This isn't Shakespeare, this isn't news/ It's just my thoughts on music and booze/ Read if you dare, leave if you must/ Though you'll miss out on my musical lust/ Depart and go on your own merry way/ But much is offered, should you choose to stay.
Greetings. Since I've last posted, SO MUCH has happened!.... No, not really.
Summer continues. The kid went to camp, spent all week there this time. Ruled the roost, apparently.
Family vacation took place. Three days, two nights. It was nice. The zoo we went to was friggen hot. Humid, with no breeze whatsoever. The animals we never saw were obviously seeking shelter. But I really enjoyed later camping along a small river, with a spring feeding it from a hundred yards or so upstream.
Then, once home from vacation, I took another 2-day road trip to assist someone in the acquiring of vinyl records - and stands - for his up-and-coming record store. The first half of the trip was fun, the next day's acquiring of the records was fulfilling, and then... I guess we just wanted to get back home. A rather long and quiet trip back.
I remain unemployed. My last attempt resulted in "we only have part-time, at minimum wage"... Doesn't work with our budget. So I'll start actively looking again next month, and hopefully find something the pays decent and starts about the same time the kid starts school, and is something similar to school hours. Wish me luck, I'll need it...
My summer continues. It got hot quickly this year, up in the 90s by the 2nd week of June. We were hoping to hold off as long as possible on putting the air conditioning window units in, but that just didn't happen.
Unfortunate news... Our beloved cat, Vigo, will be leaving us. No matter our efforts, he is set on getting outside as often as possible. There are fleas outside. Well, mostly outside... Anyway, hopefully he goes to another loving home and we get ours cleared of pests.
I just wish I could turn all our little "guests" into one large Flea...
...And the rest of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are welcome to set up shop here as well, of course...
A few weeks ago, I looked into more Stoner Rock bands. Basically anything Joshua Homme has done has been, or at least included, Stoner Rock. Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age... So I wanted to find more. And I found Atomic Bitchwax. Well right away, the name had me. Loved it. I'm listening to it now, their Gravitron album, which is their most recent, released last year. I'm enjoying it. Though, they seem to have a bit of a faster tempo than the usual Stoner Rock. No matter, still good.
I may be switching back to my rum & colas. I'm not sure if the Stonewalls I've been drinking for some time now are actually better for me or not, so I'm opting for the cheaper route.
Ah now on to Arctic Monkeys. They're a good go-to when you're not sure what to listen to.
There's a bit of a chance we'll be relocating... majorly. Over 22 hours' drive worth of relocating. To a place that's half our town's population, and... in the desert. I don't handle heat well. People say that a "dry heat" is better than humidity. I'm not arguing, I'm just saying heat is heat. It's more difficult to escape heat than it is cold.
But then I thought... I'm always looking for something new. While it's not necessarily my first choice, it's still something new! I have a select few people I interact with regularly that I'll be heartbroken to leave behind, but I'm not exactly drowning in friends.
There IS a brewery there whose best seller is a red ale, so I know where I'll be spending a lot of my free time. AND another one about an hour away, bordering a lake.
Now for some throwback. Eve 6. Their self-titled.
I started another art project the other night. Rather than continuing with the Gotham Gals oil paint, I started a chalk portrait of Illyria from the tv show Angel. She makes her appearance in the final season. I've always been drawn to her blue hue... Her hair, her eyes, her lips... and the character that accompanies these attributes. And I feel like the desire to capture it in a portrait has recently reached a peak, so I obeyed my desire.
Also, I think I figured out why I prefer using oil paint on canvas over using pastels. It's more precise. If I need a sharper line, I can get a smaller, finer brush. You can't really do that with chalk. Sure, pastel is easier to fix, but I found oil paint to have a better finished product.
Oh! Right! MUST mention this! We watch America's Got Talent, and I think my favorite act of the year showed himself in the first one or two episodes. Tape Face! I always go for the "odd" acts. There are plenty of competitive shows for singers and dancers. Even magicians and stand-up comedians have a type-specific show they can try for (though I have a soft spot for comedians). But the odd acts! Like Uzeyer last year! And this year, Tape Face! Here...
If you don't like the first part, just hang in there for the second. It's great. I can't wait to see more of him. Very creative, imaginative.
Apparently I have quite a bit to say tonight.
Now listening to Fun. Another good go-to. Their style is different. But excellent.
Alright, I'm gonna call it a night. Gotta get up somewhat early for the kid's dentist appointment.
May your summer be a "dry heat" and your air conditioned.
Finished my Harley Quinn oil painting about a week and a half ago. Here's the finished piece:
I'm pleased with how it turned out. I know I said I'd do Catwoman next, but it's been difficult figuring out how to portray her. So I may have found a way to do Poison Ivy instead, and I hope to get started soon.
Less than 3 weeks of school/work left. I'm rather glad.
Not sure what the summer's going to bring. The kid will have summer school and perhaps a week away at a camp (last year he only lasted one night) and maybe some other stuff. I'll be job hunting, of course, and cleaning around the house. Tending to our garden! I check on it and my potted stuff every morning before I leave and again when I get home. Hopefully we got rid of the rabbit problem by putting a fence up around the veggies.
My birthday weekend started this evening, even with having work tomorrow. It was kinda spur-of-the-moment, but those are worth the groggy mornings... ;)
Glad tomorrow's Friday. Thirty-nine days left of school I think? They've started a tear-off calendar where I work. Today we took a field trip to a local art center. The kids worked with clay, which I never really excelled at.
Speaking of art, I've decided to keep the canvas I'm working on, and hopefully make 2 more - Poison Ivy and Catwoman. All from The Animated Series. Ivy might be a challenge, but I'll sure try. Hopefully the end result will be our living room wall livened up by the ladies of Gotham...
Finished my pirate novel, now I'm reading K-PAX! Loving it. I love the movie and am pleased to be enjoying the novel just as much. It's first-person narration, from the doc's point of view. So naturally, I'm reading it with Jeff Bridges' voice in my head. And I'm desperately wanting to watch the movie the whole time I'm reading. But I'll wait.
I'm ready for my summer roadtrip, assuming it happens. My mom and I have been talking about it. We both have that desire to just pick a direction and drive. No plans, just seeing what we see. The less freeway, the better.
Nothing like summer unemployment to bring on the needed diet. Confession: I walk out my back door every day - sometimes more than once - to see my growing mini-garden. Apparently the cat I've been shooing away... sometimes by throwing things like an empty 2-liter at it... belongs to the people living in the other half of this duplex. Oops. Thunder! Guess I'm not going to bed anytime soon.
