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At my first rally, I realized there was 3-4 trips worth of information to learn. This will be my 4th rally, and already I am seeing mention of new information that will be presented...If you have been wondering if the rally is worth attending:I'm on commission so I have only an infrequent income. My husband is out of work until his next, materializes.I cut our cable, our cell phones, our regular phone, our food budget until I couldn't get it down any further. I spent 2 months working out a super strict budget so we can meet our bills every month in spite of our current work situation, and then I spent 2 more weeks going over it to find every penny we can save. There was still no way to take care of our responsibilities and make the trip. But, going to the rally at this point in my life is what I need to do right now, and so I am doing whatever it takes for me to make it out to LA. I just sold my 78 USA Fender to get myself to the rally this year. This was my little baby, but getting to the rally is that motivating and that important to my long term goals. It may seem counterintuitive to you all, to sell my guitar to get to a music conference, but the guitar is replaceable; this moment in time is not. I want to impress on all of those who don't think the rally is worth the effort - it is. The amount of knowledge there, all in one place, and all at your disposal, is worth much more than the price of the ticket and sharing a room. If you are serious about your potential career, this is truly a can't miss event. I don't care if I have to eat ramen noodles once I'm there; I am happy to say that I'm going.Some of those taxi members who know me best have been my emotional support system while I tore my hair out trying to figure out a way to get there, so I just wanted to publicly say THANK YOU to all of you. You know who you are!The flight is booked, I'm waiting for a response from my roomies, and I will see you all in LA in a little while. I didn't think I'd be able to say that, this year. I'm glad I can.

Thanks for sharing Anne.. I am unemployed at this time as well.. I had a lot of airline miles from work and set aside money for the room earlier this year. I was a starving musician many years ago and I'm slowly returning to my roots! I've never been to any convention before in which it was so informative and the people so friendly. I would crawl to be there!Marlin

And I'll be Anne's roommate, after thinking I wouldn't be going. My spouse was laid off almost 2 months ago and while it isn't devastating for us, it is forcing us to stop and think about any non-essential expenditures.I'm not going to be all soap opera and say that the TAXI Road Rally is as essential as food or utilities. In fact, although I've been very active musically throughout 2009, most of it hasn't been with TAXI. What matters to me, and what will continue to matter to me, are the camaraderie, the motivation, the knowledge-sharing (it's rarely one way; everybody can learn something from anyone else).See you at the Rally.

Anne !!!!! i too am trying to finagle my finances to get to the rally! I would like to room with you if you dont have anyone else! I am trying to find someone... and know I can trust you! Let me know what you think

Oh. It looks like you found someone... do you know anyone else looking??