Freelance Writing

There are a high number of freelance writers needed for the internet and beyond. In fact, here's two links here for you to check out.

Freelance with Suite101 - "Publish fact-based articles and earn royalties on them forever. You can work from the comfort of your home and get paid monthly via PayPal."

Freelance with Demand Media - "Claim titles you want to write by searching within categories or sites you are interested in. These titles are yours alone and you have seven days to submit the completed article. After review and fact checking by a copy editor, your article is published and payment is processed."

Demand Media is also looking for copy editors with a minimum of 2 years experience and also filmmakers who have access to all their own equipment.

It all sound so great, especially for someone like me who could really benefit from having some freelance gigs; it's just that I can't get into writing fact-based articles. I tried writing one for the sample piece you must submit and gave up because I was bored. With all the researching and deliberating it feels like school to me, like I'm submitting an essay.

Fiction = fun. Why isn't anybody looking for freelance short stories... oh wait they are! May I refer you to The Shortest Stories website that publishes flash fiction stories that are 50-2000 words and makes them into audio books. You can even voice your own story if you'd like. You get $60 per original story accepted.

This sounds fun and may be something I'm interesting in doing. I strongly suggest listening to some of the stories they've posted on the home page. They're all pretty short and entertaining. I have a certain media friend in mind who should most definitely submit something!

That's my rant about writing. Check the links and get yourself some part time work!

Life Thing

I often feel as though I'm destined to live an unsatisfactory life. I'm unhappy with my current employment; I'm unhappy with my body; I'm unhappy with the way some of my relationships are going. I would rate my satisfaction level somewhere between average and below average.

Every once in a while there are these moments of brilliance where I'm genuinely excited about something going on in my life, but that wears thin quickly. In my opinion, happiness is temporary. To achieve a state of happiness is like to enter nirvana briefly. I'm so pessimistic.

I'm looking for a way out of this mundane life. I'm hoping for excitement and adventure to come my way without actively searching for it. I suppose Nunavut could be considered an adventure, but that's worn off already and I haven't even left yet. The anticipation will return closer to my departure date, I'm sure.

I don't know what I want with my life. Should I go back to school? What should I study? Money's always an issue. Should I travel? Where do I go first? Money's still an issue. So, I stand still, not wanting to take a leap while feeling unsure. I've never been one to gamble; I take well-calculated risks.

Destiny, thy name is unhappiness.
 "Unhappy and unsuccessful people on the other hand want other people to do things for them. They shift the responsibility for their success to someone else."
Is that me?
Am I holding others accountable for my unhappiness? Be honest.

con·tent [kuhn-tent]
–adjective

1.   satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.

In my opinion, if you consider yourself to be content, you have settled. Those who are content don't have the drive to do anything more with their lives. I'm definitely not content, yet I have a lack of drive also. Or maybe I'm just discouraged?

 

Should I make some goals for myself, for my life? Should I try to work towards something small and see where it takes me? Life is so hard and there's so much to keep up on, I feel like I can't possibly do it all. I have to eat 10 fruits and vegetables a day, exercise for 20 to 60 minutes a day, plus continue a daily beauty regiment, tend to the cats, keep the apartment clean and tidy, spend time with friends and family... omg the list goes on. I feel like it's all too much already and then to add some more goals on top of it all (that I'll probably not even accomplish anyway) would suffocate me. I'm not even doing everything I could/should be doing!

 

How do people live? I just don't get this "life" thing sometimes. 

Nunavut Adventure

I applied online to work on the 2011 census. I received a call yesterday saying they'd received my application and there was a 3 week position in Nunvut available. I would be canvassing door to door for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 straight weeks! I'm going to make a huge chunk of change doing this!

The flight there and back is paid for obviously, as are my living accommodations. I'd be sharing a hotel room with another census worker is the most likely scenario. I get $127 per diem for food and expenses. That seems like a lot of money, but I know everything up north is very expensive. I don't know how much it will cost to eat 3 meals a day because I don't know if we will be allowed to cook, or have to eat out every meal, but hopefully I can bank some of my per diem away and make some extra cash that way.

