What’s on the iPod: Moment of Surrender by U2
Closed. Can’t walk here. Can’t park here. Can’t do anything but keep driving on by. Because it’s a national historic park, Valley Forge is officially closed, and the rangers are making sure people stay off the trails and out of harm’s way. It’s rather unprecedented to see the signs up on the gates, though. I was hoping to walk there yesterday as the weather was glorious. After seeing the amount of signs, closed gates, and cones blocking off parking areas, I didn’t even try.
If that wasn’t weird enough, I’ve seen a few things yesterday that made me wonder if those zombie-Apocalypse people aren’t on to something. Plus, I was seriously considering the sensibility of just going back home and parking the car. First, I saw a woman in heels running across a four-lane highway and down a freeway ramp, looking behind her occasionally. Huh? It’s not an area where even buses would stop, so I have to think she was trying to get away from something or someone.
Ah, but the best was the woman who was so busy talking on her cell phone that she turned left on a divided highway and was, you guessed it, driving down the wrong side toward oncoming traffic. What did she do? She made a U-turn while still talking on her stupid phone. Not only is she a complete idiot, she’s a self-centered ass — we have laws here against using cell phones while we’re driving. She’s clearly in the camp of The-Rules-Don’t-Apply-To-Me.
Had a lovely day with my daughter and family. She turned 25, and for some reason that milestone had me nostalgic about her birth and some of her birthdays, like the one when she turned four and had a party or the one where she celebrated with family on both sides, or her 16th birthday bash where she had friends over and had a rowdy, great time. But 25, that’s sort of a big deal, too. We celebrated at home with her requested dinner — stuffed peppers and ice cream cake. She requested “cold, hard cash” as a gift because she wants to pay for her upcoming wedding/honeymoon. She got it, too – I froze a twenty in a Ziploc bag. 🙂 She got a check for the rest, plus some small gifts.
A good day.
Despite our government entities being closed for business, you and I are still working (unless you work for the government as a contractor). And because I much prefer answering for what I do as I do it, I’m back again with a monthly assessment.
Here’s my September in a nutshell:
Queries:
Unusual for me, but I didn’t send but one as the work I was doing was capitalizing on all my time. I haven’t heard back, so hard to say if this one made the cut.
LOIs:
Had just a few of these go out. Instead, I followed up on a number of LOIs I’d sent out last month. Nothing has come of it yet.
Existing clients:
Here’s where the work was this month. I finished an article for a regular client and got more work done on a larger project that’s nearly completed, amen. I wasn’t able to get it done in time to bill for it, but it’s going to make for a nice October total. I have another client I’ve been doing projects for, but since some of them extended into October, that’s where the invoice will be logged.
New clients:
There were some talks, but only one thing in the works at the moment. We’ll see.
Earnings:
Still off my target by half, but I lost a large project that I normally do every year, so that ate into the earnings. So did the fact that most of last month’s projects will complete this week and next. Not concerned at all as October’s earnings are going to surpass my monthly by 50 percent at the least. I can handle that.
Bottom line:
Marketing took too much of a back seat to completing long-term work. While I did market, I didn’t practice what I preach. I knew any more work at that time would have wiped me out, but I could have been laying more groundwork for October and November. I’ll be fine for this month, but it could be better. Always.
How were your earnings this past month?
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