Don't follow the shadows

Three weeks until I get my life back and start making art again. I’m never going to complain about projects I have to do for my studio classes, since all these non-art ones have been wasting all my free time with having to read and write papers.


In the meantime, Peaches will still be taking over LiveJournal, accidentally clicking on links, and starting up songs in iTunes when she rolls over. She also enjoys watching the nom nom nom video while plotting how to kill each of those little critters.

( Much complaining and making things into a bigger deal than need be under the cut because I simply needed to vent. Move along, nothing to see here. )

Next week should be better, since I’ll be seeing Franz Ferdinand and Flight of the Conchords and getting more tattoo work done with the $225 I got back from my taxes (there was a second check my dad didn't tell me about, so I got more than the expected $168). :D I also applied at the T.J. Maxx in Germantown, which is only ten minutes away from where I live as opposed to the 40 minutes I drove to the one in Brookfield last summer, so I’m crossing my fingers they’ll call me for an interview. If not, there are other retailers that are hiring and I could see if anyone needs a babysitter. I will do anything besides work in the food industry and am determined to find a job this summer.

I. Something fishy is going on with LiveJournal. Ever since the Russians got a hold of it, strange things have been happening. (It’s not that I don’t like Russians, I just don’t trust their government.) A few days ago, my default icon was mysteriously replaced with an image of a Rubik’s cube. This is the second time it’s happened in less than six months. Now there’s talk about the site going under, which would be such a shame. I don’t know of any other blogging site out there that has a real sense of community. Most of why I use this site is for the communities, friends page, and all of the customization options. All I know is that LJ laid off a bunch of their employees and there have been several glitches reported recently. I’m backing everything up just to be safe.

II. I’m getting more tattoo work done on Friday, and for the first time, I’m not looking forward to it all that much. Part of it is because most of the next session will be on the back of my ribs and kidneys, but there are things about the shop that have changed a lot in the past two years.

( Cut for tangent on shop drama and the sexism and sexuality of tattoos )

I’m not so sure I even want to try to get an apprenticeship there after I graduate. Hell, if the economy doesn’t come out of the recession, I probably won’t be apprenticing anywhere because the body modification industry is suffering. If I can’t get a job because my concentration was in painting and drawing, I’ll get an associate’s degree in graphic design because that is something that comes naturally and I enjoy doing. I was going to major in it in the first place, but UWM’s program is ridiculous and has ten more credits of required useless classes than the rest of the visual art concentration areas. As I’ve mentioned before, their printing lab is a living hell every time I’m there (mainly because it’s run by hipsters), so I need to avoid it as often as I can. I just want it to be known that I’m not giving up or lowering my expectations of myself like so many of my peers have been doing. I definitely have a bit of a change of heart about the body modification industry after delving further into it and would be just as happy doing other art-related things. I would also probably be better off getting into tattooing after I’m financially independent, if I even decide to. Just look at Guy Aitchison – he’s one of the best of the best in the industry, and he started out as an illustrator, which helped set his designs apart from other tattooists.

III. On Sunday, my mom and I went to the Starving Artists show they always have advertised on TV, looking for a new picture to hang in our living room. There wasn’t a lot to pick from. The whole show seemed like there were five or six different artists that painted the same scenes from around here, France, and Tuscany. There were also some Harlem Renaissance-influenced and abstract postmodern pieces, but they wouldn’t have matched the style of the room. When my dad was living here, he insisted on spending well over $200 on this ugly piece of scheisse print, and my mom ended up spending just a little over $100 for this framed, hand-painted canvas: 01 | 02 | 03

Although it’s not completely my taste, I deemed it the best at the show, and I’d definitely say it’s an improvement.

I. Today is the first day of winter, which means Yule has officially begun! It sure feels like it here with the subzero temperatures and -30˚F wind chill. Whatever you are celebrating this season, I hope you have a good one. As far as my family goes, I’m having lunch with my mother’s side on Wednesday, which should be fairly predictable, yet entertaining. Things could be interesting on Thursday, since it’s with my father’s side of the family. It will also be the first time we’ve all been together in a year, and my father hasn’t even seen his own mother since then.

II. I’m finally done with finals! I was fortunate enough to have a snow day Friday when we got 13 inches because I had just started my final painting the night before the critique. Unfortunately, I worked my ass off in a panic and missed two episodes of The Office, but at least I didn’t have to get up early and rush to finish the piece. Even though the exam was to be rescheduled for Saturday, my professor was nice enough to put it off until as late as tomorrow and let us submit pictures, so I still got to go home on time.