I found a blog that compared Nunavut grocery prices to Toronto grocery prices. It's crazy, so check it out! Nunavut Grocery List. Some items cost as much as 4 times the price we pay.

I've never been on a plane before, so I'm nervous about that, but also kind of excited. I don't know which communities we'll be working in, or how much traveling we'll be doing either. I'm sure I'll be meeting some interesting folks.

I'm excited to try some new foods! I'm not a big seafood person, but I'm curious to try Arctic Char. I really want to eat some caribou! I love venison, so if it's anything like that, I'll be in heaven!

Working over 80 hours a week doesn't leave much room for exploration and relaxation. I'll probably be exhausted after working and just want to go to sleep. Hopefully I can get my hands on some beautiful Inuit art to take home; maybe like a small carving or something that I can easily travel home with.

Even though I'm talking like it's a done deal, it's not set in stone yet. I have to go through a few formalities, reference checks, police background check, and pass a written test to make sure I'm competent. I also have to go through an interview. I don't know how many people they need to go up North, but I was told that it's a harder position to fill because not many people are able to get up and leave their lives behind for a month. Lucky for me, no kids, no one to take care of, no job, no previous commitments, no responsibilities...

Other than the cats of course! My wonderful and most handsome boyfriend can take care of my furry babies for me while I'm away, no problem! As for CBC, that's all been taken care of as well. Should everything go according to plan, I'll leave February 20th and return the third week of March!

Space Needed

I'm starting to get upset about not having any place to put anything! I thought I was getting access to a storage locker when I moved in, but I'm not. I have things that I intended to put there, but now can't. They're in my apartment taking up a lot of space and it's really frustrating because I'm trying to get this place cleaned up and organized, but there's only so far I can go!

So, what are my options? I can either have these bins and boxes taking up space and looking messy in my apartment while I wait for a storage locker to open up. I can also rent some storage space or I can move some crap into my mom's basement. There's still stuff in my mom's basement that I have yet to move into the apartment!

Moving some stuff into my mom's is inconvenient, but cheaper than renting a locker. Renting a locker is not in my budget at the moment, nor will it be in the near future. Currently everything is stacked against the wall and I guess that's where it will stay for the time being.

I really need all this crap out of my way so I have room to install the pole I'm about to buy. It's the Xpert from X-Pole! I'll blog all about it once I get it, but for now I'll just have to continue trying to clean and organize the joint.

First Outing

I had my first outing with Haley, from Big Brothers Big Sisters. We both had a lot of fun and I'm so glad I signed up to do this!

I picked her up at her house at noon. She has to use a booster seat when she rides in my car because I cannot turn off the airbags in my Smart car. We had lunch at McDonalds. Sometimes interesting happened there... She stood directly behind me, I suppose to get out of the way while still keeping close, but because she's so short when I turned to look at her and couldn't see her right away, I had to do a full 360 to look around to find her. That happened once we stepped up to order and a second time at the drink filling station. (Like the ones KFC/Taco Bell have.)

It made me realize how quickly your child can get lost. In the blink of an eye, I couldn't find her. I didn't panic, but I was certainly confused as to where she went so quickly. Apparently she was just behind me. I'll have to remember that she does that for next time.

After lunch we went to U-Putz for glow in the dark mini golf.

There's a picture for you to see how awesome it is inside! Everything, everywhere is glowing neon brightly and it is so cool! It feel like you're on shrooms at first. Then it wears off and you'd like to go back there again, but while on shrooms!

We finished our game and went back to my apartment to colour and play Spongebob Game of Of Life. Haley beat me twice!

I took her home and that was the outing. Next week we plan on going bowling... maybe even glow-bowling!

Haley's a sweet girl. Very polite and lots of fun to be around. She's a good listener - and I don't mean she listens to orders or anything - I mean she listens to the stories I tell her and then follows up with a related experience of her own, or some sort of relevant comment. She's only 10, but very mature for her age!

