
Bulgarians use a different calendar than most other countries. Instead, they use the "orthodox" calendar, which basically places the Easter weekend a week later than most of the other countries around the world.
So, as a result, the family get-together for us is happening this weekend. I have to say, I'm looking forward to it, because the food is simply scrumptious. There will be lamb, roasted to perfection, rice and chicken, a special holiday bread called kozunak (a sweet bread that can have fruit and nuts inside of it, and a mouth-watering crust that just melts), and plenty of wine, whiskey, and rakia for those souls brave enough to down the Bulgarian fire-water.
There will also be potato dishes, salads, and festivities. Good Friday last year we didn't make it back through the door of our apartment until nearly 5 a.m., and my mother-in-law only had one question for me when we were on the elevator on the way up: how are you still standing after all that whiskey?
For the record, I'm not a heavy drinker. However, I do enjoy my holiday partaking. I generally drink 2-3 bottles of wine per week, or 2 glasses per evening. I only drink liquor when we go out to restaurants or for holidays. I actually prefer rum (rum and Coke with a splash of lime juice is simply divine!) or Disaronno Amaretto on the rocks, but I've been known to toss back a whiskey with other people when the opportunity presents itself. Or a couple of cold brews.
However, my main enjoyment is wine, especially red. I am not a professional, merely an enthusiast. Not only are the health benefits of red wine multiple (when consumed in moderation and in part with a healthy diet), but I find the flavor simply delicious. I prefer dry reds vs. sweet reds. Chianti, Syrah/Shiraz, Cabernet...these are my typical favorites. However, there are many Bulgarian wines that I'm coming to enjoy, such as Mavrud and Melnik, or even the white wine, Traminer. My dream is to someday afford a nice little bed and breakfast venture on the southern coast of Italy and spend my retirement years enjoying the Italian wine and simple living of the Mediterranean, but we'll have to see if that pans out or not :)
In any case, this weekend I plan on being naughty and breaking my diet code and sampling some larger quantities than I normally do. It's a holiday, after all, and life isn't worth living unless you can enjoy a little cheating from time to time!
So, as a result, the family get-together for us is happening this weekend. I have to say, I'm looking forward to it, because the food is simply scrumptious. There will be lamb, roasted to perfection, rice and chicken, a special holiday bread called kozunak (a sweet bread that can have fruit and nuts inside of it, and a mouth-watering crust that just melts), and plenty of wine, whiskey, and rakia for those souls brave enough to down the Bulgarian fire-water.
There will also be potato dishes, salads, and festivities. Good Friday last year we didn't make it back through the door of our apartment until nearly 5 a.m., and my mother-in-law only had one question for me when we were on the elevator on the way up: how are you still standing after all that whiskey?
For the record, I'm not a heavy drinker. However, I do enjoy my holiday partaking. I generally drink 2-3 bottles of wine per week, or 2 glasses per evening. I only drink liquor when we go out to restaurants or for holidays. I actually prefer rum (rum and Coke with a splash of lime juice is simply divine!) or Disaronno Amaretto on the rocks, but I've been known to toss back a whiskey with other people when the opportunity presents itself. Or a couple of cold brews.
However, my main enjoyment is wine, especially red. I am not a professional, merely an enthusiast. Not only are the health benefits of red wine multiple (when consumed in moderation and in part with a healthy diet), but I find the flavor simply delicious. I prefer dry reds vs. sweet reds. Chianti, Syrah/Shiraz, Cabernet...these are my typical favorites. However, there are many Bulgarian wines that I'm coming to enjoy, such as Mavrud and Melnik, or even the white wine, Traminer. My dream is to someday afford a nice little bed and breakfast venture on the southern coast of Italy and spend my retirement years enjoying the Italian wine and simple living of the Mediterranean, but we'll have to see if that pans out or not :)
In any case, this weekend I plan on being naughty and breaking my diet code and sampling some larger quantities than I normally do. It's a holiday, after all, and life isn't worth living unless you can enjoy a little cheating from time to time!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
An Awesome Day.
So, to start off, I garnished a few followers on Twitter today. Not bad, for only having joined it the other night. Social networking FTW! And work went well, as per usual. The weather was nice, I got my workout routine in today (skipped yesterday because I was doing laundry), and I watched an episode of Deadwood (never watched it, but started it last night cuz all my shows are on hiatus right now, or coming to an end).
Then I saw I had a message in my in-box on Facebook. Hopped on over, and got a fabulous surprise. Apparently one of my articles over at Green Diva Mom had caught the eye of Cinzia, over at Stile Mediterraneo.
The article in question was Get To Know Olive Oil. Cinzia and her sister, Marika, run a website dedicated to the Mediterranean lifestyle. This includes everything to do with healthy eating, a Mediterranean diet, and olive oil. In fact, it was my article on olive oil that sparked her interest. Her sister is a cardiologist and she herself is a extra virgin olive oil professional. And while my article had a small error in it (I mistakenly called the cold-press method of extracting extra virgin olive oil a traditional method, but it's not...it's a modern method used to extract the purest version possible), she said she loved the article and its heart-healthy message. In addition, my recent article on The Mediterranean Diet also included many of the values she and her sister regularly promote through their website and daily life: healthy living through a traditional Mediterannean lifestyle and diet.
It was a special bonus for me to have my article get looked at by professionals in the field, and to be applauded for my choice in bringing health-related issues to the public eye. Since moving to Bulgaria I have begun a far healthier way of life than my time in the States. I lost 30 lbs when we initially came here, all from eating healthy and including extra virgin olive oil and Mediterranean diet habits into my routine. I'm still not as perfect as I'd like to be (McDonalds is a curse that I enjoy once or twice a month, damn those burgers and fries!), I've taken an avid interest in the Mediterranean diet specifically because of the health related side effects.
But I digress. It's extremely satisfying when you know that your work has reached out and touched someone in such a way. I'd like to give a shout out to Cinzia, and encourage you readers to check out her and her sister's website and maybe even schedule a trip to their Bed and Breakfast experience, where you can take a culinary course and enjoy a cultural week on the southern edge of Italy that will take your breath away.
Then I saw I had a message in my in-box on Facebook. Hopped on over, and got a fabulous surprise. Apparently one of my articles over at Green Diva Mom had caught the eye of Cinzia, over at Stile Mediterraneo.
