From the Ether a standalone blog entry
Today is Saturday, October 29th, 2022. As I write this, It has been 2 weeks almost to the hour since I misstepped on the stairs and broke my foot.
The last couple of weeks have been very enlightening, to say the least. Let me start off by saying that I consider myself very lucky. Breaking a bone has so far been more of a discomforting inconvenience than a completely life-changing event.
It has highlighted a few things that I would like to share with you. I am self-employed and a musician. This could seem to many as a contradiction in terms but I was always of the opinion that with the right skill level you should be able to make a living.
The self-employed part means that currently, I may have one avenue of social welfare available to pursue. A supplementary allowance scheme that is means-tested. The musician part means that In 99%of my work I need to physically be there. I can’t work remotely from home for a gig.
So where does that leave me? What would you do?
It has become increasingly difficult to make ends meet in this “profession”. I wonder why that is?
During the pandemic, it was quickly highlighted how little leverage the entertainment industry has in terms of political sway. How disassociated the industry was and how utterly exposed you are when trying to make a living.
Are all of us creatives, artists, and musicians just on a fool's errand? Are we the dreamers living in a self-created dream? Is it that society simply doesn’t value our contribution enough to allow us access to basic social supports?
That’s the venting out of the way what about the positives? Being forced into a mini lockdown where I can’t drive or complete household tasks. How am I staying sane? I have been practicing touch typing which is easy until it gets difficult. Too many bad habits I think. But my aim is to internalise it enough to have a cognitive connection. Fluidity between thinking and typing.
Lots of writing. Mainly scripts for Youtube videos but also a series of ebooks to turn my SOPs into guides for people struggling with all the things that have scuppered my progress in my various creative pursuits.
Planning, trying to get a clear path of how I can set up a system to produce all the things I would like to complete.
Lots of sitting down watching TV. I have been through several series highlights include House of the Dragon, Andor and Clarkson’s Farm (this one was a surprise to me too!).
On the audiobook side, I finished the second novel in the Three Body Problem series The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. If sci-fi is your jam then I highly recommend.
