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Journal (The Ember Update)

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Friday, March 10, 2006

Why do you do what you do?

Changes

What a backlog of content I have to post! If you've been a regular reader, you may have figured out by now that I've been taking a hiatus from my web site these last three months (I've never before been gone more than a month-ish). Well, there have been some changes going on in my life that have been keeping me busier than usual…

Career

Now that I'm in my 11th year as a web and print design professional, I've decided I don't want to spend the rest of my life working 40 hours a week in front of a computer. I've had other careers: selling fine art in three galleries, mate on a fishing charter, picture framer…; and I'm ready to do something else. I miss working with my hands. Beyond the ramifications of being sedentary (which is bad enough) I wonder what other ways intense, long-term computer work may affect my health*.

*e.g., In the last six months I've had encounters with periphery flashes, and then floaters in my right eye that were intermittently obstructing my vision for a few weeks. The eye doctor said in my case this was typical of eye strain and aging (the gel at the back of the eye pulls at the wall causing the flashes, and floaters do come and go [but get them checked if you have any suddenly appear]); he was much more concerned about my severely dry eyes, which computer work aggravates.

So I thought hard about my skills and interests and how I could make a living doing them. Many of the activities I pursue in my spare time would be a challenge to live off of. What could give me the benefits I seek, namely: a flexible schedule, the possibility of working for myself, a lucrative field that's growing, less than 40-hours a week required, room for continuous growth, physical work, a skill I can learn relatively quickly, one that doesn't promote consumerism and helps people?

The answer: Massage Therapy.

Kevin suggested the idea. He knows massage has been a back-burner interest of mine for some years (so are woodworking/carpentry and physics, which I know next to nothing about). I happen to have four friends who are massage therapists (Amethyst, Sarah, Marco and Kathy), so I spoke with each of them, and others. I looked at "local" schools. I picked the one I thought I'd like the best (and it's the closest), and Kevin and I went to an open house. Very nice place, very nice people. I then sat in for a day's classes (lecture, bodywork and lab) to see what they were like. Though learning it would be grueling, the anatomy lessons really tweaked me in a good way. As an artist I've always wanted to be able to name the parts of the body. Another plus.

So now I'm enrolled in Massage Therapist school, 20 hours a week (crammed into two days) for nine months. There will only be 3 students in my class through all three terms! We'll learn the Swedish, Deep Tissue and Myofascial modalities. I'll be done in November, eligible to take the National Certification exam, and hopefully ready to be employed by early next year.

I'm presently working for Looney Labs 20 hours a week, but that's only for a little while longer. I'm actively seeking freelance or part-time web design or print design work. Actually, I've been getting solicitations in an increasing number since last fall, totally out of the blue, for freelance work. While I haven't yet applied for anything that I've found on Craig's List (see below for why), two inquiries I received in the last week alone have me thinking I'll be going the freelance route before too long.

Site

I'm in the early stages of developing a new site for myself, which will reside at RememberEmber.com (a mnemonic someone used to remember my festival name). This site (DigitizeThis.com) has always had a mixed purpose: personal content and touting my web skills. I've decided I need to present a more complete picture of my full skill set**, while downplaying or separating my personal content (not sure which yet). I hope my new site will help me make my living being a Renaissance Woman!

** i.e., web site creation, print design, photography, illustration, art, massage therapy, dance (primarily belly dance), body decoration (henna and body painting), writing and more.

DigitizeThis has potentially controversial content that some potential employers won't want to see. I've been somewhat conflicted about this aspect over the years. On the one hand, I don't want to hide my political and social beliefs because of fear. But perhaps I can be a bit wiser in how I present my content, so it's less likely to work against me. Anyway, I'm not sure what creating a new site will mean for this older one. Perhaps I'll update this to just promote my computer work and move/remove the personal content. Or maybe this will become simply my personal site (but the name's not so appropriate for that). We'll see… Either way, RememberEmber.com will take some time to come to fruition, so this site will remain as-is for a while still.

Car

My not-so-wonderful car has finally died. I have a 2000 New Beetle (just 6 years old with 75,000 miles) and it needs a new engine, cylinder head and turbo charger (so far, I said stop diagnosing at one hour), to the tune of $11,500 (at the dealer with a rebuilt engine) or $5-7000 (local mechanic with a used engine). If it were in excellent condition (I also need a new radio, passenger's side airbag, some light body work), Kelly Blue Book says it would be worth $9,500 in a personal sale. IOW, it's not worth fixing.

Apparently sludge in the oil tank caused a block in the oil pump, leading to a domino-effect of failures. Yes, I got the oil changed (mostly) regularly, usually at a dealer (only once at Jiffy Lube in 2002) and I've done the regular maintenance at the appropriate intervals, always at the dealer. I've since learned that taking your car to the dealer is no guarantee that they'll use the right grade of oil for your car. (One person I've spoken with worked at a dealer and he witnessed them knowingly put regular oil in a diesel engine … they just didn't care!)

In trying to decide what to do with my car, I called a big salvage yard to get a quote. Upon hearing it was an undrivable New Beetle, the guy said, "It's the engine?" I said yes. He responded, "Let me guess, it's a 1.8 liter Turbo, right?" Turns out he'd already bought 8 New Beetles this year, all 1.8 liter Turbos, and the engines failed in each. He said the 1.8s were especially a piece of crap. But I already knew that, didn't I? Consumer Reports still rates New Beetles (of any year) as one of the 10 worst cars from a maintenance standpoint.

It's especially sad because this was supposed to be my dream car. I'd wanted a Beetle since I was 12, and this was my first new car. I don't know if I'll ever go new again … all of the used cars I've had were much more reliable, and certainly a lot less expensive. Bother.

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