Help Mr. MAGFest Find a Home
Donation protected
Hi, my name is Brendan, and for ten years, I ran MAGFest.
First off, I am 38 years old. I am single.
And I want to live in a van down by the river.
A few people have mentioned they don't get the photo. It's from a Saturday Night Live skit.
Okay, uh, maybe I should start over.
TL;DR: I am about to be homeless if I can't reach this goal in under a month. I've worked out a lot of things and I can make this happen, I just need your support!
Long version follows...
Not long after I graduated from high school, I discovered MAGFest, and I put absolutely everything I could into helping it survive. For the next ten years I had several jobs, sharing my paycheck with MAGFest to keep it out of the red. I gathered as many friends as possible to help with the event, many of which still do. I ditched my car, saving thousands of dollars a year, and diverting that money to both MAGFest and keeping myself afloat. I shared my living space with MAGFest as a way to cheaply store our inventory. I did not pay myself a salary to run the event.
In 2011, I had to step back from MAGfest for health reasons. I did not ask for a paycheck, just some of my money back so I could catch up on bills. Then my part-time job laid basically everyone off. I had no income and not much of a security net, so I decided to go full time with my music. I wrote some game soundtracks. I released a tribute to Nine Inch Nails and got to meet Trent Reznor. I got more in touch with my retro roots. I learned a lot. I've been asked to speak at events all over the US. This has been a fun adventure and I don't intend to stop writing music anytime soon.
All this time I've been living on the cheap and I never picked up a vehicle. Part of that is because I've figured out how to get from city to city easily on the bus, train, or flying when necessary. The other part is that even though my music is doing well, it barely covers my living expenses, so a car is out of the question. My life has been in a storage unit for the last 7+ years. Even though I have nearly zero debt, I have no credit and am living on nearly nothing.
Through all this, I've worked to support myself and my endeavours. I've been building a synthesizer for my next album. I've also started building an interactive, electronic entertainment museum with friends from my past who share my technology enthusiasm. Both have been in medium to high gear since the beginning of this year.
All of this might sound like I'm working with what I've got and it's mostly working out. So why a gofundme?
At the beginning of June, I was asked to move. Right now I've got some couchsurfing prospects but that's basically it. Baltimore/DC isn't cheap so one of the first thoughts that came to mind is to possibly relocate to a cheaper area. But I'm not going to be able to live in a cheaper area and get around without a car, and I'm in no position to get one. Plus I've saved so much money by not having a car.
Then I thought to myself: Why not replace housing WITH a car? An RV is cheaper than rent, and gives me the mobility to be where-ever I need to be, within reason. I know a few RV-savvy folk that could help, and as long as I pick up something with all the things I need that gets good mileage, I'm good to go. Plus if I go used, I can keep the cost way down.
So, I took a hard look at what is tying me down. Most of it is stuff that needs to go to the museum. I've already arranged to work with another museum, and they will store my museum-worthy stuff. I can't move my stuff right away, though, because some things need to happen before my things can move over there.
So, until that happens I will couchsurf with friends that are willing. After things are moved to the new location, money I was spending on rent&storage can go into gas, insurance, and maintenance on an RV. Then I can do things like promote my music and museum on the road.
I'm really concerned about my upfront charges. Once I am living in an RV, I should be able to sustain myself reliably, the hard part is getting over this initial hump. I absolutely cannot afford the cost of an RV, even a cheap one.
I ran a quick cost breakdown:
$7000 - expected used RV cost, including inspection, repairs, etc
$650 - approximate RV registration and titling.
$1500 - upfront charge for RV insurance
$150 - upfront charge for mail forwarding service
Total: $9300
Less the money I have to my name: $9001
There are ways to help my music or my museum in a more sustainable way, but if I can't find a home for myself, those dreams will die. Realistically speaking, I need to be ready to make this purchase in August. I have a long road (ha. ha. ha.) ahead of me. If you believed in me when I was building MAGFest I hope you will support me in my new adventure. I'm going to build something awesome; I just need to be able to get around and stay alive while I'm doing it.
Thank you for reading. If you can't afford to donate to this I absolutely understand, but please share it!