The article in question was Get To Know Olive Oil. Cinzia and her sister, Marika, run a website dedicated to the Mediterranean lifestyle. This includes everything to do with healthy eating, a Mediterranean diet, and olive oil. In fact, it was my article on olive oil that sparked her interest. Her sister is a cardiologist and she herself is a extra virgin olive oil professional. And while my article had a small error in it (I mistakenly called the cold-press method of extracting extra virgin olive oil a traditional method, but it's not...it's a modern method used to extract the purest version possible), she said she loved the article and its heart-healthy message. In addition, my recent article on The Mediterranean Diet also included many of the values she and her sister regularly promote through their website and daily life: healthy living through a traditional Mediterannean lifestyle and diet.
It was a special bonus for me to have my article get looked at by professionals in the field, and to be applauded for my choice in bringing health-related issues to the public eye. Since moving to Bulgaria I have begun a far healthier way of life than my time in the States. I lost 30 lbs when we initially came here, all from eating healthy and including extra virgin olive oil and Mediterranean diet habits into my routine. I'm still not as perfect as I'd like to be (McDonalds is a curse that I enjoy once or twice a month, damn those burgers and fries!), I've taken an avid interest in the Mediterranean diet specifically because of the health related side effects.
But I digress. It's extremely satisfying when you know that your work has reached out and touched someone in such a way. I'd like to give a shout out to Cinzia, and encourage you readers to check out her and her sister's website and maybe even schedule a trip to their Bed and Breakfast experience, where you can take a culinary course and enjoy a cultural week on the southern edge of Italy that will take your breath away.
Social Networking ftw
So I broke down and got a Twitter account. You can Follow me by clicking on the widget down there on the right.
I've been using MySpace and Facebook for a couple of years, but mostly for friends and family. As my client and associate base grows, I'm expanding. I've pretty much stopped using MySpace (I find Facebook far more user-friendly and it seems that many, many more people my age use it vs. MySpace), but I'm still active on Facebook, so...
I've added a Facebook badge and a Twitter badge to my blog. Along with following my blog you can also keep up to date with me via my Facebook and Twitter. Facebook in particular has many pictures from our every-day life (many of which my wife puts up on her blog + her Facebook as well).
In any case...happy networking. I'm eating my breakfast and getting ready to settle in for an afternoon of writing. Cya on the flip side!
I've been using MySpace and Facebook for a couple of years, but mostly for friends and family. As my client and associate base grows, I'm expanding. I've pretty much stopped using MySpace (I find Facebook far more user-friendly and it seems that many, many more people my age use it vs. MySpace), but I'm still active on Facebook, so...
I've added a Facebook badge and a Twitter badge to my blog. Along with following my blog you can also keep up to date with me via my Facebook and Twitter. Facebook in particular has many pictures from our every-day life (many of which my wife puts up on her blog + her Facebook as well).
In any case...happy networking. I'm eating my breakfast and getting ready to settle in for an afternoon of writing. Cya on the flip side!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Compromise
Compromises. We all make them at some point or another in our lives. For better or for worse, they are a necessity at some point or another.
My compromise this month was trading work worth money now vs. work worth money later. In other words, the creative writing took a back seat while I focused on the large project that landed on my plate around the first of the month. I'm about halfway through the project and I'm on track for the May 1st deadline. The downside is I've not had the energy to do any chapter work on my novel. I'm sitting at 70k words (Prologue + 10 chapters), which is roughly 1/3 of the way done.
It's not that I haven't had the time. I have a few hours of spare time each day, but after sitting at the desk for 6-8 hours working on research, blogging, networking, e-mailing, and the 3-4 hours of freelance work I do, I just haven't had the energy to really work much on the novel this month. After typing 6-8k worth of words per day, I'm just burnt on sitting here and doing another 1500-2k for the novel. I've dabbled a bit here and there in chapter 11, but I'm only about 1200 words in, which is generally about half a session's worth for me. I'm a bit disgruntled about the fact that I've not done much work on the book since the beginning of March (March I only did 2 chapters), but I've been balancing that out with the fact that my freelance career has picked up to the point that if we stay on track, we'll be 100% debt free within a few months.
Comprehend debt free. A state I have not been in since I was a teenager. We only have 4.3k worth of debt left, and half of that will be gone by the end of May. I'm hoping the other half will be gone by the end of July. And then it's sweet freedom. No bills. Nothing left to pay but the living expenses of our day to day life, and the rest is sweet, bankable income.
I know I don't have a reason to rush on the novel. I've got several short stories in circulation and I've got steady work. It's more of a personal deadline. I really wanted to have a completed manuscript by Christmas. I can still do it, I think, but it's going to take some refinement of my schedule.
So it's a compromise. Sure, the work on my book is getting pushed back a bit, but it's for a good cause. We'll be 100% debt free within a few months, and that's a sweet, sweet goal. Not to mention, once that happens I can pick and choose my freelance projects around my novel schedule, rather than the other way around. And that means more time to focus on what it is that I really want to be doing, which is writing books for a living. Freelance writing is great, but it's the creative writing that I crave, that I thrive upon. I'm just happy that I've been blessed with this opportunity in the first place. I definitely don't intend to waste it.
And I'll be keeping people posted as my first professional short story comes out next month (May) in Flashing Swords Press. That's going to be a pretty cool day, to see my first ever short story in actual print.
My compromise this month was trading work worth money now vs. work worth money later. In other words, the creative writing took a back seat while I focused on the large project that landed on my plate around the first of the month. I'm about halfway through the project and I'm on track for the May 1st deadline. The downside is I've not had the energy to do any chapter work on my novel. I'm sitting at 70k words (Prologue + 10 chapters), which is roughly 1/3 of the way done.
It's not that I haven't had the time. I have a few hours of spare time each day, but after sitting at the desk for 6-8 hours working on research, blogging, networking, e-mailing, and the 3-4 hours of freelance work I do, I just haven't had the energy to really work much on the novel this month. After typing 6-8k worth of words per day, I'm just burnt on sitting here and doing another 1500-2k for the novel. I've dabbled a bit here and there in chapter 11, but I'm only about 1200 words in, which is generally about half a session's worth for me. I'm a bit disgruntled about the fact that I've not done much work on the book since the beginning of March (March I only did 2 chapters), but I've been balancing that out with the fact that my freelance career has picked up to the point that if we stay on track, we'll be 100% debt free within a few months.
Comprehend debt free. A state I have not been in since I was a teenager. We only have 4.3k worth of debt left, and half of that will be gone by the end of May. I'm hoping the other half will be gone by the end of July. And then it's sweet freedom. No bills. Nothing left to pay but the living expenses of our day to day life, and the rest is sweet, bankable income.
