Well, signing the clients is actually the most important part.
5,728 karma · joined May 9, 2008
When doing art, I used to set goals like "do 30 drawings in a month." However, I've found that I just draw the same stuff over and over again if I leave it at that. I have to actually make a theme (draw 30 plants) and even get a detailed list (draw a jade plant, a hydrangea, etc) in order to actually make any progress.
I am curious if you did any planning like this regarding the choice of sites you made?
I don't think that living in a rental and saving $700 a month is "solidly middle class" in the USA. Perhaps it is now, though, in a world of permanently diminished expectations.
Regarding "why" people may choose to make iPhone apps instead of farming. It's almost impossible to get started up in agriculture for someone who hasn't inherited a farm. Farmland where I'm from is over $10K per acre at the moment. You need millions of dollars just to buy the land. Then you need millions of dollars to buy all the equipment. Also, subsidies only happen for cash crops and commodities like milk and pork, you don't get subsidies for organic chicken and vegetables.
The UK has always seemed to have some respect for eccentricity but I wouldn't say they've been known as a place that "worships individuality." They have had a historical reputation for merciless bullying at the grade school level, though.
Minnesota's percentage of interracial marriage is 4.4% (In contrast, California is 12.8%. The highest is Hawaii, which is 37.2%)
Where I grew up, pretty much all the kids who were awkward and unpopular and got bullied in junior high and high school did the same youth sports as everyone else when they were 9-10 years old. It didn't help them out too much later on.
Kids need exercise and socialization, though. I'd argue that they should learn things where starting very early offers a big advantage. Sports such as surfing, gymnastics, skiing, ice skating, swimming, etc. It seems like if an activity heavily involves balance or the water it helps to learn it as early as possible.
Minnesota and asian countries are particularly bad about that sort of thing, but in Los Angeles nobody would look twice.
The interesting part of story is that the kid is actually selling the paintings for such amounts. If he was just painting them but not selling them, I'm not sure this would even make the news.