Phone Calls…

I have an extreme discomfort when it comes to talking on the phone. More so when I’m in a work/business situation where you’re forced to sound professional…but in my case, am not able to answer quick enough to satisfy the person on the other end. When it comes to friends and family, I can be a little more relaxed despite constantly getting interrupted, but with customers and operators from whatever utilities companies…the conversation is strenuous, uncomfortable, and rather frustrating.

What’s worse is when I’m in the middle of working on something I have a deadline for, and get interrupted by some survey call from such-n-such-a-company who are asking me questions that I can’t honestly answer because I haven’t been a customer with them long enough to know what the hell they’re talking about! “Can I just say 10 for the rest of these questions because I’m busy and hate taking surveys?” To which then...because I’m annoyed and frustrated in knowing that said person had no account information on me and thus asked me a bunch of stupid questions she could have answered herself if she just opened my file…I have to completely stop what I’m doing, piss, moan, and rant to myself while I pace throughout the house until I get completely fed up with it all…and wait until I can calm myself down again before picking up the brush and continuing with the project at hand.

And people wonder why I don’t like deadlines…or talking on the phone for that matter! It’s enough to make me determined never to sign up with and Bell/BellSouth related phone landlines ever again! Why? Because every week they’d call wanting me to change my plan…saying that this new and improved one with all these features I have no need or use for is so much better, for just a couple dollars more than what I’m paying now. “I don’t need long distance. I have a cell phone for that.” or the ever popular “Why would I need to make international calls? I don’t know anyone outside of the country. Are you going to give me your number so I can call you when it’s most inconvenient?” One night, after having put up with the calls for a month, I tiredly consented to whatever plan the guy from India was trying to sell to me…granted, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying because the only two relatives I have from India speak far better English than any operator I’ve spoken to. I thought it was done and over with…whatever long distance or international calls would generally be free since neither I or my roommates would be making such calls…I hung up the phone, and hoped to move on with my evening. Not even a minute later the guy calls back. “You didn’t pick which country y-“…to which I went ballistic on him. In between a variety of cuss words un-creatively used as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, I told him that all I wanted was a landline for local calls and the security system. I didn’t need voicemail, caller ID, long distance or international calls, and wished that the phone company would get it through their thick skulls that every time they call about changing my plan, that it’s a form of HARRASSMENT, and I was about ready to quit my service with them and sue their asses if this kept up. Poor guy…I think I shook him up some, because his broken English wavered as he profusely apologized and promised to never call the number ever again.

I know I should have been more civil…but even during the times I had been more so, they still called back. Is really blowing up the only way of getting operators to leave you alone? I think it would have been nice if they had reimbursed me on my bill for the inconvenience, but a part of me believes that those phone calls really aren’t being recorded for customer satisfaction. If they were, then they would have surely stopped calling after the first time around.

So what project was I working on that got so needlessly interrupted? A call for artists to submit paintings of anything historic concerning Chambersburg, PA. My interest in this project: Zilch. Dad took me around the historic areas he knew about the city, and I occasionally stopped him when I thought I had an interesting shot. I chose a photo out of five or six, and started on the preliminary work for it. And the more I looked at it, and the more I inked in the lines and with more frustrations that kept on piling up throughout the week started cluttering my head…I tore the paper from the block and stormed out of the house to clear my head. Took some nice pictures along a road that heads out into the farm land…but I’m still frustrated, and still have no interest in painting anything. Sorry Dad, it’s just not happening this time around. You just can’t feel good about doing something you were never thrilled about doing to begin with, and trying to force yourself to make something good out of that negative feeling only adds more to the frustration. Not a good idea considering how I’m trying to stay positive and upbeat!

But after some careful consideration, talking with a friend over another project for my CafePress shops, and doing some major price comparisons, I found that my first shop…is robbing me of any possible profits I could be making, and robbing my customers of money that they could be saving. Did that make any sense to you? Basically, after comparing some prices for specific items that are available in the first shop, I realized that I could sell them in my second shop at a cheaper price than the first…and still make a fair profit. So, I started out with the mugs, bags…other little accessories and such, pulling out the cheaper versions of one or two items, and putting them up for sale in my second shop. Over time, I’ll be adding more to the second shop, including a wider variety of shirts (there’s so much more than what they’re offering in the first shop) at the prices I am able to lower for you. And once I get these specific commissions done for the shop, I’ll be adding another section for people to find their requested image in, amongst a variety of products I thought they’d look good on.

