Let's step back, discard all the nonsense we were taught from childhood, and just consider the proposition. "You need a steady job so you can have financial security." What's a job, anyway? It's a contract, with a counterparty that is a PROFIT-MAXIMIZING institution. In most places, they can cancel that contract at any time, for any reason or none at all. Let's be serious: what the HELL kind of "security" is that? And you'e trained to feel LUCKY to have one! Hahahaha! Now that I'm 50, I really regret having been employed as much as I've been throughout life. It's destroyed my self-respect, and it's long past time to win it back.

At least not advertised publicly. It's dismal. Every time I apply, the only things that happen are getting an automated "thanks for your application" email (sometimes) - or, more often, I get barraged with obvious scams for a couple of days. The system is broken. I'm done. I don't even WANT a goddamned job anyway. I want income, and the chance to do something challenging and meaningful, and you know what? There are lots of ways to get that in life. Fuck jobs. Also the whole application process is basically HAZING. A protracted humiliation ritual. "What's your BIGGEST WEAKNESS?" --> "That I don't have the patience for these kind of bullshit, bad faith questions. Good luck finding somebody to fit in your hole."

Hey everyone, I know I've been quieter than usual the past few weeks. Life got intense fast. Quick recap of my holidays: My mom almost died. Blood clots in her lungs. We flew the whole family from the Philippines to Tucson on borrowed money and Medium payments. Spent a week crammed in my parents' small house. All six of us sleeping on the floor while my mom recovered. Made a last-minute decision to drive to Denver to introduce Flora and the kids to my other two sons. The truck's starter died halfway there. Had to bang on it with a wrench in the middle of the night to get it going. Drove 16 hours straight because I didn't want to risk stopping. It snowed in Denver. Flora had never seen snow before. Neither had Joey. Watching my tropical family experience snow for the first time made every stressful moment worth it. Drove back through Wolf Creek Pass. Flora kept saying "America is so beautiful." The kids want to move here now. Moved into our rental (a cute little cowboy bunkhouse) on December 29th. Got sick immediately after. Lower respiratory infection. Been on antibiotics since Saturday. I wrote the whole story here if you want the details: [Here is the link] Now what? Holidays are over. Time to get back to work. Here's what I'm focused on for January and beyond: 1. Client work comes first I've got contracts that pay the bills. Those get priority. Everything else fits around them. 2. Keep building on Medium. December was good. I want January to be better. That means writing consistently even when I don't feel like it. 3. Grow this community We're at 450+ members now. I want to make this place more valuable for everyone here. More discussions. More real talk. More helping each other figure this out. 4. LinkedIn and Threads I've been inconsistent. That changes now. Posting daily. Building visibility. Driving people back here.

Just a few short weeks ago, I only had 12 people in this group. Now, 125! Lets all take the time to introduce yourself if you haven't and let everyone know what is going on with your life. Unemployed, working on a project, job hunting? Let start some conversations and get people engaging in the comments! Than, after you all have gotten to know each other, tell me what would make this place great! Courses, live coffee hours? How about working together on camera, like a hustle marathon? Where are you guys from, what are you doing? Send us links to something you've written. Lets get the comments burning up the server!