My ex-wife loved many kinds of art, collecting Japanese kimono, old cameras including duplex lens and baffle types, now sitting lonely in her storage space because she didn't take them with her when she fled our marriage years ago. She even collected scents, which I came to appreciate in my prior job, though their snobbery was a little childish. My ex was a woman fascinated with history and liked owning pieces of it, documenting them when time allowed, seeing historic places and photographing them. I hope she's still doing that. It made her happy.
I like mechanical things. I'd love to own an old all-metal Vespa that I could restore like a hotrod. While many mock the Hipsters, I appreciate the effort required to return ancient mopeds to working condition and using such stylish and under-powered vehicles for general transportation. My electronics are discreet and functional, extra durable so they'll last. There's style to be had in respecting good engineering. There's so much brutal and bad engineering today, stuff designed to break right after the warranty expires so you'll buy it again. That is the kind of thing which should not be rewarded.
When I view the art photos of restored and converted motorcycles, saved from rusting apart in some barn and turned into elegant rolling art with functional engine and suspension I have high respect when it is done well. I see these kinds of motorcycles the same way fans of old cars love hotrods. This is one of the reasons I'm a huge fan of BikeExif and Deus Cycles. Minimalist street trackers look extremely practical to me. They have the right suspension and tires to go pretty much anywhere, yet have the classy looks to gain a certain respect. They aren't junk or overweight Milwaukee (or is it Tennessee now?) iron. I've been really impressed with the finish on nicely done street trackers. If you're going to spend money on a bike, it may as well be one that's pretty rather than losing half its value when the first wheel leaves the lot where you bought it.
These days quality is all that truly lasts, and your reputation is more important than your address. As a technician and lover of art, what I collect had better be portable. And my life had better be portable too, because staying in a place that's going wrong is a good way to end up very unhappy and go down with the ship. I don't respect people who go down with the ship, especially when there are perfectly good lifeboats and oars to go somewhere else. I see motorcycles and RVs as the lifeboat and oars. A means to escape a bad place, full of bad people and a bad economy. Forgiveness is for masochists.
Leaving a stupid place behind, or treating it with sufficient caution, could be a life and death level choice. These days, with elderly Baby Boomers retiring and even ending up in rest homes there are a lot of old RVs for sale, some of them pretty tired. Its a pity I'm not proficient as a mechanic to restore one of those. A person who knows their big engines and wood working could make a career out of buying and restoring old RVs for sale. The money from selling them should pay for a decent income and lead to a retirement. The best part about an RV business is its mobile. You aren't stuck paying some ridiculous lease or taxes when a town starts going under and punishes the local businesses with unfair taxes in order to give preference to WalMart, which pays none in most cases. Town councils can be dumb, corrupt, or both. Voting with your feet is one of the best ideas I've heard for dealing with modern corrupt government. There's probably good reason many of the Native Americans the European invaders found were living mobile lives. On this continent its just a good idea. In modern times, we do this with backpacks, cars, motorcycles, RVs, trailers, whatever it takes to escape a bad situation. I just recommend keeping your job history and finances clean.
In my sad experience, telling a bad employer "No, I won't break the law for you" is a good way to get fired, and prospective employers tend to weight being fired rather heavily. On the upside, an employer that wants you to break the law for them so you go to jail rather than themselves... that's a job you don't want. So not getting a job after you explain you refused to break the law? That's a good thing. Some sucker may get that job, and that income, but how much will it be worth in jail? This is why protecting yourself from crime is so much harder today. Many potential employers seem to be looking for victims. Don't play along.
One of the more clever and obvious solutions to bad employers is contract work, with a lawyer on retainer to enforce that contract, and include significant financial penalties if the other party violates them. Enough to cover your losses. And never drive into a job without gas money to drive out of it again. You don't get all the facts when you take a contract. Usually, a contractor is called in with some critical and expensive information not disclosed which may make the contract impossible to fulfill and still make a profit. Self employment is the future, but its also very difficult to accomplish if you are naive and trusting. Get a good contract and pay your lawyer to review it before you sign. If you don't you're going to get screwed. That's just how things work in the real world.
The smarter answer is contracts with stages built into them, with payments and signoff of work accomplished at key points. This protects both sides and won't leave you hanging, unpaid, when the project is finished. I have worked with people who would LEAVE the office when they were supposed to collect payment for a week's work, then complain the client didn't pay and essentially stole the work. Why do business with such people, knowing this in advance? What the hell were you thinking? There's a lot of insanity and desperation in the world. It is hard to avoid it, it's so pervasive. Get your ducks lined up, knock them down and always be ready to leave for the next contract if the one you're on gets sketchy and the other side looks like they won't pay or are cheating you. Always do the inspection before you sign, or leave a clause which allows you to walk away if the inspection shows they lied. There's a LOT of that in the real world.
At every one of the temp jobs I've worked, the temp agency mis-represented the working conditions and job duties, then claimed it was the contractor that lied to them. My choice was to work the job anyway, for less money than I deserved based on the requirements, or walk and never work with that temp agency again. I think this is half the reason why temp agencies don't really exist anymore. That and they charge 3 times what they pay the employee, and the contractor expects what they're paying in labor effort, but the temp is getting barely more than minimum wage, and shows their contempt by working exactly that hard. When elderly people complain about this today, I sometimes remind them that minimum wage is a great motivator to under-perform in retaliation. And shopping at price-cutting retailers is why you put up with bad service, so be polite to the employees because they won't be polite if you're rude. Its just common sense, after all.
These days, mobility seems to be the answer. Tying yourself to a community that has no viable business model is just asking to be exploited, to be harmed. Don't be a masochist. Pull up stakes and move on.
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