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Thursday, July 16th, 2009
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8:36 pm - griffith
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just got home from my week in griffith.
i love you griffith. you have tasty food and your big w is tidy.
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| Sunday, July 12th, 2009
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4:37 pm - a short update
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a couple of reasons why i'm not feeling the LJ vibe right now:
i wondered the other day exactly WHY i lj. i suspect it's becuase in some respects, i prefer to document what went on than focus on what IS going on, or what WILL go on.
this is bullshit.
also: my health is currently shitsville.
people with depression (or other mental health issues) often have weakened immune systems. it's certainly true for me currently. and i kinda don't feel like blogging about that.
and one more extra reason for free:
i actually don't really have time for blogging like i used to. i've got all sorts of things i need to be working on.
so i guess i'm going to be quiet for a bit. and while i don't plan on posting much for a little bit, i certainly will be reading. 8-)
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9:39 am - Too cool
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| Sunday, June 21st, 2009
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5:24 pm - and another song to add to the list below
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(only that song is a great song, not a shit one)
this, on the other hand, is one of the coolest (australian) rock songs of all time and doesn't make anybody cry:
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| Saturday, June 20th, 2009
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6:02 pm - how to tell if you're an idiot
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this song
this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06IKotQr8Ng
and the tina arena song "now i can dance" make you cry like a baby.
and not just because they're bad songs.
uh...naturally, i am not an idiot, and i'm just supplying you with random, important facts.
you're welcome.
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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9:11 pm - eye candy
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i don't use the internet to look up hot, half naked men when i'm bored. instead, i look up things like this:
organic shape dinnerware
i just love the shapes...
round mirrors
and i've seen these about a bunch, but i still think they're pretty awesome
felted wool stones
it's sad sometimes, really. but i don't care.
in other news, i've finished repainting my bed head and am still working on the cupboard and chest of drawers. i need more paint. again.
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7:23 pm - oh yes
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i have made a decision on the healthy eating front:
screw that.
i'm freezing, and until i'm not freezing, shall eat whatever the hell i feel like.
tonight, for instance - pizza!
granted, it isn't THAT bad given that it is home made (gluten free for me) pizza, but it's not properly 'home made' home made.
i didn't make the sauce, or the dough. and i certainly didn't make the cheese this time. but at least it's not the nasty take away stuff (though it tastes oh so good...)
and this is the first time i've used our oven in this place. yes, we've been here for a couple of months or so, but i do a lot of stove-top cooking.
turns out a gas oven is SO MUCH BETTER. it heats in an instant.
oh yes.
and now i'm going to go eat my pizza. and the chocolate seth and i bought for dessert.
OMNOMNOMNOM!!!
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| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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7:54 pm - i don't know why i do these things
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but i get sick of painting sometimes
so i opened this
woodurchin at zazzle
i don't know if this is a good or bad thing. i DO know i'm no photographer.
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| Monday, June 15th, 2009
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11:19 am - be careful what you wish for, i guess
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due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, i can't go on the away trip with work this week.
which means i've gone from being ok financially to flat friggin' broke.
thank god seth is doing ok and can loan me some money to help me out, and my folks are the type of people who would loan me money in an instant. i don't like doing that if i can avoid it, but since i know i have a bunch of money coming to me in the coming months and can repay it it's not such a huge deal.
i'm so looking forward to tax time! my tax return should be huge! eee!
(well, by my standards anyway)
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| Saturday, June 13th, 2009
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4:31 pm - misc mish-mashed post
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i've always got an excuse for not being more active on lj or for not replying to comment or posts.
today (and for the last few days), my fingers have been FREEZING. so i've been mousing as much as possible and keeping my other hand under a warm kitty to keep it warm.
which brings me to kitty - she's SO MUCH BETTER. she got down to 800grams when ill, and now she's 1.2kilos.
that's a lot of weight gained very quickly. she nags me for food all the goddamned time, and is always waddling around with a huge pot belly. hopefully she'll catch up on all the food she missed.
she's also being a royal pain in the behind with wanting to play with everything (the keyboard as i type, my hair while i sleep, my shoelaces when i try to put shoes on), but she's so cute that i haven't drop kicked her out the window yet. yet.
went out to the uni last night to see seth perform in a group music performance. was actually surprisingly good. lots of little groups doing some pretty inventive and actually good (to me) sounding stuff.
