I blog like a middle aged couple for whom romance has become a chore

Wilted and saggy, world weary and heavy laden.

That or I just forget to all the time.

I am happy now. Work has slown back down to easily manageble and last night was the first time in a long stretch of wretched months I didn't dread the coming day. I'm still frustrated by people, but now I have time to cope with it, rather than cramming it down into my already crowded psyche.

I imagine its something like a kegger in there. All my old thoughts and fantasies running around sweat soaked and screaming, my brain pumping out Bob Marley while my more rational thought processes run around nude screaming the lyrics to My Sharona. No small wonder I think the way I do, what with the rampant disorderly conduct going on up there. My bizarre and abstract thinking that some how used to link name-calling to bacon and lampshades (as a child) is probably wholly responsible for the weird and wonderful ideas I get for artwork. My head is screwed up and I like it that way. Well, some of it anyways.

My mental state aside, I've been doing lots more photography. I shot some portraits for a friends daughters graduation and I'm really happy how they turned out. One of them, I feel, could even pass for a shot from the top rated studio in town. I do lots of work for them all, so I feel like I have this deep secret that should never see the light of day. My dream is to one day usurp their strangle hold over the professional photography market in town. I'm an ambitious man, a photographic despot, if you will. Of course these are all dreams now, little more than the sociopathic muses of a young man.

As I web-log, I realize that I haven't written like this in months. I think it a sign stress is on the decline. At the risk of sounding like the geek I am: w00t

Gearing up for some really great photography

This weekend is going to be a great weekend for my photography. One Saturday, the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens will be starting off the season with a midnight showing. The gardens are simply one of the most beautiful and tranquil areas in Lethbridge and at 15 dollars for a season pass, pretty economical as well. I fully expect to use up both of my memory cards and a few rolls of film Saturday evening as I plan to be there from just before sundown until well after nightfall. I hope the weather is conducive to good photography, nice clean light with a few clouds to add some splash to the sky. After it gets dark I couldn't care less what the sky wants to do.

In other photography news, I'm trying to get in contact with a printing company out of Calgary, Alberta that furnishes Lethbridge's Museums and other tourist outposts with postcards for us and other parts of Southern Alberta. I'd like to try and sell a few images. I think I could get it done because, to be perfectly frank, the stuff they have now is total crap. All of them are photos in harsh midday sun with dark long shadows and uninteresting angles. Any silly bugger with a point n' click could have done them. I'm confident I can outdo them. Add into the mix that I can also do lots of digital manipulation and enhancement, well . . . you see where I'm going with this. The only question is how best to set about doing this. I have a few ideas, but I'm not certain the contact information I have is going to lead anywhere. I wish they were a local company and I could meet in person, but through the wires is about the best I can manage now.

Blood, sweat and jeers

The reason for my title?

As of tomorrow I will be finished by awful, grueling project for a financial insititution. Total gain for the store is something like 5 or 6 grand, which, rest assured, I will be sure to let my bosses know. In the grand scheme it isn't a whole lot of profit compared to other contracts, but for one guy (plus the odd grunt nabbed off the sales floor) to do single-handedly from start to finish, I think its something.

The whole thing has taken three weeks to finish. 2 weeks of occaisional work and then 1 week or frantic rushing about. Frankly I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I have a few last pieces to finish up, double check my quantities and off to shipping I'll delightfully skip.

I'm now so far behind in my other work that I really ought not to be blogging at work, but there really isn't too much to do just before close. I never heard back from the other print houses in town as to what someone like me can expect in terms of wages, so I'll need to use this as a main bargaining tool. To be frank I only expect my employment here to last another 6 months or so before I have plans to move on in my life, but thats 6 months I could be earning what my work is worth, thank you very much.

Once I'm done I plan to take some vacation time. I just so burnt out from doing ridiculous amounts of work. But I know what I leave behind will fall to pieces without me. And I'm not being pretentious. I left work one hour for lunch and...no, its not worth it, I'm not getting worked up over this again.

I enjoy the responsibility of my job. I have a lot of stuff to do and I get to make all kinds of big decisions, not to mention telling some people what to do :)

Its good experience and will help me nail down a real career later on. Co-worker issues aside, I'm thankful to have it.