I know I don't have a reason to rush on the novel. I've got several short stories in circulation and I've got steady work. It's more of a personal deadline. I really wanted to have a completed manuscript by Christmas. I can still do it, I think, but it's going to take some refinement of my schedule.
So it's a compromise. Sure, the work on my book is getting pushed back a bit, but it's for a good cause. We'll be 100% debt free within a few months, and that's a sweet, sweet goal. Not to mention, once that happens I can pick and choose my freelance projects around my novel schedule, rather than the other way around. And that means more time to focus on what it is that I really want to be doing, which is writing books for a living. Freelance writing is great, but it's the creative writing that I crave, that I thrive upon. I'm just happy that I've been blessed with this opportunity in the first place. I definitely don't intend to waste it.
And I'll be keeping people posted as my first professional short story comes out next month (May) in Flashing Swords Press. That's going to be a pretty cool day, to see my first ever short story in actual print.
Comfort Foods
The hardest part about being an expat in another country is the lack of comfort foods. You know, the ones you really loved back home but you can't find in your new country of residence?
Many things I've learned to make myself. I've learned how to make refried beans, home-made flour and corn tortilla shells, home-made pita bread, and presently I'm in the process of making my own home-made sourdough bread. I've also learned how to make chili powder from scratch, and learned how to substitute many of the things I took for granted back in the States with other, healthier alternatives. In the past year I've learned a lot about cooking. I thought I was good before, but I'm even better now.
However, there are always those things which you can't really substitute. Peanut butter, for one. Maple syrup for pancakes is another. Thankfully there are a variety of stores that we've been able to find some small things at. We've picked up Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Canadian maple syrup, Hellmann's mayonnaise, and peanut butter. Betty Crocker cake mixes and Angus beef. These are "comfort" foods. Things which aren't a necessity, but remind you of the taste of home.
But there are other things I've been unable to find. Things like Ranch dressing. And the salsa that Evy loves so much (we could make our own, but finding the time is the hard part!). Lo and behold the other day I found a website ran by a British guy who imports comfort foods for people. Many of them are British, but there were also a few things I recognized. French's mustard, for one (gasp! Real American mustard! I swooned when I saw it), and Paul Newman's Ranch Dressing for another. And El Paso salsa, one of my wife's favorites from back in the States.
Needless to say, we placed an order. He e-mailed me this morning and it's supposed to be showing up on Thursday, and he delivers it personally. I think the one we are both mostly keen on is the Ranch dressing. Neither one of us has had Ranch dressing in nearly a year and a half and mmmm I can't wait.
He also imports steaks. I also found another company that specifically imports aged beef from Britain. And for those of you who haven't experienced the beef over here...well let's just say it's not the same. Beef is not a staple food in Bulgaria. They eat mostly pork, lamb, and chicken. Especially pork and lamb. Almost no one serves beef, or even orders it. When you purchase ground beef at the store it is not what you would expect. Bulgarians considered "beef" to be pork or cow meat, ground up. So often times if you don't pay attention to the label you will get a combination of the two mixed together. Great for sausages and such, but not so great for hamburgers, meatloaf, spaghetti meatballs and so forth. And while I've managed to find some pure ground beef on occasion, the flavor is never what I grew up being used to, and I've been craving a real, honest-to-God steak for a long time. The version of a steak here is only about 1/2" thick and cooked until its like cardboard. I want a 2 inch thick slab of meat that I can cook rare/medium rare and just die over.
Anyway, that's my blurb for the day. I need to go get to work :) Spent all morning writing e-mails and networking, but now it's time to get some actual money brought in. Cheers!
Many things I've learned to make myself. I've learned how to make refried beans, home-made flour and corn tortilla shells, home-made pita bread, and presently I'm in the process of making my own home-made sourdough bread. I've also learned how to make chili powder from scratch, and learned how to substitute many of the things I took for granted back in the States with other, healthier alternatives. In the past year I've learned a lot about cooking. I thought I was good before, but I'm even better now.
However, there are always those things which you can't really substitute. Peanut butter, for one. Maple syrup for pancakes is another. Thankfully there are a variety of stores that we've been able to find some small things at. We've picked up Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Canadian maple syrup, Hellmann's mayonnaise, and peanut butter. Betty Crocker cake mixes and Angus beef. These are "comfort" foods. Things which aren't a necessity, but remind you of the taste of home.
But there are other things I've been unable to find. Things like Ranch dressing. And the salsa that Evy loves so much (we could make our own, but finding the time is the hard part!). Lo and behold the other day I found a website ran by a British guy who imports comfort foods for people. Many of them are British, but there were also a few things I recognized. French's mustard, for one (gasp! Real American mustard! I swooned when I saw it), and Paul Newman's Ranch Dressing for another. And El Paso salsa, one of my wife's favorites from back in the States.
Needless to say, we placed an order. He e-mailed me this morning and it's supposed to be showing up on Thursday, and he delivers it personally. I think the one we are both mostly keen on is the Ranch dressing. Neither one of us has had Ranch dressing in nearly a year and a half and mmmm I can't wait.
He also imports steaks. I also found another company that specifically imports aged beef from Britain. And for those of you who haven't experienced the beef over here...well let's just say it's not the same. Beef is not a staple food in Bulgaria. They eat mostly pork, lamb, and chicken. Especially pork and lamb. Almost no one serves beef, or even orders it. When you purchase ground beef at the store it is not what you would expect. Bulgarians considered "beef" to be pork or cow meat, ground up. So often times if you don't pay attention to the label you will get a combination of the two mixed together. Great for sausages and such, but not so great for hamburgers, meatloaf, spaghetti meatballs and so forth. And while I've managed to find some pure ground beef on occasion, the flavor is never what I grew up being used to, and I've been craving a real, honest-to-God steak for a long time. The version of a steak here is only about 1/2" thick and cooked until its like cardboard. I want a 2 inch thick slab of meat that I can cook rare/medium rare and just die over.
Anyway, that's my blurb for the day. I need to go get to work :) Spent all morning writing e-mails and networking, but now it's time to get some actual money brought in. Cheers!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Ponderings.
One of the things we've found it hard to deal with since coming here is the attitudes of the people. Now, don't get me wrong...I love it here. But like every place you live, there are little things which bother you. Things that you bitch about with friends over dinner and a bottle of wine, or in my case, with my wife.
