Ask and ye might recieve

I did get an invitation to interview for Teach for America.  This is so exciting!  I've been emailing my potential references all morning.  This would be such a boon.  I would learn a lot and I would be paid.  The only disadvantage is that I would be leaving home for two years and I really love it here.  I would prefer to work as close to home as possible.  There is a middle school right up the road from here that would be ideal.  I could hike to work.  Life is so very good and I know its just going to get better from here.

The mid point

I am more than half way through the second phase of this current project.  I am close to the end and gladly anticipating my next project.  Life is a beautiful thing when you have a plan.  I am mulling over ideas and brainstorming about my new product.  This product is unique because I will be primarily working on my own.  I have all of the requisite skill and my kit is primed.  The only variable will be the market and whether or not I will find a good steady stream of paying customers.  In any event it will give me a new set of pieces for my portfolio and additional experience in a relatively low key, low stress environment.  I will work on this project while simultaneously looking for additional paying work.  

Life is looking good.  I am optimistic and very lucky about where I live, my room mates, and my business.  Many have not faired as well as I have in this economic down turn.  I have become very frugal.  I am postponing frivolous purchases.  I am waiting until I can afford fun and games before I purchase them.  I am not buying a new car, another video camera, or more fitness equipment right now.  I would love to buy some more workout DVDs from Cathe Friedrich, however, that can wait.  I am more than well equipped to continue with my work, my quest for fitness, and I have plenty of inexpensive ways to be entertained.  I have a good local library to visit, book shelves full of things to read and a netflix account.  What more could I possibly want?  I even prefer cooking for myself.  I have plenty of painting supplies, more than I could possibly go through in a year.  I even have plenty of vitamins in the cupboard, I could go a year before I have to go back to Costco for another installment on that front.

They say that the best things in life are free.  For me that is really true, I love hiking and visiting with friends.  As mid points go, both in my life and my career, I am loving this one.

On with the second phase

Of this project.  I will commence project sort it all out tomorrow.  I spent the day shopping and inquired about some jobs.  I have procured an application for a local retail store which I happened to love.  The young man said that they did not have a job opening but that they were always accepting applications.  I expect to be in job hunt mode next week.  I will update my resume and haunt all of the locations that I know.  I will also be augmenting my skill set specifically with computer applications.  My long term goals are still to be a personal coach, personal trainer, and yoga instructor.  I hope to continue with my photography and a product concept which would combine all of my interests, strengths and skills.  I am comfortable, lucky, and I am so very grateful for this odd hiccup in history which has jostled me out of what could have been a boring and stressful existence.  Vive la difference!

And so it goes.

I am almost finished with this current project.  I expect it to take approximately two more days to complete which is perfect because my client will have some time to spend with me come the weekend.  

I didn't expect to be this different than I was just three years ago.  However, I would never make the same choices that I did at that time.  I hate to say it, but I do believe I've matured.  "I can see clearer now, the rain is gone."  I've learned and sought out different techniques for managing my business and with the economic down turn I'm not closing my business, rather I'm diversifying.  I have some ideas for products that I can make and market on my own.  I will need to look into what that takes.  

I will be working on my skill set, my resume, and applying for as well as looking for different revenue streams.  Wish me luck.  As a matter of fact, wish everybody luck.  Because with the way things are now, everybody needs a bit of luck.

Its a blustery day in data entry land

Its raining, windy, and cloudy.  I am sitting comfortably, computer on my lap, and scanner at my side.  Data to be scanned and ocr.  Then, tomorrow its sorting.  That should only take one day.  Hopefully this project will be complete at that point.  Once finished I will revamp my resume and commence project "Find a new revenue source."  Life is a beautiful thing and I will be able to enjoy more of that beauty once I have a paying gig and can relieve my elderly mother of her financial worries.  I am using The Secret, Simple Steps, and positive thinking.  My next project will include a goal board.  I've created a digital one, then I will make a physical one.  It consists of photos of things I want in my life.  That includes financial success, a vital practice as a personal coach, personal trainer, and therapist, as well as some material things I want.  Keep praying, keep visualizing, and know that your point of view counts.

Working on working

This week is another spent on the computer entering data.  I don't mind it too much.  As soon as this project is done I will update my resume, look for work, and hopefully get a j o b.  That would be a true answer to my prayers.  I would like to make enough money for my mother to retire.  That would be ideal.  Something close by so I could have a short commute or bicycle to work.  

I applied to Teach America this morning

What a walk down memory lane!  I had to review experiences I hadn't thought about since I was an undergraduate at a junior college.  What a blast from the past.  I went to Sacramento City College and finished up home studies at the same time because I wanted to play in the orchestra at California State University Sacramento.  I did that for three years.  It was an amazing experience.  The only disadvantage is that I have oddities in my transcripts so when I apply for graduate school it always takes a little bit of explaining.  I started taking college courses in 1994 and I did not graduate until 2004.  I did earn several certificates, change schools three times, play in orchestra, and change my major.  It doesn't seem to matter when I apply for work.  However, Teach America is a combination of both.  I am not holding my breath, it would be nice if I got the position because it is paid and I would have a paying gig while the economy is working on bouncing back from this most recent downturn.  I had been leaning towards a rural school teaching position anyway.  One of their locations is Gilroy, CA which would be ideal because it is close.  Just a quick pop up the freeway and voila I'm home in Sacramento.  So, keep me in your prayers, lets hope I get the job!

Teach for America

I am considering applying to the Teach for America program.  They are paid.  And, with the economy being depressed as it is, I do have some free time.  That would be one solution.  I would hope that I could stay here in Northern CA.  However, if it were a rural school, that would be ok too.  I have much experience living in rural areas and even have some tutoring experience.  I do have my BA in Communications, my undergraduate GPA was a 3.7 and I am capable of writing at a college level.  I even earned a certificate in tutoring and did that as a teenager, my subject was music.  What do you think?

The economy and me

Or in other words, my shadow and me.  Well, my shadow has cast itself across my personal finances and once again I am thrashing about trying to come up with a new business model and income source.  The income source that I had thought would be my fortune has not yet panned out due to the people I had counted on going out of business.  So, that means no business for them and no business for me either.  In the mean time, I am adding new skills to my arsenal and revisiting skills that I have not used in a while.  I will be seeking work as well as advertising that I am available to teach piano.  Luckily, I am living with fabulous roommates who are understanding and tell me just to look for work and they will cover the expenses around here until I can land a job.  That is so very nice of them.  I am simply the luckiest person in the whole world.  I live in a beautiful neighborhood, I have a roof over head, I have a cat, I have food in my belly, I have an education and work experience.  I have drive and desire to be financially independent.  What more could I possibly want?  I also have time to work on my skills (Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, as well as Office.)  I even have time to work on my physical fitness (more on that in my other blog.) My life is utterly blessed and I am just so grateful.  My life is just a miracle in so many ways.  From making it as a baby to surviving childhood and then making it out of teen hood barely scarred at all is truly a testament to the miraculous.  To now be aware of my blessings makes all of the minor difficulties seem surmountable.  Being out of an income is not trivial but it is, in my case, something that I have the skills and ability to take on.  Life is good and its only going to be getting better.  

Come on, lets go take some pictures.