The light at the end of the tunnel

I had been putting way too much hope into the job prospect from my client.

Today he came into work and told me that he's reconsidering the position.  "Sorry!"  It was kind of hard to not-be bummed about it for the rest of my day.  It's like, I'd been looking at this light at the end of the tunnel, a job where I'm not going to be bone-tired every day, looked down upon because it's food-service, benefits (like health care), a regular schedule.... and really, there was nothing there all along.  I turned down the place I wanted to live for nothing, an empty offer, something that was too good to be true.

Someday, I'll learn.

I fear that I'm just going to be stuck where I am and not moving up, just staying in mediocrity-ville in a meaningless job.

Breathe.  I'm going to keep on doing my comic.  I'm going to continue practicing and learning accordion.

And today marks the first day of not wanting to have a child in 2.5 years.

Bios up for the 3 Rs, New logo!

I'm psyched!  I uploaded them here, but I kind of want these three portraits on the same page-- so I can put them HERE!

Eee!  Seeing them all together makes me happy!  India Ink & Watercolours on sketch paper

I also did a new logo for The 3 Rs yesterday, which I'm very pleased with!  My goal is to never use sharpies and Muji pens for my 3 Rs comics and to convert completely to archival, high-quality India-ink with real nib-pens and paintbrushes.  It's definitely challenging, but I think overall it will improve the look of the 3 Rs!

Tomorrow, the final page of Eco-Laundry goes up!  Wheeeee!

On the job front: no news yet.  This is painful!

A really good day

Today's been a really good day.

I worked with competent people.  I had back-up arrive on time at 8am, had everything well-stocked, had a team of five other than myself that all knew what to do without being told (but if I did tell to do, did so), greeted every phone call with "HAPPY THURSDAY!" and even got a few smiles in return.  Found a silver quarter that makes the most wonderful sound when you drop it.  I am going to get a massage soon.  They're playing "Like Someone In Love" on the Jazz station in the background.

Life is good.

I think this piece is entirely sharpie.  Done in the sketchbook Mike bought for me.

Tomorrow: I'll know what I'm doing for the next year at least!  Hopefully!

Dreams

I had a dream last night that one of my co-workers whistled at me to get my attention, a low, soft whistle.  I almost got upset because it's kind of rude to whistle at a woman.  But I stopped and went over to look.

We were in my neighbour's house (she was like my grandmother), and at window of the door were a bunch of beautiful blue birds.  There were blue birds, black-and-white striped birds, red-breasted blue birds, tiny blue birds, toucan-beaked blue birds, and they all looked at us, perching and fluttering around.

This is the second bird dream I've had recently.

The first one lead to this comic, which I drew for a co-worker who I love dearly.

Muji pen ink, prismacolours, on sketch paper

The comic is mostly a reference to my friend's love of birds, and this song by Leo Dan, which she also adores.

Yeah, my Spanish sucks, but at least I tried!

Comicking and overcoming artist's block

Three, count 'em, THREE job offerings right now.  One was sought out by me ($8/hr in the town I want to live in), the other two have, so far, been unsolicited propositions.  I don't know how I feel about this.  Part of me feels happy to be appreciated, the other part is like, "holy crap, now I have to decide and I'm not a good decider! ACK!"

This piece is about overcoming artist's block; you just get this urge to CREATE and therefore you just DO.  Pencil, unfinished, on paper.

So, in honour of actually working on my comic today and starting a new page, I post this.

My goal for the rest of my life is to do one hour of art per day.  So far, it's been a few hours today (because practicing accordion totally counts).

And, man, there's something awesome about Tori Amos' "Under the Pink" right now and I think it's the fact that it's her voice and a piano and not much else.  Something about those high notes.  Going down the highway whilst singing these songs is awesome.

Comic Relaunched

I had jury duty today, so I went home to my parents' house, walked down to court, got dismissed, and then came back home and updated my comic.  I'm pretty pleased with myself!

My goal is to keep working on the comic and updating every Monday!

What to do? / gift art for Mananda

So, I'd pretty much made the decision to move to Greensboro.  I have a roommate already with the most patience I've ever seen in another human being willing for me to move in with my bad kitty.

My current roommate, who incidentally has the same first name as my to-be roommate, got accepted to university in Louisiana.  I'm incredibly proud of her, but at the same time, I'm sad to be losing-to-distance a good friend.

Your future/You are So Bright - prismacolours, muji ink, sharpie (initial line), about three days

I found out earlier this week that on one of my days off (Sunday-- I got lucky this week and had both Saturday and Sunday) Erika Moen was going to be at Heroes Con in Charlotte.  Therefore, I am going!  With two very good friends!

My brother had a car accident last week and had to drive his car back to our hometown for inspection by the person who installed his breaks (that didn't work while he was going down a hill and into another car-- everyone's okay).  It made more sense for me to drive him back to Chapel Hill, so I did.  It was good to come home, plus I got my aweesome tire belt from etsy!  We got back to my brother's dorm and he spent two hours working on my resume, which one of my clients at work had been asking me to provide, both of us knowing we had to be up early the next morning.  I drove back to my apartment at 1am, woke up at 5:30, and every day since then has been sleep-deprived and kind of crazy-rewarding.

I got a job offer from my client, essentially doing something that I'm not technically qualified to do but would allow me to gain experience in this field, double the pay of what I'm working, not nearly as many hours, with benefits.  We still have to meet and discuss details, but Friday was just a weird day in general for being appreciated by the people I serve every day (I got a fistbump from one guy because as I saw him drive up, I made his coffee drink; dealt with a customer with Asperger's in front of another whose son, incidentally, is an "Aspie".  Worked til about 6 (yay for 12-hour days on your feet), napped at home, went back out with friends and saw a drag show.  Went to bed well past the usual bed time and more like my wake-up time.  Came to Greensboro and had an interview at an incredibly cool cafe where the owner was basically like, "I want to hire you so bad I'd fire someone-- come back in August and I'll make room for you."

So, what do I do?  Do I really have much of a choice?  As an artist, obviously option one, if he's still offering, is better in terms of not being so physically tired.  As it is now, I'm so exhausted that doing the 3 Rs is near impossible.  Is it a green or artsy job?

I guess I'll have to wait and see.  But for now, I must go to Charlotte!