Shit, let me tell you about my year.

I moved out of my parents' house and arrived in Denver with $2,000. Had some excellent luck finding an apartment right away with no job or parental support. The only job I could get was canvassing - I worked for school board campaigns I didn't care about, signed people up for healthcare as an on street canvasser (that job was the pits) and then ended up working as a delivery driver.

What a slimy job it was. I was 'on contract' meaning I wasn't being paid by the hour. Only tips and delivery fees. The money was good at first - it was winter, after all - but then I came to realize... my taxes are going to be 30%. The restaurant started to slow down. Half of my check was going to rent. I was totally unstable. My income would fluctuate anywhere between $200 - 600 per week because of holidays and city events. After three months of driving I started looking elsewhere, and ways of saving money while still driving.

Jose, one of my co-workers, came to me with a 'business deal'. His housemate wanted to trade his car for a truck so he could do some lawn aeration. He knew I was looking around for car that would get better mileage than my 96 Ford, so I bit. As soon as I made the trade I found out that the odometer had been turned back - so I was stuck with an old Jetta with 200,000+ miles on it. Needless to say I was rageful about it, and it only got worse when the starter burned out one day when I was working. I spent Easter fixing that god damn car. So I threatened to sue. We ended up trading back in exchange for some money since he had done some repairs on my truck. There went my savings. But I managed to get my truck - and thus my job- back.

It was about that time that I was put in contact with a guy who owns an audiobooks studio. He wanted to bring me on the team to do research - basically making sure that place names and proper nouns were being pronounced correctly in their recordings. It was THE job, the ONLY job that my degree is perfectly tailored for (Linguistics). I've always wanted to be a voice actor so it was a natural fit. Then the lady who was supposed to train me, who worked their for 26 YEARS quit without notice and I was let go after half a week's work. Kicked in the dirt, I almost just gave up.

So I was back to doing delivery - this time part time. My finances were running thin. I was looking desperately for work and found some through a friend. While I wasn't delivering food I would sit at the coffee shop next door and work on this project. I made a game for a robotics company that sold for a few thousand. I think if it wasn't for that project and that coffee shop I'd be elsewhere. I've started a business out of it and have some more freelance projects to do.

But the last thing I wanted to do was deliver food. It doesn't pay well and sometimes I'll lose money on a day. Today for example, I've been waiting around for 4 hours and have had two deliveries - four hours for $10. I've been interviewing for months and finally someone is willing to give me a chance.

And I'm starting a new job on MONDAY working at a small company that makes toys.

TOYS :)