So go check out the changes! Maybe now there’s something you’ve been meaning to buy, but didn’t want to pay for at the first shop’s prices!
http://www.cafepress.com/CerynitisD

Oh, and to add some more randomness to this entry…along with something actually visual to look at ( I would have had some videos up, but they were too fuzzy to see what anything really was), I was given the pleasure seeing my friendly neighborhood spider play with one of his late evening meals. The area is apparently SWARMING with spiders, and I’ve got too many for comfort residing within the walls of my house. Luckily, the one who was spinning his stinkbug dinner around is on the outside of my hall window, and so I wasn’t getting the willies when I was capturing him on video. Just watch…the spider is all like “I spin you right round, baby, right round. Like a record, baby, right round round round…” And Mr. Stinkbug is still kicking and wriggling and all like “Nooooo! I don’t want to be spun right round round round!”

But then the spider was all “Ok, I’m bored with this, and some freaky looking chick won’t stop watching me while I play with my food, so I’m gonna go over here and ignore you for a bit.” And I was all sad. Every so often I checked back to see how things were going. Either he was playing with his food again, or ignoring it completely.

Come morning, though…Mr. Stinkbug was decapitated…

Life is a Mirror-

-if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile at it, it returns the greeting.

I received this little bit of sagely advice from a fortune cookie I had one morning. Strangely enough, it’s the type of advice I’ve been trying to give a friend of mine every time he comes to me depressed. And I understand a lot of what he gets upset over, because I’ve traveled a similar road myself; but I haven’t found the right way of telling him that it will be ok, and when he gets older it won’t be as bad as he thinks. So he’ll go on believing I don’t understand him just because despite all the stress, uneasiness, and depression I’ve gone through during the first half of this year I’ve managed to remain…upbeat.

I would have to say some of it is due to being around a rather supportive family, and the fact that I was able to see some friends. No…not just some friends, but more like extremely important friends to me. I don’t think I would have managed so well through my high school and early college years if it weren’t for their inspirational support. So in a way, in being able to see them for just the brief time that I have, I was able to pull through the first half of this year better than I expected. You guys know who you are, and if you ever get around to reading this, know that I love you with all of my heart, and am eternally grateful that you’re a part of my life.

And I am trying to be a bit more upbeat about it all; moping about how bad it is really doesn’t get me anywhere I want to be. I’m sure during the more stressful back to school times I wasn’t as ‘cheerful’ as I could have been with the customers from my last job, but I find myself smiling most of the time at my new job as I’m greeting them. I’m still getting to know my managers and co-workers, but thus far what little quirks I have seem worthy of a good humored joke to them; and I’ve proven myself at being quick and efficient during my first morning after truck day…managing to unload more loads than the one guy that works there, while finding where things go better than a girl that’s been there a month longer than I have. Not bad, considering how little of the layout I knew just then. I still get lost on certain items, because they’re placed somewhere different than where you would think to find them…but I’ll muster through it in the end. Oh! I also feel very official now that I have my very own box cutter! Complete with a clip to attach it to my pants and a cord to keep it from being separated or lost from the case! I was so delighted to receive it! Really! I WAS! I made myself laugh at the thought of it!

A Long Awaited Return…

I was expecting to be back on after my birthday, maybe a week or so afterwards when things with the new how were falling through. But the bank got its act together, and low and behold, another couple of weeks blew right by me and landed me moving again. I swear, once I turned 30 everything came crashing down on me; new house, new job, now new internet and the prospect of new projects from two different writers. My prints, windows, and merchandise might not be selling well at the shows (though I was excited to sell my beloved dragon throw pillow to a young girl who seemed quite smitten with it, how giddy with joy I was at the thought of it having a good home! ), but the idea of other people liking the various styles I have to offer to put a visual aspect to their stories gives me hope; hope that maybe my Illustration and Sequential degrees will actually be appreciated.

