Wow. This place is dead without Mike. Or maybe you’re all too busy to post this week.
Whatever the reason, I enjoy reading this blog while I’m at this desk all day. Which made me wonder: What do all of our authors and readers do for a living? I’ll start…
Monday through Friday, I’m the graphic artist and video editor for Picture Vehicles Unlimited and Mike Ryan Motorsports. We supply and custom fabricate vehicles for the film and television industry. Mike Ryan is my boss, and he also races a custom-built semi truck, for which I provide graphics and media management. (Yes – a semi truck. It’s pretty amazing…) Of course, I spend some of my time brokering vehicles and helping studios get the right car for the right production. And my own company, Frequent Flyer Productions, provides videography and post-production services for all kinds of clients – most of which are weddings.
What are the rest of you doing to pay the bills these days?
Josiah Mory 6:56 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
I am a student at APU and I am majoring in commercial music. The rest of my time is spent working in one of the tech departments on campus as the personnel manager. This is the one that fits the “paying the bills” catagory, and helps to minimize the heart attacks created when APU sends me bills. Any other time that I somehow manage to conjure up is spent playing bass and finding gigs.
aly hawkins 8:08 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
Monday through Friday, I edit books for a publisher of Christian literature (read: “military intelligence” or “jumbo shrimp”). Some of them are quite good, and make me proud to have been involved in some small way. Others are very, very bad and my involvement leads me to personal and spiritual crises of epic proportion.
I write book reviews and opinion pieces for a couple of magazines, and have been working on a novel on and off for about a year. Saying I’m writing a novel is much more fun than writing it, at least when the writing feels more like auto-dentistry. I’m not sure the end result will ever be publishable, but if I give up before it’s done, I’ll lose what modicum of self-respect I have left.
Sharolyn 8:55 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
APU has a commercial music major? That’s great.
Aly – Are you allowed to share a very, very bad sentence or paragraph that has caused you a crisis?
My husband and I are both public school music teachers. His name is Jason. He has been reading Addison Road, but hasn’t blogged yet. Shouldn’t he start? :)
I teach general music, grades 1-5. (Singing, music history, basic theory, etc.) I teach at the elementary school Jason and I both attended. Have I mentioned his mom was my second grade teacher at this school? You’d think we’re from Arkansas or something.
He teaches beginning band to fifth graders at nine schools in our town. People say he has a lot of patience this time of year. His motto is, “Jingle Bells by Christmas”. He is very good with this age group.
We both see about 500 kids per week, so are quite known around town.
I am currently on a “child rearing leave” following the birth of our second kiddo on June, and will return in January. Being a “stay-at-home” mom is very different, even if I do work part-time.
THAT’S US!
Sharolyn 9:03 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
So, Mike, what do you do?
Karen 9:04 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
I am staying home with our 2 babies right now. To make a little extra money I empower women to set their own hours, make money and increase their self esteem….AKA I sell Pampered Chef. Once both kids are in school full time I will probably look for something where I can use my Masters degree. I just started voluteering on the Tennessee Early Intervention Steering Team. I am one of 2 parents of children with special needs on the committee. It doesn’t pay but will look good on a resume in the future.
I am sure Bobby will pop in with what he does since he actually makes the money to pay our bills.
Gretchen 10:23 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
I taught 1st grade for 6 years, got a Masters in Education in the process, and now i use all that great knowledge to stay home with our daughter Sophia. Wouldn’t change it. It is definitely a switch in gears, but I’m loving it. I’m subbing for a friend when needed, and I will return to teaching one day.
I run a floral/wedding coordinating business, Details of the Day, on the side to keep me sane, and bring in a little extra some’in’ some’in’ Love the creative outlet and design aspect of it, could do without the small business paperwork and taxes.
