These are fabulous. Jenn over at Sunburned.org sent me some original postcards that she created using images from National Geographic. I bought eight of them for two bucks. What a deal!
These were so great that it got me thinking... other than the nursery I'm painting for my brother and sister-in-law, I haven't done anything on the creative side for quite a while. No late-night painting sessions or quick sketches in my big black book.
I miss making art, getting dirty, and staying up until the wee hours of the morning working feverishly on a canvas. I think it's time to bust out the paints again, and not even this new job (yuck) that makes me go to bed early (double yuck) will stop me. It's time.
I got my first paycheck today! Raise your hands high!
I have a feeling that in another month or two I'll find myself complaining about some other job and some other boss. I've been working at Pleveland Plinic* for a few weeks now, and already my cheating eyes are scanning the classifieds with intense interest. I'm just not happy here.
I realize now that at my last job I was very, very spoiled. I did something I loved, spent my day with people I could at least tolerate, went to conferences and co-authored scientific articles, learned new things daily, and had a boss that cared more about my mind and my abilities than the clothes I chose to wear.
I also had a nifty title, a small crew of assistants, and a wonderful going-away party. Too bad it was a contract job, and I had to leave. Maybe I should have opted for grad school right off the bat, instead of getting a job I don't like and coming home so irritable.
* Name changed to protect my (grrrrrr) employer.
Take a guess who's got two floor tickets to go see Green Day on May 6th in Cleveland. Go ahead... guess. You know it.
Here are some interesting blogging facts from a Benediction Blogs On.
Interesting facts:
8 million Americans (7%) have blogs of their own
14 million American (12%) have commented on blogs
32 million Americans (27%) read blogs regularly
74 million of Americans (62%) don’t know what a blog is
Some demographics:
57% male
48% under 30
70% use broadband
82% have been online six years or more
42% have household incomes over 50K
39% have university degrees
Eight million Americans have blogs? Can you believe that this medium has become so popular? When I started blogging, it was beginning to take off, but I had no idea it would become like this. Now everyone and their mother has one (except for mine). Some food for thought.
So I've been working on my brother and sister-in-law's nursery (or is my niece's nursery?) sporadically over the past two weeks. Last time I posted a couple of pictures, but they weren't finished, so here are a few new ones. Observe:
Click here for a larger picture
Click here for a larger picture
More on the way, as soon as I get my lazy self a-workin'.
Sarah and I hit Olive Garden after work today, and ordered ourselves half the menu. That black tie mousse cake sure is good... yum. Of course, this means that tomorrow I'll be wearing my fat(ter) pants.
Now that I'm working 50 hours a week, hanging out with my friends is getting harder and harder. We're all on different schedules, and half the time one of us is too tired to even make the effort to drive over. We've all become boring losers. What the heck happened?
All-night movie marathons (with excessive intake of high-calorie food items) used to be the norm, but are now a rarity. Lately there have been no cosmic bowling outings, no random trips downtown. Losers, all of us.
Considering that my friends are basically my family, it really sucks not getting to see them as often as I used to. I can't wait for the day that I win the lottery, so that I can spend all of my time renting movies from Hollywood video with all my friends in tow. We'll sit around and eat cheese puffs just like we did in college. It will be great.
Until then, I'll have to tolerate my new life as a solitary dork that comes home from work and watches Seinfeld reruns. I miss my friends.
Loser.
My job stinks, I have a huge Visa bill, and my pets have cancer. I come home tired, and suffer from constant head aches (plus, there's this weird thing going on with my right eye). My life in general is filled with crap. Somehow, though, I still believe that it's all good. Really good. Too good to even describe coherently (though this begs the question, am I capable of describing anything coherently?).
I love my sucky life.
...Green Day was robbed!!
The undeniable wisdom of Icthus:
America's ethic of violence is something the church must now confront. Simply attempting to withdraw itself from the values of the country is not a feasible option, as our culture is so saturated in this violent ethic that it becomes part of the core psychological makeup of our congregants. For its own sake, the church must actively work to stem this cultural destruction. Furthermore, even if withdrawal were possible, to abandon America to its own violent ethic would be cruel and heartless, as the church holds the key to the alternative, that is the way of Jesus Christ, the way of love, humility, forgiveness and reconciliation. It is essential that the church led the way to building a culture of peace in our society that counteracts the current culture of violence.