the enormous guy next to me who took up half of my seat by lounging all over the place (forcing me to sit very upright and VERY over to the side furthest away from him) however was NOT so excellent. especially the way he kept burping an onion garlic mix all over me.
if, by some strange turn of events, this guy is reading this, i have just one thing to say to you - you're a disgusting arsehole, sod off.
thankyou.
and on a totally unrelated note, i'm not diggind the idea of going away to work this week. i'm going to jindabyne and canberra and cootamundra and i'm going to freeze to death.
i especially want to be home because i'm working on sanding back and repainting some furniture right now and i'm finding it surprisingly awesome work. and today i managed to hunt down the AWESOMEST HANDLES EVAR on ebay to replace the gross ones i have now:
awesome swirly handle of yes
with matching
these ones here.
i want to be home so i can be here when they arrive and put them straight on.
tragic that such a small thing should be such a source of excitement for me, but here we are.
part of the reason the thing i'm currently painting is so consuming to me is that it's an old wardrobe of my grandfather's. he bought it before he even had kids (early 50s?), then the kids used it, and now i've got it. i hasn't been touched since he purchased it, it seems. it's COVERED in dings and scratches and gouges, and the bakelite handles are all discoloured.
as much as i love old things, this thing looks really run down and depressed in a not good way. the idea of giving it an over-haul more than 50 years on is kinda fun to me.
anyway, with any luck i'll get a bit more done on it tomorrow before i have to leave...
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| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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4:50 pm - i know i'm turning into a crazy cat lady, BUT
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she's just so cute
today she watched me mow the lawn from the sunny spot by the window. lazy bitch.
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| Monday, June 8th, 2009
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5:40 pm
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for me, one of the best things about being an artist (or creative type in general) is that i can justify frittering away hours and hours on the internet, because i'm 'becoming inspired and developing ideas'.
bullshit.
well, not entirely, i guess. while it's true that i do have a lot of stuff that needs to get done, i'm worn out from nights of sick-kitty snoring. for a little cat (and i mean REALLY little cat) that congestion means she can work up a real honking snore. the only thing worse than this in the middle of the night is when she stops snoring, and i jolt upright and give her a shake to see she's not dead.
still, meds seem to be kicking in and we've managed to get a reasonable amount of food into her today.
so it wasn't like i was going to get a lot done today anyway. so pointless surfing and blog reading is a fine idea. yeah it is.
it's funny - i see days like this as indulgent and fun like some other folks might see a movie day (movie days make me fidgety and frustrated. how can you sit through more than one movie in one sitting?), especially since i indulge in girly blogs and the like. my favourite right now for such an indulgence (and has been for a while) is the doe deere blogazine, by xenia of lime crime fame. while her sense of fashion and so forth is just about the absolute opposite of mine, still enjoy reading her posts.
and today while i reading, i had this realisation - i always kinda see being really into fashion and makeup as a tad shallow and a bit of an embarrassment.
what a stupid notion.
as an artist (and recently, pursuing more of a design bent than art) my whole frickin' life! revolves around the way things look.
and i also realised pretty much the only reason i'm not as into fashion as i am into interior design or art is because i don't want to be the center of attention. i feel much more comfortable in casual clothing than 'dressed up' nice clothing because i'm a casual type person. people constantly complementing me on my clothes or style would only make me very uncomfortable.
(that said, i have dreadlocks and don't exactly look 'normal', but for me there's a balance. ideally, i'd look much different than i do now. for instance, i'd wear deer horns every day. but for me it's a trade off on what i feel comfortable with. i should point out it's not people's opinions that bother me here - i couldn't care less if random strangers thought i looked good or bad - but just the feeling of being on show. i'm not a flamboyant character, i suppose. so what i might admire window shopping is very often something i could never see myself in)
so my whole point here: i guess i really get it now. and good luck to those folks who enjoy the attention. i'm envious there.
also: etsy is down. goddamnit. i wanted to window shop there next!
