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<strong>Guess what I have been doing a lot of lately?</strong>
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HTML and CSS!

I have a new career. Web designer. Just got hired for reals in my new job where I've been independent contractor Internet Photoshop Queen. I mainly do Photoshop retouching and design work, but I'm learning the coding side of it now. I bought a new HP Pavilion 17" (Which rules!!!, Sorry, Mac!!!) to take with me on my train commute so I can do my tutorials. I don't have much time....the commute is long, so I must get up around 5, fit in a workout if possible, and work a full day. By the time I get home at around 7:30 or 8 I just want to chill with my honey before bed.

I LOVE my job! The faux and mural biz I had is pretty much defunct forever. I need a real career that has some future, and this is it. The shitty economy dictates my method of survival.I'll still make art, though, someday.

Shipping up to Boston on Tuesday to see the fam and friends before I start my official day at work. Gotta love those Rapid Rewards mileage points on Southwest.

So I'm thinking of leaving SG, AGAIN. I just don't have the time for it anymore. Doesn't make any sense to hold onto this account if I only come here once every 3-6 months.

Update:

Things are better as of late, Mr_Matt_ and I are slogging thru the shitty US economy and particularly shittier economy of SoFla. I am an independent contractor doing digital image corrections and web graphics for this company. Money's great and I LOVE my "supervisor"...she's this hot shit artist who has become more of a friend than a coworker. It's a pleasant workday. Get up, take Lynda.com tutorials and work out if I get up early enough (I aim for 4 a.m. if possible), read on the train up, sit in a cube and play with Photoshop all day, learn web stuff I never knew before, read on train home, have dinner with my honey while watching Netflix DVD's, go to bed.

That's been my life basically for about 8 months.

Mr_Matt_ is still looking for work, so that sucks. But he's hanging in there.

Here's our new addition...an 8 lb. dainty little thing by the name of Marble. We found her in the parking lot of my friend's condo. This is her peeking thru couch cushions, one of her favorite games. Matt makes scratchy noises with his hands embedded in couch cushions, and Marble goes nuts.



Went to a Derby Girl thing at Gold Coast Roller Rink a few weeks ago, here's the awesome ladies I've been hanging with as of late:


This Sat. afternoon I'm on Lynda.com again taking introductory vids to Flash. Yep. Flash artists make $63 yr. in these parts, I heard. I figure if I stay working where I am now for at least 4-6 more months I should have enough web skills to land a sweet job when we move outta here...Portland, Oregon, here we come! I hope!

Well, gotta get back to Lynda. Might update more later if I have time.

TaTa for now, ya'll.

"Sometimes it's hard not to believe that I am getting some kind of karmic asskicking for something I've done, or that my name got pulled in some fucked up divine lottery where instead of getting 43 million dollars, you get constant reminders of what an impatient, pimply, profoundly flawed sack of enzymes you really are."

A quote from my friend in glorious Jamaica Plain of Boston, Lisa McC. Her brilliantly funny and insightful blog is here.

And that about sums up my fucked up life. I last posted in April. Now it is October. I don't know how much of this karmic ass-kicking I can take. How can I sum it up? Still looking for full-time work (I am temping). The IRS is after me. Matt's heart is doing fucked up things. We have no health insurance. We have one car. We have one income (mine). My much-loved cat of 14 years is dead. My temp position ends shortly and I have no idea what comes up next. The pressure of uncertainty is on me constantly and I find it very hard to give one fucking shit about anyone else's petty problems. Sound cynical? Try worrying about how the rent will be paid or if you will be confronted with a medical emergency. So this is what it is like to be my Mother....

I don't want to hear how much fucking shit I have to be grateful for. I already know these things. And I know how talented I am or how rich I should be via said fucking talent bleah bleah bleah. None if it will help me if I'm under a fucking bridge. Take all the paintings and shove 'em in the Everfuckinglgades for all I care.

I used to have 100% faith in myself to get through anything. I have gone through some serious shit in my life. I am one tenacious motherfucker. But right now I feel like Job. The thumb of God is upon me and he is wiping me from the face of the earth.

If I get through this, I will be damned fucking proud of it. I'll also remember who my real friends are.

That's it. I have to write this shit somewhere. And this is the only private account I have. I've got to get it out. I can't allow anger to stay inside where it will--and has started to--turned to hopelessness.

