ihavenobossss-blog

[ihavenobossss-blog]

Building Blocks

So I’ve been doing some thinking, and I need to come up with a plan to start a bankroll using as little money as possible. In the past, there was always online poker where I could deposit a twenty and turn it into a thousand, but I haven’t played online since the bastards stole everyone’s money back in 2011.

I might give that a try again, but that’s for another time.

I’ve made a deal with my wife (because that’s what married men do) where I will keep track of any money that I take out of our personal account and I will pay it back once I’m up and running. Now, that was completely my idea; she’s totally supportive of me (probably because the last time I had a big win I bought her engagement ring). Even with that plan in place, I don’t want to dip too far into the household pool, so I need to find other ways to make money.

I directed a commercial at the end of last year and I’m waiting on my tiny fee, so that will help with a little seed money to start. Also, I completely forgot that it’s tax season, and so long as this #trumpshutdown doesn’t ruin my plans, I can use some of my income tax refund to help get things started.

Not to get too far ahead of myself, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned my goals in poker. I’ve always loved and done well in No-Limit Holdem tournaments, so that will be my primary focus. I’ve played all along the east coast in local card rooms and even a few World Poker Tour Events. I’ve played cards since I was a kid, and I grew up on seven card stud games and limit holdem, so those are the types of cash games I will focus on. I think the key to this venture is to specialize, and get better at what I do best. I’m pretty excited to start but I want to make sure I don’t rush into anything; poker is best played with a clear mind and a clear conscience.

The first tournament on my schedule is one where I have done well in the past: the LA Poker Classic starts in a couple of weeks and I have event #1 circled on my calendar. I may find time to sit in a few cash games in the meantime, but for now, “Friday Night Poker” reruns on my PS4 will have to do.

Today is January 8, 2019, and by the end of this year, I will truly have no boss.

[ihavenobossss-blog]

Freshest of Princes?

Now this is the story all about how

My life got flipped, turned upside down

And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there

To tell you all about how I quit my day job and started to do what makes me happy...

I know, I know. it was a bad idea, but I’m not a songwriter.  I’m not a poet. I’m a man of many passions who has lived his entire life without fully committing to his dreams.

My name is Jason, and I had a bad year.

To be fair, I could also say 2018 was the best year of my life.  I married the best woman I’ve ever known, I have a steady job with great benefits, I have an awesome dog and a car that starts EVERY TIME.  I have a lot of good in my life, but honestly, it isn’t enough.  I feel guilty at times because I have more than most, but there are certain parts of my life that are just... unfulfilled.

I’m talking about my job. See, I moved to Los Angeles almost ten years ago to follow my dreams and work in movies -- stop me if you’ve heard this one. I went to a great film school and had an awesome experience, but life got in the way and I wasn’t able to fully commit to getting my career started.  Between a divorce, then getting engaged to the wrong woman, I put myself in a position where I was no longer able to be creative. After a short stint as a freelancer, I moved back to Florida to help my brother get his business off the ground. I worked for over a year as a tow truck driver and when I finally couldn’t take it anymore, I took what little money I saved and moved back to LA to give it another go.  After six months of applying to every possible job I was vaguely qualified for, and eating tuna straight from the can in my tiny room at the Extended Stay America, I finally landed a full time gig. The job is related to what I want to do, but it is no way creative.

I took this job with the intention of getting my life in order and working my way into something better, but to be honest, I became complacent. For the first time in my life, I was truly on my own, able to (barely) pay my bills, I had health insurance, and things were looking up.

But something else happened. I’m also talking about my health.

Back when I moved back home to Florida to be a grease monkey, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. My doctor at the time didn’t really have a game plan for treating it, and nothing really helped me. Long story short, when I got on a better health plan in California, I was able to seek out some of the best doctors in the industry, and they found out I have a rare genetic variant of the disease that is much stronger than the run-of-the-mill-stop-eating-so-much-you-fatass-and-go-for-a-fucking-jog diabetes that most people get. My “Super Diabetes” was passed on to me as a recessive trait and can possibly be passed on to any children I may someday have.

On top of this wonderful news, I was hospitalized last August with severe migraines. Now, nearly a decade ago, I did get the occasional migraine that could be pretty severe, but I hadn’t had one in over five years. Thinking that I could finally get an actual diagnosis and perhaps something stronger than Excedrine Migraine to help with the pain, I ended up in the ER at 2:00 am.

First, the doctors gave me a scare because they honestly thought I had meningitis. They ruled that out and decided to run a CT scan, where they found...abnormalities. I went in for a headache and ended up staying for two days because they thought I was having seizures due to the cavernous angiomas they found. After a series of neurological visits, surgery consults, and weeks thinking I was going to die, the general consensus was that my constant headaches were not related to the angiomas and I would be fine as long as I didn’t get constipated and “bear down” to hard.

I’m not joking. They said I would be fine but I could possibly have a stroke if I tried too hard to poop.

So now I’m taking about 20 pills a day to manage my health, and it’s possible that my life could be severely shortened because of all of the weird crap that’s wrong with me.

Also, since I live in LA, I, of course, have a therapist, a psychiatrist, and an acupuncturist. I started working with all of these people to deal with my health issues and relieve the headaches. The one thing that they all agree on? I’m unhappy with my job and that is my biggest stressor, and my health would greatly improve if I did something about it. It took me a long time to realize it, but I need to be happy, and my job doesn’t make me happy.

I had an existential crisis last fall and realized that there is nothing more important than happiness, and it’s pursuit.

So, now that you know a little about me, I can get down to business. I have exactly one goal this year, and that is to quit my day job.

I’ve always been good at finding ways to make a buck, and I realize now that living by my wits is what makes me happy. I’m not supposed to be a 9-5 guy. I’ve started businesses, worked freelance and as an independent contractor, and I even played poker full time for four years after dropping out of college back in 2003, but that’s another story.

That’s actually a big part of the plan for this year. I plan on replacing my income from my day job by playing more poker and working more freelance jobs as both a writer and a filmmaker. In this blog, I’m going to keep a running tab on how much money I’ve made at both of those things, but it’s going to take some time to get both of those ventures going. I plan on writing about whatever is on my mind, including freelance work and stories from the poker table.

Today is January 1, 2019, and by the end of this year, I will truly have no boss.