I love the lighting and the color tone of it. I would love to say that I did that on purpose, but that would be a big lie. I'm not sure how exactly I managed to capture that, but I'm glad I did. I really like the look of that photo and kind of want to do more with that type of look to it. It's just a matter of figuring out how exactly I did that and being able to do it again with a different image. We'll see. This is definitely something I want to work on further, though.
This morning was also my first workout in an entire week. To say it was intense would be a bit of an understatement. It's funny how difficult it can be to do after missing such a small amount of time. Of course, I knew it would be rough. It's rough enough doing it Monday morning after taking the weekend off, let alone going an entire week without doing it. Still, it felt good to get back to it this morning. The soundtrack to this morning's workout was a playlist I threw together of Jennifer Lopez songs. It was good workout music, but kind of annoying because the songs were in varying qualities so I kept having to adjust the volume. Still, Jennifer Lopez is an excellent motivator for me. I love her music and her persona is definitely something that motivates me as a person. Her image is all about fashion, glamor and diversity - all three of which are things that I have a deep appreciation and love for in life. Plus, "Louboutins" definitely gave me an added bounce in my step! After working out, I had some fruit for breakfast from one of those bowls you can find in a grocery store with different types of fruit mixed together. This one is mainly different types of melon with strawberries, grapes and pineapple. It was delicious. After that, I got dressed and ready for work. I decided to be a little experimental with my makeup today while still matching my pink Ralph Lauren polo and black pants, and my pink and black nails. I got a little out of control with it trying to accomplish this look inspired by the Misfits from the old Jem cartoons, but I wound up just looking droopy-eyed and didn't have time at that point to take it off and try again.
Very shortly after I arrived at work, my sister and the other supervisor at work were pulled into an office with our program managers and as soon as my sister came out of this meeting she kept giving me these strange looks; looks like she was about to ask me to do something I really wouldn't want to do. I can read her a little too well, because that was exactly what happened. I was asked to come in tomorrow at 8am and stay until 8pm. I've done 12 hour shifts before, that isn't really a big deal, (although considering how much trouble I have getting through my regular 8 hour shifts some days, it is a little crazy to add on another four hours.) The issue is what I will be doing during those 12 hours. Our company has another call center in another state up north, in an area that is supposedly being hit by an insane snow storm tomorrow. Therefore, they are closing down that office tomorrow and redirecting their phone lines to our call center. They deal with different markets than we do, so we can't really do anything for their customers except take messages and have the other center call them back when they reopen... on Monday. People don't respond well to that. They especially don't respond well when it is the dead of winter and we are dealing with their gas service. How do I know this? I got stuck spending a day taking these calls around this time last year. It was a terrible terrible day then without any breathing room at all. I am trying to remain optimistic that this won't be the case tomorrow. We'll see how it goes, I suppose. Either way, I am not looking forward to it, especially not 12 hours of it. The sad thing is, I will only be getting 3 hours of overtime out of this. It comes out to an extra $50 or so, which is definitely a good thing, but $50 doesn't seem like all that much for 12 hours of work. Of course, I am also not taking into consideration the regular hours I am working, as well. Plus, those 3 hours of overtime add up to another week of lessons with Eliezer Rivera, so it really should be worth it. One of my co-workers is going to pick me up at 7:45am tomorrow and has promised coffee, so that should help the situation. Still, I am not really looking forward to tomorrow. It will be fine, and at least as soon as that is over it will be the weekend and I won't have to look at that place for two days. I am DEFINITELY looking forward to that.
I don't have any real plans for this weekend, which kind of sucks. As I mentioned a couple days ago, I was trying to guilt Whitney into making some sort of plan to hang out this weekend, but I don't think she wound up going for it. She has a boyfriend now, (Nate,) and I understand how those types of things can be kind of all-encompassing, especially when they are new. Lord knows I have been there before. I am thinking about trying to wander around the apartment complex and the surrounding areas in attempts to find something interesting to photograph at some point this weekend. I also never wound up watching "Up In The Air" last weekend, so I'll probably wind up doing that this weekend. I am also in the process of downloading this movie I have been dying to see, called "The Box," by J. Richard Kelly, who directed "Donnie Darko" and "Southland Tales." I was a huge fan of "Donnie Darko," but was just completely confused and mind-fucked by "Southland Tales," so I am anxious to see how I feel about this one. The concept is amazing, though. It is about a young couple who are presented with a box that has a button inside that, when pressed, will automatically give the person who presses it a million dollars but will also cause one nameless, faceless person that they do not know to die. The film is basically following them in the 24 hours that they are granted with the box and them trying to decide whether or not to press the button. It is really a fascinating concept. I don't know what I would do in that situation, honestly. As much as I would love to say, "No, I would never do that," I also know that a million dollars would solve a LOT of problems in my life and, even more, would allow me the freedom and access to make my dreams come true rapidly. I think doing it that way would not only seem empty and unearned, but any success I found would also be shrouded in guilt over some person who died for it. I don't know... it's a really interesting idea. Perhaps I will discuss this topic more once I have actually watched the movie.