I'm an American. Born and raised. She's not. She was born and raised here, in Bulgaria. We absolutely have different points of view on a variety of subjects. However, we generally agree on about 90% of what we talk about.
At this point in time we have no plans for going back to the States. At least not for the foreseeable future. We keep a US bank account, my sister graciously lets us use her address for the few hard-copy mail items I have to deal with (like tax returns from US based companies. Hell, she even has 5 of our boxes still in storage for us because the cost of shipping is freaking ridiculous and let's face it: DVDs and books aren't exactly must-have items.), and I regularly keep tabs with people, but with the state of the recession and the fact that our apartment here is 100% paid for + her school is being paid for in full + our living expenses don't even top 400 USD a month + the houses that are being built by her mom's company (the family business, which atm Evy has no ties to) for everyone...well there's just not a lot of reasons to want to go back to the States. Coupled with the fact that while I may have differences with her mother on some things, she is a very generous person. She pays for the family to go on 4-5 vacations per year, which is great. The company is worth over 15 million Euro and growing, and while she doesn't drive a fancy car, still lives with us (a point I growl over often), and has issues with many technological toys...she always pays for meals for large groups of people, and every time we go on vacation she pays for everyone's rooms, meals, and sundries. I'm talking for large groups of people...15-20 people each time. They are all family, though. Still.
But I digress. The topic we covered today as I took a break from work and walked her to class was the inability for Bulgarians to be adventurous. In any way.
This is going to sound slightly "racist" in a sense, but don't take it the wrong way. I love living here, and I love the people. But they have one big fault, and that's their belief that anything foreign = evil/bad/ugly/nasty.
Let me give you an example. Last year we went to Italy for 10 days with a group of Bulgarians. It was an excursion, not a vacation. 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. we were walking our tails off. The issue was that every single restaurant we went to (and I mean EVERY SINGLE RESTAURANT!), our group of people bitched about the food. Honestly. Out of the 32 people who went, Evy and I were the ONLY two people who didn't complain about it. To us, it was great. We both love Italian food, I'm a big fan of wine, and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. But Bulgarians are a very traditional people, and they dislike anything outside of their "comfort zone". They are not explorers, they are not adventurous. They want things to be the way they have always been. The food to taste the same way, the water to have the same temperature, the sheets to be the way they are back in Bulgaria, etc.
It's a huge issue. Evy is different because she lived outside of Bulgaria in the "evil" Western world. So are many of the people her generation, and basically anyone who has ever spent any time outside of Bulgaria in a (cough) civilized country. Don't get me wrong...it's civilized here. What I mean by that is....well, let me give you another example.
Bulgarians also think that rules do not apply to them. This is evident in the absolute lack of traffic laws. But more specifically let me give you an example of how this works. Recently on the news there was a story of a woman who had been living in Norway. She returned home and was stationed in one of the Ministry buildings here. She caught the Minister in charge of her division smoking in a designated non-smoking area of the building. She confronted him about the issue, saying "how can you expect people to respect your position and authority if you don't even follow the very rules you are supposedly enforcing?"
Next day, she was out of a job, on the streets.
In the same vein, one of the restaurants we were at while in Rome was a non-smoking building. One of our party members (I'll not mention names) is a smoker. He wanted to smoke. He did not agree that the restaurant should have a no smoking policy and proceeded to say that he was going to smoke and if they said anything, too bad. His excuse was that "I'm a foreigner and don't know any better", even when he could clearly see the no smoking sign. This is also the same individual who has, on more than one occasion, ranted about how anyone who is a non-smoker is a racist if they tell him that he can't smoke around them. I had to try very hard to not die from laughing the first time I heard it. We were in a car, and the driver of the car did not want him smoking in the vehicle. He literally went off on a ranting tirade, raising his voice and gesturing quite vigorously, claiming that such requests were "racist" and discriminatory against smokers.
Let's examine that for a moment, shall we? The word he used was "racist". I don't think I even need to explain that one in greater detail.
Don't get me wrong. I've been a smoker. Up until recently, in fact. But I've always believed that non-smokers should have the same right as a smoker to enjoy a restaurant in their own way. That means segregated smoking/non-smoking areas. And if you don't like it, tough shit. Go outside, or go sit in the smoking area.
Rules do not apply to Bulgarians. They do not believe in lines. If you are first in line at the market stall, it doesn't matter. People will push in front of you and shove their money on the counter and totally ignore the fact that you were there first. Traffic lights are meant to be ignored. Ambulances and emergency vehicles are obstacles keeping you from getting where it is that you want to be going and pulling aside to let them through is unheard of; after all, you were there first, and you are more important than anyone else on the road.
During the holidays recently (Christmas), Evy made some cookies to take to her grandmothers. I made a cheesy potato dish and baked a ham, along with some potato salad. We took it with us when we went.
We came home with almost the same amount of food we took. The look of disgust on people's faces when we asked them to try something "non Bulgarian" was such that we both agreed that we are never going to try and cook for the family ever again. They just don't get it. They refuse to go outside of their comfort zone and try anything new. This is the typical Bulgarian attitude. Basically, anything that isn't traditional = bad. They refuse to try new things, and when they do, the comments they make are always the same: ewwwww, it doesn't take anything like "insert name of food here" tastes back home. I don't like it.
When we went to Turkey last year we stayed at a 5 star resort that had an all-inclusive, all you can eat/drink buffet. Evy and I tried every single thing at least once. I didn't find a single item that I disliked. But the majority of our group complained about how the "rice isn't as good as it is back home" and how the "fish isn't as good as it is back home" and for the most part they all refused to try anything other than what they felt was traditional food.
For those of you who have seen the movie "A Good Year" by Ridley Scott, there's a scene in the movie where an American couple comes to this French restaurant and the woman starts asking for them to make substitutes to her salad because she wants it to taste "like it does back home". The waiter takes the menu off the table and says "Fish and chips are that way, McDonalds is over there. Cya!"
Evy and I have gotten to the point where we don't enjoy going with the groups anymore because all that happens is we have to listen to everyone complain the whole time about how things "aren't as good as they are back home". And it's not just the groups we go with...it's most Bulgarians. It's a really annoying feature. They are so grounded in tradition and the belief that anything non-Bulgarian is somehow inferior that they refuse to ever explore or be adventurous. It's extremely frustrating to be with a group of people and have to listen to them for 3 hours while at a restaurant about how "the service isn't as good as it is back home", "the salad isn't as good as it is back home", "the fish/chicken/pork/beef isn't as good as it is back home", "why don't they have "X" on the menu? They have "X" on the menu back home. This restaurant sucks".
