A Girl...

It sounds like the solution is to quit the day job and just do the freelance that pays better. That being said, I’d never do it myself. The security of knowing exactly when my next paycheck is coming and how much it will be is absolutely necessary for me to be able to relax in the off hours.

Remember to schedule some time for yourself in there somewhere. The foundation is not going to crumble this weekend.

(Urgh, or is it that bad?)

I hear you on the nonprofit wages! But I also love my (now part time) job too much to quit.

Tara--The foundation is really and truly ninety-five years old. I'll spare you the details because my parents read this and I don't want them to start worrying about my obituary.

And yes, exactly what you said about the security of a day job--it allows me to actually relax in the off hours. I'm willing to work for peanuts to have that and a number of other unpriceable perks.

While my life isn't quite a complicated as yours, one of my favorite parts about the real-job-post-college-world is the whole coming home and having no obligations at the end of the day thing. But last week I started taking a graduate education class and all of a sudden I have that familar "ooh I should be reading my textbook, instead of watching an entire disc of Angel with my roommates" feeling, which shall we say is just not fun.

So aptly and wonderfully written! I've been lurking for a while and thought I would chime in... I work at a job that I really love but the $$ barely makes the rent/bills. Couple that with being married to an entreprenial musician, and the stress level continues to rise. Recently, I was approached about a corporate position which will double my salary, but it is a soul-less, white collar gig. Now I'm weighing stress relief vs. job satisfaction. Decisions, decisions.

Damn, spelling error! Entrepreneurial!!

Ooh, I could've written this post (except for the foundation stuff - sorry). Thanks for doing the work for me! ((((((laziness))))))

I am also in the non-profit wages world, and only recently have I gained enough experience to be able to pick up freelance editorial jobs. Before I was babysitting to fill the gaps. And while I love kids, there's nothing quite as demoralizing as taking several evenings per week, plus nine hours on one of your two weekend days, to look after someone else's kids. Especially when they're of the bratty variety. The freelance work feels like such a step up. And yet, I'm totally with you on it simultaneously feeling like a huge, exhausting time-suck.

Ok, so this comment is pretty random but I read your blog and now that you grew up in Utah. I just started reading a great book about the FLDS and LDS churches and didn't see it on your book list. You many have heard of it but I really suggest checking it out if you haven't. Basically, it is really captivating and so far informative. My mom grew up Mormon so a lot of this really registers with me.

"Under the Banner of Heaven" by John Krakauer

I hope your impending down time rejuvenates your soul. It could be worse, like if your freelancing projects involved worms or rotten cheese.

The last time I heard about "rogue colons" was during a camping trip when half our group ate something rather unfortunate. We all had to be careful where we walked after that.

I, too, hope that you're rejuvenated by your down time. Everything needs to be balanced - a chunk of days or weeks worrying about other people's deadlines, a chunk of days or weeks for hot tubbing and champagne drinking.

Last year I was working twelve to fourteen hour days, including weekends, for too long of a chunk of time and I gained 20 pounds and was an emotional wreck. So now, balance. Always.

This post spoke to me...because I struggle with the same...

Hope you get some hot tub time in this weekend :)

What a wonderfully written post. If all of that extra work is doing anything... it's honing your writing skills to perfection.

And you can't buy that with a carrot and a stick.

:)

for the past several years i've started doing this thing where i'll calculate if something is worth my time by comparing it to the hourly rate i bill out at. . . for example, if a friend asks me to take him/her to the airport, i'll think about how it'll take 1-2 hours plus gas and realize it's a better deal for me if i just gave my friend $25 and called the airport shuttle. . .

or if i have an invitation to a potluck and i'm not in the mood to cook, i'll think about how long it'd take me to cook/bake something versus, say, just going to fat apple's and buying a box of 30 cheese puffs (for those who don't live in the east bay, they're a pastry, not cheetos). . . cheese puffs generally win 'cuz they're so freakin' good. . .

it doesn't always work but it does simplify things somewhat. . .

Bloopy--Have you ever had potato puffs from Gregoire on Shattuck? They're carbgasmic.

Bloopy--Have you ever had potato puffs from Gregoire on Shattuck? They're carbgasmic.

"But although I love my job for forty hours a week, I don't love it enough for eighty." I couldn't agree more with this. I work in publishing, and I love my job, but it's not a job I can ever just "leave at the office." I'm not compensated nearly enough, as is the industry standard, to make the extra hours (and the balance I sacrifice) seem worth it.

I'm trying to find a happy medium but as a young woman, it seems I have a few more years to "put in my time" before I can demand more for it. Or maybe I'm selling myself short?

I wonder when it gets easier.

That's the creative industries for you. I work n television and have friends in fashion/print ad other creative fields. There's a deeply ingrained (engrained? I don't work in publishing...) assumption, at least there is in the UK, that we should be so grateful for having a job in such a competetive field, that we should sacrifice good pay, reasonable hours, benefits and sometimes, our personal lives, for our jobs. It's the worst thing about what can be very rewarding occupations. And Jennie, I agree, there is a strong sense that we should all "put in our time" before it gets easier. Our seniors went through the wringer, so we have to as well. One can only hope that the future generation of execs in the creative fields will change the whole culture.
Rant over.

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For the last five years, the company I worked for tried to get me to work THANKSGIVING.

Yes THANKSGIVING.

I always refused. But then was treated like a problem worker.

I worked for the Harris Corporation, in Florida.

This is a true story. I am not making this up !

This is how bad American companies have become.

OK, I'm obviously way behind on my blog reading, but can I just say, before I read the whole post even, that I totally know what you mean about Swiffering being a reward. I promised myself on Sunday morning that if I finished my MAX presentations (the final drafts of which were due Monday), I could clean the house. It didn't occur to me until a few hours later how twisted that was.

Sadly, I didn't finish the presos until 1am, and the house is still a pigsty. :(