Stick 10:37 pm on 8 November 2006 Permalink
It’s very glamorous sounding to say I’m a Record Producer, but in reality, it’s more like I’m a janitor, runner, assistant engineer, engineer, songwriter, arranger, flakey singer psychoanalyist, programmer, editor, Auto-tuner, mixer, fixer, CD burner, and back to janitor when it’s over. And in the spare time, it’s studio designer, construction grunt, piano teacher, worship band director, and oh yeah, husband and father.
I’ve somehow managed to pay most of the bills making music of some form for my entire career thus far (well, since June quit her lucrative job at Pepperdine to stay at home and work way harder raising the kiddos). It’s taken the form of commercials, a couple film scores, songwriting, song and record production, lots of mixing, and mastering when I can’t get out of it. Lately, it’s been producing and mixing indie projects for artists and some church worship bands (my own included).
Chad 8:30 am on 9 November 2006 Permalink
I know church employee sounds glamorous, but in reality it really is. Groupies… parties… all the glamor, all the glitz…
My steady gig is a worship leader at a mid sized church in SoCal. I have two seasonal choirs, adult and student, a rotating band and vocal team for sunday mornings, and yes, I make the actual service order.
On the side, I do gigs for Stick, Ash, and whomever else is hiring. Singing mostly (tracks get emailed in with demo vox, tracks go out with Chad and often Erica Vox), some mixing, some production and writing.
Oh, and we’re in this band….
Doug 9:08 am on 9 November 2006 Permalink
I work as the pastor of a church where I get the privilege of working with dedicated and talented staff people like Michael Lee. That connection is of course my connection to Addison Road. It is a great place for me to keep track of at least one of our staff. I have been pastor of this church for going on 18 years. It was here and from Mike that I learned about the value of blogs to faith and ministry.
Morphea 9:28 am on 9 November 2006 Permalink
I have a Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance from Greenville College and was groomed my entire life (parents, teachers) to be a popular Christian recording artist. So far I’m 0 for 3.
I have a cushy, kick-ass job as an office worker for a private wealth investment firm in downtown Seattle. I actually kind of like the work, though working with suits to make rich people richer (our account minimum is $1 million) is obviously soulless and not forever. I hope.
I’m working with an old college friend, co-writing some stuff and we have no idea where it’s going, but it’s music and we work well together (he was the bassist and I the front-person for a Christian hard-rock cover band in college – the only disagreement we ever had was doing too many King’s X songs that they refused to transpose), so I’m happy. I’d be happy thumping out old 40’s standards to people in a nursing home right now, to be honest.
A sad but common story, but I’m really OK. For now.
Cerise
aly hawkins 9:36 am on 9 November 2006 Permalink
Dude, I LOVED King’s X. I saw them open for (I’m totally not kidding) Motley Crue the summer of 1994. Good times.
Morphea 9:58 am on 9 November 2006 Permalink
No, I’m not dissing King’s X. They rule. But me trying to cover them…let’s just say that my classical voice instructors were less than thrilled with the damage I inflicted on my own damn voice.
Cerise
Jeremy 12:39 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
So far in my career I’ve blown up the Enterprise, made dogs talk, created milk for a kung-fu cow, duked it out with 80 foot robots, lit a guys beard on fire, made cows sing, landed a DC-10 on a freeway, filled the ocean with blood, got a hot girls stoned on fake animated smoke, exploded countless Dominion ships, took out a band with a massive desert tornado, filled a warehouse with magical boxes, informed the world of the great electronic bits that Kyocera makes, raced horse sperm, crashed a 757, and destroyed the moon. Whew…I’m tired.
I own a small Visual Effects company in Venice, CA called Screaming Death Monkey. We do effects work for films, commercials, music videos and television and occasionally I get to produce and direct. I’ve been lucky enough to be doing this work since I graduated from college in 1997 and started my own shop in 2000. Basically I get paid to do what i was doing for free when I was stealing my dads cameras back when I was 12. And I’m really sick of attractive women writhing in smoke. I honestly never thought I could get sick of that but I am here to tell you it is possible.
