Life of The Average Joe
i may be getting a sailboat!!!
heehee.
i found a boat for $2,500 and called the guy. everything is included. trailer, electronics (radio etc.), life-vests, flares, new rigging and sails, outboard etc.
i’ve called my mother and she seems excited?! (my parents have been looking for a boat around the 20ft range) and said “we should go in half and half.”
uh. OKAY.
i’ll post pictures when i get my camera connected again.
i won’t get too excited though. anything could go wrong of course.
a week ago, i thought that i’d try my best to bring back travelinghead.com and get the project moving again. the problem was… i didn’t renew the domain when i had the chance so i had to backorder it and hope that when it came back on the market, i’d get it back. they said that i had a really good chance since the domain was on their system.
… i got an e-mail a few minutes ago that said they were unable to supply me with the domain. out of curiosity, i went to travelinghead.com to see who got it and lo-and-behold, it’s being squatted on and ‘auctioned’ off. all i can say is “wow that’s not very nice.” i can only guess that the minute some domain is not renewed, it’s picked up by a squatter (company) and resold for great profit. i’m not sure what i’m going to do now. is the travelinghead project dead? maybe. i may just use my ‘free domain’ to start working on my personal website.
in other news. some of you may know that i was cast for a reality show a few months ago. the show was scheduled to air in January (but that obviously fell through) so now i’m just waiting… and waiting. i have no idea WHEN (or if) it will air but i’m still hoping that it does.
in other other news. my airline tickets to Peru have been purchased. i’m leaving October 15th and will be flying into Lima and traveling to Cuzco and Machu Picchu by train. it should be a fun trip. i just hope i have the money to get my camera fixed before i leave.
things are still good. lately though, i feel restless. it has nothing really to do with my relationship, more with the fact that i’ve never been good at keeping a job for any length of time and the more days i spend making coffee over and over again and listening to my manager tell me that i’m ALWAYS supposed to froth my milk and not steam it and ‘oh why is this grill set to 6 and not 5′ and blah blah blah… the more i find myself ready for a new job. i’ll be turning 27 this year and i feel like i should be doing more with my time. i need to get back to school (and finish this time). i need to pay off my bills. i need to do more with my illustration work and art.
speaking of illustration work. i am still drawing. not as often as maybe i should be but whenever inspiration strikes. i just need that ‘one’ idea. ya know… the one that will carry me to the top. the one that’s going to make me a bit of extra money… i haven’t found it yet. but i will??
i read
anyhow. i think bianca and i are going to go get a movie and cook some dinner.
nuff said.
hope everyone is doing well in life.
on a different note… i may be going to Peru with my father sometime in October.
this has been a dream of my father for most of his life and to share that with him would be interesting.
… i’m sure that our relationship will change after such an adventure.
nuff said.
i got your letter today.
i am left with a feeling of remorse as well as the feeling of ‘hope’ that i have been riding on for a month or so now.
the things that you wrote about in your letter… the things that you missed, are things that i find myself missing. i was looking back through my photo cd the other day and came across some pictures of my most ‘memorable’ kayak trip on the bay. when i found myself lounging on the front of my boat in beautiful water. i haven’t been out on my boat in ages it seems. i am hoping though, that with summer on it’s way, i will find myself writing of new adventures. that i will find myself taking pictures again. it will take time though i’m sure.
when i got back from my ‘reality tv experience’ so many of my things were broken. my 35mm needs repair. my digital camera i think has seen the last of its days. my stereo is broken. so those things that i once would write about. my music. my daily experiences. meeting girls in cafes. all of them are ‘on hold’ at the moment.
in THIS moment there is my girlfriend. my illustration work. my constant struggles with art and direction (an ongoing theme of course). my girlfriend and i are doing well. our lives are not the most extravagant but we’re doing well. we both have things that we want to accomplish this year. we both want to lose some weight (be healthy), she is figuring out her plans for going back to school as am i. there are places that i want to see. bills i want to get paid off and trips i want to take. i’m quite positive that we will see some of these things through and i will find myself writing more and more about them.
