Preparing for a Revamp

Well, other than the blog, which will probably stay right here. I'm talking about my website, which still exists but is rather neglected over at risawn.com. I'm actually planning to use the com in .com for what it's intention is, I'm going commerical.

Actually, I'm going to redub the site Risawn Studios, and am trying to come up with a nifty logo to use with it, and then I think I'm going to showcase my art and photography, and then go into freelance work and perhaps try something with taking pictures and portraits for people or what not. So it's a way to showcase my work and hopefully profit a little on the side. I would be content for this to just be a side job to make a little extra money along with any other odd jobs I do. The key being, of course, is working from home is my goal. If I can keep myself motivated.

Also, I need a new computer. My husband is a mac, but I can't picture myself buying a desktop mac with all of the software I have, and paying so much for one, when I've stuck on PC.

Meanwhile, completed my first month of P90X. Pics to come, although I'm debating on showing pictures at the end of it all.

Plans for the Stay At Home Housewife / New Mom

What to do with myself?

I may have mentioned before that my mind gets racing and I often have these ideas of things I can do or write about or whatever.  Of course, right now I'm just plain exhausted due to my present condition.  I was working graveyard shifts at the airport to provide a little extra income but put in my two weeks as soon as I confirmed that I was indeed pregnant because my job consisted of cleaning airplanes.  Right now I kind of want to avoid cleaning chemicals.  I do need to get another job (aside from my weekend warrior stint, don't know where that's going to go for the next year other then me just sitting around because I really shouldn't do anything) and it has got me thinking. 

Truthfully, though I am fiercely independent in mind, I'm old fashioned at heart.  Hey, what can I say?  I am conservative and I was raised in a two parent household with five brothers and sisters and my mom was largely a house wife.  I don't want to raise my kidlings via day care, I think the day care generation that is coming into age now a days has a lot to say against it because of the fact that their parents weren't at home raising them.  I fully plan on being a stay at home mom and being the primary raiser of my offspring (until of course, my husband retires from the Airforce and becomes a full time stay at home dad and sends me off to earn the living, so he says)

Fortunately, with the invention of the internets came many great and wonderful things, such as working from home.  I'm trying to figure out what exactly I can do where I can be available for my kids and be here for them where I am also earning a living on the side and therefore contributing to the inflow of household cash for other things like clothes, food, and spontaneous trips to wherever our minds or hearts take us.  I want to get back into blogging, like I mentioned before, I enjoy it and I felt if I pursued it when I got my fluke hit with fame back in 2004 that fizzled due to Army not liking my blogging habits (and since then, I have come to better understand their concerns, but still) so yes, when I feel up to it and not completely wasted by exhaustion, I might post my thoughts and opinions on whatever.  But I don't think I can ever make a serious living off of blogging alone. 

Fortunately, having a house has given me one thing, and that is room to get back into my art again, something I have been dutifully neglecting for the last six years or so.  I don't know if I can make a serious living off of my art, but the extra income would be nice and I can do something that I love to do.  But how to market it?   eBay?  Craigslist?  Could I just sell random stuff on either?  Hmm. . .

It got me to thinking about some of my other hobbies and things I like to do, why not marry them together? 

Children's Book?  I've been wanting to do one for a while.  Well, I'll be stuck at home next spring and through the summer?  Well, it's going to be a while, maybe I can write and illustrate one, market it and find a living?  Would love it if I could do that, so I think I'm going to give it a shot.  What's the worst that can happen?  Nobody buys it?  If nothing else, perhaps I can make just enough to recoop some expenses. 

But first, I have to get my studio up and running, in the spare room I've claimed in the house. 

Other thoughts, possible Photography business, since I have the equipment.  Maybe even get in with my two sisters and work with them from time to time.  Just as soon as I find my little niche in the world I guess.   

Graveyards

Whenever I'm at work I can come up with a million and one things to blog about, mostly because I have a lot of time on my hands.  I am by my nature a night owl, at least I was when I was younger but I do realize that graveyard shifts are not the most conducive thing to my social schedule.  It is kind of nice that I can choose to sleep in the morning or in the evening, thus freeing my day for other events if they should come about, but still, well, I have to say that Grave Yard Shifts kindof suck.