If anyone comments on this, please...no cheer ups or you'll get through this'. No pity or pithy. Tell me something that was the hardest thing you ever had to go through and how you got through it.

Next time I write I hope it's with something positive to say!!!!

Life has been SUCKING MAJOR ASS right now! Matt and I are basically laid off from our install jobs because CompUSA decided to close nearly half of their stores and fired tons of their employees, and our company that we work for did their main business with them. We were expecting some projects coming up anyway around this time but we were just notified that there is nothing except for some little shit in May that ain't gonna pay the rent. Apparently our company knew this long ago but they are just telling us last week while we were on our last dime, and now we are SKA-REWED!

I've been doing some side work for a faux finish company to make ends meet. Apparently I can't get any more work with my own business and I might just have to fold it for now. This company is cool but the pay is crap, and the work is not steady. We've also been installing some baby safety fixtures for a start-up company here, but again, nothing steady. We've both been sending out resumes like crazy. So far, no serious responses that have led to anything real. Or if a lead comes up it's quickly shut down. I've had many people tell me that pay is awful here in south eastern FL and that you actually make more further north towards Orlando.

Tonight I'm sending our resumes out to temp agencies. Today we tagged a bunch of nice Hollywood houses with pamphlets advertising garage and entry door wood graining, which I learned with the other company. I know that if I could do just one good house in a decent neighborhood I'd get more leads and perhaps save my business. It's pretty amazing what you can do with paint and stain!

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. I'm kinda sick of south FL on the whole. Not sure if we'll be here in a year. If things blow apart we're selling everything we don't need and going somewhere else.

Alright, enough bitching. I guess I just need to vent. We are really looking forward to having our friends over this Sat. Our buddy Sue is turning 30 and asked if she could have the bash at our place since it's a house and people can crash if needed. I love having folks over so this will be a welcome change of pace.

Here's the latest painting....it's for the Ballyhoo show coming up at Tate's Comics in Lauderhill on 5/5. It's a carnival sideshow themed show. So I did my piece after the TTom Waits song, Eyeball Kid.



Another painting coming up about Snow White for another show, I'll post later.....

I'm on the fence about giving up SG. Have been on it some time now, and it's cool and whatnot, but seriously.......I waste enough time as it is!!! I certainly don't need yet another diversion to serve as an excuse for not getting work done. We have not been social much with exceptions of Jackie's throwdown and ChinaGrill with Julie and Christina, money is tight and well, we just don't feel like being fucking social.

So I'm painting like a mofo....this big ol' 40"x60" thing I initially started in the Design District during Art Miami when I was asked to do public painting. She's a flapper gal with Mercury wings on her ankles flying high in a sky of clouds and circuit boards. I'm sick to death of it and want to stick it in the garage or something, but I'm going to soldier on dammit and get the fucker done. She's too big to hide, really.

Participated in the Munny show over at Tates Comics in Lauderhill. Here's my little Coney Island Baby, inspired by a Tom Waits song....I sawed off the Munny claws and gave her nice new lady hands, gave her a flapper finger wave and bloomers!! I'm not a vinyl toy nut, honestly I just learned about them from doing this show, but it was fun.


Matt and I got to Tates on opening night and the freaking line was forever long, like Landsdown St. at the St. Paddy's Day DKM show, only warmer. It just went on and on. We stood there for a few secs then just left. We got back after the weekend and saw some really great Munny's, pics for you here, Sas & Colin Christian, Scot Olsen did some, our tattoo artist Scott White and Pooch from Altered State as well:

Munny Photos @ Bear & Bird Gallery in Tates Comics, Lauderhill, FL

Other crap: Just got done being sick. Now Matt is, poor man! Parents were down not too long ago, they stayed at a friends place in Delray, they were here to see my sick uncle in Jensen Beach. I drove them everywhere because they were afraid of getting lost, but hell, I didn't mind. I miss my folks. My parents rule!!!!! We just had lunch with Matt's folks during their 4 hr. layover in MIA, they were on their way to Argentina, and then to Antarctica.....they have literally traveled the world for years.

More art work coming up: More shows at Tates this year, more specifically their new gallery Bear and Bird....I'm doing some paintings for the "Sideshow" show, borrowing more inspiration from Tom Waits. Also just more work in general. On that note, better get back to it.....

