Saturday, February 20, 2010

In the Interest of Not Being Thought to Be Dead

Darnit I disappeared again! No excuse.

So, the last 6 weeks have been terribly busy. I'm on week 6 of a 9 week gig and though it has been grueling and challenging (which I actually like), it has also been great for my finances. I've had a few normal hiccups, like vet bills and such, but the last two months I have hit my monthly necessity goal and been able to not pull anything out of my emergency fund.

Now the bad news. Taxes are coming. Taxes are one the most frustrating things for me because I never seem to get it right in my head what will happen.

Last year, working my 9-5 corporate job may have paid off $11,000 in debt, but it also pushed me into a higher tax bracket, so I owe money. A lot of money. More money than is left in my emergency fund. So, I'm remaining calm and working hard and hoping that I can get this all balanced out somehow.

One of the things that I do that can sometimes be a little crazy is, I never turn down work if I can technically do it. So you might find me getting up at 7am to drive an hour to go and install a set for six hours, then driving directly to my regular gig and setting up and stage managing a show, then going to have dinner with my heavily neglected best friend, then heading back home to sit up and do paperwork, then crashing at 2am, getting up at 8am, and doing it all again. It's busy, it's crazy, it's exhausting, but boy is it ever fun.

And this is how I make ends meet. A little here, a little there. Have crescent wrench, will travel. In this profession how can I not? I could have three weeks where I get no work, run out of red wine entirely, and watch 31 episodes of Stargate SG1 in four days. Keeping busy is good. Working is good. Being able to pay my bills is good.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a two show day to prepare for and someone has to handle the fake snow.