Btw, some smart person once said "suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem" Cross that option off hour list and get some help. Suicide hotline, nearby mental health professionals are both good options.
I can relate to some of your feelings. It sounds go me like you are burned out and are questioning your chosen career path. The uncertainy of freelan cing can be a lot to handle when you are already not feeling at the top of your game. Don't worry, Jou left an unhealthy environment, that was a good move. You will figure out the rest. Give youself a break, getting over burnout takes time.
Drop me a line, I run a mobile dev shop and I have a lot of well-paying web, Android and iPhone work. I provide on-the-job training as well.
I do too, mainly because I want to see more JS/HTML based mobile device development, possibly some standard APIs in the near future.
I've been spoiled by the web and I don't like having to deal with multiple languages, platforms and dev environments just to be able to reach a decent portion of my potential audience.
"And if webOS is basically web-based, that means that all of Palm's apps will be available on the iPhone, but none of the iPhone's apps will be available on the Palm Pre. Not exactly a winning proposition."
And you'd be right, if they do it the way original iPhone apps were done - scaled down websites running in a browser.
But not if what they actually have is a rendering engine as part of the OS and a Javascript API for things like location, sound, data, etc.
Then you have a powerful SDK that everyone and their little brother already pretty much knows how to use.
Okay, let's run an experiment. We'll meet in a private chat channel. We'll talk for at least two hours. If I can't convince you to tell us how you convinced the Gatekeeper, I'll Paypal you $10.
Here is what I do
- I keep 2 months' worth of income in a high-yield saving account (a la ING) This amounts to about 5 months of living expenses for me, so it is a good safety net.
- I stash away a small majority (say, 60%) of my long-term savings into index funds and relatively safe, stable stocks
- Since I am fairly young (27), I invest a sizeable chunk (but still a minority; say, 40%) of my savings into riskier stocks with a potential to be a home-run down the road. I only invest into companies and technologies that interest or excite me. This makes research a pleasure rather than a chore.
The ratios will tip towards the conservative side as I get older.