Its less about the extra time you have available, you have as much as any other 40h a week job, and more about the amount of energy you have to do anything with that time after busting your ass all day
I have just enough energy to take my 2 yr old dog who was at home all day for 1.5hrs of exercise and then to tell all my friends no to any other plans unless I want to stretch myself too thin during the week.
It doesnt bother me a great deal as I enjoy my alone time and often opt for it on the weekends as well-- but it'd still be nice to have more energy left in the tank after work. 6pm often feels like it could be bedtime if I let it.
It only gets worse lol we basically start disintegrating at 35, it's like a fuse runs out
Think about moving into management if you haven't already started that move
I'm union trim work and do not want any part of being a union foreman. those guys are STRESSED OUT.😂
Have some 4-5yr plans that involve transitioning into a less physical role
Also, I would probably benefit a lot from stopping my habit of drinking 3-4 beers and smoking 2-3 cigarettes every nite
I do stand up. It’s hard when shows run late and I’ve gotta be up at 5:30. But if you really want to chase your dream you’ve gotta make those sacrifices.
I work full time and pursue music as much as possible. Also have a toddler. At the end of the day there is no money in music anymore unless you’re really in demand and on tour constantly. It’s just facts. Hobbies take second place once you’re an adult and have bills to pay. Construction or retail it doesn’t matter. If you’re passionate about music you’ll find time.
You looking to pay the bills with music or carpentry? I'm in the same situation as the guy you've replied to. I'm in a band, and have been for more than 10 years. I'm one of two carpenters in the band and it was a pretty good balance until we had kids. It's a lot tougher to get together now but we make it work as best we can. We end up playing more shows than we have practices these days which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it makes it difficult to work on new material. We have essentially started to do that on our own, sending stuff back and fourth online so that everyone is already familiar with a new track when we get together. This also has its ups and downs, it has certainly streamlined the process but I do feel like there's less collaboration on the tracks now and they're much more defined by the person who wrote them.
Nah, just pay bills with carpentry. I couldn’t handle the stress of the music industry these days, man. But what would be cool is just framing houses during the weeks and jamming out Friday or Saturday nights with a group of buddies.
Edit: I realize I don’t even care much for booking venues although that would be sick. Just playing with some buddies to a small, local audience seems super realistic, and thanks for your comment because it helped realize this for myself.
>Just playing with some buddies to a small, local audience
This is what we do. We're a well established local act, and we sometimes travel to nearby cities for gigs with friend bands we've met over the years. For reference We're in the maritimes of Canada so we play various locations in southwestern NB, and the odd show in NS. We don't tour or anything and any money the band makes just goes back into the band to make merch and shit. It's just something we do for fun.
If you're a competent, qualified reliable carpenter ....the amount of free time you have is 100% your decision. Where and when you work is your call, nobody else's *unless* you allow them that power.
What he's saying is, at a certain point, you can be as busy as you want to be. You could have work for 20 hours a day if you wanted, or you could just work 8 hours a day.
I few years ago I worked for a medium sized home builder, 10 carpenters building 3-4 big projects a year and we had a touring pro drummer on our crew. He was in his eaely 40s and was a really good reliable guy. He would bug out to go tour for a month, come back for a month and plug right back in. That was his cycle and it worked to keep both going.
It did limit him as a carpenter. He was never a Forman or leader, just the cavalry that would come in to help knock out a project.
I'm self employed now, and if I wanted to take a month off to go tour it's a perfect set up. The only thing is you have to limit the scale of jobs so you know you can finish anything you start before running off.
lol people have kids, 2nd jobs, dying relatives, dogs, church groups, AA, baseball teams, etc. it all depends. Being a carpenter is just like any other job but we shit in portajohns and complain a lot.
I know a company of trim carpenters who all mostly play in bands. Their boss used to play in bands. I know another full time carpenter who plays in a band. They seem to make it work. My boss used to play in bands and there have been a few coworkers who took a couple weeks off to go on tour. You just have to find the right people.
54, quit drinking 7 years ago, better diet and exercise. I volunteer as an EMT for my community, grow a huge garden and make time for my friends and family. Work for myself 4x10 hour days. Plenty of time and energy
You will be fine my dude. I work carpentry and still jam a couple times a week. It’s easy to balance imo. Just don’t overdue the jam beers and you will be good.
Also if your a guitar player be ready for some painful jam sessions with all the inevitable hand injuries lol
It all depends on the job, but in general, flakes are tolerated in construction more than any other profession. I have more flexibility than anyone else in my band. My boss is just glad that I actually give him a heads up if I won’t be there.
Depends what sort of work you're doing. When I was in the mill, I was shattered when I walked out. Hours of pushing uncooperative beams through a thicknesser or walking 100 kilometres back and forth feeding and unloading a spindle moulder destroys your will to do anything. Making furniture was great. Little fiddly stuff and fine details. You can definitely get out and about after that.
Its less about the extra time you have available, you have as much as any other 40h a week job, and more about the amount of energy you have to do anything with that time after busting your ass all day
I have just enough energy to take my 2 yr old dog who was at home all day for 1.5hrs of exercise and then to tell all my friends no to any other plans unless I want to stretch myself too thin during the week. It doesnt bother me a great deal as I enjoy my alone time and often opt for it on the weekends as well-- but it'd still be nice to have more energy left in the tank after work. 6pm often feels like it could be bedtime if I let it.
