We are Family

[curt]

We don't need another / a new discussion to prove it.

It is as it is.

Let this "fred" (discussion thread) live under the theme .......

long live this family

brothers, sisters, brethern, dogs, cats and birds, ants and flees, water and air and gas and Clare and Jim and him and the window Simm (??) and you and me and he and she and we and them and us and puss (???) and fish and the dish (it's on) and paper and pen.

Yip.

[Cal]

Hi guys.  3 months since I walked off the job.  Quality of life through the roof better while funds last.

I see there is a huge universe of cyber personae out there with blogs & followers & professional networking.  It's accessible to me while the electricity is on.  Any of you actually done any kind of 'make a living' kind of stuff in that virtual reality? 

[BO]

I hate to say this, but I have never been given a job without someone first having recommended me for the job. And all the work I did after leaving my corporate job was done virtually -- web and marketing design. The people that hired me didn't even care to look at my portfolio. Tis the power of 'word of mouth.'

Linked-in is probably a must now. I'd start there. And join some associations. Sort of depends if you're looking for a job, or want to contract out your services. Most of my wife's jobs have first started out as contract jobs. It's about the only way to get a foot in the door these days.

Hope this doesn't sound too depressing. In the end I think luck is the biggest factor of all.

[Cal]

Thanks Bo.  Yes it's a return to contracting I'm looking for.  You are right about the combination of luck & word of mouth.  The industry I'm in here is small & by my analysis, failing (my analysis didn't go down well which is what lead to the parting of the ways) & due to retrenchments it's top heavy with 'consultants' slicker than me which is why I need to try breaking new ground.

I'm shy & always relied on my work to speak for itself - quite interesting trying to invent an online persona ... bit like standing hesitantly & awkwardly at the edge of a cocktail gathering.

I'd offer a dog walking service if it weren't for my defunct knees.  I'm anxious about it all but a few years living this way is so much better than any no. of decades as a corpoRat that I'll try leaving full blown depression to the last minute.

[waldo mobile]

In the Middle Ages it was those who fought (about 10%) those who prayed (10%) those who work (80%). Now it is pluggers, players, schemers and sleds. You never want to find yourself being someone else's sled. I was in the same situation as BO... it is a small town. Audio box could tell you more about this... but the main deal is this:
To make the big time you have to be good, you have to be on the scene, and you have to be lucky. Rate yourself 1 through 10 in each category. 5 is average, there are no 10s. You need 20 points to make it.
The scene is there machine.

[Mouse]

making the big time wide and small,
standing
all still and quiet

[Cal]

Thanks B, W & M ... I'll put all that in a hat ... shake & draw.  The Greek poets said not even Zeus could meddle with "Fate". No safety nets here & I'm too old to go home to mother.  Good to have safe space here to spill the beans ... mopping up the tears.  Definitely no more sledding.  Not ever.  Didn't make 20.  So going to try for 'highly original'.

[waldo mobile]

Elizabeth said, "...there is only one Jesus Christ. The rest are trifles."

Most of the control that most of us have is learning to be good. Jesus on a bicycle. That's difficult enough for most of us. If you were not born on the scene, then you have to find it and get there. Lucky? That involves magic. As opposed to science. Science has to work every time. Magic only has to work once.

[Cal]

Scored 9 on bike riding because you said no 10's.  Had a good shot at the scene but found the light switch &  had to leave the room.  Been lucky .... lots & lots of lucky ... maybe not this time - won't cry about that.  New terrain - looking for new wheels for my bike.  What I did find in town today was a guy selling small brooms & I came home with one that Harry Potter would die for.  Want to see if it flies. Light's bad but this little chap is just longer than half my leg.

   

[pan]

I am really lucky - like the time the bus crashed through our building in Tacoma 15 minutes after we closed, all of our clients had left the parking lot (which had a concrete pillar fly across), or the time on our wedding anniversary we got rear-ended by a semi, totaling our car without injuring either of us.

But I'm not lucky when it comes to things I want.  I'm only lucky when it comes to averting total disastrous consequences. 

When it comes to getting a job, it is important to not be so qualified that you intimidate your potential boss.  Very few have enough confidence to actually hire the best person for the job.

[Mouse]

bzzz. bzzz. not bees following people around here in parks and flashing fast over wilder land. Haven't seen one yet myself. It is the best looking young woman I know sees most, because they see her I suppose. This week even a letter in the papers
"Drone experience most intimidating."

I think I am very lucky those forceps tripped me over the edge falling free through time, hurrah. Except for the thought police whose faith in demons delivers witches to burn, tra lee, tra la.

[Cal]

I wonder if that kind of luck is peculiar to our birth years -:)

Was being flippant about the 10 score ... mostly .... but the peculiar dynamic of my work situation was a severe skills shortage in the dept (good people kept leaving & the duds didn't) .... I learnt a lot very quickly & managed to plug dyke with finger.  Got enough done to save all our bacons but it is as you say Pan ... the boss man & his boss man & his boss man's boss man got more & more uncomfortable about it.  It was so weird - once we were through the auditor 'rapids' it was as if all focus was on waiting for me to flop just ever so slightly & just once & I duly did so .... not by making a mistake in the work, but by telling one of the duds I was tired of fixing his mistakes.  He's still there of course scaling the corporate ladder with great promise.

Once the worry stops this freedom is heady stuff ... like Mouse's rose blooms.

[Cal]

Maybe I did get lucky after all. 

Jeez .... if they had been smart enough to just say 'Good girl' & given me a biscuit I would still have been there.

Pan - how do you get safely under a bushel?  Dance with a stoop?