--Slainte!

!OBAMA 08!!!!!!!

I've decided that I really like having people over our house.

I'm antisocial for the most part. I hate most people, crowds, mindless noise and general bullshit. I don't shop. Don't go to movies. Don't go to dance clubs. If I have to go to an event where I don't know anyone it's like having my teeth pulled. I like it under my rock, dammit. Or in a dark bar drinking dark beer.

But for once in our antisocial lives (MrMatt is the same exact way) we have come to know some very cool people. They were at our house the other night for a lasagna feast. I'm endlessly happy that people can just chill out, be themselves, and talk with other intelligent people at our place. Oh yeah.... and eat, drink and be merry! We will be sure to have more gatherings in the future along with late night palaver (which, really, is one of my great joys in life).

January is coming up and it's nose to the grindstone again. I will be painting my motherfucking head off. I have so many art ideas spouting out I don't think I have the time to pursue all of them. I'm also heading back to the gym in a hardcore way. Gotta get me kayaking arms back!

So with that I leave you with some Tom Waits lyrics. This if for Matt and his Navy days.

We sail tonight for Singapore,
we're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny Moor,
took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
walked the sewers of Paris
I danced along a colored wind,
dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

We sail tonight for Singapore,
don't fall asleep while you're ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
when you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
while making feet for children shoes
Through the alley, back from hell,
when you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me

Wipe him down with gasoline
'til his arms are hard and mean
From now on boys this iron boat's your home
So heave away, boys

We sail tonight for Singapore,
take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door,
the whole town's made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam,
they all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth,
get yourself a dollar's worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away

The captain is a one-armed dwarf,
he's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
the one-eyed man is king, so take this ring

We sail tonight for Singapore,
we're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny Moor,
took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
walked the sewers of Paris
I drank along a colored wind,
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

First off, this guy is one of my heroes. Long live Kinky Friedman.

This is for LilJackKnife:

It is rumored that The Land of Christmas Hell lies in Hollywood, a sprawling, inflatable monstrosity of Disney proportions, filled with many great and terrible beasties. It is there that one can hear the wails of the damned that they dine on and the horrible gnashing of teeth. MrMatt and myself have found this great and terrible land in our wandering exploits. It is located just over the bridge at I95 on Sheridan, in a haunted village called Sheridan Lakes, on a forsaken path littered with the bones of the dead called Byron Circle. It is rumored that the elusive PlanB lives here behind a 10' Winnie the Pooh.

Fuck fuck fuck. I can't post photos. My computer is a pussy!

My new Frank Miller girl! (right calf)





Thank you, Mr. Scott White of
Altered State.

Went to Art Basel at the Convention Center. Holy crap are there loads of rich rude snobs out there. Is it my dirty proletariat roots or are there way too many men wearing pastel pink pants and ascots at these things? Who the FUCK wears an ascot???? So many facelifts too! Hundreds of spangled old matrons in perpetual wind tunnels. They all try too damned hard. (There were, however, many unearthly beautiful women tho...

Lots of shitty conceptual art there and everywhere. Boring boring boring. Although there were a few great new artists we found and we did get to see lots of stuff from the greats like Picasso, Miro, Diego Rivera, Frida and Jim Dine. Many of the smaller shows at hotels and the beach containers were funner to attend.

I'm going to rant about it yet again but the We'll Make a Lover Out of You show at Art Center South Florida on Lincoln Rd. was really rockin' my socks. Fuckinay. Very inspiring. It's still on.

Photo Miami in Wynwood was one of the best shows I've seen. Too bad that's not still up. I'd go again. Mrmatt was in heaven.

There's a horny grey kitty in heat in our yard. She's a stray and very very horny; and very very loud. Poor neutered Howie. I think she smells the last remaining speck of manliness on him. He just sits on the hot tub lid and looks blankly at her imploring little mug. "Sorry dollface," he seems to be saying, "it's just not meant to be."

Cultural appreciation time!

How to Appreciate Death Metal

How To Sing Harsh Death Metal Vocals

Brought to you today by the random contents of my morning's Google homepage.

Honestly, I had no idea there were 7 subgeneres of death metal. I'm so lowbrow.

I wonder if Anal Bleeding will come play our lasagna party?