I think the worst was watching Evy's crestfallen look after she poured all that effort into making something special for her family, only to have the majority of people at the table get this look on their face like "um. Why would you bring something like THAT to a holiday dinner? Don't you know that you are ONLY ALLOWED to bring traditional foods? What a traitorous whore you are for bringing something NON BULGARIAN!". Similarly, the looks people had on their faces when Evy's grandmother (bless her heart) was carrying my cheesy potato casserole dish around the table asking each person individually if they wanted some and almost *every* person at the table scrunched up their faces and went "ewww"...well, at least visually, if not verbally. I was giggling inside because her grandmother finally got frustrated and started putting spoonfuls on everybody's plates, regardless of what they said. The sad thing is...nobody ate any of it. And our cookies weren't even touched.
Now, I know I'm generalizing. But this is how Bulgarians are, for the most part. There are some who are more adventurous, like my wife, but they are generally relegated to those few who have lived or experienced living for a period of time outside of Bulgaria. They've grown to appreciate other foods, and the fact that rules are there for a reason. We recently met a man at the post office who has been living here for 10 years. He is half Bulgarian, half American and his family and him live in both countries for a few months each year. The first thing he said to me when he found out I was American was "so, how do you like how customer service works here?". I had to laugh, because it doesn't exist. The customer is never right. In fact, you are a hindrance to the employee behind the counter. If it weren't for you they could be smoking their cigarette in peace, or talking on the cell phone. The very fact that you showed up to give them money is an inconvenience, and they'll be damned if they can act polite or give you a smile and thank you for your service.
Again, these are generalizations. It's not like that everywhere. We live in Sofia, which is the capital, and like most cities it's busy, crammed, dirty, and people are always in a hurry. But anyway...that's my rambling take for the day. I've got some banitza that need to be pulled out of the oven and a few more articles to write before Evy gets home from school. More on the next round!
I'm an American. Born and raised. She's not. She was born and raised here, in Bulgaria. We absolutely have different points of view on a variety of subjects. However, we generally agree on about 90% of what we talk about.
At this point in time we have no plans for going back to the States. At least not for the foreseeable future. We keep a US bank account, my sister graciously lets us use her address for the few hard-copy mail items I have to deal with (like tax returns from US based companies. Hell, she even has 5 of our boxes still in storage for us because the cost of shipping is freaking ridiculous and let's face it: DVDs and books aren't exactly must-have items.), and I regularly keep tabs with people, but with the state of the recession and the fact that our apartment here is 100% paid for + her school is being paid for in full + our living expenses don't even top 400 USD a month + the houses that are being built by her mom's company (the family business, which atm Evy has no ties to) for everyone...well there's just not a lot of reasons to want to go back to the States. Coupled with the fact that while I may have differences with her mother on some things, she is a very generous person. She pays for the family to go on 4-5 vacations per year, which is great. The company is worth over 15 million Euro and growing, and while she doesn't drive a fancy car, still lives with us (a point I growl over often), and has issues with many technological toys...she always pays for meals for large groups of people, and every time we go on vacation she pays for everyone's rooms, meals, and sundries. I'm talking for large groups of people...15-20 people each time. They are all family, though. Still.
But I digress. The topic we covered today as I took a break from work and walked her to class was the inability for Bulgarians to be adventurous. In any way.
This is going to sound slightly "racist" in a sense, but don't take it the wrong way. I love living here, and I love the people. But they have one big fault, and that's their belief that anything foreign = evil/bad/ugly/nasty.
Let me give you an example. Last year we went to Italy for 10 days with a group of Bulgarians. It was an excursion, not a vacation. 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. we were walking our tails off. The issue was that every single restaurant we went to (and I mean EVERY SINGLE RESTAURANT!), our group of people bitched about the food. Honestly. Out of the 32 people who went, Evy and I were the ONLY two people who didn't complain about it. To us, it was great. We both love Italian food, I'm a big fan of wine, and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. But Bulgarians are a very traditional people, and they dislike anything outside of their "comfort zone". They are not explorers, they are not adventurous. They want things to be the way they have always been. The food to taste the same way, the water to have the same temperature, the sheets to be the way they are back in Bulgaria, etc.
It's a huge issue. Evy is different because she lived outside of Bulgaria in the "evil" Western world. So are many of the people her generation, and basically anyone who has ever spent any time outside of Bulgaria in a (cough) civilized country. Don't get me wrong...it's civilized here. What I mean by that is....well, let me give you another example.
Bulgarians also think that rules do not apply to them. This is evident in the absolute lack of traffic laws. But more specifically let me give you an example of how this works. Recently on the news there was a story of a woman who had been living in Norway. She returned home and was stationed in one of the Ministry buildings here. She caught the Minister in charge of her division smoking in a designated non-smoking area of the building. She confronted him about the issue, saying "how can you expect people to respect your position and authority if you don't even follow the very rules you are supposedly enforcing?"
Next day, she was out of a job, on the streets.
In the same vein, one of the restaurants we were at while in Rome was a non-smoking building. One of our party members (I'll not mention names) is a smoker. He wanted to smoke. He did not agree that the restaurant should have a no smoking policy and proceeded to say that he was going to smoke and if they said anything, too bad. His excuse was that "I'm a foreigner and don't know any better", even when he could clearly see the no smoking sign. This is also the same individual who has, on more than one occasion, ranted about how anyone who is a non-smoker is a racist if they tell him that he can't smoke around them. I had to try very hard to not die from laughing the first time I heard it. We were in a car, and the driver of the car did not want him smoking in the vehicle. He literally went off on a ranting tirade, raising his voice and gesturing quite vigorously, claiming that such requests were "racist" and discriminatory against smokers.
Let's examine that for a moment, shall we? The word he used was "racist". I don't think I even need to explain that one in greater detail.
Don't get me wrong. I've been a smoker. Up until recently, in fact. But I've always believed that non-smokers should have the same right as a smoker to enjoy a restaurant in their own way. That means segregated smoking/non-smoking areas. And if you don't like it, tough shit. Go outside, or go sit in the smoking area.
Rules do not apply to Bulgarians. They do not believe in lines. If you are first in line at the market stall, it doesn't matter. People will push in front of you and shove their money on the counter and totally ignore the fact that you were there first. Traffic lights are meant to be ignored. Ambulances and emergency vehicles are obstacles keeping you from getting where it is that you want to be going and pulling aside to let them through is unheard of; after all, you were there first, and you are more important than anyone else on the road.
