Doomz’s posterous

The 2010 20K: Day 7 - Still Schemin'

Just finished reading Chris Ballard's The Butterfly Hunter: Adventures of People Who Found Their True Calling Way Off the Beaten Path last night.

Today's haul was a decent haul - another $16 from some winning Cash for Life scratch cards (yes, from Sarah - it's been indicated that she's been having quite the active role in this blog - but if she's reaping benefits from it, then why not?) and $1 donated from Sakshi (thanks, Sakshi!) - tomorrow I see myself cashing in some lottery tickets as well :) Gotta get it where you can, right?

The 2010 20K: Day 5 - Beating the odds?

Snagged from another Posterous I follow at http://reflectionof.me/the-resolution-cycle-1 - I assure you that this cycle won't be happening to me.

Alright, so this will be one of my quicker updates, as I've rented Inglorious Basterds and it needs a watching before its due date tomorrow.

This has been one of my weirder evenings so far.

In vaguely the correct order:

• Went to Kinko's to put in an order for desk calendars - only to find that they DON'T do desk calendars, being the shoddy organization that they are (all artists who have ever gone there to mass produce ANYTHING know EXACTLY what I'm talking about) - I've been directed to hit up The Printing House in the morning, which I will, but if anyone else has any suggestions on what route to take for this in the downtown Toronto area, please let me know
• A massive subway delay caused me to get some reading in, but also miss the 6:10 train home, so I found a couch near to the station to continue said reading - there I met a young dude by the name of Mark who was asking about my Bleach bookmark - we had a half hour conversation about anime, manga, swapped our sketchbooks and email addresses - he seemed like a pretty cool dude looking to make art and acting connections - we'll see if this is a networking opportunity as the 20K continues :)
• Then I gave $5 to a homeless woman on the way to my train. Turns out that she's a prostitute on probation due to drug abuse and I was the 11th young Black man to have helped her out since last summer... which she believes is due to there being a Black American president in power which is changing the world for the positive. ...yup.
• Met up with my buddy Andrea to belatedly swap Christmas gifts, and she contributed another $2 to the cause, if only to double up on the previous contribution. Hey, I'll take it!

Anyway, in any case, I'm glad to be home so I can rest a little.

Indie Writers' Deathmatch:

http://www.brokenpencil.com/deathmatch/

Deadline for this is the 10th with a top cash prize of $300. With entries needing to be 1000-3000 words, I'm hoping to whip something up over the course of the week. Please keep posted as I'm going to need some SERIOUS voting help if I do!

As well, I have some vague ideas for a really bloody, gory short story, but if anyone has any ideas they want to send along and see incorporated in what will be nothing short of a masterpiece, get in touch with me!

Threadless 2K10:

http://www.threadless.com/loves/threadless2k10

Last night, Sarah helped me come up with a few really good design ideas for this contest - I'll hopefully be able to get them put together by the January 31st deadline, and like with the Indie Writers' Deathmatch, I'll need some serious help with votes! Keep posted - winning the $10,000 prize would be SO AWESOME.

If you guys come across any other contests you think I'd be interested in, let a brotha know!

Comments:

So it seems that some people may have some apprehension about commenting since they might not know much about the commenting options. Let me quickly cover them:

• Posterous - you'd need to have a Posterous account to log-in with this options
• Facebook Connect - to quickly explain how Facebook Connect works, it's an authentication system where you use your pre-existing Facebook information to log in to another site. What this does NOT do is: put a new app on your Facebook; take any of your data outside of the privacy settings you've already set up; or alter your Facebook usage in any way. It's probably the safest and easiest method for most of my readers out there. Feel free to consider it and try it out :)
• Twitter - similar to Facebook Connect, but for this you need a Twitter account to log in with.

Also, you can also get in touch with me at palmer DOT casey AT gmail DOT com, if you're REALLY skeptical.

Thanks for reading!

The 2010 20K Running Total: $3.00

--case p.

The 2010 20K: Day 4 - Further planning

Some might ask why I chose to use a blog in order to try and hit my $20,000 rather than just, I don't know, going out and getting a part time job. Trying to sell my art at art shows and conventions. Using Craigslist to get rid of a bunch of stuff that I might not need anymore. I think it's a simple answer for me, really - user interaction. I like dealing with people. Sure, my job currently allows for that, but not on the scope I think I'd prefer. I like to discuss and debate, to confer with others on ideas - lots of things like that.

