This year, I spent my birthday very quietly (anything is considered quiet compared to the birthday celebration back in 2003). No fancy dinners, parties or anything. Things have been super hectic in the last couple months for me and as a result, I’ve become highly selective on the projects that I accept – whether it’s a design project or blog engagements. The reason for this is because I am a juggler now and my priority needs to go to jobs that pay. I can’t be on vacation mode forever and someone’s gotta pay the bills sometimes, right?
One of the things that bug me is when people ask, “So are you a full-time blogger?”. To which I want to say, yes and no. Yes, I don’t work for anyone else but myself, and I do spend quite a lot of time and effort in building and growing this blog. No, it is not a “full-time” job because full-timers, by association, make a stable and secure full-time income from said job. WHICH OF COURSE IS NOT THE CASE FOR ME!
The source of my income is still through my own design work and projects. When it comes to that, it is a very straight-forward business dealing. There’s a clear scope of work, delivery timeline, fees and costs. Unlike blogging where business-like scope of work and deliverables are expected, yet fees and costs are deliberately left ambiguous. Uh huh, dat’s right, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Anyhoo, these days there are more design projects and client deadlines for me to meet, so while I’m trying my hardest to manage my time and balance both working and blogging, it’s been tiring and I end up getting super exhausted daily. This naturally led me to become an ultra grouchy bitch and I have zero tolerance when it comes to bullshit or anything that’s gonna stretch me thinner than I already am. Let’s just say I have my claws out and ready to rip people’s heads off.
Chasing me for a blog post that I’m writing for free (for whenever I have free time)? FUCK YOU VERY MUCH.
Meeting without an agenda or objective? DON’T WASTE MY FUCKING TIME.
Press releases in my inbox for some-random-product-launch-that-I-don’t-give-a-hoot-about? TRASH.
Solicitations for blog articles? SHOW ME THE FRIGGIN’ MONEY.
A lot of talk and no action? TAKE YOUR FUCKING BS ELSEWHERE.
The most annoying is, people want something from me? Just state it clearly and we will discuss it as business professionals. I have actual work obligations to fulfill, I have bills to pay and if what you’re approaching me for ain’t leading to an actual business engagement, I can tell you right now I don’t have to take you seriously either. I neither have the bandwidth, time nor energy to beat about the bush, decipher or second-guess whatever it is that you want from me.
Yeah. I have been grouchy.
As you can imagine, when I was a full-timer agency staff back in NY, I was a huge walking ball of stress and intensity. Very quickly got burned out and needed a long, long vacation (four years, to be exact) in order to reset myself. :P
– end rant –
The day of my birthday, I flew to BKK impromptu for a really short getaway to have some spiritual renewal (I went to Erawan Shrine) and upon coming back, my colleagues asked me to go into the office, on the pretext of a client meeting. So I showed up in the office and ready to go into a battlefield of some sort, when my colleagues surprised me with a custom birthday cake.
O_O
D’oh. They got me good. I was definitely not expecting that, not to mention I was very touched by the thoughtfulness.
And the icing on the cake (heh) was how my birthday surprise came in the form of a gold-dusted Marc by Marc Jacobs miniature bag. An adorable edible replica of my usual golden MJ bag that I always carry around! Sweet.
Thank you, it’s a lovely cake. :D This was the first time I’ve ever gotten a custom cake! The craftmanship and artistry of Patisserie Framboise is of course, impressive. They produce all of their baked goods with love and passion. I’m very honored to have a custom birthday cake created by them.
For this coming year, I wish for a peace of mind and serenity of the heart. As bitchy as I may be, I am nonetheless grateful for the opportunities that have come/are coming my way. Many exciting things will continue to unfold and I’m blessed to be right in the middle of it all. I know that this year’s gonna be a really great ride.
Zen, zen,
-MB.
