From actual3@greenheart.com Tue Aug 11 11:25:42 1998
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Subject: Can't Find a Better "Job"
From: actual3 <actual3@greenheart.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 10:25:42 -0800
I've been trying to get a job where I can be paid some more
money. I've thought if I had more money, I might be happier.
People with a lot of money seem very happy. They have Jet-
Skis and shiny, new trucks.
But I just can't find a job that will pay me more money.
They are all taken. There are no "openings."
So I think I'm just going to give up. I've just decided
to be happy without a lot of money. It will save me a
lot of time and effort.
From jetrock@boulez.emrl.com Wed Aug 12 09:56:59 1998
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Subject: Re: Can't Find a Better "Job"
From: jetrock@boulez.emrl.com (Jetrock)
Date: 12 Aug 1998 23:56:59 +0700
On Tue, 11 Aug 1998 10:25:42 -0800, actual3 <actual3@greenheart.com> wrote:
>I've been trying to get a job where I can be paid some more
>money. I've thought if I had more money, I might be happier.
>People with a lot of money seem very happy. They have Jet-
>Skis and shiny, new trucks.
>
And drug dependencies and ulcers and neuroses and occasional severe spinal
cord injuries when they smash their Jet-Skis into things because they're
too fucked up from their high-stress jobs to do shit like ride a Jet-Ski.
If you want to be happier, work on being happier, not being richer. Being
richer does not necessarily mean happier--in fact, IT RARELY DOES.
>But I just can't find a job that will pay me more money.
>They are all taken. There are no "openings."
Don't look for a job that will pay you more money. Get a job DOING WHAT
YOU LIKE TO DO, or if there are no jobs, figure out a way to DO WHAT YOU
LIKE TO DO and have people PAY YOU for it. This can be all sorts of
things: fixing people's computers, selling your homemade geegaws at flea
markets, playing in your klezmer band, WHATEVER. It is *FAR* more
important to ENJOY WHAT YOU DO FOR A LIVING than to make lots of money
doing something that you don't like to do. If you like what you do, THE
MONEY WILL COME. It may not be at the time you expect or in the amount
you want, but getting paid to do what you like is like PRESENTS FROM THE
GODS. Also, if your money supply is short, look for ways to LIVE WELL FOR
LESS. There are a lot of good books on the subject (try the Loompanics
catalog, for starters) but a lot are just common sense.
One benefit of cutting your expenses is that it's NON-TAXABLE.
What's the difference between getting a 10% raise from your "job" and
cutting your expenses 10% while maintaining the same quality of life?
With the raise, you pay MORE TAXES due to your higher income. With
cost-cutting, you pay the same taxes on your income and may end up
spending LESS on taxes.
Case in point: I used to eat out every day, instead of cooking. I spent
around $350 a month on food, of which about $250 was spent in restaurants
and another $100 or so in snack foods, some of which was taxable stuff
like sodas. Now, in my county sales tax is 7.75%, which means I spent
around $20 on sales tax every month.
Now, I have cultivated cooking as a hobby--it's fun and relaxing, not to
mention cheaper. I spend, now, about $80-100 on groceries. I still eat
out once in a while, but it's maybe $50 a month instead of $250. Of those
groceries, almost all of it is non-taxable. So instead of that $20 for
sales tax, it's about $5. Plus, I have the extra $200 for computer parts,
ammo, goth records, and to subsidize my other weird hobbies, as well as
sending cash to "Bob".
>
>So I think I'm just going to give up. I've just decided
>to be happy without a lot of money. It will save me a
>lot of time and effort.
This is probably THE BEST POSSIBLE THING YOU CAN DO. Giving up USUALLY
WORKS. And being happy WITHOUT A LOT OF MONEY is a good bet.
Saving yourself TIME AND EFFORT is more important, in itself, than making
more money--time and effort are VALUABLE RESOURCES, which people trade for
money when they work. And they usually get RIPPED OFF because it's a
buyer's market. If you can make your OWN deals about your time and effort
you will usually get a BETTER DEAL in the process.
I don't want to tell my whole life story, but let me sum up my spin on
this in a few paragraphs:
In the spring of 1993, I had what is known as a Shit Job. I
worked in a video store. It had initially been fun when I started in
1991: I am a movie buff, the manager was a nice guy who let me start my
own "Midnight Movies" section in the store featuring lots of badfilm and
bulldada, and it was a fun atmosphere. Then they fired that manager and
installed a bunch of EVIL PINKS in his place, and things started to suck.
They made me take down my Midnight Movies section and things just got
worse from there.
I have to admit I was TOO CHICKEN to quit. I was afraid of what
would happen if I left. Fortunately, DOBBS TOOK ME UP IN THE SPIRIT one
day and I started acting on the outside the way I felt on the inside. I
basically LOST IT and got myself fired for gross insubordination, rudeness
to customers, and generally being a dick to everyone in dicking range.