but life here is good. i’ve found myself working around the house more often. little things here and there. i’ve been getting rid of a lot of stuff that i don’t need and have been hanging on to for the past two years in the hopes that someday i’ll have room for them in my house when the reality of it is… i’ve got too much stuff as it is.
bianca and i have had our fair share of ‘disagreements’ or days when things just aren’t going as splendidly as others but that’s normal. and i’ve made it an issue to do my best at working through our problems. at trying to force her to communicate how she’s feeling. but these things are minor. little blips here and there and nothing to cause me worry.
it’s nice too to note that my relationship with my parents is improving. for too long i’ve not had the relationship that i would like to have with my parents. they’ve been a ‘bother’ to me about my finances and my education and my direction and my lack of responsibility but in the last few months, i feel as though i’ve grown close to them again. my mother loves bianca dearly. they are both people who enjoy sewing so they have to talk about. and when they’re not talking about that, i’m sure they’re talking about me since that is what women do. but i can talk to my mother again without having to worry about her bringing up some bill that went unpaid and i can talk to my father about nothing or anything and it is with much less ‘attention’ that we can carry on a conversation. some nights even, bianca and i find ourselves over at my parents house, sitting on their front porch drinking tea and talking with them. it’s simple. and sweet. and these are the things that i enjoy these days.
my mother has even convinced me to dress up in costume this year for the Renaissance Festival held her in Tampa once a year. my mother, my father, myself and bianca will all be going in full costume (made of course by the two women ‘of the house’) heh. i was out just the other day with my mother and Bianca, singing Elton John together as we drove to the fabric store to look at patterns and material and to say that it was ‘fun’ is something that i haven’t been able to say in some time.
it is true though, that i do almost ‘miss’ that longing that i once had for closeness with someone. that i am left with nothing more to write about now that i have found a person to share my afternoons with. i don’t of course wish that i was NOT dating bianca merely so i would have something to write about but i miss sitting down to write. i miss the poetry that would course through my veins and out through my fingertips when i wrote. that day will come again and when it does, i’m sure the things i will find myself writing about will not be of longing but of being ‘found.’
i would write more… but today is Valentines Day and i have a few things to do before she gets home from work :p
thank you for the letter. and although i realize that responding to it here in my ‘open forum journal’ is slightly ‘impersonal’… rest assured that i will write you back via the post real soon.
happy v-day. i hope that things are still going well with you and yours 
with love (and sincerity)
-me
a little something fresh and new
there is a post attached to this picture for those that are on my friends list but for everyone else at least for right now, you’ll have to be patient to read all about what i’ve been doing since i disappeared two months ago.
p.s. i know that some of you are still waiting for your lumpstuff.com merchandise and for that i am eternally sorry. here is the paragraph from my friends only post about that very issue.
“lastly. i know that i’ve been a bad monkey. that i’ve neglected a number of people here on Livejournal when it comes to Lump orders. for this i will never forgive myself but hopefully will have learned enough from it to not let it happen again. there are some of you that placed orders with me and still have not yet received your merchandise. i PROMISE you that i am taking care of all of that in the next few days. i don’t have any excuses beyond this: shortly before x-mas i started slipping into a HUGE funk as far as my illustration work was concerned. i neglected lumpstuff.com and everyone that showed me support. i wasn’t drawing. i wasn’t filling orders. i was too overwhelmed with my own anxiety and ‘depression’ to get anything done. i tried. believe me i tried. i just couldn’t force myself to do ANYTHING. and then i felt horrible for taking so f*cking long to fill the orders, i was too afraid to contact anyone or to post about it in livejournal. point is. i appologize. sincerely. and i will be doing my best to repair lost respect over the next few days. if you still haven’t received your stuff (and you ordered it) by the middle/end of next week, send me an e-mail please.”
