God, Life is irritating sometimes.

  Yeah, so thanks to the wonderful economy, my household has been living on half the income we need to pay our bills for the last several months.  Thanks to putting off too many things for years and then finally going all out to do them all in a very short time when the money was finally there, no savings are in sight.  My car is about to get repossessed, they’re refusing to offer any help unless we pay the balance we owe (um- hello stupid car people, if we could pay it, we wouldn’t need the help), and to top it all off, the collagraphs I’ve just done for my printmaking class were total shit.  I’m sure someone will like them, but I really, really hate the way they’ve come out.

  Damn.  Would someone just get me a drink?

The longing I have, it can’t be contained

  Okay, so, for anyone that may read this that cares, and doesn’t know already, a couple of changes have happened in my life.  In January, I returned to school to finish my BFA degree, and hopefully will go on to get my MFA and teach college level art classes.  It’s something that I’m really excited about, because it will mean I’ll have a chance to, first of all, really get into doing art again- something I’d dabbled in but not taken seriously for a long time- and secondly, put me in a position to guide and help future artists find their vision.  When I was younger, I could really have used a teacher that would encourage and guide me, without smothering me or defining assignments so strictly or loosely that I had no idea what to do.

  I also took out my dreadlocks.

And then I put a new set in.  Which I don’t have a picture of, though it’s safe to state that they look just about as “bride of frankenstein” as the post-brush out photo above.  Except they’re black, thanks to a dye job I gave myself just before I put them in.  I only went without dreadlocks for about five months before I couldn’t stand it anymore.  Which is funny, since the whole brush out took about a month and two bottles of conditioner, but I’m happy I did it.  I loved my previous set a lot, but there were some that were to thick for my preference, and I was itching to try some really skinny ones. 

  In addition to wanting so badlyfor this set of dreadlocks to mature and be recognizable for what they are, I’m also itching for a new tattoo.  I got one on my shoulder for my birthday last year (seen below), and I really wanted another one right after.  Tattoos are addicting, especially for a former cutter.

  I don’t think I’m going to go into the tattoo I want to get this time, I’d rather wait until it’s done.  Maybe it’s a little weird that I’ll probably get a tattoo for my birthday two years in a row- I don’t want everyone to thing I’m going to be covered twice over by the time I die- but I’m going to be thirty, and thirty seems like a great time for the idea I’ve got in mind.

Things I’ve learned while doing lots of sewing

• A rolling chair makes everything easier.
• Good music means you work a lot faster.
• Following the directions given with a sewing pattern is a lot like following a mass-produced diagram of erogenous zones:  while they’re bound to get lucky in a few areas, you’re almost guaranteed to find something that just doesn’t work for you, or, even worse, just irritates the crap out of you and makes you want to scream.