Workin' at the VAF with my pal, Mr. Buffalo
Dear Readers,
Today I quit I my job. Well, really I just put in my leave notice [but the prior sentence is a lot more dramatic]. For those that haven’t read my AutoBio page, I have been working fulltime at the Virginia Arts Festival in Norfolk, Virginia, for the past three years. February 8th will be my last day at work there and my last day living in Virginia Beach for the foreseeable future, as I will be moving up to the Northern Virginia/D.C. area (exact location TBD).
For my first few months in NoVA I will be jobless, taking a sabbatical to work on my musical endeavours. I will be treating each day as a workday, adhering to a strict schedule of composing, practicing, and interacting with the gaming community more via this blog, social media, and internet forums. For you that means lots more to listen to and read—[Score.] should be a thriving aural paradise by late February!
The goal is that I will have a complete demo of my best work ready to ship out to every game company ever by May at the latest. Best-case scenario: someone loves my work so much that they’ll pay me handsomely to write for them. Wishful-case scenario: I land a project or two that gets me going. Worst-case scenario: I will have learned a ton and developed my techniques, allowing me to continue to create more great music with which to try and dazzle game companies. In any case (besides the best case where I’m showered with money), I will be looking for a fulltime job again in May.
I’ve actually been looking for alternate work in NoVA since October and have struck out (you know, like in that game where it’s fifty strikes and you’re out). That’s wound up being a sort of blessing in disguise—even though I will be in a hole financially, I wouldn’t have the chance to be so focused and devote so much time to my craft had I gotten a gig that pays (funny how that works). Working 40 hours a week, I’ve found it difficult to get a lot done musically, and finding a job would have put me back into a scenario similar to the one I’m in now despite presumably having more cash to spend on new gear and what have you, which really does me no good if I don’t have the time to utilize those phantom new purchases. For those that are concerned that I will just strike out another fifty times, that’s okay because I have until July to find something before I’m really in trouble financially. That alone will likely extended my threshold to at least 300 strikes since I will have all day every day from May-July to find a paying gig. If I don’t find one by the end of July, well, tell all of your friends that there’s a saxophone teacher out there looking for some students (you can do that anyway as I’ll be looking to pick up a few starting in February, actually).
For anyone that’s dying to dig deeper and know the answers to questions such as “why now?” and “why there?” and “ARE YOU CRAZY!?”, feel free to contact me directly. Otherwise, just looking forward to a super exciting first half of 2013 on the blog!
Thanks especially to Mom, Dad, Jen, and Brandon – and to all of my other family and friends who already know what’s going on – for being so supportive and for believing in me and in this project. Thanks to all of my colleagues at the Virginia Arts Festival and the Virginia International Tattoo for all of the good times over the years.
And, of course, thanks also goes to you, the reader, for devouring my prose and musical undertakings post after post.
Sincerely,
Greg
My infamous big hair during Tattoo season