Right on, bro. Right on.
February 13th, people. Mark your calendars. The bands and musicians I'm cheering for (not necessarily who I predict will win) are in bold. Strong second picks are marked with an asterisk.
Best New Artist
Los Lonely Boys
Maroon5
*Joss Stone
Kanye West
Gretchen Wilson
Best Pop Vocal Album
*Genius Loves Company/ Ray Charles & Various Artists
Feels Like Home/ Norah Jones
Afterglow/ Sarah McLachlan
Mind, Body & Soul/ Joss Stone
Brian Wilson Presents Smile/ Brian Wilson
Best Rock Album
*The Delivery Man/ Elvis Costello & The Imposters
American Idiot/ Green Day
The Reason/ Hoobastank
*Hot Fuss/ The Killers
Contraband/ Velvet Revolver
Best Alternative Music Album
Medulla/ Björk
Franz Ferdinand/ Franz Ferdinand
Uh Huh Her/ PJ Harvey
*Good News For People Who Love Bad News/ Modest Mouse
A Ghost Is Born/ Wilco
Best Rock Gospel Album
Take Me Away/ Sarah Kelly
Collide/ Skillet
Lose This Life/ Tait
Wire/ Third Day
Welcome To Diverse City/ TobyMac
Holy Hip Hop/ Various Artists
Best Comedy Album
Come Poop With Me/ Triumph The Insult Comic Dog
America: A Citizen's Guide To Democracy Inaction/ Jon Stewart And The Cast Of The Daily Show
The Funny Thing Is.../ Ellen DeGeneres
Live At Carnegie Hall/ David Sedaris
*The Very Best Of The O'Franken Factor/ Al Franken
Best Soundtrack Album
Cold Mountain/ Various Artists - T Bone Burnett
*De-Lovely/ Various Artists - Peter Asher & Stephen Endelman
Garden State/ Various Artists - Zach Braff
Kill Bill Vol. 2/ Various Artists - Quentin Tarantino
Shrek 2/ Various Artists - Andrew Adamson & Michael Ostin
Album Of The Year
*Genius Loves Company/ Ray Charles & Various Artists
American Idiot/ Green Day
The Diary Of Alicia Keys/ Alicia Keys
Confessions/ Usher
College Dropout/ Kanye West
How great is it that Come Poop With Me is nominated this year?
...and the only thing worse than the last official orientation day was the first official work day. Working (unless you're a Green Day roadie) just isn't fun. But tomorrow, I'm still going back for more. After the feel-better shopping spree I just had two hours ago, I'm going to need the paycheck now more than ever.
Someone, wake me up at my retirement party.
Complaint over.
I arrived at my destination.
With many an aspiration.
But I just sat around,
And frequently frowned,
While enduring the orientation.
...which really sucked, by the way. And it was the third.
Here are the promised photos of my work thus far in my brother & sister-in-law's nursery. I'll add more photos whenever I finish painting. Speedy Gonzales, Porky, Sylvester, and Marvin still to come!
Baby Tweety, Taz, Bugs, and Daffy (getting there, slowly but surely)
And me!
Baby Road Runner and Wile E. playing with paint
In the last week, I've not only spent my time getting a multitude of injections, but also have been painting my brother and sister-in-law's nursery. My niece is due in a few weeks, and I've kept myself busy painting characters from the Baby Looney Tunes series on the walls (you know them... baby Taz, baby Bugs, the Chickenhawk). I'll post pictures here today or tomorrow.
27 freedoms
18 liberties
14 democracies
9 values
3 justices
0 tortures
Update: actual
26 freedom/freedom's/freedoms/free
7 liberty
15 democracy/democracies/democratic
5 values
4 justice
0 turture
Not bad, eh?
To start my new job, I spend two hours waiting to be fingerprinted, two hours waiting for photo identification, and two hours waiting to be pricked with needles and injected with God knows what. I've had hearing tests, vision tests, blood tests, pee tests, and probably have a few more tests coming. I've never taken so many tests in such a short time.
But when I get my paycheck, I'm sure it will be worth the hassle.
What I love:
