I became the dance class accompanist at George Washington University where they offered a course in Spanish dance taught by Marina Keet. My pay was supposed to be funded by a grant, but that grant fell through. And while I gladly continued to play for the dance classes for free (because I loved flamenco that much and wanted to learn), I still needed a job and fast! So I finally put my degree to use and applied for a government job in the city I was living in: Arlington. So what's a musician with a Bachelor's degree and three years of library experience going to do? I got a position in the circulation department of the Arlington Central Library.

Again not very stimulating, but it was a government job with a stable income and benefits. In the meantime, as I got more experienced in accompanying dancers, word got around of the new guitarist in town (me!) and I started playing for other dance teachers and got hired to play in shows with other dance companies—the other guitarists in DC back then were Paco de Málaga, Torcuato Zamora, Henry Jova, Tom Cotton, Ralph Pemberton, Marija Temo and William Christie. I was 25 and having the time of my life. I was working 8 hours in the office, then playing for dance classes and rehearsals several nights a week. So I would come home late and practice guitar until I fell asleep at 2:00am or later then woke up at 6:00am to get ready for my day job. Not exactly a healthy lifestyle I admit. OK, so I was in my 20's and did it anyway, but I knew deep down inside that eventually I would have to choose one or the other: flamenco or the day job.

(Mind you...there are people who can do both and still accomplish a lot. Kudos to those people. But as for myself, I'm one of those types that can only do well at something if I commit myself to just that one thing.)

I managed to keep this lifestyle going for eight years believe it or not. Looking back now, I don't know how I lasted that long, but I did. But as you might expect, my performance and motivation at my day job was starting to suffer. I'd call in sick without really being sick. Usually it was to catch up on sleep. Sometimes I'd force myself to go to work, show up late and just sit at my desk staring at my computer screen. Nothing against my day job. My coworkers were nice people and my work in the public library in a small way made a positive difference in my local community. It's all good, but my heart just wasn't in it.

There were days when I'd make it all the way to the office and when I arrived at the employee entrance and placed my hand on the door knob, I couldn't make myself turn it. I kept on saying to myself, "What am I doing here?" then I'd turn around and go back home.

My coworkers knew I played flamenco guitar at night so when I called in sick without really being sick, I'm sure they knew. So this period of frequent "sick days" went on for about six months. And finally in March 2000, I gave my two weeks' notice and quit my day job.

Oh my God...it was the greatest feeling of relief when I made that decision. Brave? Reckless perhaps? More than anything else, I felt I was being true to myself. "Do what you love and the money will follow," as the saying goes, right? Still I knew this major change would mean I would no longer have a stable income, let alone medical benefits etc, yikes!

But now that my days were freed up, I found myself practicing more and making a lot of progress—a definite plus to playing guitar full time! Of course, over the years, gigs would come and go (and they still do), but somehow I made it work. There were times when I gigged everyday. And there were times when I'd gig less, much less. It hasn't been easy, but while my income dropped drastically from when I had a day job, my job satisfaction and overall happiness went up, way up!

Sometimes I'd wonder how my life would've turned out if I stuck with the day job. Would I have settled down with a family and wishing I had more time to play guitar? Then again, as a flamenco guitarist there's no real career advancement...hopefully you just become better at what you do artistically, get more gigs with better artists, enjoy the satisfaction and as an added benefit get recognized for it. There's no such thing as Senior Executive Vice President of Flamenco....just flamenco guitarist.

Unlike my old day job, I still get that tinge of excitement each time I get ready for my shows each week—and I have my occasional bad days too just like in any job. Ten years have gone by since that day I quit to play flamenco guitar full-time and it's all a blur now. But looking back now I'm glad I did it.