I look forward to next weekend!

Kitchen Organization

I like to organize and I like to sort. It may seem tedious or obsessive compulsive to others, but I enjoy it because it gives me a sense of accomplishment and control while at the same time giving me less stress and more freedom in the future.

I like my DVD's and CD's organized in alphabetical order. I like my books organized on the shelf from smallest to tallest. In my closet, clothes are usually arranged by type and then by colour. I like a certain flow in the kitchen, and when it comes to the bathroom, I like everything to be readily accessible.

In fact, I like all things to be within arm's reach!

In my mother's house, she insists on hiding everything. Everything must be stacked and piled away so you cannot see it or get to it easily. To get to it, you must dig and pull things out. I find that to be non-efficient and frustrating. If I have to spend more than 3 seconds finding it, it's not in a good location.

My mother is so obsessed with hiding everything, she will move your belongings for you, not tell you where she moved them to, and then forget where she moved them. Then she blames you for being disorganized.

An instance of this rings clear in my mind. It is winter and so I take my mitts off by the door and leave them on an end table by the door so that I can grab for them easily the next time I walk out the door. Mother moves them. She shoves them in a cloth bag, along with some other things, and moves the bag downstairs into the basement. Heaven forbid one of our house-guests sees that I wear mitts in the winter time! If they knew that her daughter wore mitts during the cold, winter months, well, she would probably just die of embarrassment, wouldn't she?

I go to walk out the door and I cannot find my mitts. Suddenly this is all my fault because I am such a disorganized person and blah, blah, blah. I am furious. I scream at my mother very loudly, Where are my fucking mitts? Her response: I don't know. I could have strangled her right then and there. I accuse her of moving them because she has zero respect for other people's property. She digs around, trying to remember what she did with everything she "cleaned up" from around the house. She finds them in the bag in the basement. I am now late because the whole ordeal took fifteen minutes at least. Serves me right for leaving my mitts in an obvious location so that I can quickly leave the house without any problems.

The only time I hide things away is when I know I'll rarely use it, ie, extra bedding, out of season clothes, fancy dishes used for special occasions etc...
The only time I stack things, is when they are like-things. I stack plates, jeans, board games etc...
Every thing else must be so easy to reach I don't even have to think about it!

When I cook in my kitchen, it's like a dance. I move fluently from one cupboard to another, in and out of drawers with ease. Everything - dishes, groceries - has been well-thought through regarding location and ease of access. Nobody fumbles around in MY kitchen!

Then I come to my boyfriend's kitchen... not only does he keep expired/stale food in his fridge and cupboards, he has no rhyme or reason for why anything is anywhere! Coffee filters are behind the glasses for some reason. One day the peanut butter will be in the far right cupboard. The next day it's in the far left. Some days the aspirin is on the bottom shelf, next it's on the top. Why??? Why would he do that? Why would anybody arbitrarily just move things for no reason? I can never find anything when I go in there!

In my pantry, all like-items are kept together. All the canned good are together and then separated by type, like soup, tomato sauce, peaches etc... All the cereal is together, all the junk food is together, all the spices are together. In the fridge, all the fruit is together, all the vegetables are together, all the beverages are together and so on and so forth for everything in my entire kitchen!

My boyfriend keeps empty cereal boxes on the counter mixed in with the stale cereal and fresh cereal. He has numerous bags and boxes of snack and junk food in his cupboard. Instead of finishing off one bag, he goes and buys another and forgets about the old bag, which sits in the cupboard and never leaves the cupboard.

We went to the corner store by his apartment to get a couple groceries for dinner. He didn't make a list. We literally wandered the aisles. He decided we'd have spaghetti and meat sauce. We bought everything in the store only to come home and find he had not one, but three boxes of spaghetti already stashed away in his cupboard he'd forgotten about!

His apartment needs a woman's touch, that's for damn sure.

Anyway, as I am currently in the process of organizing my new apartment I just moved into, I thought I'd let you know just how much work I'm putting into it all and if you are ever over, take a note at how amazing I am.