During the holidays recently (Christmas), Evy made some cookies to take to her grandmothers. I made a cheesy potato dish and baked a ham, along with some potato salad. We took it with us when we went.
We came home with almost the same amount of food we took. The look of disgust on people's faces when we asked them to try something "non Bulgarian" was such that we both agreed that we are never going to try and cook for the family ever again. They just don't get it. They refuse to go outside of their comfort zone and try anything new. This is the typical Bulgarian attitude. Basically, anything that isn't traditional = bad. They refuse to try new things, and when they do, the comments they make are always the same: ewwwww, it doesn't take anything like "insert name of food here" tastes back home. I don't like it.
When we went to Turkey last year we stayed at a 5 star resort that had an all-inclusive, all you can eat/drink buffet. Evy and I tried every single thing at least once. I didn't find a single item that I disliked. But the majority of our group complained about how the "rice isn't as good as it is back home" and how the "fish isn't as good as it is back home" and for the most part they all refused to try anything other than what they felt was traditional food.
For those of you who have seen the movie "A Good Year" by Ridley Scott, there's a scene in the movie where an American couple comes to this French restaurant and the woman starts asking for them to make substitutes to her salad because she wants it to taste "like it does back home". The waiter takes the menu off the table and says "Fish and chips are that way, McDonalds is over there. Cya!"
Evy and I have gotten to the point where we don't enjoy going with the groups anymore because all that happens is we have to listen to everyone complain the whole time about how things "aren't as good as they are back home". And it's not just the groups we go with...it's most Bulgarians. It's a really annoying feature. They are so grounded in tradition and the belief that anything non-Bulgarian is somehow inferior that they refuse to ever explore or be adventurous. It's extremely frustrating to be with a group of people and have to listen to them for 3 hours while at a restaurant about how "the service isn't as good as it is back home", "the salad isn't as good as it is back home", "the fish/chicken/pork/beef isn't as good as it is back home", "why don't they have "X" on the menu? They have "X" on the menu back home. This restaurant sucks".
I think the worst was watching Evy's crestfallen look after she poured all that effort into making something special for her family, only to have the majority of people at the table get this look on their face like "um. Why would you bring something like THAT to a holiday dinner? Don't you know that you are ONLY ALLOWED to bring traditional foods? What a traitorous whore you are for bringing something NON BULGARIAN!". Similarly, the looks people had on their faces when Evy's grandmother (bless her heart) was carrying my cheesy potato casserole dish around the table asking each person individually if they wanted some and almost *every* person at the table scrunched up their faces and went "ewww"...well, at least visually, if not verbally. I was giggling inside because her grandmother finally got frustrated and started putting spoonfuls on everybody's plates, regardless of what they said. The sad thing is...nobody ate any of it. And our cookies weren't even touched.
Now, I know I'm generalizing. But this is how Bulgarians are, for the most part. There are some who are more adventurous, like my wife, but they are generally relegated to those few who have lived or experienced living for a period of time outside of Bulgaria. They've grown to appreciate other foods, and the fact that rules are there for a reason. We recently met a man at the post office who has been living here for 10 years. He is half Bulgarian, half American and his family and him live in both countries for a few months each year. The first thing he said to me when he found out I was American was "so, how do you like how customer service works here?". I had to laugh, because it doesn't exist. The customer is never right. In fact, you are a hindrance to the employee behind the counter. If it weren't for you they could be smoking their cigarette in peace, or talking on the cell phone. The very fact that you showed up to give them money is an inconvenience, and they'll be damned if they can act polite or give you a smile and thank you for your service.
Again, these are generalizations. It's not like that everywhere. We live in Sofia, which is the capital, and like most cities it's busy, crammed, dirty, and people are always in a hurry. But anyway...that's my rambling take for the day. I've got some banitza that need to be pulled out of the oven and a few more articles to write before Evy gets home from school. More on the next round!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Catching up.
I skipped work yesterday so I had to make up my quota this afternoon. No big deal, really. Still had plenty of time to go out for a walk, make chicken quesadillas for lunch, watch a movie, enjoy the day, and order pizza for dinner, all while planning our next few weekends.
Easter in Bulgaria falls on the weekend AFTER it hits in the US, due to the orthodox calendar they use. Don't ask me...some religious thing. Everyone has their own version of when, and of course every OTHER religion is "wrong". In either case, the big family get together is next weekend, rather than this. So I didn't get to enjoy a big feast. But we made our own, so it's all good :)
We talked blinds today. Also sheets for the new bed, which is getting delivered on the 21st, I think. Or maybe it was the 23rd. I'll have to ask her again. In any case, we need to go shopping next week for those two things. Then around the first of May we are going shopping for a desk + a chair for me. Curse of spending your savings on moving overseas and taking over a year to get re-established financially is that you have to make some things work regardless, and we've been sharing a desk for over a year now. She gets one corner, I get the other. It's rather comical, and crowded, but we've made do.
My problem is I can't focus on my novel work when she's sitting right next to me. Something about being self conscious about someone reading my work while it's being written totally throws me out of my vibe. Not only that, but I'm starting to increase my workload by leaps and bounds as I line up more and more clients, and I just need my own space. And we are finally able to afford blowing the extra money to go get it. So that's first of May.
Anyway, I'll have to work a few extra hours this week to prep for the weekend, as we won't be around much on Saturday and Sunday, and even if we are home it'll be "omfg don't touch me cuz I ate so freaking much last night/yesterday" and vegging. I'll write more when I have time. Peace!
Easter in Bulgaria falls on the weekend AFTER it hits in the US, due to the orthodox calendar they use. Don't ask me...some religious thing. Everyone has their own version of when, and of course every OTHER religion is "wrong". In either case, the big family get together is next weekend, rather than this. So I didn't get to enjoy a big feast. But we made our own, so it's all good :)
We talked blinds today. Also sheets for the new bed, which is getting delivered on the 21st, I think. Or maybe it was the 23rd. I'll have to ask her again. In any case, we need to go shopping next week for those two things. Then around the first of May we are going shopping for a desk + a chair for me. Curse of spending your savings on moving overseas and taking over a year to get re-established financially is that you have to make some things work regardless, and we've been sharing a desk for over a year now. She gets one corner, I get the other. It's rather comical, and crowded, but we've made do.