First off, I am 38 years old. I am single.
And I want to live in a van down by the river.
A few people have mentioned they don't get the photo. It's from a Saturday Night Live skit.
Okay, uh, maybe I should start over.
TL;DR: I am about to be homeless if I can't reach this goal in under a month. I've worked out a lot of things and I can make this happen, I just need your support!
Long version follows...
Not long after I graduated from high school, I discovered MAGFest, and I put absolutely everything I could into helping it survive. For the next ten years I had several jobs, sharing my paycheck with MAGFest to keep it out of the red. I gathered as many friends as possible to help with the event, many of which still do. I ditched my car, saving thousands of dollars a year, and diverting that money to both MAGFest and keeping myself afloat. I shared my living space with MAGFest as a way to cheaply store our inventory. I did not pay myself a salary to run the event.
In 2011, I had to step back from MAGfest for health reasons. I did not ask for a paycheck, just some of my money back so I could catch up on bills. Then my part-time job laid basically everyone off. I had no income and not much of a security net, so I decided to go full time with my music. I wrote some game soundtracks. I released a tribute to Nine Inch Nails and got to meet Trent Reznor. I got more in touch with my retro roots. I learned a lot. I've been asked to speak at events all over the US. This has been a fun adventure and I don't intend to stop writing music anytime soon.
All this time I've been living on the cheap and I never picked up a vehicle. Part of that is because I've figured out how to get from city to city easily on the bus, train, or flying when necessary. The other part is that even though my music is doing well, it barely covers my living expenses, so a car is out of the question. My life has been in a storage unit for the last 7+ years. Even though I have nearly zero debt, I have no credit and am living on nearly nothing.
Through all this, I've worked to support myself and my endeavours. I've been building a synthesizer for my next album. I've also started building an interactive, electronic entertainment museum with friends from my past who share my technology enthusiasm. Both have been in medium to high gear since the beginning of this year.
All of this might sound like I'm working with what I've got and it's mostly working out. So why a gofundme?
At the beginning of June, I was asked to move. Right now I've got some couchsurfing prospects but that's basically it. Baltimore/DC isn't cheap so one of the first thoughts that came to mind is to possibly relocate to a cheaper area. But I'm not going to be able to live in a cheaper area and get around without a car, and I'm in no position to get one. Plus I've saved so much money by not having a car.
Then I thought to myself: Why not replace housing WITH a car? An RV is cheaper than rent, and gives me the mobility to be where-ever I need to be, within reason. I know a few RV-savvy folk that could help, and as long as I pick up something with all the things I need that gets good mileage, I'm good to go. Plus if I go used, I can keep the cost way down.
So, I took a hard look at what is tying me down. Most of it is stuff that needs to go to the museum. I've already arranged to work with another museum, and they will store my museum-worthy stuff. I can't move my stuff right away, though, because some things need to happen before my things can move over there.
So, until that happens I will couchsurf with friends that are willing. After things are moved to the new location, money I was spending on rent&storage can go into gas, insurance, and maintenance on an RV. Then I can do things like promote my music and museum on the road.
I'm really concerned about my upfront charges. Once I am living in an RV, I should be able to sustain myself reliably, the hard part is getting over this initial hump. I absolutely cannot afford the cost of an RV, even a cheap one.
I ran a quick cost breakdown:
$7000 - expected used RV cost, including inspection, repairs, etc
$650 - approximate RV registration and titling.
$1500 - upfront charge for RV insurance
$150 - upfront charge for mail forwarding service
Total: $9300
Less the money I have to my name: $9001
There are ways to help my music or my museum in a more sustainable way, but if I can't find a home for myself, those dreams will die. Realistically speaking, I need to be ready to make this purchase in August. I have a long road (ha. ha. ha.) ahead of me. If you believed in me when I was building MAGFest I hope you will support me in my new adventure. I'm going to build something awesome; I just need to be able to get around and stay alive while I'm doing it.
Thank you for reading. If you can't afford to donate to this I absolutely understand, but please share it!
Organizer
Brendan Becker
Organizer
Baltimore, MD
