There are things they never tell you about running your own business

[dragojustine]

So. I went from barely scraping up 15 hours a week of work to my situation now, where it looks like I'll be working from 4pm to 10pm six days a week, and that's not counting all the unscheduled hours to fit around that. It happened rather suddenly. In the meantime, I just got back from three hours of (unpaid) parent meetings, and I need to review everything I ever knew about transformational geometry (which I don't think I've known since I was 12) and pull together some worksheets, review Invisible Man (which I haven't read since I was 11) and pull together study questions, and read up on Africa, 1450-1750 (because you would not believe -- or, well, if you're at all interested in such things, you would believe -- what a blank spot sub-Saharan African is in my historical education).

And, you know, in every job interview I've ever been in I say that the single most important thing to me is to get a job where I can keep learning, and I always say that's why I love teaching and I can't abide a job where I don't use my brain. But some days? Some days, I kind of want to beat my head against something.

There are things they never tell you about running your own business, you know. Or, rather, there are things they DO tell you but you (meaning me) never actually listen, but "things they never tell you about running your own business" makes for a better title for a list.
1. You will work at least two unpaid hours for every paid hour you work
2. You will spend a ludicrous amount of your own money on supplies that your employer would otherwise provide
3. Your schedule will not be remotely consistent, but instead will be a terrifying feast-or-famine cycle.

*sigh* On the plus side, I think I'll be able to break even this month even with the $300 ticket, and possibly treat bdblack in February and buy myself a modest birthday present. So.


In more fannish news, Leverage! I am so endlessly, endlessly in love with Elliot and Hardison and their dynamic. SO IN LOVE. Apparently there was a new SPN. I am having a hard time caring. I finished the season of Merlin, and it still is giving me lots of thinky thoughts about why I love shows, which I still do not quite have the energy to type out.

The Flist Knows All: Surely there is somebody on my flist who watched Boston Legal, right? Would you by any chance have strong opinions as to where I should start? Which episodes (or what season, or whatever) is the must-see for my little slashy James-Spader-fangirly heart?

Comments

[kaballa.livejournal.com]

Re Boston Legal - honestly? All of them. Pretty much every episode had some outrageously flouncy, slashy, brotherly, loving, childish scene between Alan & Denny, I'm hard pushed to try and isolate any individual eps, I loved the whole thing. Just start from the beginning :-)

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

Well, that makes me hopeful! Glad to get the rec.

[mayatawi.livejournal.com]

I second this! Start from the beginning.

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

great news about the steady work. go you. things are looking up.

i know zip about boston legal but will be watching your answers because i've always meant to watch it, too.

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

I saw this vid- http://karitawyr.livejournal.com/170078.html - I think paian reccd it? And knew I was just going to HAVE to give in and watch. *hugs back* yeah, the feast-or-famine thing is tough, but things are looking up. Thanks!

[femmenerd.livejournal.com]

Hello you! Possibly I have already done so, but I just had this moment of paranoia that I had not thanked you for the holiday card. I remember going to send you a personal message but maybe didn't follow through because my internet has been on the fritz?

Anyway! Thank you. You are a sweetheart.

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

Good to know it arrived!

(also, your kittens are the cutest things EVER)

[lavenderlocks.livejournal.com]

I'm always bloody late to the party!

I LOVE Boston Legal with all my heart and bits, and also James Spader is just..... GUH!

*ahem*

I confirm the previous entries which urge you to watch everything - Spader appears in every episode, and gets to chew the scenery in most of them - it is trult a fabulous show. (I love Shatner in it as well!)

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

Okay, well, I'm WAY more enthusiastic about the prospect of this show now- thanks!

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

So with you on the Alec/Eliot in Leverage! Did you see The Wedding Job yet? "I just learned that Photoshop thing you told me." Hee! (And if you did, okay, do you get the idea that this was meant to be episode 3 and not 7? For so many reasons, but the Nate/Sophie relationship especially, and Alec asking Eliot about near marriage, post Two-Horse Job? Bzuh?)

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

I know, the marriage question was bizarre. I guess out-of-order for that is a good explanation- I don't know. The last show I loved like this, Eyes (also a snarky clever heist-gang show, murdered before its time by ABC) was shown out of order, because it's like TPTB are convinced that order doesn't matter for such a plot-driven thing. When it, you know, does.

