Wednesday night ramblings

Had a disappointing afternoon, in that a client was unclear with me on the layout of their articles, and I've got to spent a couple hours tomorrow editing some 23k worth of content into the "proper" format. I wasn't exactly pleased to get the e-mail this afternoon. In fact, Evy barked at me after I went into a 5 minute f-bomb laced tirade about people who don't give adequate instructions in their e-mails in the first place. Still, it's the first time I've had to do a re-write for this client in the nearly 6 months I've been working for them, and it had nothing to do with the content itself, just the layout of the articles. And really it's only a couple hours worth of time. I'm just glad they caught me before I submitted my second batch, because I've got a full month's worth of articles from them to work on. It's just frustrating when they give you an "example" in the brief, and when you follow the example you get told "oh, well, we didn't actually want it like THAT, we want it like THIS instead". GRRR

We were discussing the benefits of our living conditions tonight, something we are grateful for on a daily basis. Sofia is a fun city to live in, ableit a bit dirty, as are all the larger European cities in the hidden corners. We are essentially able to do exactly what we want without having to work full time jobs just to pay the bills, which is something I'm extremely grateful for.

So, while the afternoon was a bit "meh", this evening turned out pretty good. I headed out around 6:30 to meet her after her evening class got out, and we went to Starbucks for some fraps before heading up to NDK and then back down the main street, stopping to get her a souvlaki. Then we meandered home in the coolness of the evening, talking about a business venture she and one of her friends are thinking about taking, one which I think could turn out to be quite lucrative if done properly. And that's the thing...I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I'm on the third business I've started in my relatively short life of 29 years, and I've been fairly successful at each venture. I'm not rich, by any means, but I've always been able to afford to do the things I want, travel where I want, live where I want, and do the things I want to do, and that's really all you can ask for in life as far as I'm concerned. And I think the idea she and her friend have is something that will work incredibly well here in Bulgaria, especially in the Sofia area, as it ties into the expansion of the city and the expanding market as the country further involves itself in the EU and people begin to make more money and dig themselves out of the hole that the communist regime dug for them.

She is finishing up her business admin degree from the University of Portsmouth here in Sofia, so she'll have a British business degree, and her friend has a degree in chemistry. They are looking into getting landscaping/gardening degrees from one of the other Universities here in Sofia and going into the landscaping business, something of which there isn't a lot of at the moment. And--let's face it--not many Bulgarians can afford to pay someone a ridiculous fee to come arrange their yard/housing area for them. But the foreigners can, and as Bulgaria continues to expand and people's incomes grow with the coming of the Euro, it has the potential to be quite a lucrative venture. And, with her family's business booming, finding the money to back the initial company isn't going to be an issue. Her mother has already been pushing her to start one of two different businesses in the past few months...an importing business and a construction company, of which I would offer consulting given my 15+ years in the industry on the American side.

Our apartment is old. Something like 60 years old, I think. But it's paid for, in full. We have to spray for cockroaches in the summer (gross, I know, but a small price to pay for no rent/mortgage), and if we keep our living expenses where they are currently (500 USD a month), we stand to amass a small fortune in the next 5-10 years, meaning that we could effectively see early retirement, if we play our cards right. I'm fairly lazy this year, but if I end up hitting the 30k USD mark next year, which shouldn't be an issue, roughly 25k of that goes straight into the bank. We aren't counting on her income being realistic for at least another 3 years until she's finished with her courses and can get a "real" job, so really all she makes is enough to pay the living expenses with her part time work while she finishes her degrees. What sucks is that she lost 2 years of school in the US when we transferred here from the States.

Pipe dreams? Sure. Everyone has them. But a realistic game plan doesn't hurt.

I was talking with her last night on our nightly walk (we take a walk every night for at least an hour and a half, usually up to NDK and back) about the benefits of living in a developing country. Yes, things are a lot different than back in the States, or any other Western country, but the benefits is if you play your cards right you can ride the wave of industrial revolution. And having lived in the States, we both have a lot of knowledge that the average Bulgarian has no clue about...mainly, how the REAL WORLD operates! Don't take that the wrong way, because it sounds like I'm talking down to Bulgarians, but as she and I have discussed many times over the years (keeping in mind that she is born and raised here), most (a generalization, for sure) Bulgarians have their heads stuck in the sand when it comes to how the real world operates. One of the most frustrating things I deal with on a regular basis is the absolute inability for people to understand what it is that I do for a living...make money sitting in front of a computer doing journalism and content generation, selling short stories, and working on novels. They just can't comprehend. The younger generation, sure, but it's going to be 15 years before they are in a position to help move the country in the digital direction. The 40 year old + generation just doesn't get it, for the most part. The 60+ generation keeps voting for the communist party year after year, despite the fact that 20 years ago they HATED communism, simply because they found out after 20 years that--gasp!--for capitalism to work they actually have to WORK for their rewards. And now that they are 60+ years old they want the government to start sending them monthly paychecks again, just because. And that's in direct conflict with the younger generation who, rather than deal with the old coots who refuse to accept modern evolution, move out of the country to pursue their interests elsewhere.

So, in retrospect, we've been discussing future plans a lot lately. Whether or not she wants to pursue her Master's degree in England, or stay here and pursue a business venture with her friend. Whether or not she wants to quit her part time job now to focus more on her ideas, or keep working. My job can easily pay the bills (I make 1500 USD a month for only about 4 hours a day time invested...I'm a slacker!), so I told her if she wants to quit her current part-time job to focus on her business idea, I'm all for it. But I'm also keen on the idea of her pursuing her Master's in Portsmouth. She's already on the Dean's list of favorite students, and part of a business venture he picked her + 3 other students for, and she was recently invited to meet the British delegates. Sadly, she had clients at work that day.

Me, I'm easy. I'm a slacker at heart, despite my entrepreneurial streak. My dad's side of the family may all have made millions in the construction industry, but my expectations are far lower. I've been happy making 50-60k a year for a long time, working hard for 6-8 months out of the year and vacationing in Europe the rest of the time. During my late teens and early twenties I spent almost all of my disposable income on traveling, something that I'm extremely grateful that I did. And we continue to travel as often as we can. But at some point you do have to plan ahead for retirement, and it's about that time. I'll be 30 in January, so I suppose I should probably start looking ahead. And with our choice to move here, it allows for a far easier time of amassing retirement money compared to if we had stayed in the States.

I have a lot of my old friends from the US who questioned my sanity when I told them of our plans to leave the US behind. People who still regularly state they wouldn't trade the "finer things" in the US for anything. I prefer the European way of life. It's much simpler, and you get to enjoy things a lot more.

Oh, on a side note, we found a great little Italian store tonight that imports a phenomenal range of Italian wines, hams, pastas, and bakes fresh Italian pastries. Definitely on our list of "places to buy things from". And the girls over at Stile Mediterraneo are an amazing set of sisters who post some absolutely divine recipes on their blog on a regular basis. Their cooking course is world-renowned for showcasing the best of the Puglia region, and I've been taking it all to heart, and trading recipes with Cinzia, one of the sisters. Great stuff!

That's about it for the night. I've had enough rambling, and it's time to finish my beer and do some more browsing. Have fun!