Yesterday was cold rain, lots of snow in the mountains, a great day to not be homeless. I got my taxes done and don't owe too much, thanks to my tax person, Joann, and now her daughter who is working with her. Joann has been doing my taxes since the 80s and now she's a big-shot partner in a happening firm, and I'm very lucky that she keeps me on as one of her 'back in the day' clients. It's practically pro bono as she charges me $650 and then knocks off $500 for a grand total of $150. Plus the fact that she has all my info in her computer and it's super easy for her to fill in the blanks and bang out the return. This is one of the blessings of not making a lot of money, taxes are a breeze. The idea of trying to do my own taxes, would be on a par with performing a self appendectomy.
And as a postscript to how lucky I am in this realm, when I went in yesterday for my annual meeting with Joann, she was behind and the secretary asked me if I'd mind meeting with the daughter instead. My first reaction was a little nervousness about a change in plan, but what the hell, let's do it. And the daughter, sorry I can't remember her name, was kind of surprised that I only get charged $150. 'She must like you' was her comment. I said, 'she must have some others from back in the day who are on that scale'. 'Um, not really'. Joann is cool, very left-brain and linear, happy in what she does, and she and her husband Chuck are building a rental empire around here. He spends all of his time maintaining the holdings, doing the gutters, repairing and painting and cleaning etc. They're a hell of a team. And I'm a lucky dude to not have to hassle with tax season.
I just took a break from this blog to make a bunch of phone calls to Senior Centers, assisted living centers etc, because I'm finding that I really like those gigs, they have a little bit of money, and there is no reason why I shouldn't play at least one of those gigs a day, make my little $40 or $50 for that hour and spread some love around. Besides, I was getting sick of sitting here and looking inside (not that I'm done with that by any means, but I need to balance it out with uh, making some money and spreading the music around). It's not the full solution by any means, but it's a step in the right direction.
I got some business counseling a few years ago from a retired, now un-retired executive, and the best piece of advice he gave me was 'Do something to promote yourself every day. Do at least one thing'. I can actually accomplish that goal, as opposed to say, change your entire lifestyle and be a different person... Small steps...
There was a funny slice of Eugene life the other day at the 'Jail', which is a local teriyaki place run by this pretty cool Korean guy. It's the best deal in town and his chicken is grilled and tasty. I stopped in on my way home from a gig to order some take-out. While I was waiting for it, I noticed a little mouse staggering around near the baseboard molding, looking like he was on his last legs. I'm guessing he had been poisoned, and he didn't have long to live. I pointed him out to the worker, and of course a couple of customers heard me so they took a look. There were two Arab students there, and they immediately wanted to cancel their orders which had just been placed. Some redneck, out of work logger type guy, wearing a baseball cap said, 'Why, a mouse is probably a God wherever you come from?' It was just an ignorant statement, racist and dumb, but I was struck by the culture clash in that moment. The students didn't quite hear what he said, they weren't paying attention, as their whole focus was getting their money back. I could tell that the idea of a mouse in a restaurant was totally unacceptable to them, regardless of whether or not it had gotten into the food. So between the Spanish speaking, Korean owner, the redneck logger, the Arab students and the East Coast scribe, it was just another day in the life of Eugene, OR