Morphea 1:26 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
Screaming Death Monkey: Not to be confused with SONIC Death Monkey, Jack Black’s fictional band (which also bore the names “Barry Jive and the Uptown Five” and possibly “Kathleen Turner Overdrive” during the course of the film) in the movie “High Fidelity”, whose three top immediate influences were 3 German bands: Kraftwerk, Falco, and Hasselhoff.
I’m going to have a little lie-down, now.
Cerise
aly hawkins 1:59 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
Yet somehow they covered Marvin Gaye.
Zack 3:00 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
……and rocked the sweet Jesus outta that tune, no less.
Bobby 3:23 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
Hey now, try to bring the funny down…
I do contract web design for various clients, although over the past year 90% of my work has come from LifeWay Christian Resources (based here in Nashville) and their publishing arm, Broadman & Holman. Mostly I create banner ads and mini-sites for new books. I also create sites for independent musicians and small businesses as time allows.
My contractor status is kind of nice because I can manage my availability and continue to pursue music. It would be nice to be playing music full-time, but even when I was, I still needed some additional income, so this has worked out reasonably well (except once every 3 or 4 months, something happens in the payment process at LifeWay and I end up going 2-3 weeks without a check… it’s fresh in my mind because it is happening right now!).
I also had my first model flying gig this week (stop laughing Karen) – the middle school youth leader at church needed something special for a lesson intro with a mission impossible theme, so I flew a tiny plane with a coded message attached above (and around, oops!) the 400 kids or so in the room up to the stage. So, it won’t be long now before I’ll be getting some Saving Private Ryan-type special effects work I’m sure.
Oh yeah, and every once in a while I play a rock show. Some people don’t consider that work for some reason… I doubt it has to do with the not-very-impressive amount of money that comes in ($1500 last year!).
Stick 5:34 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
Dude… if you get paid, you’re a “pro”. Sheesh, with that much cash coming in, I’d consider you a “rock star”.
aly hawkins 6:42 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
Definitely. I made about $2000 last year from writing, and I call myself a “writer.” The first check makes you legit.
Linda 7:47 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
I am mom to a 13 year old budding musician (Sax, Drums & Oboe) with another one off at college. I also get to be a grandma to one of the cutest little girls around (even if her dad does make her dance to questionable music…)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6819259230141316468&sourceid=docidfeed&hl=en
I work as a supervisor of an MRI department at a major hospital in Northern California. Yes, I get to play with big fancy computers and make cool pictures. I’m fortunate to have some awesome people to work with and enjoy what I do.
One of my favorite parts of the Blog is Phreaky Phriday. I hope someone has something planned for tomorrow…
Zack 10:36 pm on 9 November 2006 Permalink
I might have a little something for you to Phreak on Phriday…we’ll see tomorrow.
corey 11:24 am on 10 November 2006 Permalink
This year, I’ll make about half my income as a guitar player and the other half doing marketing and design.
On the guitar side, I do the sideman thing, and I just got a job as a Product Specialist for Taylor Guitars. If all goes well, I’ll be doing in-store clinics on tone-woods and body-shapes this year in the SoCal area.
On the design side, I do branding, campaign design (not political- more like product launches), web design (the mathematical nature of it gives me diarrhea- but it’s really lucrative), heck, I’ll do just about anything the client asks for. I just love creative work and I get to work with some great clients who let me be creative and they pay me for it, and I get to be home with my family during the day. The best part is that a good piece of my design and marketing work is for musical gear companies so i get to keep living in that music world that has kept me happy for so long.
Both gigs are lo-profile, you’ll never see me on the Grammys and you’ll never see my work in an Absolut ad, and I don’t ever foresee me being rich, but compared to the 9-5 job I had 5 years ago, I couldn’t be happier. I’m probly the only guy I know who had a mid-life crisis at 28.
oh, yeah, and I make a little side-money as a ninja assassin.
june 8:22 pm on 10 November 2006 Permalink
I’m a mom. And I paint. I was an art major. Mostly, I’d say I’m a wiper…I wipe small butts, small noses, small faces, the counter, the dishes, the coffee table, the sink, the tub, small butts, the counter, the counter, the counter, the tv, the couch, the chairs, the windows…
Admit it, you wish you were me, DONTCHA?! I like being a mom, especially when I get to paint.
aly hawkins 8:29 pm on 10 November 2006 Permalink
Painting is a form of wiping, strictly speaking.
