Jackalope Hollow

Finally heard back from BJ's. Tomorrow morning at 10am I have a six-hour orientation. I'm assuming it's so long since decorating cakes takes time to learn. At least, I'm hoping that's why it's so long. Guess I'll find out when I get there. My mom's going to take me to Kohl's today to get some new work shoes. My current pair of skater sneakers aren't really made for standing up in hours on end.

Today I'll be drawing all day. First assignment will be sketching and inking the cover of the children's book for Mainstay. Then I have to finish drafting at least half of the art pieces I'm sending to Anthrocon this year. And then I have lots and lots of scanning to do. Depending on how I feel I may start digitally coloring the book cover, as well as some doodles, later this evening. Not sure if I'll have time.

In other news, yesterday Sam and I got pre-qualified for the apartment we want, thereby setting up a temporary reservation. I have no credit, but he has very good credit, so that made things very easy! After my job orientation we'll fill out the actual rental application. I figure it'd be better to wait until I have all my paperwork and junk with my new employer filled out. We still have to schedule a visit and get the leasing information set in stone, but right now it looks like the move-in date will be July 7th. Forty-five days away! So much to do before then, but I'm pretty dang excited about it. =]

Sure did! =D I'll be decorating cakes at my local BJ's Friday-Sunday from here on out. Took my pre-employment drug test, which I'll pass, right after the interview was over. Now I'm just waiting for a call back to see when orientation or whatever starts, and exactly how much I get paid. Hoping for $7.50/hr, which is $.25 more than minimum wage. $8/hr would be nice too, though. =]

This is great! I also sold a few things today, so now I only have $1000 I have to save before Sam and I can move into our own apartment. I have to purchase my airline ticket for San Diego this year beforehand so I don't run the risk of having the price skyrocket from waiting too long to make a purchase. After that is bought I have to save up half of the first month's rent, half of the security deposit, and the whole pet deposit to cover Lightning the Dog.

Between BJ's, the book illustration (which starts next week) and other projects I'm working on it looks like we're still on track to move out by July. We're more or less set on where we want to move, but we still have to visit the place in person to be sure. We'll do that next month when we're closer knowing a move-in date. That's also when we'll start looking for furniture and things like that.

Progress!

I totally landed that clildren's book illustrator position with Mainstay Publishing, you guys. So excited to start working on that! I signed their freelance contract and mailed it off yesterday, so they should get it tomorrow, considering their mailing address is only ten miles from here. The pay for this job is good, and I'm very much looking forward to adding some of the illustrations from this project to my portfolio. It'll look really good on my artistic resume, as it were. =]

I also completed a series of job interviews at a local BJ's so we'll see what comes of that. If I get a call back it'll be within the next three days so I'm hoping for the best. I made it clear that I only intend to work 20 hours or less per week, because I need time to finish my other client's illustration projects. Because I do! There are only so many hours in a week to work with and I can't spend them all at a working a "part-time" job with almost full-time hours. This job would help ensure relatively steady income when I move, though. The book illustration thing will also give me a steady monthly paycheck, but only for about six months.

My septum is re-deviating! D= Not exactly the same way as it was before, now the upper part of the septum inside my nose is caving in toward the right again. I have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday so I'll bring it up then. I really hope this can be fixed without further surgery. We'll see. Maybe splints could be put back in to keep it in one spot while healing.

Other than the nose thing I feel like things are going very well for me. But with all these cool projects and new responsibilities I have coming in I get a slight sinking feeling. I'm afraid that I might overwork and stress myself out. I already have occasional anxiety problems which could make this even worse. I will stay positive, though! None of this will kill me and I just have to plan days carefully, handle tasks one at a time and take breaks when I need them. I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm just worrying right now is all.

Hope you all have been enjoying your weekend! And tell your moms (or friends/realtives who are moms) Happy Mother's Day!

Today I got the splints removed from my nose at the doctor's office. Septoplasty splints look like this. These things span the entire length of your nasal passage, so they had to be at least an inch-and-a-half long. And I'm like... HOW THE HELL DID THAT FIT UP MY NOSE? Anyway, after having those things clog up my nose for five days it was nice to get a breath of fresh air. But not just any breath of fresh air. It was like...