Yup it's exhausting It wasn't bad at all in my teens and 20s, even my early 30s, the last 10y 35-45 I really feel it at the end of the day lol
wouldja look at that... I'm 35 and I completely agree-- it's gotten a lot more pronounced for me over the past year or two.
It only gets worse lol we basically start disintegrating at 35, it's like a fuse runs out Think about moving into management if you haven't already started that move
I'm union trim work and do not want any part of being a union foreman. those guys are STRESSED OUT.😂 Have some 4-5yr plans that involve transitioning into a less physical role Also, I would probably benefit a lot from stopping my habit of drinking 3-4 beers and smoking 2-3 cigarettes every nite
I do stand up. It’s hard when shows run late and I’ve gotta be up at 5:30. But if you really want to chase your dream you’ve gotta make those sacrifices.
waking up at 5:30 every day to chase your dream... love the drive my man. 😂
…should he be waking up earlier.. to be a comedian?
I work full time and pursue music as much as possible. Also have a toddler. At the end of the day there is no money in music anymore unless you’re really in demand and on tour constantly. It’s just facts. Hobbies take second place once you’re an adult and have bills to pay. Construction or retail it doesn’t matter. If you’re passionate about music you’ll find time.
Yeah, my main goal with music is to just get in a band with some buddies and still pay the bills. Keeping it fun and simple is the goal for me
You looking to pay the bills with music or carpentry? I'm in the same situation as the guy you've replied to. I'm in a band, and have been for more than 10 years. I'm one of two carpenters in the band and it was a pretty good balance until we had kids. It's a lot tougher to get together now but we make it work as best we can. We end up playing more shows than we have practices these days which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it makes it difficult to work on new material. We have essentially started to do that on our own, sending stuff back and fourth online so that everyone is already familiar with a new track when we get together. This also has its ups and downs, it has certainly streamlined the process but I do feel like there's less collaboration on the tracks now and they're much more defined by the person who wrote them.
Nah, just pay bills with carpentry. I couldn’t handle the stress of the music industry these days, man. But what would be cool is just framing houses during the weeks and jamming out Friday or Saturday nights with a group of buddies. Edit: I realize I don’t even care much for booking venues although that would be sick. Just playing with some buddies to a small, local audience seems super realistic, and thanks for your comment because it helped realize this for myself.
>Just playing with some buddies to a small, local audience This is what we do. We're a well established local act, and we sometimes travel to nearby cities for gigs with friend bands we've met over the years. For reference We're in the maritimes of Canada so we play various locations in southwestern NB, and the odd show in NS. We don't tour or anything and any money the band makes just goes back into the band to make merch and shit. It's just something we do for fun.
If you're a competent, qualified reliable carpenter ....the amount of free time you have is 100% your decision. Where and when you work is your call, nobody else's *unless* you allow them that power.
I like how this sounds, but I feel like you need a fair bit of financial security to think this way, no?
What he's saying is, at a certain point, you can be as busy as you want to be. You could have work for 20 hours a day if you wanted, or you could just work 8 hours a day.
I few years ago I worked for a medium sized home builder, 10 carpenters building 3-4 big projects a year and we had a touring pro drummer on our crew. He was in his eaely 40s and was a really good reliable guy. He would bug out to go tour for a month, come back for a month and plug right back in. That was his cycle and it worked to keep both going. It did limit him as a carpenter. He was never a Forman or leader, just the cavalry that would come in to help knock out a project. I'm self employed now, and if I wanted to take a month off to go tour it's a perfect set up. The only thing is you have to limit the scale of jobs so you know you can finish anything you start before running off.
lol people have kids, 2nd jobs, dying relatives, dogs, church groups, AA, baseball teams, etc. it all depends. Being a carpenter is just like any other job but we shit in portajohns and complain a lot.
If there is something that you want to do, you will find the time to do it.
I know a company of trim carpenters who all mostly play in bands. Their boss used to play in bands. I know another full time carpenter who plays in a band. They seem to make it work. My boss used to play in bands and there have been a few coworkers who took a couple weeks off to go on tour. You just have to find the right people.
54, quit drinking 7 years ago, better diet and exercise. I volunteer as an EMT for my community, grow a huge garden and make time for my friends and family. Work for myself 4x10 hour days. Plenty of time and energy
You will be fine my dude. I work carpentry and still jam a couple times a week. It’s easy to balance imo. Just don’t overdue the jam beers and you will be good. Also if your a guitar player be ready for some painful jam sessions with all the inevitable hand injuries lol
I have Sundays, other then that its all work. But in 5 years or so ill have everything set up to barely have to work
It all depends on the job, but in general, flakes are tolerated in construction more than any other profession. I have more flexibility than anyone else in my band. My boss is just glad that I actually give him a heads up if I won’t be there.
Depends what sort of work you're doing. When I was in the mill, I was shattered when I walked out. Hours of pushing uncooperative beams through a thicknesser or walking 100 kilometres back and forth feeding and unloading a spindle moulder destroys your will to do anything. Making furniture was great. Little fiddly stuff and fine details. You can definitely get out and about after that.
I’m a full time foreman and have too many hobbies, including playing guitar in a band that plays at least once every 6 weeks. Not having kids helps.