Cold Truth
IllMuzik Moderator
welll geez where do i begin...
as you all know i took a dob drilling water wells. i was SUPPOSED to be making an obscene amount of money. turns out that was a half truth. for starters, i came in on the tale end of several sites, so thus far i have not drilled, though i have done several other things. the "big money" is ONLY when you are drilling- you get billed by the half-hour based on your task for that time. the "big money" is $45 an hour, but 15 gets taken out for health/401k/holiday ay/etc...that puts you down at 30, which is still damn good given the overtime especially, so no complaints there... but again, thats drill time only. so if you are cleaning up, you have to fix something, you do another job on the rig that isnt drilling, and you get $20 an hour... again, still good money and no copmplaints. its just not what i was initially led to believe and thus expected. there is also the little matter of having a base hourly wage of $12 per, which is what you get when you are not on a "prevailing" site (the "big money" rates are based on work at what is called a "prevailing wage" site, and you get paid your hourly rate for any other work you do) and since i have done alot of non-drill work on prevailing sites and "shop" work at my hourly rate, i havent hit those big money checks just yet... but i am sill pulling almost twice any check i have ever had, so what's there to complain about? i have sustained a series of knicknack inuries though, and getting electrocuted is always fun! it scared me worse then it hurt me though. my hands cant close in the morning, and they lock up if they are relaxed for an hour or so. i think i see carpal tunnel or something coming.
that said, i also have full medical anbd dental which kicked in as of the first of this month, and my 401k is going to look pretty sweet by the time i leave this place. i've even got unlimited mental health coverage and all that, which is good cause i could use some therapy for all the nonsense i've had to put up with. i'm kind of a violotile person and whatnot, real moody individual so maybe that will even me out somewhat. my pops has a history of serious mental illness so i'm glad i can handle this before i develop any of his curses.
far as music... well... one thing lead to another after a bad weekend, and my pc had been acting up and not working for sometime and i finally snapped and smashed the damn thing to pieces. good thing hard drives are built like tanks, hehe. not like i've had time to make anything anyways. i've been pulling 15, 16 hour days at times, up from the normal 12 (a light day is 10) so i cant say that there has been time or energy for much anyhow, though i have had weekends off. i guess that ends tomorrow cause i SHUOLD be drilling, but with this place you never know. at any rate i have set my sites on my next rig, still pc based but switching to Sonar. basically, i'm saving up and putting on laway a Nord Electro Rack (basically the best rhodes/wurly/clav/organ box your gonna find outside of the real thing) a Fantom XR, an Access Virus TI Desktop. an Emu 1820 M w/ Emulator X. im also pickin up a guitar with a Boss GT8 effects box, a djembe, and some mics. IF i wind up drilling tomorrow like im scheduled for, i should have everything complete around january or so, providing i still pay all my bills put money into savings and help some folks out and whatnot. we'll see though, one step at a time.
on the personal front, another death in the family, an uncle who was the ONLY person willing to lend me the $1000 last year to start my failed (by my own fault) detailing venture just passed on last week.... and i was just about to pay him back. my aunt told me to pay it forward, so thats what im gonna do. my biggest regret is that i avoided him cause i couldnt afford to pay him, but he still had faith in me up until the bitter end. it seems like every helping hand i have ever had, the die before i get to call them up and show them where their faith in me paid off... so i'm listening to Bostas "Ta Say Goodbye" and this is perfect..... by the way, can't wait till we get rolling together, Bo. the time is coming my brother! im flying your ass out next summer or something. You guys should cop I Declare, seriously. some good material right there.
so all in all... im in a good place mentally... i rededicated myself to my faith, which i all but gave the finger to there for a the last couple years, though i am still at odds with the church structure in general. oh well. my friends have been great- they basically supported me those two months where i had no income. couldnt ask for better family in those times.
anyhow just thought i'd update ya'll and let you know im still around. no internet again- had to let allthe unnecessary things go fro a while till i get all caught up.
