how i make money

while i'm waiting for the rules of gravity to lift me up from living down, i still have to support myself. it's not the easiest thing. here's what i've been doing to keep afloat:

confirmed sources of income:

• my "savings" from over fifteen years of gifts, inheritance and, yes, saving my own money from my old job. this source is rapidly running out.
  

• my job at the shop-i work at a woodshop, where we make mostly custom-designed cabinetry. i went to the job with no skills. i started as the "sander." i never appreciated the importance of sanding wood until i began doing it all day. sanding is still my main duty, but i have been learning to do assembly an other things. just yesterday, i learned how to use the band saw and the drill press. very exciting. i also recently learned how to use the router.

• NEW! working at the local japanese grocer. i start on sunday. discount, here we come! woo-hoo!
• web design: although i haven't actually seen any money from it yet, i'm currently working with three clients, and they are all good for their money. if all goes well, this will get me a reasonable chunk of change by the end of the month.
  
• selling stuff. my biggest sale was my old 1971 honda trail bike i had bought two years back. it had given me headaches, mostly of the department of transportation variety. otherwise, it ran fine and would have given me cheap transportation. but alas, i just couldn't go that extra bit to get it street legal. i sold it almost a month ago for less than half what i paid for it. i was very sad about the whole thing, so to mourn my loss, i drew the above picture of the engine starting shaft. thanks to the sale, however, i kept afloat okay for august.

unknown or mix-success sources of income:

• ebay: i listed my first ebay item last week, and the bidding is actually getting pretty high. at least higher than i expected. this evening, i'll be listing more items. i have a huge cache of pretty nice clothes i needed for my administrative job at UT. now that i wear a stained t-shirt and shorts to work and have plenty of casual clothes for every other day, i have no need for the amount of slacks, dress shirts and blazers i own. i love mens clothes and have gotten attached to mine, but they would serve me better as cash than languishing unworn in my closet.
• half.com: i sold one book, a duplicate copy of "citizen 13660" last week. like the clothes i own, i have many books that my academic job demanded that i do not need. i'm beginning to create a pile of books that are not needed anymore. but for a lot of reasons, this is much harder than sifting through my clothes. sigh.
• ads and affiliate programs: over the past four months i have earned about $2 from this. boo-hoo.
• items at cafe press: i took this anatomical heart image from my mail art and slapped it on merchandise. i wonder if i actually designed a t-shirt front whether this would work better....

failed sources of funding:

• grants, competitions, and fellowships: i've applied to about twenty so far, to no avail. i'm trying a new tack of applying to (unpaid) residencies. i hope that works. i'll be posting those details later on.
• translating work: had a possible client lined up, but backed out on me.
  
• selling my art at art galleries