2010 Retrospective
Jan. 2nd, 2011 03:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
errantemberUnlike many other people, 2010 was a good year for me. I'm sleeping late, have great relationships with friends and lovers near and far, am working on Permaculture during the day and iPhone development at night for myself and no one else, and on track to a new career doing what I love on the road.
o I successfully found and worked 6 months of an in-office job for the first time in about five years, and after being unemployed for about a year, and after working for the same company for nine years. I wanted to be reminded of how stupid and awful it was, while saving money to transition to freelance work.
o I successfully quit that same job to go on an extended vacation to Burning Man, Portland, Alchemy (the awesome Georgia Regional Burn), and Hawaii, following the advice in the Four Hour Work Week about mini-retirements. All of these trips except Hawaii were paid for in advance with money from my corporate job, and I arrived home from Hawaii with over 12 months of money in the bank to make my career transition. I met many current and made many new friends and lovers on the trip. This is the first step in becoming someone who can do his job from anywhere there's an Internet connection, allowing me to be on the road and visit people more.
o I've gotten a good start on iPhone and iPad development using Gamesalad, a tool designed to help non-programmers make games. I'm setting a February 10th date for my first submission to the app store, and I will then ship another twice a month for at least three months. If I can get $1000/game, I'll won't have to do any outside work to support myself.
o The Rate of Return on my retirement account, which I manage myself, was about 50% for 2010!
o I've navigated through Significant Drama to keep my little home-rental/co-op project going. As a result, most of my mortgage payment is paid for by my housemates, and my home continues to get nicer and more valuable a lot faster than I could do it alone. This year I'll finish remodeling the master suite and renting it out, while remodeling the garage and moving in there, which will net me another $300/month.
o I did a complete battery replacement on my electric scooter, enabling me to continue doing most local driving at around 1 cent per mile.
o I'm continuing to shrink my lifestyle and my Pile of Stuff to increase my happiness and personal freedom.
Thanks to everyone who made 2010 a great year!
o I successfully found and worked 6 months of an in-office job for the first time in about five years, and after being unemployed for about a year, and after working for the same company for nine years. I wanted to be reminded of how stupid and awful it was, while saving money to transition to freelance work.
o I successfully quit that same job to go on an extended vacation to Burning Man, Portland, Alchemy (the awesome Georgia Regional Burn), and Hawaii, following the advice in the Four Hour Work Week about mini-retirements. All of these trips except Hawaii were paid for in advance with money from my corporate job, and I arrived home from Hawaii with over 12 months of money in the bank to make my career transition. I met many current and made many new friends and lovers on the trip. This is the first step in becoming someone who can do his job from anywhere there's an Internet connection, allowing me to be on the road and visit people more.
o I've gotten a good start on iPhone and iPad development using Gamesalad, a tool designed to help non-programmers make games. I'm setting a February 10th date for my first submission to the app store, and I will then ship another twice a month for at least three months. If I can get $1000/game, I'll won't have to do any outside work to support myself.
o The Rate of Return on my retirement account, which I manage myself, was about 50% for 2010!
o I've navigated through Significant Drama to keep my little home-rental/co-op project going. As a result, most of my mortgage payment is paid for by my housemates, and my home continues to get nicer and more valuable a lot faster than I could do it alone. This year I'll finish remodeling the master suite and renting it out, while remodeling the garage and moving in there, which will net me another $300/month.
o I did a complete battery replacement on my electric scooter, enabling me to continue doing most local driving at around 1 cent per mile.
o I'm continuing to shrink my lifestyle and my Pile of Stuff to increase my happiness and personal freedom.
Thanks to everyone who made 2010 a great year!
