July 7 - 11

July 11

Argh... No more fucking around. Studio setup, paint setup, material setup, mental setup. All need to be done ASAP.

Photograph fresh varnished paintings and get them up on the websites.

Went to the the art opening for Pangloss Gravatron. I actually kinda feel inspired to create and make stuff. Also, check the weather if you’re gonna be out late. I didn't. I took my motorcycle into town and locked my helmet to my motorcycle. I decided to take the visor off because there were some shady kids across the street. Well, a few hours later, it rained... hard. And I took off the visor of my helmet. So wet helmet, downpour, and thunder and lightning. Yeah, I faced off mother nature. I don’t care who you are, but when you ride into a storm on 324lbs of metal at 80mph, and telling yourself “we’re fucking doin’ this!” Yeah, who wants a desk job...

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July 10

Varnished two paintings before heading off to work this morning. Nothing glamorous about that. Cleaning varnish brushes suck. Talk about several days of just cleaning and cleaning. I don’t know what’s better. Putting my hand down a drain to clean shit with my fingernails or restoring a brush for the next varnishing. I did get a tattoo confirmation time for this weekend. So I’ll shave up in the meantime I guess (not my junk). Just as good I’m getting some black surgical gloves for tattooing. Fuck yeah. Shit is happening.

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July 9

I began the day with a rude awakening. Bunch of assholes were outside my window at 6-6:30am this morning. Assholes. Talking all loud and shit. I went to bed at 12am mother fuckers.

Dreaded coming into work. And of course, there were emails... Yesterday was a shit typhoon and my shit work space was knocked over and I was covered in not only my shit, but other peoples shit as well AND the only thing that could get me clean was a bar of the shittyest shit scented soap and shit covered rags. I’m just gonna rock the shit stains at the moment. What else can I do? A perfect shit storm in the middle of summer. I’m not very happy at work lately. Time to consider the future. I also haven’t brought or eaten much of a lunch at work in quite a while. I’m down to nothing in my fridge. That means I’ll have to make some food... don’t want to but I gotta. Feed the beast within, not the shell.

I don’t care what you say, but having the right bowls for food really does the trick.

Why the hell am I even doing this project? To prove that I can or to make me do it? I’ll figure that out later. Why did I do this again? And I gotta varnish two paintings. Shit.

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July 8

Sometimes work is a shit sandwich. You are forced to take a big bite and smile and sell that sandwich to anyone that looks your way. Thanks Metalocalypse for that reference. So that was my day. I was just looking at it, looking at it, and finally I had to bite into the day. I've dedicated all my thought and action into the day, all 11 hours. I got things I should be doing. I’m feeling very worn out, I can’t say I've had this experience with other jobs in my life.

On the other hand, I let T and E borrow my prosthetic legs that I picked up the other day and gave them some desserts. I’d rather be doing that with my afternoons.

I have no new input into this portrait. I didn't think for a second about it all day. Kinda lame and not how I wanted it to be.

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July 7

Spent the first few hours removing rust from the pans in the morning. The chemical removal was a bit slow so I busted out the 220 wet sandpaper. I was doing this in the shower and now I think I could have fucked up my shower. But... that really did the trick. I then primed the pans w/ olive oil and cooked them then went to use butter and that was working pretty well. After the application of olive oil, my place was VERY smokey. So smokey in fact I don’t know why my fire alarm didn't go off. I don’t even feel like checking it. Fuck it. I’ll just be super safe with electronics.

Went back to the outlet thrift store and looked around again. Found more cast iron pans and managed to get three air cushioned lighting tripods. I think they extend to 8-9 feet. All I have to do is replace the locking screws with some longer ones because the jamming shims are gone. It was a pretty good deal if I says so myself. Now this means I have to stop going. I've gathered enough over these last two days. Went to my store of choice, H-Mart. I bought, you know, just some food stuff. Got a few of the basics and will experiment w/ the cast iron in the next day or so. Should be kinda fun? Also, I looked at the paintings that need some varnish and they are both dry. So I’ll varnish in the next day or so after I make doubly sure that there is nothing that will come off w/ the application of the varnish. I can finally call the two bastard paintings done! Fuck, it will be about time.

Been thinking more about the Philly trip. I gotta do a more thorough cost analysis and factor some of the daily drive times, hotels/motels, days off, etc., etc. Blah, blah, blah... Maybe I’ll cap the days at 10-12 hours max on the road. Not counting rest periods or sight seeing. All I know is that it will have to be before Halloween. I don’t want to travel out that way with the possibly of snow. I really want to see the ocean again. Might not be my ocean but I don’t care. I can even do a captains log, but I’ll call it “drivers log”, and begin “Earth date: the day and time”, and make voice notes then transcribe them. Just a stupid thought but it did cross my mind.  That is, IF, I'm still doing this stupid blog thing.