I'm focusing more on my art career and less on my day job, taking calls for a large company. I'm busy, doing double duty, between my websites, working on illustrations for a large commission I'm working on, and, working this day job that is slowly dying off. I don't like working in-house elsewhere, so I'm going to work it until I find a few more big commissions or get laid off, whichever comes first. Business is drying up for the day job. My co-workers IM me and tell me how stressed they are, because they don't make enough money to pay their bills. We used to make a lot of money on a regular basis.
Slowly the company squeezes us home agents out of our commissions and ups our quotas. It's a shame, because I like the place, just not the financial situation or the pay scale, which changes constantly. Every month, we get a revision to our pay plan, so complex and overly detailed that even attorneys would have a difficult time deciphering it. Asking management, always by monitored phone calls, is useless because they just block and divert our concerns, since answering directly is out of the question. Ears are everywhere, big brother is always listening. My poor supervisor, he is a nice guy, and has to deliver the bad news given by higher ups, as well as take all the home agent employees' flak for it. The politics of corporate life. Even when we work from home.
I'm just a simple and fairly introverted artist who prefers being behind my drafting table to engaging in corporate politics. I keep my head down and keep working the job. And equally hard, I work doing my art and managing my sites when I finish with answering calls. There isn't enough time in a day for anything else. Listening to my Harry Potter Deathly Hallows book on tape is relaxing, and how I end each day.
On top of everything, Google put my website lower down on the search engine list. Not again. This happens from time to time. So, I have to figure out how to get its rankings back up. I like fiddling with the computer, but I still have a lot to learn about optimizing my sites. My other art sites rank just fine, go figure. I will figure this out, eventually.
Through it all, doing my art is my refuge from all the troubles and stresses of life. I look from my drafting table out at my lake and watch the big, white egrets fly around happily. They sure have the life. No monthly expenses or stress, just hang out in the sun and eat fish (or whatever else they come in contact with that'll fit into their mouths). Looking at animals soothes me. My life isn't bad at all, no big mortgages to pay off, no dependents, and a paid off car. Still, things aren't complete until I optimize my site so it makes me better money. If I can do that, then bye, bye stressy day job / hello peace and quiet, devoting my precious time to doing what I do best..art, full time once again.
