After Calvin and Hobbes.

https://allaboutwork.org/2015/...spective-on-success/

Sent that to my youngest. He will appreciate it on a number of levels.

Excellent.

Money is important, no doubt. But to me, money is simply this - choices. Nothing more. And there are a lot of choices you can make.

I remember Watterson when he was a freshman in college, asking to replace our long time Kenyon Collegian cartoonist. That guy had just graduated and gone on to become a political cartoonist (later Pulitzer Prize winner) with the Cincinnati Enquirer. Watterson stepped in and didn't miss a beat.

Yes to choices!

But there’s a lot of privilege here, too. First we have to be able to feed and shelter ourselves, to survive. Some don’t have the freedom of choice to walk away from work, because it’s subsistence level work.

I do love that comic, and Watterson’s attitude. And I’m glad that he has that opportunity to make those choices.

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
Yes to choices!

But there’s a lot of privilege here, too. First we have to be able to feed and shelter ourselves, to survive. Some don’t have the freedom of choice to walk away from work, because it’s subsistence level work.

I do love that comic, and Watterson’s attitude. And I’m glad that he has that opportunity to make those choices.

Oh boy, I cannot agree with that enough.

One of my daughters is currently thinking about what she wants to do with her life and is struggling with the tension between doing what makes her happy, and living at a subsistence level.

Let’s jump to conclusion:

More UBI/“Freedom Dividend” will empower more people to be more like Bill Watterson.

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
I remember Watterson when he was a freshman in college, asking to replace our long time Kenyon Collegian cartoonist. That guy had just graduated and gone on to become a political cartoonist (later Pulitzer Prize winner) with the Cincinnati Enquirer. Watterson stepped in and didn't miss a beat.

He replaced Jim Borgman?

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
Yes to choices!

But there’s a lot of privilege here, too. First we have to be able to feed and shelter ourselves, to survive. Some don’t have the freedom of choice to walk away from work, because it’s subsistence level work.

I do love that comic, and Watterson’s attitude. And I’m glad that he has that opportunity to make those choices.

Oh boy, I cannot agree with that enough.

One of my daughters is currently thinking about what she wants to do with her life and is struggling with the tension between doing what makes her happy, and living at a subsistence level.

Boy can I ever relate to your position. Hard for the kid, but hard also for the parent - whether to advise, if so how and how much?

Luckily in our case she determined on her own that she was not cut out for a lifetime of constant auditioning and would do better with a full time position.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
I remember Watterson when he was a freshman in college, asking to replace our long time Kenyon Collegian cartoonist. That guy had just graduated and gone on to become a political cartoonist (later Pulitzer Prize winner) with the Cincinnati Enquirer. Watterson stepped in and didn't miss a beat.

He replaced Jim Borgman?

Yes. When I was a sophomore starting out on the staff, Borgman was the Collegian's cartoonist. We were in awe. He lived two rooms down the hall from me in Old Kenyon. A bit reclusive, as I recall.

We had one heck of a college newspaper staff. This guy was the editor when I started ...

Matt Winkler

quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
Yes to choices!

But there’s a lot of privilege here, too. First we have to be able to feed and shelter ourselves, to survive. Some don’t have the freedom of choice to walk away from work, because it’s subsistence level work.

I do love that comic, and Watterson’s attitude. And I’m glad that he has that opportunity to make those choices.

Oh boy, I cannot agree with that enough.

One of my daughters is currently thinking about what she wants to do with her life and is struggling with the tension between doing what makes her happy, and living at a subsistence level.

Boy can I ever relate to your position. Hard for the kid, but hard also for the parent - whether to advise, if so how and how much?

Luckily in our case she determined on her own that she was not cut out for a lifetime of constant auditioning and would do better with a full time position.

Sometimes monetizing your passion can suck all the joy out of it, too.

Having a full time position that gives you the resources to enjoy your passion is not a bad trade off. Singing and making music for fun is a great source of joy! And there are always open mics somewhere.

Yes. I found that when selling wine on weekends. Better to keep it as n interest.

I haven't really talked about it much here, but Rebecca has a plan.

She graduates next May, and she's not planning to go to grad school immediately. Instead, she's planning to take a gap year before going to business school. She'd like to work in the pet community ... she has a lot of volunteer hours logged at the local rescue, and eventually she might like to start her own business.

If that's what she wants to do, I think business school would be a great background for her.

However, that's not going to support an extravagant lifestyle, so she has choices to make in that regard. Depending, of course, on relationship status, and what sort of job her partner is in. (Her current boyfriend, who seems like a really good guy, is a dual major in music and computer science, and seems pretty motivated to work hard.) She's always said that she'd be happy to live a very frugal lifestyle, but she's never had to do so, and I think she is currently realizing what that might mean, and she's getting stressed about it. She's also seeing some of the perks of a higher level of income (her boyfriend's mother has a very high-powered job, and she's going to Hawaii with them in January, all she has to pay is the airfare).

On the music side, she's gotten a couple of nice compliments lately. Her boyfriend and she share a vocal teacher, and the vocal teacher recently told the boyfriend that he was improving more quickly, and asked what was different. The boyfriend responded that Rebecca had been coaching him in the car. The vocal teacher said that Rebecca should be a vocal teacher.

Also, the guy in charge of the college music program, who's been there forever, pulled Rebecca aside last week and told her that she was one of the most talented vocalists he's ever had at the college.

So maybe she could teach singing. Doc (the guy in charge of the college music program) certainly should have connections to help her do that, and it's something she could even continue while in business school. I've never thought Rebecca had the temperament to be a teacher, but a few years of living in the Pacific Northwest may have changed her somewhat.

Anyway, enough of that personal digression. But she's right in the center of the creative fulfillment versus desired lifestyle conundrum right now.

The good thing there is she has a good basis for a portfolio career - music, business, animals.

One of the things our daughter discovered once she became responsible for a theater program is she enjoyed the business end of it as well as the artistic.


Now she is looking at an MFA in project and production management that I think will open up still more doors for her, and also give her a very lucrative backup position in case of an economic downturn. It sounds like Rebecca's grad school plan will provide her that as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
The good thing there is she has a good basis for a portfolio career - music, business, animals.

One of the things our daughter discovered once she became responsible for a theater program is she enjoyed the business end of it as well as the artistic.


Now she is looking at an MFA in project and production management that I think will open up still more doors for her, and also give her a very lucrative backup position in case of an economic downturn. It sounds like Rebecca's grad school plan will provide her that as well.

Amazingly, she seems to have listened to me. I pointed out to her that everyone working at a pet shelter was there because they loved animals. The way to distinguish herself was to have business training, too.