Sharolyn 8:40 pm on 10 November 2006 Permalink
I’m enjoying reading about everyone’s lives out there. June and Aly, you cracked me up!
I’ll add that my husband is a gigging bass trombonist. I just thought you should know that there is such a thing. :)
harmonicminer 11:01 pm on 10 November 2006 Permalink
I’m a father of 3, girl, boy, girl, age 18,14 and 8.
Wife Karen, we’ve been married 20 years and change.
I’m a composer/arranger/music-technology-digit-head/consultant/engineer/teacher/sciencefiction fan
june 9:00 am on 11 November 2006 Permalink
Aly, I’m just going to forget you ever said that, lest it ruin my life.
(But you get points for funny!!)
grammy 3:25 pm on 11 November 2006 Permalink
I’ve been out of state for a few days (did you miss me?).
ALY: What kind of book are you writing?
CERISE: I was just in Greenville, SC — is that the Greenville of which you speak?
GRETCHEN: Tell Mike we miss him!
DOUG: You follow this blob and Mike is still employed by you???
JUNE: You continue to hold the “Most Comedic Blogger” award for this site!
PHIL: I also am an avid scifi fan — who are your favorite authors?
I am a marriage and family therapist in Thousand Oaks, CA. I work full time in a private practice. Paul (in case he doesn’t weigh in on this one) is a family physician). Coincidentally (and conveniently), he also lives in Thousand Oaks.
What a great idea for a post, Zacque! (And where are you and the cigarettes?)
Teri
Cliff 7:50 pm on 12 November 2006 Permalink
I guess I am not even close to being the ‘average’ Addison Road reader. I am a 26 year veteran of IBM. I design software for IBM’s business clients, mostly insurance and finance companies. I specialize in designing complex server applications.
I work in a unique little office in Cambridge, MA that combines creative, business consulting, and technical skills to do some pretty cool stuff — mostly on the Web. The best thing about it is that we have been working together for so long — so we’re friends, too.
I am also the father of two elementary school aged girls and a 6′2″ nordic-angst-laden husband to a 4′10″ red-headed fireball.
I found Addison Road when I was researching the Blogosphere for Emergent Church stuff. I really loved the honesty with which you all explore life and faith, so I subscribed, and have been checking in for nearly a year.
Zack 12:12 am on 13 November 2006 Permalink
I am truly thrilled with the response to this post. Keep ‘em comin’, readers!
Cliff, in case you haven’t noticed, there are no “average” Addison Roadies. We’re all a little goofy, with our careers – and otherwise…
Sara 2:15 pm on 16 November 2006 Permalink
I’m a Reality tv Producer. Also, soulless. All I ever really wanted to do was act, but I’ve also always wanted to be able to afford all of the Pampered Chef products my little heart desires. Because who doesn’t need a little extra self esteem AND a tomato chopper? Karen, we should talk. :)
I am currently working on a clip show called “Disorderly Conduct” on Spike tv. I basically encourage Cops to give us their “zany” dashcam videos by bribeing them with dinner and money. I sit here writing this post while representing my show at a Criminal Accreditation Conference in Reno. I’m finding that most of the conference attendees would prefer to talk to my male co-workers than myself. I was also told by Zack that they most likely view me as a “Booth Babe” and that is why no one will talk to me.
Um yeah……I love my job. :(
Sara 2:27 pm on 16 November 2006 Permalink
Make that “Commission” on Accreditation of Law Enforcement.
They haven’t quite figured out how to get the criminals accredited yet.
Maybe if I knew the name of the conference, people wouldn’t consider me the Booth Babe. :)