Manifesting Money!!

So, my work situation is pretty good right now. I am covering the basics, I'm pretty happy with the amount of time I have available to do other things, I'm learning and growing, I don't really feel a pinch in terms of wanting things that money can buy on a day to day basis.

I am however, looking for ways to manifest cash for travel. My college friends, who I have managed to see pretty much every year since college, are getting together on the West Coast to celebrate the graduation of one of us in late May. 5 of them live on the West Coast already, 4 of them within 3-5 hours or so of each other. So the 5 are going to be there, and I'd like to join them. In my initial estimates, between travel expenses and to make up for the days of work I would miss, it would be about $500. That's like an extra $100 per week from now until the trip...

The other thing I need to pay in a big chunk is the remainder of my Song School tuition, which I think is also coming up in May. I think that's $350.

Then by August I need to figure out how I'm getting to Colorado for Song School and the wedding, and I'm also going to need to buy a bridesmaid's dress. (I'm shrinking so quickly these days I want to wait till as close to the date as possible for the dress) But let's say between either driving or flying or train it's about $250 for travel, and I would hope somewhere between $60 & $100 for a dress. Oh and shoes. crap... another $20 or so???

So yes. Somewhere in the range of $1,180 - $1,220 for travel between May and August.

I am open to ideas.

But before you start offering them though, let me mention a few things.

Credit Card. Technically, I COULD put it on a credit card, I have enough room for that (especially since it wouldn't be all at once). But I already have a balance that I'm working on paying off within 11 months of when I made the balance transfer. I also have a student loan payment due each month for my music courses. This is part of why I don't have a lot extra to work with. So yeah, I could put it there, but I don't know how or when I'd be able to pay it back. Ditto goes for any sort of a personal loan. I don't want to ADD to my debts, especially not right now.

Selling crafty things at the Farmer's Market (or in local stores, or online). Lots of people jump to this when I mention I need to make some more money. It's a good idea, and I'm flattered they think of/remember me as crafty and my stuff being good to sell, but in all honesty it takes quite a lot of time/effort for not much cash in return. So when I'm doing it for fun and I am just getting joy out of making the stuff and I have all this extra I don't need, and if I happen to get some cash for it, then great! But when I'm actually in it for money and depending/hoping to get a certain amount, I usually end up disappointed.

When I was able to do the Farmer's Market regularly, I never made more than about $20 or $25 TOPS in a week. And really, in this economy, people (understandably!) go for food items first. Crafts & jewelry are not high priority.

Plus Farmer's Market is on Saturday when I work at the Cafe, and I KNOW I'll get a reliable amount for working there. It's not a gamble of "Will I make my table money back today?" All that said, when Farmer's Market starts, I may see about sending a small set up with my bro and give him a commission or something... Every dollar does count!

Selling Used Stuff. I don't really think I have anything to sell on craigslist or ebay. I've been living on a low income for several years now, so I don't have a whole lot of extra things just lying around. Usually when I buy something big it's carefully saved for and used until it wears out. But I will keep thinking on that one.

So yeah, it would probably be more effective/efficient to try and teach another improv class to kids or do a performance, especially when I'm trying to come up with hundreds of dollars in a short period of time. Both of those would take prep time and advertising. Technically I have written an hour's worth of songs, but I don't remember how to play all of them, and even if I did, I don't know if they are strong enough to entertain for a whole show by myself.

I have one young guitar student. I could take a couple more of those if anyone was interested. It's not something I have advertised because I partly don't feel qualified for it. Seriously though, if it's just the basics and getting started learning chords, I'm probably a good teacher for that because it's not like uberly boring for me and I have a lot of patience and compassion for people starting out.

There is also an opportunity to write some articles for a local blog, which I have started doing, but I'm not sure if I can crank out enough of them fast enough to make the cash by the first trip in May, and even if I could, I don't know that they have the budget for that many in so short a time. Still, I will work on those.

With the awareness of what a difference it could make, I can be a bit more strict with myself about not spending my tips. I usually use them for things like coffee and lunches out during the week, but I won't feel pinched about giving those things up if I know I'm saving for something so totally worth it. That's between $10 & $20 per week if I'm really lucky, and if I don't spend any of it!

Finally, I am also totally open to receiving unconventional ways of achieving my travel desires. I am pretty inspired by the way I was really clear that I wanted to go to the Ingrid Michaelson concert at a price I could afford, and the next thing I know I saw an offer of two free tickets through someone I follow on Twitter, on the day of the concert! So miraculous things do happen!