I've never worked a job consistently on graveyard before (there is a first for everything) but the work is rather easy in the scheme of things.  I can just go into autopilot and let my mind wander.  It's not a retail job afterall (which I was dreading the possibility of going back to retail, Nooo!) but in the long run I would rather be doing other things. 

However, it does keep me humble, as I need to do something productive to contribute to the household, and this job kind of found me (long story).  If left to my own devices, I would go strictly housewife routine, and my husband would probably tell you I'm not a very good housewife.  See, I lack domestication, being super independent before and addicted to the internets.  But I vow to get better, starting with learning to love how to cook.  My husband likes food, and is old fashioned in that regard.  He'd probably like it better if I didn't work graveyard shifts too, but alas, until I find another source of income for me to contribute (preferably from the home) I'll keep working this shift.  That's motivation for me. 

I just have to find the right job.to do.  Anything to get off the graveyard at this point.  Aside from retail.  And fast food.  I draw the line somewhere.

What am I Up Too When I'm Not Utilizying Personal Time?

So some people asked, so I guess I'll give you a little heads up on my current status. Sorry, I have to maintain vague terminology in case anybody decides to 'google that shit'. Of which I know, yes, somebody is going to Google me. It's a given.

Am I working at the moment? Yes.

Full time or Part Time? Full Time. Until early next year unless I decide to extend. I'm still thinking about it, the economy and where we are at as a nation will be determining factors.

What Job am I doing? That job that entails screaming at adults to make them do what I want them to do (very empowering at times, but in truth, quite exhausting. Honestly, you don't power trip on it very much after a while, because your freedoms are quite limited yourself. But it can be rewarding). Why don't I give it a name? Well, because I've mentioned it before, but it becomes quite easy to google when I state it and people have a tendency to find me easier.

In regards to that 'Job' I am referring too, considering the sensitive nature of the job, and the potential for future people I may come in contact with that might try to find out more about what I do before they experience what I do full force, that is one of the reasons why blogging is such a sensitive nature, especially in regards to this particular topic. Nobody wants the human side to come forward, and in regards to my personality and nature, I am all to human.

That was one of the reasons for my moving to an area that is not remotely related to my job last year, though one can have no doubt that i hold a lot of enthusiasm for what I do. A little to much? Probably. I'm still learning the finer parts of this job, and need to refine my style quite a bit, and since I volunteered and many of my counterparts were ordered, we hold varying degrees of ideology on how to perform the same job. I mostly need mentorship, unfortunately, most of my mentors have been in the habit of contradicting each other, which has become quite annoying.

On a completely related but different note, I decided I would point out something that was kind of interesting that was shown to me by one of my readers shortly after my blog went on Hiatus.


This is a screen capture from an official website in regards to what I do for a living at the moment. I did not have anything to do with this, but quite frankly, 2009 being the year of the, well, Leadership that Doesn't Wear Brass (speaking about my job in vague, unsearchable terms is getting quite annoying), I thought this was kind of cool. I decided to get a screen shot, in case the web designers look closer and realize that this example of that particular paygrade may not be the prime example to place on their website.

Yeah, as soon as they realize what they have done, they might go about trying to remove that.

Occupying My Time

I may have mentioned that I have been let go from my civilian employer (but I have been meaning to quit so no loss there), my *six month* deployment has been pushed back a couple of months, and I cut my class load back to one class on Adobe InDesign which is about Digital Layout.

I have a lot of free time on my hands.

The thing is, I really enjoy working my creative side, so I thought about this and decided that I would utilize my creative side toward something that could eventually be productive and make me money.

I want to write a book.

And not just any type of book (I've written a gob of unpublishable crap that sits on my hard drive) I want to write a Children's Book.

When I was in first grade or something, I wrote a book about Animals doing fun things. The art in it can be described as cute, as I was quite a little artist at the time. And I've always wanted to go back and rewrite it and get this idea published.

So I was reassessing this little picture book I had planned when I was about seven years old and thinking to myself 'how can I make this idea work for print?' It occurred to me that I wanted to be the artist, but with some creative help, I could probably work on putting this book to verse.

I just hope that the idea is original enough that I'm not infringing on somebody else's creative genius. But the thing is, I had the idea for this book for something like twenty years now.

I think its doable. I just have to figure out the medium I want to work it toward.

The Status of Today's Society

Society is going to hell. This has been the case for some time now, and I must say that business is helping it get there.

