I went ahead and decided to do a post about a day of my life to sort of give people an introduction into what it is like to be an unemployed bassist, as I have been for the last couple of months. So, I picked a day and went for it. Surprisingly, it turned out somewhat more interesting than I thought it would. Note: In picking a day, I felt it made the most sense to start when the day actually starts so I started the post at 12 AM.
12:00 AM, 02/23/09 – Watching Cowboy Bebop with girlfriend (Black Dog Serenade for all you Space Cowboys out there).
12:30 AM – Go to sleep after watching Cowboy Bebop with girlfriend.
8 something AM – Girlfriend gets up to go to class. I don’t notice.
10:49 AM – Wake up.
10:51 AM – Surf internets. Start writing this post.
11:30 AM – Get a call for a job offer. Hey hey, things are starting out good today. I’ll be starting a new job in a couple of days!
11:31 AM – Immediately go back to surfing the web, spending most of my time on Digg, Fark, and Reddit.
12:00 PM – Clean out and move my cat's litter box. I do this because the box is under the sink that the plumber who is coming in today needs to fix.
12:18 PM – Play Guitar Hero 3. Five Starred Knights of Cydonia by Muse on expert. Snap!
1:06 PM – I beat DragonForce’s Operation Ground and Pound on expert! Eat it whores!
1:07 PM – Hand hurts after playing that seven fucking minute song, move onto Call of Duty 4.
2:13 PM – Make lunch. Mmm… Hot dogs and a banana…
2:40 PM – The plumber shows up to fix my bathroom sink.
2:45 PM – The stop valves don’t work on the sink, so he will have to take it apart to fix it. This requires him to shut off the water to the whole building, since he can’t just shut off the water to my room as it is an old building. I secretly hope my neighbors are trying to take showers. Then the plumber says he needs to go pick up some parts to fix the sink, will be back in 20.
2:46 PM – Much to my dismay, he turns the water back on in the building before leaving.
3:11 PM – I decide to make the most of it by putting on some tea and continue writing this blog post. Still no plumber.
3:26 PM – Plumber returns with new part. I watch and help… by turning the water on and off for him…
3:43 PM – Plumber is still working on the sink. The stock market closes at its lowest level since 1997. Plumber is unimpressed by this news. I now start calling him “Joe” the Plumber. This does not impress him either.
4:00 PM – “Joe” has to go and get more parts as the stop valve was only half the problem. The washer on the inside of the hot water knob is also broken.
4:13 PM – A friend of mine shows up to play some Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 at my apartment.
4:54 PM – “Joe” has fixed my sink. I am surprised and impressed. My friend and I decide that this is cause for celebration. We make a beer run to corner store down the street.
7:47 PM – Eat Dinner. Frozen pizza and High Life, the default diet for a bass player. Halo playing is resumed immediately after.
11:00 PM – Friend leaves because he has to work tomorrow. I keep playing CoD.
11:42 PM – I decide to practice a little bass and eat some Mandarin oranges.
12:00 AM – I take break from practicing to reflect on my day. I realized a few things: 1.) I never ate breakfast. 2.) I played approximately 8-9 hours of video games today. This impresses me. Gosu runs in my blood. 3.) It only took “Joe” about two hours to fix my sink (despite having to go for parts twice), and now it works perfectly. For an unlicensed plumber, he did a damn fine job.
Update 12:29 PM, 2/24/09: I just remembered something important I left out of my reflection...
4.) I got a job... somehow...
AHHHHH! Congratulations on the job fucker!
ReplyDeleteso, are we to expect the next post to describe a day in the life of an employed bassist?
ReplyDeleteYou're a jobber now...by the way, I'm still the bigger gosu, and if you don't believe me I challenge you to a gosu off. You pick three games, I pick three games, and a third party (Brian) picks three games, whoever wins five out of nine can claim to be the gosuiest...most gosu...gosuest...gus, help me out here.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what that means, Parker.
ReplyDeleteDo you not know what Gosu means Dusty? I hyperlinked Gosu in the article if you're curious. And Parker, I accept your challenge.
ReplyDeleteI suppose my next one could be the life on an employed bassist? We'll see...
ReplyDeleteSo now that you've been an employeed bassist for a day and a half, are you pining for the good life of an unemployed bassist?
ReplyDeleteHaha, yes and no. Yes in that the free time really allowed me to explore my world a little, no in that I now am not feeling like a lazy SOB.
ReplyDeleteIt is an odd situation. When I was unemployeed for several months I really enjoyed the amount of freedom I had to just get completely involved in whatever project I chose...which was not always the best use of my time, but definitely liberating. It's unfortunate that in the eyes of society you're a bum if you're unemployed. I suppose it's a necessary effect of capitalism, and it does increase national productivity, but I can't help but feel that we are stifling something beautiful. What I mean is that there is something everyone could learn from being unemployed for several months.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you there. I was unemployed for about four monthes and really did accomplish quite a few things... they just weren't productive in terms of benefit to production. I practiced a lot of bass, spent quality time with friends, read a lot, and played a decent amount of video games. Now, I don't really even feel productive at work as the vast majority of my job is simple and repetative and seems pretty non-productive.
ReplyDeleteI would absolutely be for this - there are a lot of personal projects that I'd like to work on, but the time disappears so quickly when I'm moving papers from 8-5.
ReplyDelete