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| Saturday, June 6th, 2009
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5:19 pm - sick kitty
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well, kitty is sick.
we went to the vets thursday and he confirmed cat flu, but since there was no infection could not give antibiotics. last night (friday night) we noticed she had just developed one, and so picked up some medicine from the vets before 9 this morning.
fingers crossed she'll improve...
she won't eat ANYTHING, and we've tried almost everything. i know that she can't smell her food because of the blocked nose, so got some stinky sardines. she ate a bit, then refused the rest. i've tried everything (microwaved to be warm and stinky, left cold, any way yo can think of) and now our house stinks of stinky cat foods and the fridge is full of raw chicken and sardines and disgusting pureed mixes of kitty food.
as of last night we've been forcing her to eat with an eyedropper. currently she's getting pureed high quality kitten biscuits with chicken, sardine, turkey and a can of ensure (high nutrient lactose free milk - lactose often upsets a kitten's tummy). it's a really disgusting mix, but she's accepting it bit at a time through the eyedropper.
we've got her sitting on a blanket with a hot water bottle under it to keep her warm, and she hasn't moved in about 24 hours. i've lifted her to her litter tray a couple of times and she's used it, and i've carried her back to her bed. picking her up is like picking up a little bag of bird bones. she's so thin...
anyway, with luck the eyedropper feeding and the antibiotics should see her pick up soon. last few nights have been bad for sleeping because of being awake every few seconds to check on her. we've had her sleeping in the bed so we can keep a close eye on her and keep her warm, but her nose is congested that she makes horrible honking spluttery noises which have me waking up in a panic thinking she's made a sudden turn for the worse.
i'm hoping that tonight will be better. she's already had two doses of amoxycillin (or as i like to call it, aMOGGYcillin. har har) so hopefully she'll be better soon.
in the meantime, i look and full like a zombie. oi!
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| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
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1:59 pm - WE GOT A CAT!!
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we finally got a cat.
the 31st was seth's birthday, and since we've thought about a cat for ages (and just recently gotten the landlord's permission), i went ahead and get a kitty for seth's birthday. especially since the timing was excellent - i have don't have a whole lot of work and a couple of weeks before an away trip, and by then seth is on uni holidays. that'll give her a chance to settle in with company.
we haven't named her yet, so i'm currently referring to her as 'minikitty'. she's so tiny and all.
i got her from a rescue place that picked her up from the pound when she had only one day left on deathrow.
i suppose because she's just 8 weeks and has spent most of her life in a cage at the pound she's underweight for her age and seems to be sneezing a lot. i'm hoping it's the result of her recent F3 vaccination (like in humans, vaccinations can cause symptoms) and that it's no big thing, but we'll be back at the vets for a follow up on that.
despite her problems she's the sweetest most well behaved little thing. she uses the litter tray no problem and is very quiet and well behaved. she follows us around but is very undemanding. i barely hear her make a noise.
my hope is that once she puts some weight on and gets a bit healthier she'll become a bit more boisterous and spend more time playing. right now she's hesitant to play too much (it's like she's not entirely sure what she's supposed to do), but i'm sure that'll come with time.
anyway, now to the important bit - PHOTOS!
( more minikitty )
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1:25 pm - i am an idiot
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after going through a couple of weeks where i was ready to quit my job as quickly as possible, i am now really enjoying it.
and i've realised this - i suffer from depression which hits me hard at home or at work. i'm probably better off at work, so i'm at least earning money and having SOME connection to the outside world.
better than staying in my pajamas all day and eating rice cakes for every meal, drinking endless coffees.
plus, i like it. i'm reasonably good at it (this is due to my height and having the reach of an orangutan, not any actual skill), it's very low stress. i count things. if i screw up, things are counted wrongly. countries do not go to war. nothing explodes. all is good.
and i always have a three day weekend and am usually finished by mid afternoon. this week i'm only working one day. so it's good.
i'm funny like that. i swing back and forth a lot. but for now, i'm determined to stick at it for a while yet.
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| Sunday, May 24th, 2009
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4:04 pm - where i'd rather be
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tomorrow i go to canberra to work for 4 days.
but i'd rather be:
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| Thursday, May 21st, 2009
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5:57 pm - what bullshit
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since when did gumboots cost more than $25?
i mean, really!
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| Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
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9:51 pm - OMG!
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i decided to take the advice of you internet folks (thanks guys) and just sit down with my wacom.
for the first time in...a year? more?
i finished a painting. just a speed painting of nothing fantastic, but it's done. and i feel a lot better.
going to try to submit it to EMG portrait adoption (oh god, it's been so long. i forget how!) and then i'll post it.
it has serious problems, but it doesn't matter. i finished it, and it's my first 'speed painting'...took me about three hours, which is a record for me. not a true speed painting i'll admit, but usually i take MONTHS.
in other news i'm this far away from having a panic attack about work. but aside from that, at least i picked up a wacom again!