So there I was, UNEMPLOYED. After a short period of despair, I
managed to hustle my way into my first consulting job, helping a guy start
up a video store. Using that money to get on my feet, I found a job
working with the homeless mentally ill, which is not what most people
might think is really rewarding but I discovered it was INCREDIBLY GREAT
FUN, and decided to GO WITH IT. One repercussion of this job is that it
became more convenient to move out of the shitty suburb I was living in
and move into the "downtown" area of my city, which is populated by a
large number of freaks, mutants and weirdos--people like ME!
Now it's five years later. I still work for the same employer,
and have gone from being part-time on-call staff to full-time, with
commensurate raises in pay. I don't make a lot, but I make enough to keep
me going in style, and then some. My job is still interesting,
challenging, and fun, and when we get the occasional raise or bonus check,
instead of going "About time they gave us a little more, the cheap
bastards!" I go, "Right on, thanks, that's cool--free money!"
In addition, I also do computer consulting on my own time, which
admittedly doesn't pay much (it's mostly fixing and building computers for
friends of friends, rather than working with businesses) but it helps
subsidize my computer habit and keeps my fixin-things bug happy. It's
great: I get PAID to do things that are FUN! Hunting down computer parts,
troubleshooting a system, fixing things and building computers are things
I do for FREE or PAY to do--and I get PAID to do them!
I also have TWO bands, which, admittedly, cost me more than they
get me, unless you count the UNLIMITED SLACK and FUN and recognition I get
for performing, promoting and putting on shows, in which case they are a
TERRIFIC-PERFORMING INVESTMENT with HUGE DIVIDENDS. Next week we're going
on a WEST COAST TOUR with a bunch of other bands--it should be a BLAST.
Oh yeah, I also have a GORGEOUS fiancee who is just as mutant as I
am and also has a strong anti-work philosophy.
If it sounds like I have an ideal, fun, Slack-filled life of adventure and
fulfillment, well, it's because I DO. Largely because I ALLOWED "BOB" to
FORCE ME to QUIT MY JOB, and then followed the path of SLACK instead of
the illusions of FALSE WORK and FALSE MONEY!
REPENT! QUIT YOUR JOB! SLACK OFF!! THE WORLD ENDS TOMORROW AND YOU MAY
DIE!
It's not just a CHEESY JOKE. Okay, it IS. But it's MORE.
LISTEN TO IT!
QUIT YOUR JOB FOR "BOB" and LIVE!!!
--
-----Rev. JETROCK, cyber-messianic noiseman and ANGRY MONKEY
SubGenius Code: hyb^R0(F&V13013#&*)Q#G^HVE$H*QXIST&)H#HEIEI*Y#&*BEIEIEIEIjH&H7
t#QU&m'MUH!!@^TT)&^%JHVH-1&@R(FU#HB$&*)T"BOB"G$#G*(&Y(_*Y*_(YH*(#SLACKNTH&$#&%
QQ{{U*(#U*7/5/98-7:00AM&*(Y*(7669682876**G'BROAGFRAN((*@*(u893y877)&_&*#_Y*H%R
*&#Y)*37Y&&BY#h&^@""o98i34jt4nunj8u90NUNU!dbvPOB140306DALLASTX75214n"BOB"!!!!!
From revjack@radix.net Wed Aug 12 16:11:44 1998
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Subject: Re: Can't Find a Better "Job"
From: Sketchy Albedo <revjack@radix.net>
Date: 12 Aug 1998 23:11:44 GMT
actual3 explains it all:
:I've been trying to get a job where I can be paid some more
:money. I've thought if I had more money, I might be happier.
:People with a lot of money seem very happy. They have Jet-
:Skis and shiny, new trucks.
:But I just can't find a job that will pay me more money.
:They are all taken. There are no "openings."
:So I think I'm just going to give up. I've just decided
:to be happy without a lot of money. It will save me a
:lot of time and effort.
It'll save you money, too. Good decision.
"This, then, was why she had wept in childhood, although she had not known
it. Then there had been the unfocused sense of loss - the unplumbed
knowledge that in the end the world would take away everything, even the
worst things, so that at the end, when she had nothing left, she would
miss even them; and surely it would take all the good things, all the best
things, the good things first of all; that her most beautiful dresses
would turn ugly, hideous and foolish, merely by hanging in the closet; and
that all the people, all the most beautiful people, the ones she loved
best, would fall to rags."
-- Gene Wolfe, "Castleview"
Be happy now. You'll be glad you did.
--
_________________
revjack@radix.net
What are you really thinking about just now?
From kevbob.AlLsPaM@ecsis.net Wed Aug 12 18:52:36 1998
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Subject: Re: Can't Find a Better "Job"
From: "kevbob" <kevbob.AlLsPaM@ecsis.net>
Date: 13 Aug 1998 01:52:36 GMT
actual3 <actual3@greenheart.com> wrote in article
<35D08CA6.DF6@greenheart.com>...
> I've been trying to get a job where I can be paid some more
> money. I've thought if I had more money, I might be happier.
> People with a lot of money seem very happy. They have Jet-
> Skis and shiny, new trucks.
>
> But I just can't find a job that will pay me more money.
> They are all taken. There are no "openings."
>
> So I think I'm just going to give up. I've just decided
> to be happy without a lot of money. It will save me a
> lot of time and effort.
>
quitter.
--
excuse, justification, reason. these are not the same.