Lazy but not...

I am not a writer. I've wanted to be. Tried to be. Failed to be and will most likely never be. I have 2 blog followers and who knows if they actually read the blog or not or just added me for the kicks and giggles. Anyway I was sitting here thinking "now how can I make some money".. You see i want to get married, but first that requires money, a ring, some more money, a lot of planning and then, some military esk positioning of the parents so that they don't kill you when you tell them. Yes they will most likely kill me, at least be angry with me. Their feelings on the situation isn't a secrete. Dad doesn't really care, where as mom is more like "why rush it why rush it". Come on! Really? We've been dating for 3 and a half years I don't think this is rushing it".

Honestly, more than anything I just want to get out of the current situation I'm in and start living life a little. For anyone who doesn't know i live in my art gallery and usually have about .27 to a dollar at the end of the month (after paying bills) to do with what i please.. I eat mainly on the kindness of friends, the bread line, my girlfriend, her parents, and my parents. My apartment is sorta cool, I have 2 futons but one is technically what i call a bed and the other one holds on to my work uniform and random stuff that i don't have anywhere else to put. The carpet in my apartment is just a little green something i stole from a dumpster of a restaurant that was remodeling. Naturally a hot day rolls around and the dump smells like a fry house. Who knew... The apartment consists of 4 rooms, but really just one large room sectioned off in to 4 smaller ones.

The first room when you walk in is my office/living room/bedroom. This is where i make all of my artwork, photo editing, tv watching, coffee breaking, and time wasting. There is a small portable wall divider separating the bedroom from the office area, which is the width of one of my futons and has the depth enough to to walk between the desk and futon with little room to spare. The bedroom has a futon, a small dresser, and a small book shelf. The second room is the kitchen which holds a patio table a full size refrigerator, a sink, no cupboards, no stove, no oven, and a microwave on a cart. Now the interesting part the 3rd room holds the shower/closet while the 4th room holds the bathroom sink, and toilet. These rooms are exceptionally small. For someone straight out of college this place is fine, but for someone who is wanting to move on with life and find bigger and better things this is not the place to be. Unfortunately, I still have 4 months left on my lease and since the gallery and the apartment are all the same lease, my bank account gets drained monthly.

So what am I getting at... Well, I guess its just that I've been looking for jobs, offering good deals on art and photo shoots, and now I'm waiting for any of the bazillion jobs I applied for to call. I don't really know what else to do but stay tuned and maybe you'll find out what happens next.

This is just some of my night photography. I do this type of shooting as a way to escape the busy life style and to unwind. My walks are very important to me and I feel they keep me from going insane, and these pictures show you why. Please enjoy. There will most likely be more of these to come.

Wow I Need to Blog More

So, i just realized that i haven't blogged regularly and honestly I'll start trying more, but don't get your hopes up to much. I have a lot of things on the table again and honestly blogging does not rank high on the "i have to get that done or i don't get to live under a roof anymore" list.

First things first, I will be closing the gallery at the end of August. This is due to a string of things but the largest chunk being the lack of interest from the public, paper, artists, and buyers which sorta hurts. In short the gallery hasn't brought in a paycheck in 3 months and its time to cut the losses and get out before it bankrupts me. Good news is, that a group of artists are currently talking about taking the gallery over come September, replacing my deposit so i get mine back, and keeping the art gallery an art gallery, but making it more of an artist workshop than a gallery. I say more power to them they have a good start in the developing phase and if they get the right people they could go far.

Second, I have really been fighting my extreme distaste in my current working situation. I am working three over nights a week and getting paid barely above minimum. It wouldn't be so bad if these nights weren't littered with extremely rude, bad smelling, stupid, often drunk, and highly uncooperative people and the frequent fire alarm. I think it has been over a month since the fire alarm hasn't gone off at 2am. Then i spend the rest of the night explaining to enraged guests that we are trying to fix the problem. Anyway i have been applying for other jobs but haven't heard from any yet, granted it has only been about a week. My hopes are to move to Vermillion, get an apartment, and have a full time job with benefits and weekends free so that i can still continue to make art and do shows, all while trying to pay off my now deferred student loans.

So what's to come in the foreseeable future? Well i suppose there are a few things. First Riverboat days is coming up and i have 5 booths currently rented out with the possibility for 4 more. Then come September there is first Fridays in Kansas City at Main Street Cafe again as well as a possible photo shoot, and painting drop off in Omaha. Also in September the Mighty Mo Photo show comes down and i then get my promise to purchase awards from Avera Sacred Heart Hospital as well as a private owner. I am still trying to get into other shows but i haven't had time to really see when they are or how much its going to cost me to get in and get there.

That's all for now. Hopefully i have better news for you next time, which i hope is sooner than a month but you never know. Things seem to be moving pretty fast these days.

Later,
Jake