I have to say that by and large, I am an honest person. I try not to lie, I try to give it to you straight. When i was younger, I couldn't understand theft and why people would steal from another person. It didn't make sense to me, because I was kind of sensitive in that I never wanted to hurt anybodies feelings.

Well, obviously THAT'S changed, as I don't care what you think now, I'll do something despite what people say about me, but I always try to do what's right. And one thing I can't stand is a dishonest person getting away with something.

People today are selfish. Everyone is out for themselves and to hell with doing what's right in getting there. But looking at Business, they are doing nothing to prevent people from shoplifting these days. I have been in a store countless times and I can see how freakin' easy it would be to lift a high dollar item. I could be a shoplifting pro if I wanted too, because i've worked retail so much that I know what to look for, and what you can get away with. And in this day an age, you can get away with stealing $100 worth in CDs and have the cashier give you a 'have a nice day' and not do anything about it.

Why do stores not do more to help keep customers honest? I have noticed it more and more that it is more important to keep a person as a customer rather then prosecute a shoplifter in fear of losing their business when they are not getting any business from the shoplifter anyway. The shoplifter is robbing you blind. Have a nice day.

But it seems like it might be against business to prosecute shoplifters because laws these days are more in favor of the shoplifters then the businesses. You just accused me of putting this cd in my pocket? Do you have proof of this? It is fully one hundred percent substantiated? Hah, you didn't get me on camera, I'm going to take you to court for defamation despite the fact that indeed, I stole the CD. But the court is going to back me because you don't have enough proof.

So if you have an employee, such as me for instance, that can't stand shop lifters and want to see the whole lot of them burn in hell, when I get on the case of one and save my employer money by doing a little research to discover that indeed, this product was stolen, guess what happens?

The Employee gets fired and the shoplifter walks away, scott free. Even though, the employee can verify that the product the shoplifter returned was not product properly purchased.

So, the lesson that business is teaching us today kids, is that they care more for keeping you happy then keeping you honest. You see a CD that you like but you don't have the money to purchase it? Just grab that CD off the shelf outside of the camera and employee's view, walk up to the counter and ask to return it. When you can't produce the receipt, and you won't get cash back, tell them you changed your mind and they'll let you walk right out of the store with the product you tried to 'return'.

Indeed, that would be my former employer's policy. Me? I find that bloody ridiculous.

Honesty Policy

I had an incident at work that rose all sorts of red flags for me. See, I've been working in the retail business for a long time, and so I've kind of clued into the warning signs of what would be known as thieves.

I may have mentioned once or twice that I hate thieves. In that I can't stand them. If everyone was honest, we wouldn't have the ate up world we do, but there are a lot of dishonest people who are only out for themselves.

So we had this customer do a return that I can pretty much say with great certainty was stolen. In fact, I should go back and ask to look at the cameras as this customer went through our store and see if I can see her pick up the stolen product. But, alas, in this day and age, most stores are more concerned with the mantra of 'the customer is always right' rather then 'we prosecute shoplifters.'

January is a sucky month to look for a job. But I need to get out of retail anyway.

Pay vs Pay

I just realized I make more money in two days of drill pay then two weeks at my current retail job.

Yes, good money on the army side (money is always a motivating factor) but the civilian job is quite lacking at the moment.

Does the fact that I need a better paying job more evident at present? Yes.

Three more months there and I think I'm done for good. Now I just have to find another job that can work around my military obligation.

Drill Sergeant Relapse

So, I work in a retail outlet that sells stuff, like retail outlets do. Since I've been back I've been trying to work the retail gig by being nice and smiling and being overall helpful. 99% of the time I'm really helpful, though I've been told that I may be a little to serious and intense sometimes and I need to lighten up and smile more.

So anyway, the entrance is a one way, we ask our customers to go around and use the exit doors to get out of the store because you have to walk through the anti theft device.

Before I continue, I need to make it known that I do not like thieves and liars. They will set me off. So when this guy asks me for the time and I give it to him, he decides its time for himself to leave the store and he tries to go out the door and I politely tell him "sir, you can't go that way."

He becomes insistent and when he fiddles with the door again I make it a little bit more apparent "SIR, that is an entrance only."

So he gets the door open and heads out the door, which generally means he stole something.

