The floor is open #3

I have a question, for anyone who might stumble upon this page and for my friends who haven’t yet given up hope on the resurrection of this blog.

How do you figure out/calculate how much your time, labour and effort is worth in charging someone for whom you’ve done some work? How do you know what a fair salary or compensation looks like? How does the idea of profit fit into these calculations and decisions?

I ask because aside from working out how to much to charge based on the cost of physical materials, I’ve always wondered how people put a price tag on their service to others. I guess factors such as supply and demand, competition and government intervention help provide a guide to start you off, or else set very strict limits in some cases. If it is possible to momentarily sideline those external influences, do you have some sort of internal feeling for what your ability, time and effort is worth?

More than justifying it to others, what I wonder is how do people justify it to themselves? How do they satisfy their own sense of fairness?

This question is open to everyone: whether you feel you’re justly paid or not; and whether you receive a fixed salary, are self-employed or are some form of consultant. I sincerely thank whoever does decide to give answering the question a shot, my naivete in this matter is very, very persistent.

[And yes, "a question" in actuality meant a set of questions revolving around a main idea One day I will learn how to ask "a" question. It will come!]

The pleasurable things in life – 27th of August, 2009

Warm tea in the belly

The pleasurable things in life – 17th of August, 2009

The smell of rain in the air and coming off the damp ground combined with the smell of pine forest

The pleasurable things in life – 24th of June, 2009

The smell of a new guitar in your arms

<3

Much kudos to Yann Tiersen of course – your music fits well inside me.

I love the sound on this guitar. And I love that there are so many musicians out there just doing their thing, learning and giving through their learning.

(Glad I can be touchy-feely here with impunity )

The pleasurable things in life – 17th of May, 2009

Walking down pretty suburban streets in anticipation of getting to the ramp that takes you down to the sea…… and discovering it is not blue at all, but endless silver. The sheer surprise of it, combined with the reminder that the sea has different moods and days too.

Even its textures and movements were unusual and unusually varied yesterday evening. There was the trembling, agitated vibration of the thinnest film of water – something I’d never seen before. The slow rolling and folding over of the shallow waves soon to reach shore. The messy blips pushing each other along further out, making their way up along the coast without a second thought for stopping to check out sand or the tentative feet of beachgoers. The broad singular face of the sea – perfectly calm and preoccupied.

Surprises are pleasurable.

You know you’ve had a bad day when…

the most intelligent summary of the day’s events you can provide is: “People suxorz.”

It’s a spin-off! – Adding to ‘Altruism’

Today my mum wrote a post on altruism, which triggered something old and familiar hiding away in the back of my mind. As she noted in her post, it simply feels good to do good; yet is reaping personal gains from one’s altruistic acts a perversion of the spirit of altruism? Now I will drop my story into the pot to add to her contribution.

Some number of years ago when I was 16 and the very same ruminator that I have always been, I voluntarily paid a visit to the school counsellor to talk about an internal conflict I was struggling with.

She welcomed me in. I sat down on the sofa. She asked me what I wanted to talk about. So I outlined what had been on my mind:

“I’ve been thinking about doing good things to help other people. I’ve always had this strong feeling that I want to do things to help people, that I want my job to be one that is about helping people. It’s been a drive that has always been there. I never used to think there was anything amiss with that, I mean I don’t know where it comes from… I once came up with the rationale that it was because there was nothing else I needed in life… That I had already got so much that there was really nothing else for me but to help other people to have as much luck as I have had. To help them know freedom and happiness and opportunity as much as possible, just for themselves, just because everyone should have this experience of life. I’ve felt this desire since childhood. But even if I don’t quite know why this has been such a strong feeling, I used to think ‘Well… wanting to help people, make their life easier or happier, that shouldn’t be anything to worry about right?’

The pleasurable things in life – 19th of December, 2008

Watching a small group of blond 8 year old boys huddled in front of a young Japanese guy who has got them participating in his magic card trick. The look on their faces, so serious and in concentration while so fascinated and lost in another world.

Summary of my travel through Western Europe: Scotland, Netherlands – Amsterdam, Belgium & Spain

Scotland

Jesus christ I love the accent. I could listen to a Scot for hours… I also really enjoy the Scottish “spirit”. Feisty and ballsy and gruff in their own way depending on which part of the country you’re in. The Scottish sense of humour really appeals to me. They’re so interesting and unpretentious. They’re like the stereotype but even better. I loved the western part of the country, gorgeous glens and lakes… I had no idea that it was so uninhabited either. I obviously knew nothing about Scotland beforehand to have not known that. It’s fantastic though. I mean, not helpful to human prosperity but great for the land and the sprites

Have to admit that the Isle of Skye kind of scared me. It doesn’t have an indigenous population of trees, so although there are settlements that have obviously made the effort to greenify their plots the isle as a whole is a study in brown/straw colours. It had a silence and a heightened sense of space that felt like a sentence rather than a freedom. The best way I can describe it is that… it doesn’t feel like a place that welcomes life. It can be picture-perfect beautiful on a sunny day yet it doesn’t feel real and engaging, either I was the alien or it was the alien land. To my mind it would be an excellent site for a thriller film.

Places visited: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fort William, Mallaig, Isle of Skye – Portree, Dunvegan, Uig