for anyone who has non-music jobs

[Spiderhead69]

Suffice to say that the type of music I create has, to quote Zappa, " No Commercial Potential". Therefore to get the gear I work days and enjoy creating at night. However, having been laid off 3 times in the past 2 years had given me time to stay home and create, but that was not fullfilling as computer limitations and realization that my signal chain sucks prevented my from getting the sounds I wanted, and not having a job prevented me from getting the gear I thought I needed. We'll this week I have landed a sweet non-musical engineering job that pays well and will allow me to upgrade everything. I'll still get to create music 2-4 hours a night and on the weekends, but with better gear, be happy about the sounds I am capturing.

[swingdoc]

I hate my job several times a day.
But....the grass is always greener. Try to fill your mind and life with positive stuff. Enjoy the little things. Our life is finite here. Only you can make yourself happy, or miserable.
Well, actually other people can make you miserable too. Oh, and hot chicks with nice boobs can make you happy. Unless they're a bitch, then thats that miserable thing again.
Anyway, when everything seem irritating for a long time, I exercise harder. That sometimes helps.

[tommymakestapes]

i still want to work at a studio even if someone is wiping their cum soaked hands on my chair. i mean... it could be worse.. like... cum and feces.. ok. its gross... but still!

[TrumpsHair]

Suffice to say that the type of music I create has, to quote Zappa, " No Commercial Potential". Therefore to get the gear I work days and enjoy creating at night. However, having been laid off 3 times in the past 2 years had given me time to stay home and create, but that was not fullfilling as computer limitations and realization that my signal chain sucks prevented my from getting the sounds I wanted, and not having a job prevented me from getting the gear I thought I needed. We'll this week I have landed a sweet non-musical engineering job that pays well and will allow me to upgrade everything. I'll still get to create music 2-4 hours a night and on the weekends, but with better gear, be happy about the sounds I am capturing.

Sounds good. Be happy.

[waitingroom]

I call earthlink dial-up customers asking them to upgrade to high speed, call after call after call. I also go to school part time. I am off one day a week which is the only day I get to spend with my girlfriend. There is literally no time for music right now.

[Dave Nutz]

do you think it sucks because you work in a pickle factory?

if i worked in a pickle factory id be so happy....because i would eat pickles all day long, and eventually, if i didnt get fired for eating all the pickles....i would turn into a pickle, and then i could sell myself on ebay, because i would be the worlds biggest pickle....i bet i could fetch a few grand.



-runs off to scheme-

__________________________________________________________

but in reality, i teach drums and recording to junior high school kids and i run a free venue. Sure its boring and frustrating sometimes...but it beats office work.

[Mr. Dipity]

i still want to work at a studio even if someone is wiping their cum soaked hands on my chair. i mean... it could be worse.. like... cum and feces.. ok. its gross... but still!

It's not that kind of studio unfortunately.

[workshed]

I guess I have two replies to this.

For starters, I have a job where I get to be creative. I work for myself as a freelance graphic designer. It's ideal in a lot of ways -- I get to work at home (good and bad), I pretty much set my own hours, and I am, more or less, my own boss.

At the same time, I get just as burnt out as anyone else. There are the dunderheaded clients with little or no vision, or just plain bad taste. There are the clients who think they are the only work on your plate and give you 1 day's worth of notice to produce a 4-page, 4-color 8 1/2 x 11 product brochure. There are the hours -- there is nobody else to pick up the slack when you've wasted the whole day reading the TapeOp boards. Oh, and the lack of benefits like insurance. This equals many late nights and long hours. And then there is the soul crushing hell of monotony that is production work.

I could bitch more, but then I'd just sound even more ungrateful. I really do feel lucky -- I mean I get to hang out with my kids more than a lot of working dads do, the money isn't amazing, but it also doesn't suck (if only my wife didn't attend an expensive private college for undergrad AND grad school, we'd have a lot more gear money to spend).

But the point is, no job is ideal. I think the dividing line is between occupation and hobby. Hobby is what we do to remove the emotional blunting caused by our day jobs. We do our hobbies as a release and we do it when we feel moved to do it -- not because we have to do it to pay the bills. There are times I miss working retail, having a half-time schedule, and not giving a fuck about my job. But I also couldn't imagine working in a cubicle again. Catch 22.

Like others who have responded, ANY job will be a drag from time to time. Mine can be a drag when doing work for big tech firms with marketing tools who think they're art directors because they can put a photo into MS Word. But then I get to design a CD layout or a Web site for a band that I really like and it's suddenly all worth it. When i can combine my passions with my occupation, that's where the payoff is.

Okay, so answer #1 was long. I'll try to make #2 shorter.

In the mid-'90s when indie bands were being snatched up like crazy, my post punk band decided we were going to try to take things futher. We got a "manager/attorney," (read: putz) we started shopping to bigger indie labels, agressively marketing ourselves. You know what? That's when being in a band stopped being fun for me. Everyone looking at you under a microscope. So I took awhile off from playing in a band and now I just do it for fun, because anything else would kill the part I love best about music.

And that, dear sirs, is the end of my rant.

[tommymakestapes]

i still want to work at a studio even if someone is wiping their cum soaked hands on my chair. i mean... it could be worse.. like... cum and feces.. ok. its gross... but still!

It's not that kind of studio unfortunately.

what kind of studio is it? if it was an adult film studio he could have clocked it in as overtime.

[Mr. Dipity]

i still want to work at a studio even if someone is wiping their cum soaked hands on my chair. i mean... it could be worse.. like... cum and feces.. ok. its gross... but still!

It's not that kind of studio unfortunately.

what kind of studio is it? if it was an adult film studio he could have clocked it in as overtime.

If it was an adult film studio, I wouldn't be complaining about work - and he wouldn't have been installing kazaa looking for porn.

I just manage the filming of technological briefings and corporate communications, and do some production for the marketing team every once in a while. And KEEP EVERYTHING NICE AND CLEAN. NICE AND CLEAN, AND WIPE IT ALL DOWN FIVE TIMES A DAY.

[tommymakestapes]

If it was an adult film studio, I wouldn't be complaining about work - and he wouldn't have been installing kazaa looking for porn.

[/b]

he could just be a selfish lover. your studio dosent sound like the worst place man. except for the cum on the headrest. dude that shits probably in your hair. i'd wear a hat from now on at work. maybe a hooded sweatshirt and just keep the hood up all the time so your neck dosen't have to touch the chair anymore.... wait is you boss making you keep using the same chair? if he is. quit. if he has the same chair. switchem.

[workshed]

HE WIPES OFF HIS HANDS ON HEADREST OF MY CHAIR.

Okay, you should totally use this as an opportunity to fuck with said security whacker guy. Start out by telling him what a great job he's been doing and how you feel like he's really underappreciated, and how as a selfless act of appreciation you're going to let him have your big comfy office chair to use.

Then, next time you see him, say, "Hey man, I'll bet it gets lonely here at night. Probably pretty boring too, I imagine. If you ever want to kill some time, feel free to use my computer -- but not for porn! Just kidding!" (followed by playfully hard punch to the shoulder).

Then, everytime you see him from that point on, give him the cheesy jock wink with a punch to the shoulder and say, "how's that midnight porn been treating ya? just kiddin' man -- you're doing a great job!"

Alright, I really need to get back to work now.