I have £12 to get me through the next 2 weeks, I don't have a job and I live with my mum and sister. I'm going goddamn crazy!

word...im getting married in 3 months and so far no apartment and no money for a honeymoon...lol I got $35 dollars to my name right now.

I'm far from rich but I aint complaining until I gotta sell my gear.

yeah i'm prober broke. On the dole. however i got on a free music course i get some time in the studio.sweet.

Yeah I'm on the dole too, that jobcentre is grim.

On the plus side, I'm getting to know the daytime tv pretty well. Doctors, Neighbours and Diagnosis Murder are all on one after the other, then over to channel 4 for Countdown, Deal or No Deal and Richard and Judy.

yeah tell me about it man!
Why they put up xmas decorations last month!!!! fucking G-R-I-M
check out these guys they pointed me to a music tech course two day a week. its ace.
http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/

Thanks for the heads up on that Learn Direct but looks like they don't offer any music courses here in sunny old Northern Ireland.

Altho that intermediate Spanish course looks interesting... lol

I'm always broke, but my broke is pretty well of compared to most in the world so I really can't complain as long as I have food, shelter and good friends that have my back if things get real bad.

I agree with Dr. Sample on this, it depends. As long as you not walkin by nice resturants starin at the patrons dinner like Then I say all is well. If you eat regular and got shelter. I got a job but its bullshit ofcourse, I consider doing anything other than what I want to do as bullshit. So I wonder when I finally do liberate myself from the realms of 9-5'ers what kind of life would I live . But you know what they say, "what do you call a musician without a girlfriend, HOMELESS . So in that respect, gots ta give a big shot out to the ladies who've had my back Duss.

It's all relative of course, I'm not BROKE broke by any means, but allow me a brief rant for a moment here;

Last time I was down at that jobcentre, they were talkin to me about "permanent jobs", the civil service and all this crap I don't wanna hear! I've been making music 10 years and yeah, I'm only 21, but this year, I dunno, I'm just startin to get really cynical about it, starting to think the good stuff don't get through too often. I'm getting the FEAR u know? Am I EVER gonna make money off this shit? Like have I just been duped by tv and the radio into thinking that somehow, someday I'm gonna be able to earn a living off my music, or even doing something I enjoy, u know, writing, painting whatever. I dig all of that shit, but that stuff doesn't pay the bills.

There's a Bob Dylan line "Advertising signs that con you into thinking you're the one, that can do what's never been done, that can win whats never been won, meantime life outside goes on all around you."

Thats kinda how I feel right now. Not that I'm giving up on my own music, I dig my own music, if I didn't dig it I wouldn't make it! But its scary to think you might not get successful with that stuff, and end up working in the civil service in an office for 30 years!

This is all wanky talk I know, but thats just how I'm feeling lately.

Yeah, I never plan on making money with my music.
So I just use all my other talents to make my income and I'm happy with that.

hey man, that's real talk and that's the road 90% of the musicians will go down if you don't get your education, or learn a trade etc.

My uncle played synth's and keyboards at the Apollo in the 80's, did a bunch of blow, smoked like crazy, drank etc. and now he lives with his mom (my grandma) He works at a studio in Baton Rouge (makes beats too which is too cool) but basically didn't "succeed" in life..no kids, no wife etc.

My dad didn't follow his dream, worked a 9-5, got married (3 times) had 3 kids and was on his way to retiring with a major farming corporation he's worked for since he was 19 and he's now 50 something when he got fired for someone getting killed while he was in the hospital because he had just been hit by a full-size truck going 65mph when he was on a charity bicycle ride

what am I trying to say here? you can do all the wrong things and fuck up..you can do all the right things and get hit by a truck...life is crazy, but should you plan on making it big by making beats? for sure no, work hard at everything you do and you'll get far, my grandpa told me that if you're not in school you should have two jobs and be saving and I've lived by that for a while....

to end this journey, I have been down many roads, at one point I was facing a 3-9 for stabbing this piece of shit in his lung with a full size spiderco knife, case got continued for 2 years while I was sleeping couch to couch getting fucked up as humanly possible...moved to kansas to get away and be closer to my dad, I got residency, got all my cavities fixed, got into University of Kansas, graduated moved to MB where I am now and just got a job that is eating at my soul at Hollister making 28k a year with benefits (which is garbage)...but I can't complain you dig?

sooo, you want to be a musician and not work etc. and be poor? here's my steps to stay righteous

1) don't smoke (imo it's aimed at the poor and will certainly end with you having hospital bills you can't afford, use this to help your ego when you see a rich person smoking...know you have that over them)

2) eat as well as you can afford (no fast food, they use that against us as well, eat oats, natural sugars, plenty of dairy, whole grains etc.)

3) do pushups and situps and curls if you have the barbells (basically stay in shape don't use your inactivity to get yourself depressed)

4) read and get educated even if you're not in school ( you should always bee progressing in some way, whether it's learning to play an instrument or how to weld, or just reading about a famous person in history..knowledge is power, if you can keep your own with someone woh has a phd then what can anyone tell you?)

edit 5) I forgot an important one, oral hygiene, brushing several times a day and most importantly flossing before you go to sleep..cavities and oral health have a direct tie with your mental health and also your teeth will help you get a job or impress that girl etc. etc. (sad but true)

ummm, ironing your clothes too, even old clothes will look better ironed...these are all ways I got by growing up in a broke ass home, where we ate grits or red beans and rice three meals a day

this is my novel, I'm out! haha

Yeah, I've a had a strange ride and I'm only 24. I've made a lot of mistakes and helped a lot of people and I wouldn't change it for anything because it made me who I am. Deta!l made some great points, getting your education is crucial to living a better life in my mind. When I turn 25 I'll be independent of my mothers income in terms of financial aid for school, so between uncle sam and my tribe that pays me to go to college I'll have all four years of college paid for. I just took my S.A.T's last year in prep for applying to schools and was happy to get a 1450 considering I'm intelligent but have a thorough disgust for standardized testing. So next year I'll be heading back up north to Washington to attend college and meet back up with all the friends I made in the year that I lived and worked there. Finally no more ghetto, guns, and dope dealers just clean air and green trees.

good tips detail. At one point in my life I never really followed any of them and I felt sick (mental and physical). Im still far from perfect but I been eating a lot better, smoking a little less, read occasionally, even take better care of my teeth, and physical activity always helps. I been wanting to move for a long time too. I wanna go to a less depressing place like florida or cali or something.

hey detail that's that sounds good while reading but will i ever learn shit right there. i am not broke, but i ain't got no money from the 20th until the 15th of each next month; you dig me. there are way to many bills for me to make money. NOW i've been broke and all i can tell ya is that it's lot like BIG said "more money we come across, the more problems we see"