My cat is still coping with the move, having stayed with my parents and their two cats for so long, filled with empty promises of a place of her own only to finally be fulfilled. The only problem she finds is that she’s completely alone when I’m away at work, or out doing something. She pines for attention and affection when I get home, purring ceaselessly, and rushing up the stairs in hopes that I’ll follow her to the bathroom to turn on the faucet. That’s a habit that really needs to be broken.

And so I look back in the past few weeks to see what I’ve done. Artistically, I’m working on three designs for my sister and a few friends to put up on my second CafePress shop.
http://www.cafepress.com/CerynitisD
I know that I will be constantly updating and rearranging this shop for a long while…as right now it is split into three different sections, soon to be four different sections, which will eventually be split into their own sections as I organize the types of images and artwork I put up on there. All in all, I hope it makes it all the easier for people to find what they want and understand the concept behind the images I put up there. Or…it could just turn out to be futile and nobody buys anything in the end. Either way, I’ll continue on with my own progress.

I have been thankful for the part time work I’ve picked up, as thus far it’s given me plenty of days off to attempt to work around the house, go visiting with family, and work the First Fridays…thus far. The hours seem to be pretty descent, and if they keep up as they are I should be able to scrape by with what I make. Means I probably won’t be saving much money for my candle venture, but I suppose that’s what tax returns are for. If they’re anything like what I got back from the past couple of years, it’ll be seven years before I get the money saved up for my candle business; that really disheartens me as I was hoping to get started on it sooner before I start losing hope on the idea again.

I was saddened even more when I came to the realization that, except for my favorite librarian who checks up when he remembers to and a girl I role play with when I remind her to, none of my friends really read my blog. They don’t look for the art, don’t read my updates on my personal life…nothing in my feeble attempt to try and keep in touch with them. If it’s not on FaceBook, then I guess it’s not worth looking at…? I hate thinking like that, believing that my friends don’t care for me because I’m not chasing after the latest and greatest fad…which to me, FaceBook and MySpace are just that…one more thing to get needlessly excited about only for it to get ignored later one by Twitter or the next best thing that has yet to come. LiveJournal turned out that way back in the day, right? Even my librarian admitted he doesn’t keep up with that as much as he used to. So I kind of have to wonder if it’ll be worth joining up with it in hopes to reacquaint myself with my friends again…or if it’s just a trap to be easily found by others I have no desire in getting to know all over again. For whatever reason, I really enjoyed the idea that I can manage to disappear, as I found out when my high school couldn’t find me to send my 10 year reunion invite, and my ex-comic partner thought I had disappeared from the face of the earth…just because I stopped playing all the expensive games that she required everyone to play in order to keep in touch with her.

Ah well…it was bound to happen. I knew it would happen, actually. Life goes on as you venture out on your separate ways, and the people you once cared about get pushed to the wayside as you create new friendships…caring more and more about them until the time comes where even those relationships become less and less active as well. It makes me wonder what new bonds I’ll make here in town, though at the moment I can feel the bond between family strengthening now. After living with Statler and helping her prepare for the quarter auctions, she keeps me up to date with when such events are in hopes that I can help her some more with them, arranging gift baskets and such. I need to get her to come into town sometime and take her to Hobby Lobby…I think she’ll find a lot of what she’s looking for there. She also wants me around as we both learn how to run her tea business, in preparation for when I open my candle business; filing and keeping up with taxes and such…

Kermit and her crew might be temporarily moving into the area for her husband’s job, which means the little Muppets will be closer to our parents. This in turn makes my dad EXTREMELY happy, because he misses having his daughters so close to him. However, Kermit also has plans for me in helping to tutor her kids in the various forms of art. First and foremost, I need to teach them how to draw. My eldest nephew showed interest when he asked how long it would take him to be as good as I, and my niece is already taking after her namesake in leaps and bounds. I’m excited for them, honestly…and already have an idea of where to start…first by teaching my sister how to draw. This will surely be an amusing experience to add to all the rest…but at least I’ll actually be contributing something good to the kids.

All in all…I think this is a good start into my thirties. It’s fresh, it’s new…which was what I was hoping for, and as long as I keep a positive outlook on what may happen…then surely I’ll be rewarded with nothing but good memories. Actually, if you think about it…it rained on my birthday; and though walking through town on that day stirred up a lot of sadness in my heart, I believe that it helped to wash away the old and prepare me for the new. I’ve got nowhere else to go now but forward.