I was talking to my sister today about the fact that my Sony Bloggie camera had arrived and was talking about my ideas for the short film/long-form music video and she said, "God, you have way too many hobbies." I told her that these are not hobbies, but artistic endeavors, and there is a big difference between those two things. It is true, though, that I have developed a lot of artistic endeavors recently. I don't know, but I think that is a good thing. I am keeping myself in the creative, "artist" headspace that I have talked about so much in past blogs. That has been my goal in life, as of late, and I think I am doing a pretty great job of living my life more in the "artist" headspace than in the "person" headspace. I like it. I like the fact that I can allow creativity to be the driving force in my life. I wouldn't really want it any other way. This is the life that I have chosen for myself and I intend to do everything I can to make my dreams come true. Plus, all of these other artistic endeavors all stem back to the one thing: MUSIC. My head is still in the same place and is still focused on that goal, but why not explore other mediums to make the music more of an all-around experience. I like the idea of that and am really excited to see what I can come up with to make all of this come together in a way that is beautiful and completely epic for me in my life.
Speaking of artistic endeavors, one of them suffered a pretty major setback this evening. As I have been talking about on here lately, I did a collection of drawings to submit to a local t-shirt company who were looking for new and interesting designs. I found this company on Craig's List and, in email correspondence, they seemed pretty legit. Of course, email correspondence doesn't really tell you all that much. I spent about two weeks getting these drawings prepared to submit to this company and tonight, after various complications, I finally got to a Kinko's, got the drawings scanned and burned to a disc. I rushed to the computer once I got home to submit them to the company only to find that the email address I had corresponded with this company with before was no longer in existence, at least, not according to Gmail, who sent me an error message saying that yahoo.com rejected the email because no such address existed. Googling said email address only made matters worse. I found results for various weight loss, get rich quick and underground muZiK type deals all attached to this same email address. They even had a myspace page under the same name, which also no longer exists. So, apparently, this was yet another Craig's List scam. As much as I have been stressing over trying to get these pictures done and sent out, it turns out that I really may have dodged a bullet by waiting so long. It sucks, and I am kind of sad about the fact that my hopes for starting small with a local company haven't panned out... but this just means that maybe I should just throw caution to the wind and submit these to Threadless instead; Threadless, who I know is reputable and is kind of a big deal. Do I feel like my drawings are up to par with the stuff on that site? Not exactly, but I will not let my ego-driven insecurities stop me from trying. There is an entire community of people who vote on the t-shirts on that site, so they can give me even better feedback than any local company could have. Plus, just because I am judging my work harshly and feel unsure of whether or not it is up to par, somebody else may look at it and think it is absolutely perfect. We'll see. It is pretty crazy, though, that this "company" wound up being a scam. Fortunately, my whole ordeal in trying to get these pictures scanned and submitted was just another example of the Universe working in my favor. It just seems so clear to me. It is also interesting that my horoscope today read: "You have big ideas now that entice you to think about the world in an optimistic manner. Unfortunately, avoiding the harsh realities of meeting responsibilities and deadlines doesn't mean that you can actually get away with it for long. Instead of sneaking around the edges, stop moving long enough to evaluate where you are and to figure out how to take the next step." Perhaps that is the Universe's way of telling me to slow down on taking on new artistic endeavors and evaluate the situation and ways that I can move forward with the ones that I am working on currently. That is probably a really good idea for me right now. I just need to keep working on what I am already working on and really working to hone my skills in these different areas, as opposed to trying to begin exploring any other endeavors or ideas I may come up with.
So, it is now 12:37am and my alarm is set for 6:30am, so I should probably get to bed. Before I do, though, I also wanted to include the scans of a couple of my drawings. I am only including two because the scan of the "Monster/He Ate My Heart" one didn't come out very well and I just wasn't overly thrilled with the "Crying At The Disco" one. Bear in mind that these are copies of the original scans converted from a PDF file to a JPG file and somewhere in that process the lines on both of them got a little funny looking. The lines on the actual scans in the PDF file look normal. Anyway, this is just a small example of two of the four pieces I was planning to submit and may wind up submitting to Threadless instead.
...and with that, I bid you goodnight.
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