And I am already arranging my schedule as if I was going to Portland - I had someone looking for a house concert and I set them up to do it with another lady in town who had expressed interest in being a host only a week or so before. (I'll still help promote, whether I can go or not!) I haven't scheduled an interview for the Tuesday after, just in case.

Anyway, I have the strong desire and the motivation and a good feeling about this. Now to make it happen!

(cue the doot duh-duh DOO ---- CHARGE! trumpets!)

Happy

It's been happening to me more and more these days.  I'll be in the middle of whatever crazy thing I may be doing, and I'll stop, and smile inside and say to myself, "I'm happy."

I don't know what it is exactly.  Maybe my stars have changed.  Maybe I'm doing more things that feel "productive" and that makes me feel better about myself in general.  Maybe it's spring and the green and the birds and the blossom scented air.  Maybe I've been a tad more physically active.  Maybe some of those Peruvian healing rites are working.  Maybe keeping the goals blog is helping, even if I don't manage to get all of them done, it's more than I would have done without them.

I still feel a bit like I'm on a roller coaster.  Can't see around all the bends and I know there will be some more ups and downs.  I wish a few more things were solid so I didn't have to wonder, and there are still plenty of "shoulds" that frustrate me, plenty of inertia I'm battling.  I still get cranky and tired and keep myself up too late and don't eat enough of the right things.  But so many of the things I'm doing feel good, feel natural and right.  Even when I'd expect them to make me feel nervous, frazzled or stressed, they don't.  

I'm happy.

Scissors Object Writing

OK so I missed yesterday because I had my radio show. I still got up before 9 though. Maybe I'll do one on Saturday to make up for Tuesday.

Scissors
There is something SO satisfying about that shhhhick sound that a pair of heavy metal scissors makes when cutting through hair. The dozens of tiny points of resistance succumbing in succession to the sharp blade edge. I’d almost want to become a hair dresser just to feel that sensation over and over every day. But probably all my clients would end up with pixie cuts since I wouldn’t be able to stop with the scissors. Plus the tiny prickling cut hairs end up everywhere, itching inside your shirt collar, tickling in your waistband. I guess it’s worse for the person who is getting the hair cut, but I imagine being around it all day you’re bound to get some weird runaway hairs stuck to you somewhere. Then again there’s the yummy shampoo smells, and all the other fancy hair products. I always love having my hair washed at the salon. Relaxing back into the chair, the mini head massage and the squelching of wet hair in the sink. Then feeling a portion of stress washing away down the drain with the suds.

Object Writing

My goal for this week is to get up no later than 9 am and do Object Writing for 10 minutes, Monday - Friday. The idea is to pick an object and write about it, staying as sensebound as possible, for 10 minutes and 10 minutes only. Set a timer and STOP no matter what when it goes off. Since I seem to hold myself accountable to blog goals, I thought I'd post them here.


Chopstick

I slid the blonde wooden sticks out of the paper sleeve and cracked them apart. The sweet smell of ginger and coconut wafted up to my nose from the steaming bowl of noodles and my mouth started to water. I firmly held one chopstick under my thumb and the other like a pencil, like the little line drawings on the wrapper illustrated. According to the directions I should now be able to “pick up anything”. I dove into the bowl, attempting to spear a head of broccoli drenched in curry sauce. I lifted my hand but the triumph was short-lived as the tiny tree tumbled back onto the mountain of noodles. My waiting mouth remained open in surprise, how could the hand be so cruel? Undeterred, I aimed for a slice of zucchini, thinking maybe the flat shape would be easier grasp between the two tiny sticks. As I pinched them tighter, the green and white disc slid out and landed next to the broccoli. My mouth screwed shut in impatient frustration.

Fired Up and Freaked Out

Thought I was going to get to Cafe Paradiso too late today, but of course it happened exactly as it should have!

Hung out most of the morning online, T called and was super glad to catch up with her finally, one of the people on my list to call for a while now! Always good to catch up. Then I got dressed and went to Cafe P and ran into E and T who said that Ellis and Terri (oh, that's funny, they both have the same initials!) were coming over shortly and I could sit with them. J was there waiting for J (doh!) and got to catch up with him for a bit - he'd just had Thanksgiving with his fam in Disneyworld. Awesome. Then Terri and Ellis showed up and it was fun to just be part of the conversation with them.