Good News & Bad News…

…but I’ll let you decide what you think is good and bad.

The move to the new house…is yet again delayed. If this keeps up, it might just not happen at all. I’m not going to complain, as I’m still on the job hunt…but a part of me is still relatively tired of living out of my suitcase; and I feel horrible because it seems like I’m continuously breaking my promise to my cat about her having a domain to claim as her own. A part of me feels that it would be beneficial to her weight health.

However, I might…just maybe…possibly landed myself a job. I submitted my application, immediately requested to see the manager about an interview…and despite having all of their positions filled, he wanted to talk to me the following day. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! I managed to positively express my experience, reflect my knowledge on the day to day work situations, and though he expressed that he couldn’t give me a lot of hours right away, he did feel the need to have someone with two defining qualities that is hard to find in one person; detail orientation and creativity. And here I thought I wasn’t good at multitasking. HA! I proved myself wrong!

Now, raise your hand if you remember that lovely painting commission that kept this blog oh so busy while I fretted and squirmed and squealed over for about a month or so! Guess what?! I’VE GOT LAYOUT PICTURES!

Before my handy work with a paintbrush…








Aaaaaaaaaaaand after my handy work with a paintbrush…along with more detailing work on the owner’s end.







Commence grinning and squealing like I’ve lost my mind again! Doesn’t it look awesome?! I’m so excited! AND I HELPED! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short.

Framed prints of pretty scenery sell. Painted windows have shown interest and promises of buying next show around…but I’m not holding my breath.



And so I hope to be focusing more on my ink projects in the near future while I look for a means of steady employment and fattening up my cat. I swear, she’s too skinny for her own good.



Why I’m late in updating by a day? I only just got my main computer connected to the internet at my parents’ house…and spent that time updating my shop. I’ve got it nicely organized now in three different categories. Drawings pertaining to mythical and legendary creatures…something that I’ll be putting more time into as I get closer to saving up the money for my candle business. Then there’s just the random character drawings…which may or may not be updated at all…depending on what inspires me; which hasn’t been much as of lately. Then there’s the ink drawings, which show cases the pretty scenery pieces I’ve been working on, which will be updated whenever I’ve got a new piece finished.



Plus I’m not sure when I’ll be updating here again. Yes, I’m living with my parents now, but without a job, internet is not a luxury I’ll be able to afford once I’m able to move out of their house. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me coming over and using my laptop to check up on a few things, but…sadly, CafePress doesn’t seem to like my laptop, as they refuse to let me view my sales summaries on it. Don’t know why, and I’m sure I’ll never understand it, but I’m not going to stress over it. It is what it is, and I’m simply tired of arguing over anything these days. My dad and sister are finding me overly agreeable as of lately, which I’m not entirely sure if that worries them or not. Meh.



But I’m at least closer to my family now…most of my immediately family, that is. Dad’s been taking me to various places to walk, like Harpers Ferry, and when I was living with my sister, I became her guinea pig for so many seafood related recipes; it made her oh so giddy as her husband isn’t a fan of fish. I can honestly say I’ve tried and like swordfish steak and learned that I don’t like cilantro. I’ve also confirmed with myself that I’m not a fan of handling raw meats…and so will more than likely find myself eating fish and chicken from the can more often than fresh when I’m living on my own; and if I ever find myself cooking from scratch, it will be something that’s more or less involving a vegetarian style meal. Though really…with my lack of knowledge when it comes to cooking and what to use for cooking…oils and spices and butters and such…I more than likely won’t be cooking from scratch that often. It’ll be back to the pasta/rice + canned soups and veggies and meats + Mrs. Dash shakers again! Weee! That’s what I call making Tuna Helper from scratch! For that, I just need a big pot and lots of storage dishes, and then a pan to cook up my grilled cheese and tuna/chicken salad melts on! I’ll be good to go there, since my dad has stated that my house warming gift from him will be stacks of frozen American cheese he can’t eat! Just means I’m not cooking for my family anytime soon, especially with their dietary needs and allergies that seem to be piling up a lot as of lately.



Now all this talk of food has me hungry…now, I saw some cheese, and I saw some bread down there yesterday. Dad talked about tuna…tuna melt sounds really good right about now…hmm…so does chips and dip still…commence licking of chops.

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