shit in my brain

Hello Internet World

Just wanted to check in and let y'all know what's been going on.

I got hit by a car while jogging a couple of weeks ago and was VERY lucky and didn't seriously get injured. My ankle was twisted a bit and it still hurts though so I'm trying to be careful. It's a little frustrating though to feel pain when I turn it too much one way or the other.

I've been looking through the p90x message boards on facebook and looks like all the very successful people are on the no-alcohol kick. Kinda sucks but that's what worked for me before. I just talked to Dave and he said if I wanted to cut back on the drinking he'd do it with me. So I suppose (excluding this weekend) I will begin limiting my drinking a lot. There was this woman who showed her before/after pix of 8 months and she looked unrecognizable. She said she ate 1 complex carb/day and did p90x and turbo jam, and cut out alcohol pretty much completely. I, however, don't want to lead the sober life like I did a few years ago. There are so many social attachments to alcohol that it makes me feel alienated when I don't participate. That might sound lame or whatever, but it's true.

Another frustrating thing is that perhaps because of my vegetarian diet, alcohol-consumption, and sweet-tooth, I'm not seeing weight-loss on the scale. I really really don't want to go back to eating meat. It hurts my soul to think of doing that. I have noticed more strength, stamina, and energy since starting the regimen. Starting on Monday I will really commit to the CEA-HOW diet (w/ moderation on the alcohol) for 30 days to see if that makes a difference now that I'm vegetarian.

My contract is almost up with americanidol.com. I'm glad, in a way. I've been working there for 4 months and it's been frustrating to deal with people who don't want to try anything new, graphics-wise. Not everybody is stuck in their own rut there, but the ones who do approvals are, which keeps me from having fun and really enjoying my time. The money is really good over there and I'm hoping that when I go freelance again that I can continue to make as good, if not better, money. I'm also a bit disappointed in my failure to establish contacts outside of americanidol.com. I was hoping that the art director there would be more of a networking sort of guy, who could introduce me to other art directors of other shows, but that's not the kind of person he is. My solution as of now, is to ask the guy who runs the entire site to please keep me in mind when other jobs of similar ilk come along. I suppose I could email him and copy the art director my resume and my accomplishments.

I'm considering taking some refresher courses in Photoshop and looking into what options the government can give me to do that w/o having to pay the entire class fees alone. I feel like if I want to make more money in the corporate world I definitely need to brush up my skill-set even if it isn't in the area I really want to go foward in, which is portraiture.

When I am done with my contract for AI I am going to start posting ads on CL for my portrait painting skills. Luckily I've got a few I can use for examples now and I can probably get my friends to pose for me and maybe even chip in a little bit for the cost of canvas. It'd be awesome to never have to go into an office again and paint for a living, like I've dreamed of doing my entire life. Who knows, maybe I CAN achieve that goal.

I'm going to Santa Barbara this weekend with some friends. I hope it will be fun. I'm a little worried about my money situation but if all goes well I won't spend over 150.

Ok guys, I think that's about it for now. I feel better and have some ideas for what I can get started on when I'm done at AI. :)