My problem is I can't focus on my novel work when she's sitting right next to me. Something about being self conscious about someone reading my work while it's being written totally throws me out of my vibe. Not only that, but I'm starting to increase my workload by leaps and bounds as I line up more and more clients, and I just need my own space. And we are finally able to afford blowing the extra money to go get it. So that's first of May.
Anyway, I'll have to work a few extra hours this week to prep for the weekend, as we won't be around much on Saturday and Sunday, and even if we are home it'll be "omfg don't touch me cuz I ate so freaking much last night/yesterday" and vegging. I'll write more when I have time. Peace!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Whew! Pt. 2
So last night when we had dinner, both of us had a little to drink and by 9 p.m. we were both sacked out. Consequently, we both woke up a few hours later and proceeded to stay up and play computer games until almost 5 a.m.
No problem, it's the weekend, we can sleep in on Saturday, right?
Wrong! Neither one of us knew the cleaning lady was coming over this morning. Her mum lives with us (long story, and one that I won't get into here as it is a sensitive issue with Evy. Suffice to say that things are different in this part of the world in comparison to the US, and the cultural differences are such that there are some things I am not entirely comfortable with. One of those is family members living with each other.) and she neglected to tell us that the cleaning lady was coming in on Saturday morning. And while normally I would have stayed in bed and slept, I was lying there half groggy and groaning when suddenly I remembered...my sourdough starter!
I got to the kitchen just in time to stop her from tossing the goo into the trash and cleaning out my jar. The look of surprise on her face as I rushed into the kitchen, half clothed and with my hair and goatee wild from the bed, and sleep-encrusted eyes that were squinted shut against the morning sun, was simply priceless. I then used my elementary level Bulgarian (this included wild hand gesturing because my Bulgarian is--despite living here for a year--really that bad. Curse of working at home, having friends who speak English, and a wife who is fluent to the point that almost no one we met in the States knew she was from another country until notified otherwise.) That would have been a crimp, as I would have needed to completely re-start the batch and lost 2 days of growth.
So, my sourdough is saved, and now I'm wide awake. Might as well get some work done.
No problem, it's the weekend, we can sleep in on Saturday, right?
Wrong! Neither one of us knew the cleaning lady was coming over this morning. Her mum lives with us (long story, and one that I won't get into here as it is a sensitive issue with Evy. Suffice to say that things are different in this part of the world in comparison to the US, and the cultural differences are such that there are some things I am not entirely comfortable with. One of those is family members living with each other.) and she neglected to tell us that the cleaning lady was coming in on Saturday morning. And while normally I would have stayed in bed and slept, I was lying there half groggy and groaning when suddenly I remembered...my sourdough starter!
I got to the kitchen just in time to stop her from tossing the goo into the trash and cleaning out my jar. The look of surprise on her face as I rushed into the kitchen, half clothed and with my hair and goatee wild from the bed, and sleep-encrusted eyes that were squinted shut against the morning sun, was simply priceless. I then used my elementary level Bulgarian (this included wild hand gesturing because my Bulgarian is--despite living here for a year--really that bad. Curse of working at home, having friends who speak English, and a wife who is fluent to the point that almost no one we met in the States knew she was from another country until notified otherwise.) That would have been a crimp, as I would have needed to completely re-start the batch and lost 2 days of growth.
So, my sourdough is saved, and now I'm wide awake. Might as well get some work done.
Friday, April 10, 2009
A new Dish
So tonight I did some experimenting with dinner, and all I have to say is...omfg.
So, first off, I made some home-made refried beans. Along with that was some home-made tortilla shells (flour). I also marinated some chicken in a pesto/lemon/brown sugar marinade for a couple of hours.
Fried the chicken in EVOO and had chicken-pesto burritos.
About 2 hours worth of work but I ended up having extra beans that will be used for salad, and my tortilla shell recipe makes 8 shells, and it's enough refried beans for like a week lol. I did, however, finish off the chicken because it was OMG good.
That's it for the night. Gonna relax and veg. Had a bottle of Traminer white wine and I'm in relax mode :)
So, first off, I made some home-made refried beans. Along with that was some home-made tortilla shells (flour). I also marinated some chicken in a pesto/lemon/brown sugar marinade for a couple of hours.
Fried the chicken in EVOO and had chicken-pesto burritos.
About 2 hours worth of work but I ended up having extra beans that will be used for salad, and my tortilla shell recipe makes 8 shells, and it's enough refried beans for like a week lol. I did, however, finish off the chicken because it was OMG good.
That's it for the night. Gonna relax and veg. Had a bottle of Traminer white wine and I'm in relax mode :)
breakfast
I made vanilla banana pancakes this morning for Evy before she went to work. Pretty damn tasty, if I don't say so myself.
Bit of a late start. It's 9:30 and I'm just now sitting down to my own breakfast of tuna and water, and getting ready to get the day's work done. Going to meet her at 3 for an afternoon walk, then come home and cook up some refried beans and enjoy a relaxing Friday afternoon.
Cya on the flip side!
Bit of a late start. It's 9:30 and I'm just now sitting down to my own breakfast of tuna and water, and getting ready to get the day's work done. Going to meet her at 3 for an afternoon walk, then come home and cook up some refried beans and enjoy a relaxing Friday afternoon.
Cya on the flip side!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A good day.
Ever have one of those days where you just want to ignore the alarm and sleep in?
Yeah. I so did it this morning. And it was simply marvelous. However, it also meant my work infringed upon my afternoon, which meant my workout session didn't happen until nearly 3 p.m. It's all good, though.
Did some interesting research on a personal note today, and discussed it in greater detail with the wife when we went out for a walk this evening. (And yes, I got my sourdough starter going, so finger's crossed!) The topic? Corporate mis-management.
It's rampant in America. Britain as well. While I'm all for capitalism in all its glory, it has sort of come 'round to bite its followers in the ass. We see it on a daily basis. AIG. GM and Chrysler. Major insurance firms, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, auto makers, real estate brokerages, you name it...they are crumbling. And at the top of it all is the people behind the desks who write the paychecks, who make the decisions. The people who are raking in millions of dollars in bonuses for making bad decisions.
I said it in another post (last month I think) that it's like this: when you were in school, and you did something bad, you earned detention. Why? Because you were stupid. You made a bad call, and you were punished for that bad choice to teach you not to make it again. Take it to a corporate level. Here you have CEOs and people in chairman positions making bad decisions on a daily basis, and do they get punished? Hell no! They get rewarded for their mis-calculations, their mis-judgements, their mis-managements.