I feel pretty at ease with them, I think they both do a good job of asking questions, they are genuinely interested in what you think about things or what your experiences are. It's not necessarily that I'd expect them to keep in touch with me all the time or something, but that in the times that I DO ever hang out with them, they are going to be really present and interested in that moment, which is pretty cool.

Sometimes when I hang out with the musicians who just performed I feel so much in awe that I'm kind of dumbstruck and just end up saying next to nothing. And when I think about it - from a skill level I normally would be dumbstruck by someone like Ellis, and I am a little, but it's so so much less than with most others. Nice.

Heard that Terri REALLY likes caramel, and Steve was trying to figure out how we could get some to her, but they were running low on theirs at the cafe. I dashed home before the workshop and got some I had from one time that I'd made a little extra. Unfortunately it had a few little crystalized bits, but it still tasted good, so I just told her that it wasn't at it's idea state but she could get the idea. Hope she likes it. :-S eeps. It really is tasty, and I made a bunch more tonight, but I didn't have any to give them before they left.

Workshop was really good. I thought I wasn't really ready for their stuff at Song School, and I'm not totally, but some of the stuff like goal setting is really useful for RIGHT NOW, so yay.

HL was at the workshop too and she was asking if I'd eaten yet and I said she was welcome to come to my house because I had all this food that I wasn't likely to cook unless it was for someone else. On our way out S was driving by, they had to go look at a keyboard for the band, so they did that and then came over, which was great because it gave me a chance to give the kitchen a once over. It had been super disaster from Thanksgiving, and I'd been hoping to have my brother and his GF over sometime this week to get my rear in gear, but now I'll just be able start from a good place already! It was also really good because I needed to make the caramel, so I was able to get everything cleaned up for that and get it going right after they left. Made a stir fry with my hacked ginger soy type sauce and rice noodles and we ate it all up. Felt good to feed some friends and get to talk and hang out and review some of what we'd learned in the workshop.

Actually played some songs tonight after they left, that felt good too. Had been hit by a big wave of loneliness and acute awareness that G was NOT home and VERY far away and had the thought that maybe playing some would make me feel better and it did! Yay! Now I just need to get more specific on some of those goals!

Well, look at that, I made it through NaBloPoMo! Something for every day. Honestly it was more like I wrote something very early, in the first hours of every day, but I back-dated most of them so it would be to the day I experienced before going to bed. But either way it turns out that I wrote something every single day. That feels really good. Feels like it sped by too! Not sure how much I'll keep it up for the next months. I have a new class starting in January for Lyric Writing and part of that will be writing something everyday for class, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have for blogging here. But I hope it'll be more frequent than lately (as in before November) because this had been very productive in terms of taking time to think things out FOR ME. So easy to get caught up in doing things for other people, or just going through life on auto pilot. It's good to stop and reflect more often.

Weekend of Progress

Cross post from MySpace. Because sometimes one blog a day isn't enough.

Progress of Sorts
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Life

So while I haven't done nearly everything I've been wanting to do for ages now, I do feel like I made a lot of progress and did a lot of good things this weekend.

Friday
- Company Christmas party. Kept my white shirt clean through tomato soup, ravioli sauce by intelligent napkin placement, and scored a $50 massage gift certificate.
- Caught the second half of Arthur Lee Land's show at Cafe P

Saturday
- Set up a table at the Indoor Farmer's Market, made somewhere in the neighborhood of $25
- Slept from about 2:30 - 5:30
- Went to a Christmas Party with a bunch of the MUM Latino's and understood a bunch of Spanish

Sunday
- Over the course of the day, G and I changed the sheets, cleaned up the clothes on the bedroom floor and vacuumed and did 4 loads of laundry
- We also throughout the day made tremendous progress on the dining room table: filing, sorting, recycling, shredding mail, magazines, receipts etc.
- Took the dryer exhaust tube off to discover it was ENTIRELY packed with bird nesting materials and lint. Cleaned it out. Our dryer now dries clothes in one cycle, and damp air doesn't exhaust out into the laundry room to keep all the line-dry clothes wet.
- Saw "The Skaters" ballet at the Civic Center, including the Generation NOW show choir opening. Talented kids! I so want to perform on that stage sometime!
- Watered the plants
- Paid bills
- Activated new credit card, cut up expired ones
- Talked to Sarah
- I've also managed to START thinking about Christmas. Which feels good because i was starting to freak out that I hadn't done anything about it AT ALL yet.

If I'm really lucky, I might even order some of my online presents before bed, and/or my plane tickets to Colombia.