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11:20 am - work, and how i used to earn money before i became 'employed'
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for 1001 reasons i'm not going to go into in this post, i don't feel like i'm a person cut out for normal jobs.
and as much as i enjoy my current job at times, i feel like it's bad for me on many levels.
the problem? alternatives. i don't know exactly what they are.
before i started work, i was living in a place with significantly lower rent without a car. now i have higher rent and a car to look after, and i'm really not sure how to manage things.
and because i don't want to discuss anything more in depth (because i'm so sick of thinking about it, awake in bed at night with my stomach in knots), i'm making a list of the ways i used to earn money, before i got a normal job.
maybe it'll serve as a list of possibilities.
-art. this is the most obvious one. art prints on ebay (for a while, several a week), art prints through my website. and other art products.
royalties from companies using my art.
and the commissions - a lot of commissions.
not only private stuff, but i did book covers and an absolute shirtload of CCG illustrations.
and then there was the wholesale stuff - most of my money from art came from here. i was selling to shops all over the place. i could barely keep up.
-cleaning. i cleaned two houses, which bought in an extra $110 a week.
-mystery shopping. i routinely did mystery shopping assignments for two companies. each job usually took only an hour or so, and paid between $20 and $40.
-data entry. i managed to pick up some data entry work, which i actually really enjoyed. only did it sporadically, but i would've done more if it had been available.
-online surveys. this didn't pay much, but every so often i'd be able to withdraw $50 or so that i'd built up.
-web design. this and the wholesale art was where real money came from. i never charged less than $1000, and i sometimes had two going at once. obviously not often enough though...
-random design. business cards. other shit that i forget now. i didn't do it often, but every so often it'd be a bit of income.
-random craft. i sold a few hand knitted beanies and a couple of scarves. but i'm such a slow knitter that the sale price never covered my time. made it not entirely worth it.
-flogging random stuff on ebay. i used to do a lot of ebay selling. when it wasn't my art, it was clothes. when it wasn't clothes i didn't want anymore, it was things i picked up cheaper than they should have been sold for at garage sales. or things i picked up at ridiculously low prices at stocktake sales and so forth. a bit sleazy perhaps, but i figure that i had the eye to see it was worth more, and sometimes i did repairs or cleaned it up before reselling it.
and more than once i bought a designer item by searching for a typo of a popular brand. typos happen on ebay a whole lot. a few times i managed to buy something on ebay for a lot less than it was worth because the seller hadn't marketed the item properly and had had a typo that made it almost impossible for people to find. i'd buy it, relist it properly, and sometimes make more than 100% profit.
i never said i wasn't sneaky.
-horse riding lessons. way way back, i used to give riding lessons. it was a lot of fun and the money was nice, but insurance for that sort of thing is too much of a nightmare. and a kid that i taught was messing around before her lesson (her sister was having a lesson with me, and she was waiting her turn) and had a really nasty fall. the horse actually rolled on her. she was ok, but it scared the bejesus out of me.
anyway, in the end, all of this wound up amounting to a financial disaster.
i should probably have entitled this post "how not to ever go about making a living"
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| Monday, May 18th, 2009
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3:09 pm - productive
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well, i'm having a productive day. and it's only 3 in the afternoon! heryay!
and i slept in until 10.30.
so far i've dug up a tree stump and a few mini-stumps (luckily the soil here is very soft, which was the only reason i was actually able to dig up a stump by myself), planted 6 plants, spread some compost, dusted a shit load of aphids, spread some slow release fertiliser and mixed up and watered my plants with soil wetta.
one problem with the garden here though is the crap quality of the soil in the front yard. along the front of the house is just dust, really. i aim to visit doc (my dad's horse) sometime soon and spend an hour or so collecting poo from his paddock to put all over the garden and into the compost heap.
my neighbours are going to love me.
i've also cleaned up the front step a bit, organised for some regular monthly bills to be paid automatically from my bank account and canceled our health insurance. turns out that paying for the insurance left me no money to pay the gap, so i couldn't use the stupid thing anyway.
had i put that money into a bank account instead, i'd be able to afford a dentist trip or two or a few pairs of new glasses by now anyway. and since medicare covers us for just about everything we need anyway, i figured i may as well ditch it. when we look for insurance again, i think i'll do some hunting around for a better deal.
and now i'm off to do some more tidying up inside. we're still unpacking. egads.
this post bought to you by caffeine.
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