III. The very thing I’ve been dreading for the past two years finally happened: my dad discovered my tattoo work. I was home earlier in the week, since I didn’t have exams on Wednesday or Thursday, and he saw it when I was putting on my boots before I left for a dental appointment. That morning, I purposely decided to wear high-waisted jeans and a long shirt to avoid this, but when I bent over, a tiny sliver of my back showed. I basically told him “no comment” and left, but my poor sister was grilled with questions for fifteen minutes. When I came back, he was smiling about it, but was mad that he’s “scraping the bottom of the barrel and I’m going out and wasting money on this”. Maybe he wouldn’t be in that situation if he didn’t decide to randomly up and leave a year ago. He also has like 130 acres of land and two farming tractors he doesn’t need, and works two well-paying jobs, so I don’t know what he’s talking about. After I explained that my appointments have been few and far between, he seemed okay with it, but still felt the need to remind me that it’s permanent. He also said he doesn’t know what Nana is going to say when she finds out. He’s such a blabbermouth, so I’m sure he’ll tell her, even though she really doesn’t need to know. Most of the comments he made were totally out of line and irrelevant, since he doesn’t even know me or what I’m interested in anymore. I just hope he doesn’t make a scene on Christmas. He thinks it’s smaller than it really is and doesn’t even know how far it goes down. That will not go over well with his side of the family, as they are all Catholic. However, it’s good to know that they aren’t entirely opposed to tattoos. My dad has been talking about getting a shamrock on his bicep since I can remember, and my aunt has Celtic knotwork on her back. Hopefully he will have enough tact not to say anything and the issue can be avoided entirely.

IV.

July 22, 2009
Reverend Horton Heat
Nekromantix
Miramar Theatre
Milwaukee, WI

Keep 'em coming! 2009 isn’t even here yet, and it already looks like it’s going to be a great year for live music in Milwaukee. Reverend Horton Heat always puts on an impressive show, and I really want to see Nekromantix live, since they’re my favorite psychobilly band. This is convincing me to study abroad in Ireland next summer instead of this one because it’ll mean missing this show. I’m also crossing my fingers that a Milwaukee date for Paganfest II will be announced, after the success of last year’s North American tour. That and Korpiklaani, Eluveitie, and Moonsorrow are in the line-up, among plenty of other folk metal goodness. If not, I’m sure Robbie will still want to go to Wacken and/or Tuska, or any of the other European festivals one of these summers.

Good news first: today I went to Village Hall and voted absentee for Barack Obama! (I’m not registered to vote in Milwaukee County, and since I only live in the dorms on campus, I’m technically a resident of Waukesha County.) This is the first presidential election I've been able to vote in, and I'm glad there is a candidate this time that I can fully support.

This is kind of random, but I just noticed that one of my icons has disappeared and been replaced by an image of a woman I’ve never seen before. I made the original icon myself, so the image was uploaded directly from my computer.

( WTF? )

I’m obviously changing it immediately because it’s not 100 x 100 pixels, which drives me insane, and I want my old icon back. I guess I’m also going to need to change my password, even though I thought it was already nearly impossible to figure out to begin with.

Now for the not-so-great news…

Two days ago, my mom moved my college money over into a money market. Unfortunately, this happened too late. She found out through a mailed statement that with the recent stock market drops, I’d lost about $15,000 from my college funds. It’s a good thing she didn’t wait any longer. I wish she would’ve done it sooner, but my dad is the only one who has access to these accounts. With his self-imposed exile and depression, I doubt he was/is concerned with my college funds. At least my grandpa has been giving away money like crazy, so there’ll be enough to pay for my education. Still, I knew this was going to happen way before it did, and it sucks that I had no control over it. I’m going to need all the money I can get when I graduate, and this is just making things worse. Apparently, my dad only put $5,000 into it when I was born, so it’s not like he’s completely paying for my education. However, he promised he would explain to my mom what he had invested the money in, and he never did. When he moved out 10 months ago, he also moved all his money over into more secure accounts and ignored my mom’s, my sister’s, and mine. I normally wouldn’t be concerned, but not only did I lose $15,000, my sister who will be graduating from high school and starting a two-year college this year lost about $6,000. Luckily, my grandpa was a stockbroker and an accountant; so he’s been giving advice and helping to somewhat fix this. I know this all may sound greedy and materialistic of me, but I’m in college right now, so I need the money. I understand a lot of people have to take out student loans, but most of them will be looking for standard, stable careers once they graduate that will help pay them off, whereas I won’t be. As I’ve mentioned before, the body modification industry in this country is currently extremely competitive, so if it’s impossible for me to get an apprenticeship here, I’m going to need to go and get an associate’s degree in graphic design so I can start out somewhere while still looking for an apprenticeship. Ideally, I’d like to get an apprenticeship here and relocate to Europe where things aren’t so competitive (according to my tattoo artist, anyway).

This story of how a couple murdered a UWM student over his car has been in the news lately, and it’s made me do a lot of thinking. I didn’t know him personally, but he was in my astronomy class. He was essentially kidnapped near where I go to school and live during the week. My farm is also located near where the murder happened, which I also find surprising for such a small, rural community.

In lighter, gory news, I had my bottom teeth crudely stripped some more with sandpaper this afternoon courtesy of my orthodontist. All I have to say is my teeth better look perfect after all of this is done because it was quite painful and I spit blood for quite some time afterward. My ortho looked like an axe-murderer after it was over with all the blood on his gloves. I may have to have this done yet again in six weeks depending on how well my teeth are aligning. But at least I’m, you know, still alive and fairly well.

I know this makes two bitchy posts in a row, but I’ll probably be more misanthropic than usual this semester due to my insufferable suitemates, classmates, and old acquaintances I can’t seem to get rid of. Just warning everyone now. My spirituality and yoga practice help, but it's hard to deal with when these people create constant drama and negativity around me. I'm sure I'll be able to ignore all of these people as time goes on, but right now I am seeking catharsis via complaining on LiveJournal.

( Long post is long )