ThisCowIsPurple.com

I went for a long long long blogsurf and realise I’m really not doing anything with my time and skills. I came across some random blogs of people my age and read about what they do and I wondered if I would ever get to do something I really liked. Sometimes I wonder where people get their money from. hahaha.. you’re 24 and you have a quadcore pc for gaming, 15? powerbook, canon dslr eos-1 mark II, ricoh digital gr, sony dsc T10, x360, wii, ds lite? oh my. Okay okay.. so the canon mk2 is for work but cmon man.. haha..

I think I have to get to work. Not to buy stuff.. but.. hey… actually if don’t buy stuff work for what. haha.. there comes a point where you earn enough to survive right? I’m thinking this earn money to spend it is quite ridiculous. Still, I’d like to get me either a G9 or a ricoh digital gr2. haha.. My olympus don’t want to die yet so nothings going to happen for now.

This is turning out to be a long night after the previous 2 posts. Was just reading a blog I used to go to when I was still exploring the monetization of my online activities. He’s 35 in november and has hit his target of being his own boss by 35 when he started his own company in march this year. Its an SEO company with some web development stuff mixed in. He’s really good at what he does and has worked in amazon and microsoft in departments very similar to what he does in his own time. Considering he earns about just less than 1000USD a day from all his online activities combined, is that mad money or what? I mean.. Thats like about 30k USD, roughly 46000 SGD at the conservative exchange rate of 1.56 a month. Is that what life is all about? What would you do with 46k a month?

I admire him in a way for being so focused and hitting all his targets. Yet, I wonder if my life would ever mean anything to live like this. To devote every resource to create more resources to throw back into making more resources to spend on yourself. I’m really freaking out when I think about my future.. or “mirai” as it is in japanese. The honest fact is that I do want to earn. At the same time, I don’t want it to consume me. Money is like this monster you feed and grow and keep close to you and try to balance the feeding and growing with the risk of it growing so big it totally eats you up.

Where do I go and what do I do? When will I know and who’s going to be there with me? I see no job in my future, my skill sets are too shallow and diverse.

Anyway, I cleared out my table somewhat. In preparation to study study study. I’m going to sit down and set some goals for my life. Maybe in the next hour or the next day. Short and long term.

Everyone should learn how to budget and manage their money. PearBudget is simple to use. Its just an excel spreadsheet.

I’ve just come to realise something really interesting. I don’t know if I’m right but I think people are so much more in tune with what they really want from a project they outsource when there is a higher price to pay.

I was actually thinking about the topic of church people always doing stuff for free (which should be the way most of the time). I mean the stuff that people get paid to do outside. Its also because I took on a freelance job and don’t know what to charge. I would gladly do this one for free for a friend who’s the proxy but I’m not going to tell because I think they would not be as clear with what they want or whether they really need it.

This is something I (and probably many others) am guilty of. When one is given something for free, the reaction is to take it “just in case we need” and then discard it if we don’t. Maybe not just some material thing, but maybe a service from someone. If we’re made to pay for something first, we’d think twice about whether we really really need it before accepting. Hmmm.. I will consider accepting payment for things before starting future projects for anyone in future. I believe it really helps to clear the client’s mind about what they really want and whether they really need it. I was thinking of doing that to church but others (like kim and zg) would just fold and do it for free anyway so no point.

Just to sum it up and be a little more clear (especially the church part), sometimes free things are taken for-granted and we must continually re-evaluate and consider whether something is worth doing or not. It may be relevant now but become irrelevant later and vice versa. Putting it on the budget will spark that little consideration about whether our time and resources are being well spent by quantifying it in dollars and cents. Its like the sunday pianist. An hour of playing outside could cost anything between $30-$100. If we had to pay our pianists (because of a sudden law which says people cannot do anything for free) we still would have them play and spend money because it is almost an absolutely essential part of running the service for now. (noting that nothing stops them from giving back to the church really..) To have a pianist play is almost totally unquestionable and thats why we don’t even think about it. Consider the less essential points of running a church like taking care of the sound system, running the website, having a library, having tuitions on Saturdays, having cantatas, having camps. We shouldn’t have them just because they are good to have but more because we need them or because we know it is God’s will. I think this applies to life in general when so many things call for my attention and time and money and everything seems like a good to have.

Well, those are the thoughts for the night. Funny how money is valued more than another person’s time and talent sometimes? Next time I ask someone to help me do something for free, this will be on my mind.

yay!

My goodness, there is a neopets-like thing around since 2003 which is essentially a 2nd life online. You actually pay REAL money to get a house there, trade and stuff. Recently, a person has already become a millionaire by trading online and Australia has decided to tax income from such streams including World-Of-Weirdos. How crazy is that? This concept is so ahead of its time, especially after neopets. I remember I played it quite abit because I was so intrigued by the economic system established which seems to self run like an organism with users as the cells. Demand and supply and cost all moved with the users. Interesting. Anyway out of interest I went to have a look at my account.. lo and behold, below it is!