a little something fresh and new
so i guess it’s about time to make a post eh.
i am alive. indeed.
these last two months have been good. not amazing. not interesting. just good. and i am more happy with that than i would be otherwise.
i have spent very little time in front of my computer. i haven’t written e-mails. i haven’t updated lj. i haven’t updated lumpstuff.com. i’ve let the travelinghead project fall to the wayside. you might ask yourself why. i know i asked myself that a few times. and the answer is two-fold.
i’ve been doing illustration work on the side. in my free moments. but less feverishly than i was before. i’m taking my time. i’m letting things come to me instead of trying to force new work. i’m still drawing Lump and friends but i’m much more inclined to work on other things. new characters. new styles. new ideas. i felt as though i needed to take a break from Lump. to expand. to run in a different direction for a little while and come back to Lump later. i’m still working on some ‘promotional packages’ that i will be sending out to a few places over the next few months though i’m not rushing things. i want to have things as they should be and not as they are because i was in a hurry to get them out.
bianca and i spend everyday together, though, lately her schedule has been the exact opposite of mine so i get to see her only when she gets home from work at midnight for about ten minutes before we both go to sleep and then in the morning i give her a kiss goodbye before i head off to work. we make up for it on the days that we DO end up getting off together by going to the beach for a picnic lunch or going out to a movie and to lunch and maybe some window shopping. although she doesn’t officially live here with me, she is here everyday now. we are talking about moving the rest of her stuff in. i’m not concerned about moving too quickly. we are both honest about things with each other. although i care a great deal about her, i am not in love. but i enjoy the way things are going right now. i enjoy the fact that we can rent movies six times a week and although she jokes about “going to blockbuster AGAIN” she can say to me “i actually like sitting on the couch with you watching movies.” we do JUST enough together. i have my own time to work on illustration stuff or to read a book. she will play Sims2 or listen to music and read. we get dishes done together. she bought flowers for the front of the house. i bought a hanging planter for a spider plant that has been on the ground for the last six months. it all just ‘works’ right now and i’m happy with that.
my bills are also being paid on a regular basis finally. i don’t know how it happened. i am caught up on my bills. i’m taking care of paying debtors that i was too afraid to call in the past. i’m making my jeep payments early. i have enough for bianca and i to still do fun things when we want to. it feels good. to finally have my finances under control. and oddly enough. i see an ‘end’ in sight. with my $1,200 tax return going straight to my jeep loan, i will only have $3,400 left to pay on it (started out as an $18,000 loan) which means it is more than plausible for me to have my loan paid off by the end of the year which is a goal i set for myself. at that point i will be able to save $300 + a month and put some of it towards paying off my other few bills. being financially stable and having limited debt is something that i’ve been looking forwards to for years and now it is close to being a reality.
lastly. i know that i’ve been a bad monkey. that i’ve neglected a number of people here on Livejournal when it comes to Lump orders. for this i will never forgive myself but hopefully will have learned enough from it to not let it happen again. there are some of you that placed orders with me and still have not yet received your merchandise. i PROMISE you that i am taking care of all of that in the next few days. i don’t have any excuses beyond this: shortly before x-mas i started slipping into a HUGE funk as far as my illustration work was concerned. i neglected lumpstuff.com and everyone that showed me support. i wasn’t drawing. i wasn’t filling orders. i was too overwhelmed with my own anxiety and ‘depression’ to get anything done. i tried. believe me i tried. i just couldn’t force myself to do ANYTHING. and then i felt horrible for taking so f*cking long to fill the orders, i was too afraid to contact anyone or to post about it in livejournal. point is. i appologize. sincerely. and i will be doing my best to repair lost respect over the next few days. if you still haven’t received your stuff (and you ordered it) by the middle/end of next week, send me an e-mail please.
so. that’s it. i probably won’t post very often anymore. we’ll see. i do of course still read a number of your journals.
