Rough Waters

Rough time lately. Problems with the kid in school. Problems with myself apparently. (I believe I'll return to seclusion and retreat from attempting a social life.)

I found a new-to-me band this evening. Eluveitie. Celtic Death Metal.

Remember that art project I mentioned before? My first time painting on canvas? It's going alright, I guess...

I'm both enjoying and loathing working with oil paint. Definitely taking my time with it. But I'm learning. I'd probably do another, if it's as basic as this one. (Red, black, and white. Mixed black and white for the gun. The blue was borrowed and done in a matter of minutes.) All I have left now is to get a light brown for the gun's cork and to finish the background. The smudges will disappear as I put in those finishing touches.

Been reading a historical fiction pirate novel. The author is quite good. Definitely done his homework on New Providence Island, Charles Vane, Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Woodes Rogers... and much else. I commend him. The novel is call Hunt For White Gold. It's the second book in the Pirate Devlin series. I've also been watching Black Sails. Transitioning between the two has been... interesting.

Adieu.

The Desired Callback Didn't Call Back

Today was Callback day for a play I tried out for earlier this week. I received no call. So I'm attempting to drown my disappointment in rum and waiting for the thunderstorm that's been threatening us all day to finally arrive.

Feels like two fails back to back. Lousy (better, but still lousy) evaluation from douchebag at work and now this.

Now for appropriate music... Do I want to do heavy/angry rock or the soothing sounds of Elbow?.... Yeah I'll start with the former and go from there. Rise Against followed by Framing Hanley. Their "You Stupid Girl" and "Weight of the World" are good tunes.

More rum? Yes please. Thank you.

I finally got ahold of a song I've heard on the radio a few times and took a liking to. "Blue on Black" by Kenny Wayne Shepherd. From his 1997 Trouble Is... album.

Currently attempting my first canvas craft. Oil paint on a 14x11 canvas. If it turns out, it'll be a birthday gift for a friend. It's similar to yet different from using pastels on paper. Oil paint gets on your skin without you knowing... and spreads... everywhere. On you and your craft. Pastels do as well, to an extent, but they're much easier to handle, fix, and clean up. Also, the paint takes days to dry, while the pastels are done as soon as you are. But, I have to laminate the pastels, so that they don't smear. No need with the paint. Once it's dry, you're good.

I have a sudden crush on Iggy Pop. His personality, his voice, his everything. He was mesmerizing when he and Josh Homme debuted "Gardenia" on Stephen Colbert. Excellent frontman.

(Rubik's Cubes Iggy Pop art.)

Midnight-thirty. Still no storm.

Currently listening to Florence + the Machine. 

2pm. Rather still outside, other than a slight breeze.

Obviously I've not had anything to add, so I'll end it here. 

Quadfecta

Today has been kinda gently hectic. A lot to deal with, but not overwhelmingly so. The third grade class is preparing for their PARCC tests. During today's prep lesson, one of the students began to get upset about something... which is always quick to be pointed out by another student. I pulled her aside, and she emotionally told me that her dog had died unexpectedly the past weekend. I held her in an embrace for a bit, letting her quietly cry into my shoulder, then gently said that I would take time and help to create either a written or drawn memorial to her pet, as soon as we had time later in the day. It successfully got her back into the PARCC prep lesson, and gave her a better outlook on the rest of the day. Here's what I ended up drawing for her:

...And she was pretty pleased.

End result: Today was something for the memory bank. I helped turn someone's sorrow into awed excitement. It wasn't much, just a sketch I drew from a clipart image, but it's one she chose, and I drew it, and she went from sad to grinning in a flash. I hope it's something she remembers. That there are ways to make an unfortunate situation a little easier to handle.

And then when I got home, I discovered that my kid got written up for the first time. Yeah that sucked.

So I decided to break my 3-day booze cleanse a day early. Hello, rum. Welcome back.

Rum, music, cleaning and blogging. My quadfecta.

Good day, I say.

Musical Recovery and Subtle Glimpses

Happy Friday! I've been in quite a good mood today. Mostly due to the 60°F temperature all day. While I kinda prefer winter over summer, the changing of seasons is the best. Winter to spring, and summer to fall. The warm-up and cool-down seasons. And this is just the middle of February! Plenty more of my favorite time of year to come.

I'm almost done reassembling my music library. Just have T-Z left now.

Now on W...

Done! With my head clenched in both hands, I finally synced (sunk? sank?) my iPod. And... Success! I'm 161 songs short, but that can be attributed to doubles, or stuff I just decided not to keep. At any rate, my personal media player is now caught up on my collected music. I can now clean house, mow the yard, and drive with my own personal playlist again! And now for the very very vital backup process. Which will take a while...

Currently listening to MergingMoon. Japanese band fronted by a chick. Their genre? "Melodic Death Metal/Metalcore with Electronic Influences." Now, a death metal band is hard to find in Japan. And this is a death metal band with a lady as their lead singer/screamer.

This is for all the steadfast followers out there...

Yeah that's me. Or at least as much as me as I'm willing to share. :)

Have a lovely weekend, readers.

Don't Be Mine... Unless You Bring Rum

Valentine's Day today. Spent it dozing, watching Ant-Man, reading... And now working on my iTunes library. Reassembling my music. Yaaay.

Taking the kid to see Kung Fu Panda 3 tomorrow. I think he'll enjoy it. He loves the first two.

I know that sequels are almost always bad, or at least nowhere near as good as their predecessors... But I must say that Tron: Legacy is probably the best sequel I've ever seen. I love it. While I definitely appreciate the first Tron, the second installment is truly amazing. True, the plot is rather similar to the first, but it's still different enough. The cast is great, the music is phenomenal... Again, I love it.

Ramen

Just wanted to let you all know, I just had some pretty great chicken ramen noodles. Doctored up by yours truly.

Small pot of water, put on lit burner, add some red wine of your choice. Once boiling, add noodles. Once boiled to your choice of texture (I prefer them to be somewhat firm, rather than squishy/soupy), drain 3/4 of liquid. Return pot of mostly drained noodles to stove, to unlit burner. Season noodles with chicken flavoring, bit of garlic powder, bit of oregano, bit of cumin, bit of nutmeg. Stir. Serve. I quite enjoyed.

I have yet to add egg to my ramen, but I will, soon.

Politics & Ire

It's frustrating to have the job you know you can do, the job you can excel at. The job that's perfect for you, in many aspects. Yet, circumstances aren't allowing you to excel, aren't allowing you to shine. The circumstances make you look like you were a poor choice of a hire. And even though you did shine, you did show what you're capable of, for less than a month, due to being in a different setting, things go back to the way they were when you're suddenly moved back to where you're overshadowed and unappreciated. And therefore won't remain employed.

I want to scream.

I'll drink instead.

Here's to me.

Oh hey, here's something pretty accurate to how things currently are..

I have previously disclosed how I despise politics. This still stands. And call me an imbecile, but I'm 28 years old and I have never voted due to my contempt of today's politics. My view: Give me someone to vote for. Not someone who opposes and ridicules the opposite party just out of spite. However, this upcoming election will likely see my first ever vote. Not necessarily for who I want, but more for who I don't want. Which is extremely unfortunate.