It's All About Perspective.

It's now nearing the end of the first month of the new year, and despite previous rumors and well wishes, 2010 is starting off to be like a repeat of 2009... and 2008. Despite a pretty prosperous December for many in this business (well, as busy as it can be in December anyway), most of my cohorts and I have spent the past few weeks twiddling our thumbs again, waiting for that phone to ring.

That's not to say that there hasn't been anyhing going on. I've gotten a couple days of work thrown my way so far. A music video here, a day on a short there, but nothing steady or solid. I had a few prospective jobs in the pipeline, but they seem to have been sucked into the Bermuda Triangle of lost shows; they somehow disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.

While I know that it's still early in the year, I'm worried that it'll follow the same path as the years previous. So far, I've managed to keep my head above water, but I'm not quite sure how long I can keep it up at this rate.

No matter how hard you try, it's pretty easy for pessimistic thoughts to seep into your head when you're unemployed. Suddenly, you find yourself sitting at home, wondering how much rent you have left in the bank and the next thing you know, you're scanning the room, thinking about what you can sell if it really came down to it. It's pretty depressing.

I was having one of those moments today. They sky was a dreary gray to match my somber mood as I pondered my fate in this industry. But before I could sink too far in my own melancholy state, I turned my attention to the news that I had on in the background. California has been slammed by storm after storm this past week, resulting in floods, mudslides and even a couple of tornadoes. People were evacuated, homes were lost, lives destroyed.

And Haiti. Holy shit. Decimated buildings, people sleeping in the street and an ever climbing death toll in the hundreds of thousands...

I can't stand to watch this anymore, so I turn off the TV. Just a couple miles north of me, people are fleeing their homes. To the south of me, a friend of mine is getting drenched, working in the rain for pocket change. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in my warm apartment with a mug of hot cocoa in my hand, listening to the pitter patter of rain falling on my window.

I guess as things go, I could always be worse off...