... my first breath of fresh air.

For as long as I can remember I have never been able to breathe out of both sides of my nose at the same time. A combination of deviated septum and oversized turbinates are what caused this. But after the splints came out I could breathe clearly. Amazingly clearly! Is this what breathing is supposed to feel like? Have I really been missing out this whole time? Like, I can feel the air travel all the way to the back of my nasal passages and into my windpipe. I have never felt this before. And it feels amazing.

Surgery is a pretty wonderful thing. If you were born with something that's broken you can fix it instead of having to live with it all your life. Now I can breathe perfectly through my nose and won't have to worry about mouth breathing and tossing and turning while I sleep. Maybe I'll feel less fatigued, too. Who knows what else could come of this!

Needless to say, I am very pleased with how everything went and how my nose is right now. I still have to take care that nothing bumps it as it's not fully healed. And I have to do constant nasal rinses for a week and avoid blowing my nose. Don't wanna break anything!

Happy <3

Earlier this afternoon I learned that a next door neighbor/childhood friend turned himself in today for charges related to the hazing beating death of Florida AMU drum major Robert Champion back in November 2011. Upset and unbelievably mad. Of all the people in that band who could've beaten that poor man to death I never thought Ryan would be one of them. I mean, even if he didn't actually hit Champion he still didn't do anything to stop it. And now he's facing up to six years in prison over this.

He's a talented kid. Marched in the Army Navy band twice, I think. He's very smart, too. But obviously not smart enough to have done something better in all this mess. And now he's pretty much ruined a good part of his life over something so stupid. Putting his parents and his sister through all this. Ugh. Stupid.

My septoplasty went well yesterday. If you don't include wisdom tooth extraction this was my first ever surgery. I was waiting in the pre-op area for what seemed like an eternity before actually getting it done, and when I woke up from the anesthesia I felt like Mike Tyson knocked my face into next Tuesday. I was miserable and sore and crying, ugh. Sam came back to the hospital (he was running errands), helped me get dressed, drove me to Acme to pick up my meds and took me home.

My mom was super nice and had cleaned my room for me while I was gone. She and Sam helped make my bed so I could take a nap. Between what was left of the anesthesia and the Vicodin I was prescribed I was out pretty fast. This is me after waking up:



Today I'm still kind of bleed-y and inflammation has my face a tad sore. But I'm doing okay. Doodle Day closed yesterday with $212 in tips so I'm going to start working on those as soon as the Vicodin lets me stay awake for a good 15 minutes, haha. I'll be taking it easy for the next two days, but I hope to be back in the shop working on things by Saturday.

Thanks again for all the well wishes, guys!

I've been up to a lot lately!

The weekend of the 7th and 8th were spent in NYC where I visited some friends and then mascotted in the Easter Parade with rapidtrabbit while wearing my blue bunny rental costume. I was pretty much stopped every two seconds for a photograph by someone. There were a lot of foreign tourists, too! Giant event. I also became an honorary rapid transit rabbit after riding the subway in costume from Central Park back to 23rd street where the car was parked. Fun times! I'll surely do this every year once I move to NYC.

I also got finished with the 27th Annual DooDah Parade this past weekend. That was fun, too, but was also a lot of work. I'm sure most of you know how herding furries goes sometimes, haha. All things considered it went pretty smoothly. Looking forward to making ne

Now I'm back here at home for a couple months. I'll probably go to Philly a couple times and maybe one day trip to NYC in these months but other than that I don't have any major traveling planned. I have lots of time to work on comics and puppets and finish renovating my shop and getting some rhinoplasty done. Scheduled to finally get my deviated septum corrected on the 2nd of May. After it fully heals I can finally get it pierced, hahaha.

All is well, though. I'm looking forward to having time to sit still and work on things. I'll take care to use the time wisely. =]

Dear jackass,

If you sign up for an event and don't email me about who you want to room with, don't come to me whining about why the hell you're not rooming with someone who I didn't even know you're the fucking handler for. And quit constantly texting my boyfriend with your whining, too. Dipshit.

Sincerely,

Jess



Just me being insanely irritated at someone's stupidity. Will post about my NYC weekend later.