Monday, July 24, 2017

It's been three weeks! What am I doing with my life?

In my last blog, I shared that I had left my job of 11 years.  My last day on the job was June 30.  Today marks three full weeks since leaving the job. What have I been doing with myself since then?
Not a damn thing. Well, that's a slight exaggeration. I have been out hiking in the hills and I've taken my bike out on a couple of rides on the beach and along the LA River. And I've been going to the gym.

And last week was spent in my hometown of Albany, NY visiting family, which means I went to Saratoga Race Track and Lake George.

Saratoga Race Track Opening Day


I have managed to roll over my retirement plan to an IRA and I have elected options for dental and eye care plans. But I still have not figured out the health care.  I did manage to go online to the Obamacare site and to the CA State site and look around at all the options. Its overwhelming! And as soon as I put in my personal information, my phone starts ringing off the hook with calls from sales reps trying to sell me insurance plans.  Within 5 minutes of putting in my info, the phone rang. And while I was on that call, the phone was ringing with another. I told the guy I wanted to research on the Internet and decide what I wanted. I hung up. Within the next 40 minutes, the phone rang several times. I continued getting calls every day through this past Friday. Today is the first weekday that it hasn't rung. Phew!


In the meantime, how is the acting career going? Well, I have the play I'm rehearsing. But we're off for the month of July so I'm on my own learning lines. Although I managed to get 2 of my 5 co-stars over to run lines one night. I'm interviewing for a directing job tonight. And I met the Artistic Director of another theater 10 days ago about directing and/or acting there next season.

But other than that...cricket. cricket. Hello? McFly?  Is anybody there? This is what happens. I take time off so I can have the freedom to go to more auditions and not a single audition since I left the job. My last one was two days before I left the job.

I have no income at this point. But I do have a savings account. And there is the IRA. And I rolled over my retirement plan into an IRA to make it easier to access the funds IF NEED BE. its only for emergencies. But its there. So I'm not panicking. At the same time, I am worried. Because, well...there's no income!! And I am a worrier. This is tough.  One of the reasons I've worked full time is because I need the daily structure in my life. Being freelance feels weird. Like I'm skipping school! "What's he doing home in the middle of the day?" "Why does that man have to time to be hiking during a work day?" Those are the voices in my head talking to me.

I've got a couple jobs I've applied for online. And I'll be spending the next couple weeks applying for more. Ideally looking for a couple of part time jobs to give me enough to live off of.  Till then, I'm writing and learning lines. And submitting myself for everything that sounds remotely possible for me.


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