(And how much did I LOVE Eliot's little demo with the kitchen knife? "Hold it like this, it cuts an onion. Hold it like this, and it cuts through, like, eight yakuza." I ADORE that the show is willing to make Eliot smart and unexpected and not a punchline! I ADORE IT!)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

The marriage question definitely should have preceded Two-Horse. Sophie was all uncertain about her standing with Nate until his speech a the ceremony, which was just weird after several jobs together, but wouldn't have been weird closer to their reunion. And they all seemed a little, well, not well-oiled, the way they are now. I couldn't buy Sophie having Eliot doing all the cooking without a bevy of temps when, yeah, he was supposed to have time to search for the money--they're better at planning now. In my brain it's def. episode 3. But then Stargate showed Daniel jumping on the first woman to cross his path after his wife's death. Networks. Pffft!

But yes, they all get their moments to shine as brilliant--I love that!

[sid]

Technically, if you want to see Alan and Denny's relationship from the very beginning, you need to watch the last few episodes of The Practice. Alan is in the entire 8th season, and he meets Denny in episode 17. (16-18 seem to comprise a 3-parter, so probably you should kick off with 16 if you aren't watching the entire season.)

Spader is absolutely phenomenal, and he and Shatner both won Emmys, which I believe they repeated the following year for the same roles on Boston Legal! An Emmy first.

Man, I need to see those again! :-)

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for the info! It's crazy- I wasn't even sure I KNEW any fans of that show except probably miriad, and the minute I mention it five people come out of the woodwork to rave! I'm definetely going to start at the beginning. Soon. *kicks torrent*

[sid]

I just streamed Alan Shore's first episode - with Japanese subtitles. LOL

Heh, you must have missed my squeeful posts at the series finale. Well, you would have had no reason to pay any attention, right? BL most definitely got it right. *happy sigh*

[parvarteal.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely agree on starting with season 16 of the Practice and then from the beginning with Boston Legal. There are no words to describe my love of that show (and Spader in particular.)

Your two hours of unpaid work to every one hour of paid work seems about right based on my experiences of freelance work and then running a photography business. VERY frustrating but remember that you are in control of your own destiny. Or something. :)

I know you are working your butt off right now. *hugs*

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

*hugs back* I know people told me this "problems with freelancing" stuff. Gah. Well, working is better than not working.

I'm glad to hear another vote for Boston Legal!

[miriad.livejournal.com]

First, let me say, THANK GOD FOR WORK! *hugs*

Secondly, I got your e-mail at work but was in the middle of one of the worst headaches known to man. I was actually sent home by my boss, where I proceeded to drug myself into oblivion until this afternoon. So, not ignoring you, just wishing my brain would just go ahead and drain out my ears and be done with it.

Thirdly, YES. ELLIOT AND HARDISON. YES.

Fourth, I never really watched Boston Legal but I did catch one episode one time, where James Spader and William Shatner end up in Canada fishing? IT WAS SO AMAZING. Seriously. If I actually watched the show, I'm sure it would be better but even without all the setup, I ADORED IT. Also, Betty White was a guest star, something about a frying pan. I don't know.

Love you, J. *hugs*

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

I knew you weren't ignoring me! *hugs back* headaches suck. I hope you feel better.

ELLIOT AND HARDISON. I KNOW. Are you writing that Vegas fic? or will you write me this instead? *g* I can't do either of those, and they would both rock.

[miriad.livejournal.com]

I do feel better. Thank goodness. *whew*

I'm feeling Vegas more than Leverage. But I need to stew on it a bit. ;)

[jd-junkie.livejournal.com]

A little late to the party, but a big honking YES to watching BL from the start. Then just revel in the wit, humour, sassy dialogue and some truly moving Denny/Alan moments that will make you want to punch the air.
Yeah, I love it. :-)
And I've just downloaded my first ep of Leverage because my flist seems to have fallen in love with it. I love smart drama. :-)

[dragojustine.livejournal.com]

Re Leverage: it's not "smart drama" (meaning, like, the West Wing or anything else I think of as that category). It's a heist show, meaning it's pretty much completely one-off plot-focused, at least so far. Which is why I'm so surprised I like it as much as I do, honestly, because that's not normally my thing. But it's definetely about the HEIST, which is, I guess, a very distinctive type of plot... like, if you liked Ocean's 11, you'll love this.

Anyway, the crew is all awesome in ways that edge on the slapstick, in a very self-aware tongue-in-cheek sort of way, and yet they're taken seriously as characters instead of JUST being slapstick. The character dynamics are good, the banter is good, the heist plots are fabulous. By all means, let me know what you think of it!