"Crazy Little Thing Called Strange" or "To Free or Not To Free"

It's been a strange morning... Amusing, yet strange.

Work's being slow. Nothing truly new there.

Got my taxes done last night. The benefit of being out or work for most of the year is that you get all you taxes back. Refund is going to be good this year. Going to get some things paid off with all that cash. Yes, some of you know who you are.

My roommate Dave has informed me that the Maintenance doods at the apartment are in the process of replacing our old, 1970s-era stove. Tres cool. Cooking will be good again.

But the strange comes in here. Been talking and seriously thinking about business stuff again for the last few days. The more I think about it, the more I know I need to just do it. I want to be able to, within the next year, be able to move back to Chicago and set up shop for the magazine. My obstacle? I'm a poster child for Demotivators. It's hard for me nowadays to get excited about work. Yeah, I've been doing this for 15 years now. Running the magazine would be a change. The hard thing for me is that I know that my business sense sucks. Im an alright manager. I do a decent job on the production side of things. But I've made a living off doing things for free. Yes, I made a joke about that they other day. I put the "free" in freelance. My problem with freelance work is that I'm more concerned with being able to help someone than I am about getting anything out of it (contrary to some people's beliefs.) The challenge of the problem is all that matters. If there's some compensation, that's cool, but that's not what I look at most times when I walk into a project. And I know that's not good for "business". One of my good friends, Lorraine (of Elfquest, ADV and Oni fame) once told me "Stop working for free!" on my Team Elfquest-20th Anniversary poster. Back in 1998. Yeah, I know, but habits are hard to break. It's been 7 years since she told me that and I'm still a sucker for the free project.

But I'm getting to the point where, after doing graphics for 15 years, I need to make a change. I need to find the energy to get off my butt and make this work. I've had the goal of seeing the name of the company on the side of a building... big lighted and/or neon sign... for what seems like forever. I've made little advances toward that, but nothing life-changing or earth-shattering. I want this to work. I know it can. 2006 is the goal. Just need to make sure that I stick to it and keep things going, despite the fact that it's easier to slack off.

2006. Animetro Studios, LLC. Chicago, IL. I don't think it's an option anymore. I know I need to do it. I'm sure I'll need help along the way though. Yes, you all know who you are there too. :)

I'll end my musing now, before I start to get overly long-winded or venture into the sentimental...

Yeah. That one's for free. Heh. :P

[ audio | Livin' On The Edge > Get A Grip > Aerosmith ]