I'm firmly behind Obama's administration and their push to eliminate corporate bonuses. Company heads need to be penalized for making decisions that drive their companies into the ground, not rewarded. And not a slap on the wrist, either. At the very least they should be forced to give back the millions in bonuses they were awarded for making bad decisions. After that, they should be forced to repay the millions of dollars of investors money they squandered on bad business decisions. And after that, when they are penniless and sorrowful over their actions, they should be stripped of their titles and serve hard prison time for wasting the time, money, and resources of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
On a side note, I didn't have pizza tonight. We had suvlaki, which is sort of like a gyro. We went on our daily walk to the park and decided to have a snack along the way. Which is probably good, because it was far healthier than a giant slice of pizza would have been. And technically I'm on a diet. But I felt like cheating, since I already slept in and cheated on my wake-up time. Ah, well.
On a side note, I think blogging is something I should have started years ago. Sadly, I'm a bit behind the times when it comes to social networking. Sure, I had my gaming forum connections from the past 15 years of MMOing, but while running a construction company I never needed to worry about social networking. However, now that I'm in a new career that is growing in leaps and bounds, I've found that blogging is a great way to generate new clients, as well as showcase your "inner" side that clients don't always get to meet, since 95% of the work I do is based entirely on the Internet. I don't meet people face-to-face, and it helps reassure people when they can see the "real" you. As I'm sure you are aware (if you read "my first post" that is), I just started this particular blog back in March. Prior to this I had used MySpace and Facebook for the past 2-3 years to keep in touch with friends and family. Now that my writing career is rocketing along, a public blog seemed like a good way to go. So far, it's more than paid off.
So, as I finish my chai and wind down for the evening (great new episode of Lost btw), I'll leave you with this: the world is what you make of it. If you choose to have a good day, then have a good day.
Yeah. I so did it this morning. And it was simply marvelous. However, it also meant my work infringed upon my afternoon, which meant my workout session didn't happen until nearly 3 p.m. It's all good, though.
Did some interesting research on a personal note today, and discussed it in greater detail with the wife when we went out for a walk this evening. (And yes, I got my sourdough starter going, so finger's crossed!) The topic? Corporate mis-management.
It's rampant in America. Britain as well. While I'm all for capitalism in all its glory, it has sort of come 'round to bite its followers in the ass. We see it on a daily basis. AIG. GM and Chrysler. Major insurance firms, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, auto makers, real estate brokerages, you name it...they are crumbling. And at the top of it all is the people behind the desks who write the paychecks, who make the decisions. The people who are raking in millions of dollars in bonuses for making bad decisions.
I said it in another post (last month I think) that it's like this: when you were in school, and you did something bad, you earned detention. Why? Because you were stupid. You made a bad call, and you were punished for that bad choice to teach you not to make it again. Take it to a corporate level. Here you have CEOs and people in chairman positions making bad decisions on a daily basis, and do they get punished? Hell no! They get rewarded for their mis-calculations, their mis-judgements, their mis-managements.
I'm firmly behind Obama's administration and their push to eliminate corporate bonuses. Company heads need to be penalized for making decisions that drive their companies into the ground, not rewarded. And not a slap on the wrist, either. At the very least they should be forced to give back the millions in bonuses they were awarded for making bad decisions. After that, they should be forced to repay the millions of dollars of investors money they squandered on bad business decisions. And after that, when they are penniless and sorrowful over their actions, they should be stripped of their titles and serve hard prison time for wasting the time, money, and resources of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
On a side note, I didn't have pizza tonight. We had suvlaki, which is sort of like a gyro. We went on our daily walk to the park and decided to have a snack along the way. Which is probably good, because it was far healthier than a giant slice of pizza would have been. And technically I'm on a diet. But I felt like cheating, since I already slept in and cheated on my wake-up time. Ah, well.
On a side note, I think blogging is something I should have started years ago. Sadly, I'm a bit behind the times when it comes to social networking. Sure, I had my gaming forum connections from the past 15 years of MMOing, but while running a construction company I never needed to worry about social networking. However, now that I'm in a new career that is growing in leaps and bounds, I've found that blogging is a great way to generate new clients, as well as showcase your "inner" side that clients don't always get to meet, since 95% of the work I do is based entirely on the Internet. I don't meet people face-to-face, and it helps reassure people when they can see the "real" you. As I'm sure you are aware (if you read "my first post" that is), I just started this particular blog back in March. Prior to this I had used MySpace and Facebook for the past 2-3 years to keep in touch with friends and family. Now that my writing career is rocketing along, a public blog seemed like a good way to go. So far, it's more than paid off.
So, as I finish my chai and wind down for the evening (great new episode of Lost btw), I'll leave you with this: the world is what you make of it. If you choose to have a good day, then have a good day.
Everything and the kitchen sink!
I spent the morning researching ranges. You know, stoves. We're still a couple of years out from actually moving into the houses, but they are (supposedly) finally staring the building this year, which means by next year we could see actual progress in terms of needing to pick out appliances, cabinets, and all that stuff.
We aren't in charge of the project, so I've no idea on schedules. Her mother and the family business is taking care of it, building houses for everyone in the family + business partner and his family + close friends. 25-30 homes at the last counting. They're actually duplexes. But still. Out in the countryside, nestled in the rolling hills, about 45 min outside of Sofia.
Anyway, we've been starting to look at everything and the kitchen sink so that when the time comes, we have a firm idea of what it is that we want, exactly to the last minute detail. I'd love to afford a Viking stove but A) they only provide service in the US and B) I don't think I'd ever be willing to spend over 5k on a stove.
Anyway....tonight's the night I start my sourdough starter. We are going for a walk shortly, where I will be naughty and have a slice of massive pizza at the park, and when we return, time to get the bread going.
We aren't in charge of the project, so I've no idea on schedules. Her mother and the family business is taking care of it, building houses for everyone in the family + business partner and his family + close friends. 25-30 homes at the last counting. They're actually duplexes. But still. Out in the countryside, nestled in the rolling hills, about 45 min outside of Sofia.
Anyway, we've been starting to look at everything and the kitchen sink so that when the time comes, we have a firm idea of what it is that we want, exactly to the last minute detail. I'd love to afford a Viking stove but A) they only provide service in the US and B) I don't think I'd ever be willing to spend over 5k on a stove.
Anyway....tonight's the night I start my sourdough starter. We are going for a walk shortly, where I will be naughty and have a slice of massive pizza at the park, and when we return, time to get the bread going.
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