So this seems a common thread to this blog; a part of my evolving story. My hope is that this blog will eventually be of value to it’s readers, but for now my mind seems stuck in the “what the hell am I gonna do mode,” and so here we are:

When my mom passed away I was instructed to write “deceased” on any credit card bills there were in only her name, and send them back. What would happen after that was a mystery. None of the folks providing council seemed to know too much about this. I guess the deal is, I’m not responsible for that, the estate is. Um, what estate? If there was nothing left, I wouldn’t be responsible, but it would seem I’m managing the money for myself and my father.. money that was a part of my mom’s assets, and indeed we are still living in this house! So today I found out about this new responsibility, and from there added up the credit card debt.

The the total household credit card debt comes to around $ 25.7K and counting. Interest is still accruing, which has me questioning the wisdom of sending bills back with “deceased” on them.

It doesn’t seem too terribly wise to put out my financial situation on a blog, so I’ll simply speak in generalities from here on in.

From the CD to be cashed, my feeling is that I should take out the amount for the credit debt, plus about 35K to live on, and putting all that into the checking. Whatever I think is going to be my tool budget, put that into a 6 month CD, or something like that, and whatever is left after that, put in for a year.

All this said, we still don’t know how much it costs to live.. or how long I’ll be able to do my thing, without needing employment to stay afloat. If I’m able to get work here and there, which looks likely, that’ll certainly help a good deal.

On the happy side (sort of), we are paying a substantial amount of taxes to our local town. What’s happy about that? Well it’s based off a 2007 estimate of the value of the house and land. Of course real estate values aren’t what they were in 2007, but it still suggests there’s more equity in this house that could be drawn from, should it come to that.  

So this is the gamble I’m making with my projects. Will they work, or will I just piss away money?

I suppose the plan works something like this: Stay in this house for as long as I can continue to take care of my father.  Along with this, do whatever it takes so assets are safe from.. well nursing homes, and what not. What I’d possibly like to do is move some place thats closer to the city..  Get a place with an eye to “this is your live in studio.” The idea of a live in studio being in a trailer park some place, if it allowed me to continue to focus on my work, doesn’t really sound so bad.. such is the depths of my art habit / commitment to seeing my insanity through.

If in the future I want to raise a family, then questions like “what is the quality of the education system in the area I’m living in” is probably something I’d be concerned with, where as at present it’s not something I care so much about. Further, if I was to raise a family, I’d surely need a bigger place then at current. To take this even further, I would at least hope that to one extent or another, my gambles will eventually pay off.. meaning that in the future I would have more means then I have now. At the moment, the real goal is probably to create a situation where in the economic necessities of life, lets say including the cost of tools, where such that I would still be able to give the maximum amount of time and energy to my obsessions.

So what could be smart to do is to sell the house and invest the money. Could that investment be enough to pay both my basic living expenses, and tool upgrade expenses? I think, even if I did take the trailer park route, unless it was a trailer park in India, the answer is probably no.

So, should I consider moving to India? (don’t they have better broad band then us?): It’s an interesting question. I mean, why not think globally? If we were to think globally, what would be the criteria?

 

1. Though the developing world is probably cheaper to live in, there is the problem that a countries GDP is related to, not only the cost of living, but also the dangers of war. If that were not enough, there’s various laws surrounding the export of technology. 
2. I speak English. 
3. I’m attached to the Boston social media scene. Where ever I would move to, they need to have something going on in this department.
4. If music is an important part of my media mix, the music scene is important.
5. The art mix is important.
6. The intellectual climate is important.

So wait a minute, you probably think I’m insane for contemplating this stuff! Allow me to respond. #1 It’s never bad to contemplate whatever, it helps to enlarge your view, wether or not you’re crazy enough to go and do “the whatever” you’re contemplating. #2 If what I’m focused on is internet based, if the main of how I would go about business is via the internet.. wether we are talking about marketing, communications, distribution, or whatever.. it really doesn’t matter where I live… or where I live has no baring on my ability to compete in the global arena. 

So lets look at reasons why going off this deep end might not be necessary, even if we do feel the need to go to extremes for our obsessions: For starters, there’s always the chance that I could actually make money from my projects! The principle of maximizing the minimizing of the economic impact on my ability to continue to focus on this stuff is a good principle. It seems like the more I’m able to focus, and the longer I’m able to focus, the better my chances for success. 

There’s also this intangible feeling I have inside: I feel like things are going to work out for me. However humble my current position in the world might be, I feel as if the brightness of my future could be nuclear. If not nuclear, then at least good enough to live off of! 

While I want to make these projects my central focus, the pursuit of these projects would help my value in the job market. 

So I don’t know, what do you think? I’m crazy, right? 

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Career, Media / Arts Business, life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.