A Timekilling Update

Well I haven't posted here in quite awhile. Didn't realize how long!

Since January 2009 I've only had 2 temp jobs, one in October, one in December. That was it as far as jobs that pay a salary you could actually live off of. Otherwise, I scored a writing job at an up-and-coming website which, while the pay is basically lunch money, has been the most fulfilling experience I have ever had.

I never thought that I had any kind of writing talent. In school I would always come up a few pages shy of what the required length was. For example, if it was to be 5 pages, I wrote 3.5. That is until I wrote a paper on Al Capone for extra credit in Social Studies class, Sophomore year of high school. And the time I wrote about Michael Jordan for English class. And the time I not only met the 15 page requirement for a Geography paper in college about the history of the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, but exceeded it by 2 pages. I got A's on all of them. What do all of those assignments have in common? I was actually interested in the topic I was writing about. Go figure.

I started writing about concerts I was attending a few years back. Mostly because I was bored at work, where I was only busy about 4 of the 8.5 hours a day. But also because I love being able to go back and read what I had written, because it allows me to relive the experience. The fact that my friends, or anyone else, wanted to read about my nights with some legendary musicians was just a bonus.

This time last year I was scared. I was offered a full time job in November of '08 by a place I had been temping at and although it wasn't the most exciting job, I enjoyed my co-worker and the fact the job was low maintenance in that there wasn't a bunch of inter-office drama and the company was a ten minute drive. But unfortunately they took back the offer in December, before I ever was able to fill out any official paperwork. Due to budget problems, they had to let all their freelancers go, even those they had offered to make full-time.

I was sick, because I knew 2009 was going to be terrible employment-wise. The last day there I told the receptionist "I feel like I was kicked off the last lifeboat on the Titanic and I'm waving goodbye to it as I go down with the ship."

Around the end of March I saw a job opening for a writer at the site. I applied with the idea that if I got it, at least I would have something productive to do all day that would keep my mind sharp. I never dreamed it would lead to opportunities to interview musicians, attend major shows for free, the chance to properly photograph the concert from the pit side by side with professional photographers, or that my articles would mean anything to the bands themselves. I can't tell you how much it means to have my favorite artists, who wrote the songs that get me through life without self-destructing, actually thank me for doing something.

The crazy thing is, that while it's upsetting I didn't get much work last year, if it hadn't been for cabin fever due to being in that situation, I would never have applied for that website position. Because I did that, it opened up a whole new world, and as a result, my life goals have changed. I hate to use a tired saying, but it really goes to show that sometimes things do happen for a reason.