Argh, on top of ACK!

Oh my goodness, my posts have been so sporadic. Life has been nothing but a gigantic ball of stress for the past few weeks. I came to the realization yesterday that for the first time in about five years I'm going to have to get a "real" job. I'm still going to try and put together my dance group, but teaching dance some place where I will be happy is looking very dismal. Yesterday I found out that the last studio I was looking into working for does not hire teachers as employees, only independent contractors, which in the dance world is really shady and borders on illegal. I told them so, and I was told in reply that their lawyers had structured the business in a way that it *was* legal. I thought to myself...they have shady lawyers.

So what's the big deal? People work as independents all the time, right? Well let me tell you what I know, and horror stories I've read about... Dance is considered a "dangerous activity." Parents have to sign liability forms for their child to participate in classes. Those forms waive accountability for the studio and its employees. Do you see where I'm going with this? So you're an independent and Suzy Ballerina breaks her leg in *YOUR* class. Richie Mom and Dad can turn around and sue, YOU. You're not an employee, you have no protective rights.

Also, because of jury duty crap-o-la, I was doing a little research. Remember, a few weeks ago, when I lost that week of work? Well it is illegal for a company to threaten your job security simply because you are fulfilling your civic duty, *IF* you are an employee. If I took this job offer, and did, (God forbid), get onto this jury, the studio could turn around and pull all of my classes. All of this is on top of the fact that your taxes are not taken out, you have to take care of that yourself and you can kiss workmen's compensation good bye. You know, because no dance teacher in history has ever hurt themselves on the job... *Rolls eyes*

So I'm feeling ultra-defeated. I worked my last retail job five years ago and said to myself, "Never again. Never will I work a job that is unrelated to dance!" It worked for awhile, and now it's not working. Maybe that was an unrealistic proclamation for me to make. I feel like I've failed to live up to my own standards. I am good at what I do, and all I want is to be able to pay my bills doing it. I don't want fame and fortune, I just want to survive.

Wow, rant much? I didn't mean for that to happen, but you know blog friends, sometimes it just. has. to. What I meant to talk about here was VACATION. As in I'm going on one. TODAY. FOR A WEEK! To Silver Bay! I think that my brain would explode if I stayed here another day, so thank goodness for vacations. I had plans for you all though. I had scheduled posts and crafty tutorials and fun things planned for all of you whilst I was gone, but alas life has really gotten in the way of all of this.

So, I bid you adieu for now. I'll be back roughly around August 2nd. Then it's job hunting for me - vomit. But I'm not going to think about that right now. I'm off to park my ass by a lake for a week solid - woot!