PEACE family
as you all know i took a dob drilling water wells. i was SUPPOSED to be making an obscene amount of money. turns out that was a half truth. for starters, i came in on the tale end of several sites, so thus far i have not drilled, though i have done several other things. the "big money" is ONLY when you are drilling- you get billed by the half-hour based on your task for that time. the "big money" is $45 an hour, but 15 gets taken out for health/401k/holiday ay/etc...that puts you down at 30, which is still damn good given the overtime especially, so no complaints there... but again, thats drill time only. so if you are cleaning up, you have to fix something, you do another job on the rig that isnt drilling, and you get $20 an hour... again, still good money and no copmplaints. its just not what i was initially led to believe and thus expected. there is also the little matter of having a base hourly wage of $12 per, which is what you get when you are not on a "prevailing" site (the "big money" rates are based on work at what is called a "prevailing wage" site, and you get paid your hourly rate for any other work you do) and since i have done alot of non-drill work on prevailing sites and "shop" work at my hourly rate, i havent hit those big money checks just yet... but i am sill pulling almost twice any check i have ever had, so what's there to complain about? i have sustained a series of knicknack inuries though, and getting electrocuted is always fun! it scared me worse then it hurt me though. my hands cant close in the morning, and they lock up if they are relaxed for an hour or so. i think i see carpal tunnel or something coming.
that said, i also have full medical anbd dental which kicked in as of the first of this month, and my 401k is going to look pretty sweet by the time i leave this place. i've even got unlimited mental health coverage and all that, which is good cause i could use some therapy for all the nonsense i've had to put up with. i'm kind of a violotile person and whatnot, real moody individual so maybe that will even me out somewhat. my pops has a history of serious mental illness so i'm glad i can handle this before i develop any of his curses.
far as music... well... one thing lead to another after a bad weekend, and my pc had been acting up and not working for sometime and i finally snapped and smashed the damn thing to pieces. good thing hard drives are built like tanks, hehe. not like i've had time to make anything anyways. i've been pulling 15, 16 hour days at times, up from the normal 12 (a light day is 10) so i cant say that there has been time or energy for much anyhow, though i have had weekends off. i guess that ends tomorrow cause i SHUOLD be drilling, but with this place you never know. at any rate i have set my sites on my next rig, still pc based but switching to Sonar. basically, i'm saving up and putting on laway a Nord Electro Rack (basically the best rhodes/wurly/clav/organ box your gonna find outside of the real thing) a Fantom XR, an Access Virus TI Desktop. an Emu 1820 M w/ Emulator X. im also pickin up a guitar with a Boss GT8 effects box, a djembe, and some mics. IF i wind up drilling tomorrow like im scheduled for, i should have everything complete around january or so, providing i still pay all my bills put money into savings and help some folks out and whatnot. we'll see though, one step at a time.
on the personal front, another death in the family, an uncle who was the ONLY person willing to lend me the $1000 last year to start my failed (by my own fault) detailing venture just passed on last week.... and i was just about to pay him back. my aunt told me to pay it forward, so thats what im gonna do. my biggest regret is that i avoided him cause i couldnt afford to pay him, but he still had faith in me up until the bitter end. it seems like every helping hand i have ever had, the die before i get to call them up and show them where their faith in me paid off... so i'm listening to Bostas "Ta Say Goodbye" and this is perfect..... by the way, can't wait till we get rolling together, Bo. the time is coming my brother! im flying your ass out next summer or something. You guys should cop I Declare, seriously. some good material right there.
so all in all... im in a good place mentally... i rededicated myself to my faith, which i all but gave the finger to there for a the last couple years, though i am still at odds with the church structure in general. oh well. my friends have been great- they basically supported me those two months where i had no income. couldnt ask for better family in those times.
anyhow just thought i'd update ya'll and let you know im still around. no internet again- had to let allthe unnecessary things go fro a while till i get all caught up.
PEACE family