So, so far Sarah has been pretty helpful with informing me about different opportunities available in the city for my challenge. The ones I have so far include:

• http://www.newad.com/en/join.php?ref_id=20&city_id=2&item_id=24
• http://www.arthere.ca
• http://www.instorefocus.com
• https://payperpost.com/
• http://www.blogto.com

Other resources she pointed out were:

• http://www.pursuingmeaningfulwork.com/

This could be fun or horribly disastrous. I can see myself applying for a number of different opportunities and wasting time trying to wait and see how things develop. But once the ball starts rolling, maybe it would get me to my goal a lot faster! Won't know until I take the plunge, so I'd better get started!

TODAY'S CONTESTS ENTERED:

http://www.canadapost.ca/way (can enter once daily) <-- this has a top prize of a $5,000 gift certificate for Canadian Tire - Sarah figures I could hawk it off on eBay/Craigslist for $4,000 if I won. Makes enough sense to me.

I need to make time to hit Kinko's tomorrow to submit that calendar (it's hard to get your butt out in the cold to do things up here in Canada, eh?) and work on a design for the Threadless $10K for 2K10 contest (http://www.threadless.com/loves/threadless2k10) - but it's going to have to be something killer. I'll post it up when I come up with it :)

Anyway, more to come tomorrow on ideas for things I could do in the next coming months and hopefully a post a day/every few days on things I could possibly do for you if you hire me :)

The 2010 20K Running Total: $1.00

--case p.

The 2010 20K: Day 3 - Making it easier for folks to help!

Today's blog post is brought to you by green construction paper! I've been sketching like a madman and clearing out excess art supplies, so it just seemed to be a natural progression to jot my thoughts down as you see below:

Well, 1/2 ain't bad, right? I upgraded the PayPal account to a Premium account - so far I've gotten it set up for donations, and will work on setting up other facilities as the challenge progresses:

Hope you're all well, and I'm hoping for an exciting week back to work, facing the challenges of balancing the 2010 20K with the 9 to 5 job. A set of numbers that'll spell success or utter doom :)

Keep checking the blog!

--case p.

 

The 2010 20K: Day 2 - Clarification

Day 2 is upon us and I've already sparked discussion, debate and questions of integrity! SWEET.

First off, here's a confession: I'd hoped to be able to kick off 2010 with a bit of a sweetener, since I had some uncashed cheques left around and Christmas cash that I've yet to receined from a relative or two. I figured - hey - why not make this a little easier on myself to start with? But then I thought about it and came to a realization - any of that money is technically money that I didn't earn in 2010! It was all "earned" in one way or another by the end of last year.

Which leaves me at a big fat 0 so far for this year. But hey. It's more fair that way. So just to let you know - I do have some ethics :)

Fortunately, though, I may have a few jobs lined up for January, so all is not lost! Hopefully one will see funds come in by the end of this week.

Upon sending out the news of the blog from one of my gmail accounts, I got a few replies from friends - a mix of encouragement, concern and advice. I'll (anonymously) cover a few of the items here just in case anyone else might be thinking about these things, but just don't wish to voice it:

good luck casey - my plan is to follow your blog and then steal any money making ideas that you seem to have.....

I'm totally cool with anyone else being inspired by this blog and going off to do similar things of their own - I'm all about self-empowerment, and if people are better for it, then hurrah :)

buy yourself that mac book pro pronto. don't keep defering that dream. further rationale, you could make money off whatever you produce on the pro.

Yes and true. And worry not - I'm pretty sure that the MacBook Pro will be the least of my worries over the coming years ;) As well, sure - I can totally use the sweet operating system of the Pro to make awesome stuff, but at the end of the day, it's just a tool, right? I can make awesome stuff using this Toshiba Satellite in the meantime, too! (Well, I hope so, at least.)
 
Is your girlfriend helping to pay for either of those trips? split costs my friend.
 
That's the plan at the moment, yes - but she does have a house to pay for, so if I can help by taking the lion's share, then I'll help by taking the lion's share. I just figure it's the right thing to do.

with more money comes more responsibility. you are fortunate to be where you are now, ... what you're making is not a bad figure at all. Careful with making money a goal, it tends to supersede all the other small things in life that are more meaningful than amassing money. besides, not having enough money just forces you to prioritize.

SO true. My focus of this exercise is not to simply make extra money and have that be the sole focus - I'm actually trying to expand my horizons in the ways in which one can make money and just try to have a good time while doing so :) I hope to actually take advantage of more opportunities this year than last :)
 
you don't need to make an extra 20G. Europe will run you 6 grand (you're travelling cheap remember) depending on how long you're going for. the aussie aussie aussie (oy,oy,oy) trip will run you 5G..and the engagement ring 10G. okay, so 20G about, but you can save half of that on your current income. So you only need to make another 10G net. So, that's 30G gross.

