Color Me Indignant...

The way an acquaintance is trying to set up an art school is a lot like setting up an intellectual sweatshop. I don't like it. Students deserve to be compensated for their work, especially because they are students. Their contribution to "the project" has to be recognized (psychic remuneration) and an honorarium (monetary remuneration) must be paid as per their work.

Too, you can't expect to teach the use of software in a public venue (like a school whose reputation of respectability you want to establish) without having copies of said software and their respective licenses. I've tried to bring this point across lots of times to said acquaintance but I've always been ignored. This time I got my point across by figuratively slapping him in the face with the hard facts in the middle of a meeting. He was one of the parties looking to broker a deal and I was the software expert he wanted to bring in to wow the other party.

Wow them I did, but finally getting him to understand the concept of paying through the nose for network licenses was the more satisfying endeavor. He's tried to set up a software training school before with other people and all of them backed out because he simply would not provide the necessary capital for software licenses.

The Japanese have a concept wrapped up in a little word called chan to. Roughly translated it means proper, regular, correct. If my acquaintance wants to set up a school, he' s gotta be chan to when he goes about it. (The way I've tried to be chan to in my courtships).

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In related news, a member of my design team quit on me recently. We could not provide him with cash up front for the demo samples we were making for our clients. Likely his gut told him "sweatshop" and he bolted. I'm almost beginning to believe his gut, the way our go-between and our client have been acting. Nevertheless I am in this boat and I am going to have to row and steer with all my might to get the job done (isshokenmei, dekiru dake).

C'est la vie.

Ever have those days when the Universe seemed to be determined to thwart you? It's annoying-- you've got A Plan and everything you do takes you away from it.