It's My Money and I Want it Now

What I do with my time might balk most people, but then, I don't really fit in with mold that most people would expect of me.  Not that I ever have, of course.  If you know me at all, you know that I have always walked on the outside of the norm.

No, not that damn far on the outside you sicko!

I'm the guy who wears the long hair, the goatee and the trench-coat all through school.

I'm the guy who has an earring, a tongue ring and a tattoo on his right shoulder with plans to get more.

I'm the guy whom, at the drop of a hat, took a road trip through every state north, south and west of KS.

I'm the guy who flew overseas and spent some time in the Netherlands, Germany and France, just because.

I'm also the guy who was a theatrical swordsman and trained every weekend with hopes to do stunt work on the big screen.

I lived on the streets when the road trip vehicle broke down.

I lived in a hotel when I could scrape up to money to get off the streets.

I shaved my head and tried to change who I was when I lost someone I loved.

...

And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg of who I am.

These days, I'm a family man.  I have four children who depend upon me.  

I have a wife who stands behind me.

I have a little over four years of game development training I received from online schooling.

Yes, I'm a geek, a gamer and a game enthusiast.  If I didn't have responsibilities, I could easily waste an entire day gaming.

I'm an old school pen and paper gamer as well.

I have several fond memories of the great gaming sessions I participated in with my (then) friends, and I fully intend to write a series of fantasy books based on adventures of our characters.  Of course, so much time has passed now that I'll be taking a few liberties with the details, but the core of each adventure's story will still be there.  :)

So I'm a family man, a gamer, an outsider (I believe we called ourselves 'The Shunned Ones' back in the day, lol) and so much more.

Today, I'm also a business man, a web designer, a Walmart Associate and a writer.  

"Say what," you might ask?

Let me elaborate a little, (as if I haven't done that enough already!  I know, right?)

In 2007, I started working for my in-law's business; Windmill Inn Products.  They hired me on to design, and then update, a website that the could use to not only spread the word about their great products, but further build their sales as well.  Well, today it's working because I am also working as a laborer for them, filling orders on the weekends.

In 2011, I started my own business; Bargain Fishing Supplies.  I figured that I've always liked fishing, so why not help others who share my same passion?  I handle everything from the website design and upkeep, to pricing and sales, customers support and filling orders, marketing, etc, etc.  There's a lot that needs done with this business and while most times I average 3hrs of work/day, during holidays, promotional sales, etc, I could be working anywhere between 4 and 9hrs each day.

In May of 2012, I picked up on an old passion of mine; writing.  Of all the things about me that I've talked about so far, this is one of two things that I've always wanted to do but never got around to it.  In high school, during the final year when our class was preparing to enter the world, I had two career dreams.  One, of course, was writing.  

The other, you ask?

No, you're gonna laugh.

What?  You won't laugh?  You promise?

Okay, since you promised...

I had aspirations of becoming a bounty hunter.  However, since Dog pretty much had that area covered, I thought maybe I'd go with the other choice.

(Quit it!  You proooomised!)

Well, push came to shove, life got in the way and even that dream got shelved...  Until May, that is.

I finished my first book, a lengthy novella entitled; "The Rise and Fall of John Rizzerio" in June, finished the edits and got the cover August and published it through four online distributors.  I spend about an hour to an hour and a half each day marketing and promoting my book and during my days off from my next job, (yes, there is a FOURTH in this list!!!), I'm currently working on the 2nd of 3 in the 'Ballad of John Rizzerio' trilogy.

Finally, in June of 2012, I became an overnight Associate at Walmart.  I'm currently working in the Paper Dept., but I have also been trained in the Frozen, Infants, Chemicals, Pets, and Juice Dept's as well.  I'm currently putting in around 32hrs/week and am really enjoying my time there.  (I must be doing SOMETHING right, I was just recognized as Associate of the Month for August!)  

I originally took this job because I felt that I could use the experience of being around many different types of people, and believe me, I'm getting all the character references I could EVER need!!!  lol

That being said, I thought I'd clarify my post title as a parting thought.

It's MY Money and I Want it Now!

You're damn right I want it now.  I work very hard for it.  Besides the fact that I'm working four jobs that I literally pour myself into, I know that at the end of each day, I EARN every dollar that I make from them. 

I enjoy what I do, for now, but what I am really hoping for is my life to come full circle.  I want to get back to that young man that I was all those years ago, that aspiring writer, and I want to take all of these thoughts and ideas from my head, arrange them into neat little structures and share them with the world.  

At a price, of course.  >:->

No, but seriously.  It's something that I've always enjoyed, so why not do it for a living?

What's that you ask?

What about my game designing that I studied for?

Don't worry!  I did put a lot of money into that education.  I DO still intend to use it, by God!  I'm just moving away from being a hardcore programmer and breaking into the writing aspect.  I think I could really 'dig' writing the story for the next great game.  Or, in the very least, working with a small group of writers.  But I could really go for the whole shebang as well.  Yeah.  That'd be suh-weet!

Huh?

What about my other jobs?

Well, my fishing business isn't going anywhere unless my warehouse has to close down.  Neither is my in-law's business either...at least, not for a long time, anyway.  And as far as my work at Walmart goes, I'll stick around with them until my writing career takes off and pays, in the very least, enough to pay the bills down.  Plus, I really like that employee discount thing I've got going right now!

So there you have it, please to meet ya.  Won't ya guess my name?

Thanks for stopping in and reading my post!  If you caught any typos, grammatical errors and anything else that just doesn't look right, good for you!  I'm not really interested in editing my posts at the moment.  Hey, sorry if that sounds asinine, but the truth is; I'm a really poor editor.  *shrugs*  Hey, what're you gonna do, right?