I chase him down and go drill sergeant on him, threatening to call the police on his ass and wanting to get in his way just so that I can say he had to touch me out of his way so I can freakin' go apeshit on him (as you aren't allowed to touch shoplifters, unless they assault you first). Of course, I don't have my cell phone and the guy isn't listening and just keeps walking (but truthfully I don't think he'll come back after having to deal with me). So I head back to the store because a 5'3" girl wearing a santa hat isn't all that imposing, no matter how mad I get.

Granted, this is the wrong mentality to have and when I went into the yelling frenzy my coworkers all thought to themselves, "hmm, that must be the drill sergeant side of her", which they haven't seen before. Of course, I was reprimanded because I didn't handle the situation the way they would like me to handle it.

I'm thinking after BNCOC, I'll work there for about three more months and probably put in my two weeks. I like working there and all, but I really do need to get on with life, and the retail gig is not my choice of a place to work.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Somebody showed this to me and I looked into it and this is what popped out. Hmm. I think I need to take it again because I have a tendency to be somewhat vague with my answers.

Since I'm constantly wondering to myself what should I do with my life, I found it to be beneficial information.

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top twenty results (in order).

Number 40 was Infantry. I find that amusing.

1.Horse Trainer
2.Professor
3.Horticulturist
4.Kinesiologist
5.Zookeeper
6.Website Designer
7.ESL Teacher
8.Foreign Language Instructor
9.Desktop Publisher
10.Animal Trainer
11.Animal Caretaker
12.Shipping and Receiving Clerk
13.Music Teacher / Instructor
14.Industrial Designer
15.Computer Trainer
16.Corporate Trainer
17.Animator
18.Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
19.Criminologist
20.Interior Designer

Horse Trainer was the number one pick, which is interesting because when I was a girl of 12 and a complete horse nut, that's what I wanted to do. Obviously I love animals and everything. Art Teacher didn't come up, but Music Teacher did, considering my musical skills are limited this was amusing to me.

I should take it again in a few days, see if something else comes up.

See if I can't get Drill Sergeant in there.

Part Relieved, Part Distraught, Completely Unmotivated

So, I've got a little problem currently.

A few months back, I was set on what I wanted to do, I knew what I wanted to do, and was just working on getting there. A few things came in the way and I adjusted fire and everything was looking good.

Well, suddenly, things aren't looking so bright anymore. I'm frustrated with school and feel like I'm not learning what i need to learn with my current program. Suddenly I realized that school isn't working. I'm not learning anything, and furthermore, when I'm not having a good day, I tend to get into a mindset where I just don't care anymore. And with the events of the last few days, and heck, over the last week, I've realized that I'm just, well, bleh. I don't care. I'm not motivated. I don't know what I want anymore.

Good news is my foot should be completely healed in four weeks, and I can work on it as much as I am comfortable. Just no heavy running or jumping or other forms of impact on it. Sounds good. Which makes that it is a good thing that I'm going to DSS in July instead of May, I wouldn't be ready.

Strange, right now Drill Sergeant School is the only thing I'm realy motivated about. School is no longer keeping my interest and I've got this feeling that I'm going to be stuck working a mediocre job for the rest of my life if I don't get my attention focused again.

I think I need to call about that one job again. Find out where that's going.

And maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to recover some of the info on my two hard drives that won't end up busting my bank.

But strangely, a part of me feels relieved that the information is gone.

Another part is a little distraught.

Job Offer

Over the last few days an amazing opportunity came up for me, but I kept fairly mum on the subject for fear of getting my hopes to high in regards to whether or not this would pan out.

A friend I've had for about twenty years is married to a guy in the gaming industry, and they are looking for female designers. Although I don't have any prior experience in game design, I was offered the opportunity to apply for it based on my creative side, gaming history and writing abilities. When doing research on this field, I have discovered that this is a very unique and rare opportunity for me.

I filled out a resume and sent it in with my various job skills that fit the job and they offered me a phone interview (this job is out of town and would require me to move). Before the interview, I was also given a series of questionares in regards to the gaming industry and I had to fill them out and send them back, using this as the basis of whether or not I was a fit for the job.

