Made some fairly large steps to figuring out my financial future for the rest of the year (more or less). I'm not entirely out of the woods yet, but I'm in much better shape than I was a week ago. I don't often mention this on HC (or anywhere else), but I haven't had a real day job since February of 2001(!) That means (A) I haven't had a real boss in over 18 years and (B) the only person responsible for making sure my dumb ass is fed, clothed and housed is me. It ain't always easy, but I have grown to enjoy being my own fuck up.
What has changed in the last nearly two decades is that the cost of living has gone up hugely. Under two terms of one gibbering, war mongering Republican fuckwit, two terms of a centrist, corporatist DINO who could speak in complete sentences and now half a term of deranged, sunsetting, Russian-backed shitgibbon covered in Cheeto dust, the cost of living for non billionaires marches on like a rally of disgruntled citizens down Pennsylvania Avenue.
This has made the paradigm of one man living alone in a 1967 five bedroom house increasingly unsustainable. In the next year, I'm leaving scenic western MA. After 40+ decades here, I don't think I'll miss it. Of course where I'm moving to is like a foot above sea level so I'm fucked when the ocean rises, but aren't we all?
Also, I am really REALLY in need of a new mic preamp. My current one is 16 years old and has a host of issue. The company (Symetrix) discontinued the model I use (528E) which has been the industry standard in radio for decades. I found a company called Revive Audio that repair and upgrade 528Es for a reasonable price. Being a small company, they don't answer their phone. I've just finished an email to them, but I imagine the turnaround is measured in weeks if not months. In the interim, I need SOMETHING so I'm idly looking at $100 Behringer mic preamps. Wait, how did this turn into a Jacob's Mindless etc etc post?