Granted, I can see how that budget would work, but there're other things to consider - taxes on extra income, if Sarah can't save up enough for the trips for whatever reason, travel insurance, unexpected costs... I think that $20K is a decent figure to estimate for whatever might happen by the end of this year :)

***

In other news, today I officially made my first dollar of the 2010 20K challenge :D Thank you Luke for your support - your $1 earned you hearing about my story and a mention in the blog for being the first supporter! Woo hoo!

There may be some more coming in later in the week, but I'll keep y'all posted on it :)

2010 20K Running Total: $1.00

Thanks everyone,

--case p.

The 2010 20K: Day 1

A new year with fresh starts, new hopes and new goals. Nice.

If you've spoken to me as of late, you've probably realized that I'm trying to figure out how to position myself financially over the coming years. Despite whatever I'd like to think, I am growing up, and will need to take care of grown-up responsibilities.

So okay, fine. What's this look like right now?

• Getting a ring for a 2010 engagement, as promised to my girlfriend of two years
• A hopeful trip to Europe in September and an even more hopeful trip to Australia in January 2011 for her cousin's wedding
• Getting the last dollars I need to buy the MacBook Pro I've coveted for the last five years

So, okay. It's like conquering an addiction - the first step of beating a problem is admitting you have one. Step one taken care of.

Now for the good part - the plan of action in order to deal with the issue.

I've proposed a challenge to myself - to make $20,000 on top of my regular salary in 2010. I know, crazy, right? But it's one of those things you'll never know whether or not you can do it until you try! That's about $384.62 extra a week, or $54.80 a day. It's not an amount to sneeze at, but that won't stop me from trying to figure this out!

So what will I do to make this happen? Some ideas I've thought of include (but are obviously not limited to):

• Singing telegrams
• Art commissions
• Business analysis
• One-shot jobs that I normally wouldn't think of

The 2010 20K posts you'll see in the next 365 days will focus on my quest to make this money, how it gets spent on these big-ticket items and how I stretch out the money I do make so that this isn't all for naught. As things currently stand, my full-time job is only guaranteed until mid-April, so contingency planning is also something I'm keeping in mind. I hope you'll all come along for the ride while I try to do this :)

Now, for a few ground rules:

1. Anything I pursue in trying to achieve this goal must be legal - sure, drugs and prostitution can turn a quick buck, but I'm not about to head down those paths
2. Anything I do must be done outside of my regular work hours - I can't knowingly jeapordize my employment in trying to pull this off, but I'll try to balance out work and everything outside of it to make it all doable
3. Any money I earn/get outside of work pay is allowable - side jobs, birthday money, change I find on the sidewalk - oh baby, it's on!

So I guess I've got my work cut out for me. Come back to the blog for daily updates :)

2010 20K Running Total = $0.00

Thanks all, and I hope you'll support me in this,

--Casey E. Palmer, aka case p.

Fresh Start?

I don't really blog that much at all these days. Life got a hold of me and I lost my way. I've been relying on others to make my days work for me, and just not really paying attention in general.

Is this the way to lead life? Is that what I'm striving for daily? To just exist and not quite reach a level of contentedness, but instead aim to just make a living day to day?

I think that living that way would be a farce. Who are we without our values, our goals and our dreams?

Reading a Xanga blog I follow, the topic was raised of a blogger that blogs regularly on things that make her happy. I think it's a great thing to focus on.

Recently, I've been thinking of ventures I could segue into in the near future, and the problem keeps arising that for most ventures to be successful, they need to be something that one is passionate about.

I don't feel that I have passion for anything, but I'm likely wrong. I think I've become so hung up on self-doubt and putting up walls between myself and my accomplishments that I'm beginning to believe a fallacy.

So no more. I need to find what makes me happy.

I know for sure, one thing that makes me happy is helping people. In the office setting, I try to assist others with putting files together in Excel, Access or Word, because I know I know a fair bit and believe that I can be of assistance. I'm the type of person who'll usually stop to help someone out on the street if they look lost. I help friends out when possible because I'd want someone to help make my life easier if it were at all possible. Helping people fuels me. When I worked in banking, I loved knowing that at the end of the day, I'd done everything possible to improve the lives of the clients who I saw on a regular basis.

I'd like to keep helping people. I will find a way.

Thanks for listening, Internet :)

--case p.