Jul 2, 2007

"ANYTHING IS HARD TO FIND, WHEN YOU WILL NOT OPEN YOUR EYES"

Two freelance gigs, longstanding, regular, freelance gigs, folded on me today. I mean, no, they didn't fold on me, but rather they folded rather completely. On everyone involved. As in kaput. As in this gig and this gig cease to exist anymore. Nothing personal (which I don't take as such). And not connected to one another. But, that's okay. Change is in the air in the literary world, as it usually is every so often, and that just means I need to make room for new stuff. That said, it is rather unforch. But, you know me, I always cook up a plan to make things work out. I always do.

So, I'm doing what any reasonable person would. I'm getting shitfaced with my cat. Just kidding. No, I'm giving my apartment a deep cleaning and getting lost in my head for a couple of hours listening to Siouxie & The Banshees, a little David Byrne, a little Stray Cats, a little Buzzcocks, a little Bolshoi, a little Depeche Mode and a little of Korngold's Die tote Stadt and figuring out exactly what my next move is.

I was talking to my friend, Irish Ho, just today, before all of this, about the two kinds of people in the world: People who are happy; though they can be sad sometimes, and be pissed off and angry sometimes as situations come up, and they still can recognize their lives as being positive for the most part... and People who are completely unhappy. I pick "a". I really do, if you'll pardon the Pollyanna shit. I really try not to get thrown. I really try to just take things as they come and keep moving. I don't always succeed, but I try, and I guess that matters. Weird shit happens, funny shit happens, sometimes really horrible shit happens, life happens, plans derail, people flake, people die, keys get lost, jobs vanish overnight and sometimes it feels like we're struggling just to float through the day and it's always something. But, it's usually okay, even when it's not.

So, we'll see what's around the bend, huh?

In the meantime, duck and weave, Guth, duck and weave.

12 comments:

Katie Schwartz said...

oh, yes, duck and weave you will and come up shining like a stah, bubbalah.

Johnny Yen said...

I know this sounds completely trite, but it's been my experience that even the rough stuff in life has something to tell us. With so many things in my life, what I thought was a bad thing turned out to put me on a path to a good thing.

This thought was really put to the test last year when I lost a teaching job that I loved and had planned on working until retirement, and the same week, one of my closest friends was brutally murdered in a robbery. Yet, a year later, I realize I was able to see that I needed to change some directions in my life-- that I'd been sleepwalking through life, in some regards.

I realized, in the course of dealing with this all, that I knew people who had pretty good lives, yet are negative all the time. It really is a choice, isn't it? Glad to see that you've chosen to be positive.

Adam Deutsch said...

On the bright side, if they shut off your power, you'll have a manual typewriter--as soon as I get up there again. (ignore pun, please)

emily said...

good luck with your gigs, bigmouth! i have to say that i greatly admire your friend Irish Ho's perspective on people, and you for having the positive point of view on life. i just recently found your blog, and you keep me entertained a LOT, so i have no doubt more jobs will roll in soon. :D

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear. :( But yes, you definitely fall into group A, and believe me, group A are the ones that make their own destiny. You will land squarely on your feet, of that I am sure!

Anonymous said...

"...I'm getting shitfaced with my cat. Just kidding..."

Don't just kid!
Do it!

"...duck and weave, Guth, duck and weave...."

Nah!
Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!

Anonymous said...

As they say, when two doors close, two more open up!

Get some rest.
Take a morning walk.
Think.
Touch base with old contacts. Drink a glass of wine.
Then noodle around on the web, and you'll find a whole new opportunity.

I'm sure of it.

That's the way things work.

Better days are ahead, Guthy!

orieyenta said...

and it's always something.

It sure is - but with the wonderful attitude you have, I have no doubt that you will always come out one top.

Hang in there!

Eric Spitznagel said...

While I don't want to sling any "hang in their kitty" aphorisms at you, I simply must join the growing chorus of Guth yea-sayers. An author so brilliant that her stories make James Joyce look like a slack-jawed nebbech can't be left without writing work for very long. The universe won't allow it.

Amy Guth without a writing gig is like Einstein stuck working at the patent office. The rest of us should be taking to the streets in protest. Every day that we're denied more Guthy words is another literary famine.

Jack Steiner said...

I always hate when people say it could be worse, but it could.

stevefinbow said...

Siouxsie & The Banshees, David Byrne, Stray Cats, Buzzcocks? You've stolen my iTunes... You rock, remember that.

Anonymous said...

If you are really desperate for employment. I mean REALLY desperate, I could set you up in Bangkok, Thailand. A white chick such as yourself could easily garner 2,000 US a night 'entertaining' the very gentle, wealthy and 'small' Thai business elite. The split being 15 for me 85 for you. The going rate believe it or not.
Prostitution is not only legal, it is an honoured profession there.
Many western women are doing this each winter and lolling about the Amalfi coast of Italy in the summers.