The questions were. . . interesting to say the least. When I initially looked at them, my first reaction was 'huh?' Because of the highly competitive market that is the gaming industry, publishers are constantly looking for new ideas for games. As such, a designer has to be able to figure out a fun and creative game with what appears to be a really stupid or strange idea. I was warned that they can be borderline crazy at times.

Whatever the case, I was given a bunch of questions and a few premises behind some possible games and I had about twelve hours to come up with something and get it back to them. The fact that I had to stay up all night long working on this made me think that this was also part of the interview process, what kind of ideas I could come up with when under a crunch.

And I had to come up with something creative while displaying my writing skills. I think I did ok with it considering I had to pop NO-Doze and by the time the interview rolled around, I was going about 25-26 hours without sleep. Again, I suspect this was part of the interview process, but a couple of the questions they asked I fear I may have been bordering on incoherent.

I was told that they liked my stuff, but before I can get hired, I have to be interviewed by the president of the company. So I'll know sometime later this week. I'm excited, this is a very rare opportunity for me and I will be paid to actually play video games regularly. This is kind of the field I wanted to break into with my animation degree so overall the fact that this opportunity landed at my feet is amazing.

Yes, I will keep you posted.

If it does happen, I have a few cool ideas for some video games :)

Still Amongst the Living, I Promise

Ok, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I promise. I've just been. . . busy, that's all. Busy doing a whole lot of nothing.

Coupled with working retail during the holidays. Yep, THAT was fun.

So, a quick rundown of my life in the last three weeks.

Blaine had a un X-rayable ear plug in his stomach, which caused him to lose a half a pound in about three weeks, which is a lot for a ferret. I finally took him to see a vet again (foregoing the emergency routine and scheduling an appointment this time) and a little Boriam and Xrays confirmed that there was something in there.

Surgery was necessary to save the ferret. These are turning into some expensive pets. *sighs* Blaine is recovering well. But he's looking a bit scruffy and his shaved belly is kind of interesting. Abby, meanwhile, is really fat and fluffy now.

I am now floating around my store, working a lot in music lately, which I find interesting that I'm progressively becoming a music associate. The elusive Tech N9ne and Nickelback Cds that our system says are in our store that I cannot find do plague me however.

Christmas was nice. I'll post about it in its own post.

There has been snow on and off again, but the mountains have been open for nearly a month now. And I haven't gone snowboarding once. . .

I think I can attribute this to having nobody to go with me. *sighs again*

Job Woes

I have made up my mind when I'm called in regards to taking a shift I wasn't originally scheduled for.

First, I will consider what shift I am working in the future, such as if I'm opening the next day which is a Saturday, and this shift is a closing shift on Friday. (That's always bad news).

Then I will ask who I'm taking over the shift for. There are a couple of people who I have noticed have a tendency to call in. . . all the time. (why do you work here, buddy?)

And last, I will ask who the manager on duty is.

I can work this job, and I don't mind it (especially for the whole retail gig) but I have definitely learned that retail is not what I aspire to do for the rest of my life (must . . . acquire . . . degree . . .) and until that happens, I have to do something to pay the bills and put food in my stomach. And right now (unfortunately) this means retail.

I may have mentioned I'm back at my old job, mostly because its something I can do, but I am getting reminded on why I quit the first time. Honestly, I'm 26 years old, I'm working on a college degree, I've been there, seen that and put up with a lot of bull. I honestly don't do well in the peon jobs like I used to do.

This job included.

Honestly, if I were to be too serious in my employment, I'd have to shoot myself. I was having troubles before I quit the first time, and I've given myself some breather space so I don't unintentionally kill somebody. And I deal with things my own way.

In this work environment, I intentionally act goofy, make jokes, and sometimes poke fun at myself just to keep the atmosphere light. I have to try to have fun and act like a total goofball because otherwise I would come across as the heinious bitch that people were accusing me of being the last time.

Although I'm pretty sure I'm very competant in this job, I keep getting these other employees who keep talking down to me on basic stuff that a newbie might not know but HEY, I DID THIS JOB FOR A YEAR AS A MANAGER!!! I know what I'm doing, thanks. But then I remind myself that things have changed and so I shut up and just try to listen. Plus, this is a different store then the old one, so I try to keep that in mind as well. Things run differently. . .

So far, I think I'm doing ok, as long as I'm not being treated like a newbie and a complete idiot. If I have a question, I'll ask it (and I've had a few) but for the most part, please let me do the job.

