I love (hating) taxes

I felt (financially) poor in 2006, being mostly
un(der)employed and trying to get my (work) life
together after running screaming (pretty literally)
from my last job (which shall remain nameless, as it
was a Jewish communal service job) -- but it just
ain't officially so til you've filed your taxes, and
the federal government goes ahead and gives you the
offical WASSUP of having earned less than $100 above
the poverty line.

So, as I reflected on how (relative to most of my
earning buddies here in high-price SF) little I made
last year, I realized how much I enjoyed this last
(long) stint of semi-employedness. Now, I'm no
stranger to not having health insurance, or anything
even remotely like job stability, and Craigslist
employment ads (twelve times a day, baby!) -- but
something happened when I went from being
lost-in-the-woods-naked kind of scared about my state
of affairs, to thoroughly appreciating (down to the
minute) this owning of my days. This last year of
rolling with the tides of having to tell my parents
(yet again) why I'm walking out on a job I held for 3
months has been downright liberating.

I've learned (in no particular order) : to slam an
office door on an abusive boss; to quit nicely; to
demand the big bucks for freelance bullshit work from
assholes; to work for free for people I respect.
Mostly, that I should really try to do what I love, as
my grandmother always said.
After all, it might just be crazy enough to work...


And, for the record, I did just land a sweet gig at
City Lights Books that I'm going to try to hold on to
for a while... My bosses and colleagues are
respectful, funny, fabulous and/or walking legends of
history (Lawrence Ferlinghetti) and I get to be around
books all day...

I guess I'll just have to plan better for my taxes to
not get screwed by that last $86 of income. Here's to
earning even less in 2007!
--Maia from SF