As a child, I never wanted or expected to grow up to practice law. Then again, now that I do practice law, I’m about as non-traditional as it is possible to be in this profession. If I’m not actually in Court, I work in jeans, boots, and my leather jacket when weather permits. Got very long hair. Was watching a video clip last night, and noticed I look more than a little like Ronnie Van Zant. I didn’t get the corner office, Beamer, and six figure income…but I have retained some portions of my soul, while managing to afford food and shelter on a consistent basis. When I tried to make it in theatre, perhaps I retained more of my soul, but I didn’t eat as well…or as often.
I still dabble in writing various things. Most never get seen by anyone. Some stuff gets posted various placed around the internet, generally to rave reviews. Eventually, I’ll probably get serious about submitting material for publication/income…but until I’m able to command serious money for my literary efforts, I’ll be doing the law thing.
I’ve got a very close friend that never “sold out”. He may be the smartest guy I ever knew in terms of pure intellect. Holds a terminal decree. He’s barely making a living, drawing public assistance between jobs, never has two nickels to rub together, no savings for retirement, sometimes he can’t keep the utilities turn on because he can’t pay the bill. I’m not willing to live like that when I have the ability to do otherwise.
A day gig must be full-time and out of the home. Even if it gets you by, you ain’t wukkin’ for da Man unless you are physically on the plantation most of your waking hours.
It’s also gotta be something totally draining and soul-killing.
I give your rant a 9 just based on this. I’m damn lucky I didn’t have a mouthful of Dr. Pepper when I read that.
I work retail. I work retail so I can pay the bills and go to school. On my off time, I write, I draw and paint, and I make jewelry. I’m sick of people telling me that I need to do those things full-time. Look guys, I enjoy my arty stuff. But I’ve no wish to starve and leave my house to live in a crummy apartment. I’m going to school so I can get a job doing something I like, but I’m not going the I’m-an-Artist! way.
cerberus, I think posting the full lyrics to a song violates copyright, so I deleted all but the first three paragraphs. Anyone who wants to see the full lyrics can follow the link.
CCR called, they’re just glad people still sing their song… Left a good job in the city,
Workin for the man evry night and day,
And I never lost one minute of sleepin,
Worryin bout the way things might have been.
Personally, I think the OP is going too easy of these people. If somebody tries “But I’m an ARTIST!” on me, the best they can hope for in response will be “No, you’re a waitress in a coffeeshop.”
Can we extend the rant to all personallity assumptions? Example: I knit during class to stay awake. People know me as the knitter. A couple months ago, my mentor took a group of us out drinking and I uncharacteristically drank a whole bunch and started a lively discussion on Japanese porn. To this day, people come up and tell me enthusiastically how I got so drunk that one time and talked about Japanese porn. I have great fun in restarting the conversation right then, dead sober, just to prove that it is possible for knitters to know of the outside world.
So fuck your art friends who are largely upset that you can have your craft and still eat too, and fuck my classmates for thinking I’m a boring sod just because I can knit. :mad:
“Do they ever call me Pullet the Scarf-knitter? No. But you stick just one tentacle into every oriface…”
That’s when you have to start accusing them of being too narrow-minded, uncreative and prejudiced to break out of the conceptual box they’ve locked themselves into that prevents them from visualizing your inner accountant.
But seriously, why does everyone go to tenticle porn when talking of things Japanese and sexual? I personally find the rape stuff more disturbing. Almost every Japanese porn I’ve seen, liveaction or animated, the girl is either a total slut doing feces or outdoor stuff or has to be “convinced” that she really does want to have sex. WTF is up with that? But I digress…
Well yes. Yes. Of course, it’s a bit of a jump isn’t it? I mean, er, chartered accountancy to lion taming in one go. You don’t think it might be better if she worked her way towards lion taming, say, via banking?
