Saturday, January 7, 2006 9:35 pm  <|>
<244> State Of Art: It feels good to be getting things done lately... hopefully this trend will continue. I'm trying to think about what I want to propose for my next project. I have two bigger ideas and I'd like to do either one, though one stands to be more expensive than the other for sure... we'll see. We're have a midyear get together with about half of us (considering we're coming from all over the world that's not too bad since this meeting isn't required) so hopefully I'll be able to get some opinions and come up with a final idea after that. It's happening the first weekend in February... so while I have a little time to still think things out, I want to be as prepared as I can be since things will be hectic in the coming months between school, work, and the wedding (as I've said before I'm sure).

This weekend is feeling good. It was great having Concetta here last week, but the week went fast. I also had a bunch of work related things going on that I won't go into now.. but I'm still waiting to see how certain things are going to play out. I'm forced to be uncertain about a lot of things and choices to make, but for now I need to just see what happens... and hope for the best.

Tonight I'm planning on crawling under my computer to try to organize what is the mess of cables that most computer people understand all too well. I was going to get some new cable ties and go to it then, but I don't want to keep waiting and the sooner I organize and reconnect the two USB hubs I have that need to be reconnected, the sooner I can hook up my new printer. And once I hook up the new printer, I can start scanning in all my documents and getting rid of my paper trail. That is going to be great, though I'm sure it'll be a little time consuming... once the backlog is taken care of though it'll be much easier to process papers as they come through rather than letting them pile up in boxes around the house and making a mess!

Last night we went to the opening at Jinxed Clothing, which is just a couple blocks from our place. They recently agreed to house my Sticky Art vending machine... so now both of my machines have a home (the other being paid for actually by my old Multimedia department and on display there). I'm pretty excited about it and I'm hoping it'll be the push I need to get outside vendor relations going which is next on the list. How can you hope to sell stuff if you don't really get your name out there? So I'm trying to remind myself that that's the focus and then let the other things fall into place.

I have a bunch of things on my plate (as always) but I'm really starting to sort it out (I think... I hope?). We scheduled our meeting with our officiant for the first week in February, so that'll be taken care of. We still need to find/pick a florist and a photographer. My problem is I can't find good example of what I have pictured for the flowers and all the photographers are too expensive because I have good taste when it comes to photography (I like to think). We also gotta think about the invitation and things like that too. Oh and pick the rings... hehe ok so we have a fair amount left to do. The bridesmaids' dresses should be ordered early next week (just need one more set of measurements) and then there are little things after that. But I feel like it'll be ok. We'll get it done... but I do want to get as much of it going now as I can... especially the booking of things because I know you are supposed to do that as far ahead as possible.

As for art related stuff I've really been wanting to do more work lately. I have different outlets for my artwork too... and of course like everything else I'm compelled to do a bunch of different things at once. Well, I'm trying to keep it focused too. Ahh it'd be so nice to be able to just have the free time to work on these different ideas. You have that sort of when you are in school, but really when you are there you feel too much like you need to be working on school stuff all the time to do much of anything else. That's how I felt most of the time... of course I lost a lot of time being sick so I didn't really have available time since I started working pretty quickly at least part time after the transplant. So really the creative break was never there. That is what going into the grad program was about but it's hard not to feel a little selfish about it when I see my friends, especially Dan struggle so much because he just wants more time to paint. It's a simple desire but one that tends to be unrealistic for most... even for the friends of mine that are older and more established, they still work day jobs... it's the plight of the artist (at least most of us more of the time). Hey, that's why we tend to become professors - at least you get off for the breaks and summers then to do your own thing. Consultants and freelancers also enjoy this freedom, I have a taste of it and it's hard to want to let go of... but I don't know if that'll be the case indefinitely... there are too many financial problems that stem from it for a person like me. My situation can keep changing though I suppose and only time will tell what will happen to it. I hope in the next few years a lot of things will change and that things will be in good places... but who knows. Until then I'll just keep trying at all the different things I like to do and hope that some of them pan out in a good way.