Now that I've survived Black Friday (actually, wasn't all that bad, until I agreed to come back to work in the evening), I have to negotiate the rest of the season with my sanity intact.

Oh Look, MT Spokane is Open! I can work on my angst by taking advantage of that season pass I purchased last spring!

Work and Movies

You know what I discovered? I'm too nice.

Yesterday, I got a call from my boss asking if I would come into work today. I said "sure"

So I worked from 11 to 7 today. On my birthday. I'm just too nice I tell you.

Al Gore's an Inconveniant Truth came out yesterday. I haven't seen it, and I don't think I will. What cracks me up about the title is it is supposedly about the truth of global warming. I might be wrong about this and all, but as far as anybody can tell, Global Warming is still theory.

So it should by all rights be called an Inconveniant Theory.

I was also considering seeing Happy Feet (being an animation major) until I learned that the UN comes and saves the day at the very end.

Huh? The UN comes and saves the day? Having worked closely with the UN last year and seeing the fine job that has been done in Kosovo, yeah, the UN has the answer to EVERYTHING.

I got some movie tickets for my birthday, I think I'll see something else, like Borat, instead.

Do I Really Look This Stupid?

I swear, do I have the word 'Idiot' written on my forehead?

I get this kid in line today that hands me two Cds, one's Pink Floyd and the other is Nas. I really didn't pay attention to them at first and just rang them up. Nas, being rap, is in a long box and I pull it out, only to realize that there is a sticker for 3.99 on it that says 'Various artists'. I take a good hard look at a CD that is clearly marked as being Nas. So I took that sticker and peeled it off and low and behold, underneath was the real sticker with the real price.

"Um, looks like you grabbed a CD that somebody had put the wrong sticker on. I can't sell this to you at the other price."

I'm really good at playing stupid.

"Oh, I don't have enough money for it then," he says.

Slyly, I ring up the Pink Floyd, which has a Used Generic CD Sticker on it, for .99 cents. I give him his money and before I give him the CD. . . "Oh wait, this one has the wrong sticker on it too! I'm sorry, I can't sell this for you, I have to do a refund."

So I refunded his money, and got his name and phone number (which is procedure for refunds). Sent him packing. We keep both CDs, with both pricetags revealed for a much larger price then what he had placed on them.

Sadly, if he had tried that on another associate, he might have gotten away with it. I've just been doing this for to long.

Anyway, the kid actually GAVE ME HIS NAME! He changed his phone number by at least one digit. We looked him up, he has a rental account, and almost $200 in late fees, and the account is locked up. I think it might even be in collections. Smart, kid. Way to go.

I know what he looks like, but I have a feeling he won't be back for a while. Hopefully he got the hint. But could he have been any more obvious???

It's to bad I'm not authorized to say "hey stupid, I know you're the one who did this and tried to rip us off, get the hell out of my store" but I'm just a lowly peon. So the boss told me to call him next time I see anything like that.

Sure thing, Boss!

This Week

All three of my classes have major projects due next Sunday.

I think this is a conspiracy to ruin my Thanksgiving Day Weekend.

Not to mention, Black Friday is this Friday and I work Retail.

(And my B-day is on Wednesday)

*Crosses fingers and hopes that I can survive the week*

Ho-Hum

So lately my life is encompassing school and a couple of ferrets. Every now and again I get the privelege of going to an army drill, but all in all, my life has become rather mundane.

The search for employment continues. I'm looking at getting a job through the VA Work Study Program (I can do it as long as I have GI bill coming in) which is tax free. And tax free is good!

I've also looked at other things to do to occupy my time. The CERT course (Community Emergency Response Team) has been helpful in taking up a portion of my time on Mondays, and I can use it as Volunteer points. So far I really enjoy the class.

In regards to the army, nothing like getting hazed for delaying your entry into Drill Sergeant School. They would prefer I go in January. I keep insisting that I've been there and done that and would prefer to go in March. So that's what I'm doing. I was half tempted to change my mind and go in January but I decided to stick with the March date for three reasons.

The first, its bloody cold in January. As I said before, been there done that.
The Second, it fits so nicely in with my schooling to wait until March. When I come home in May, I can just transition back into school.
The Third, well, being a Snowboarder and all that purchased a season pass. . . I would prefer to be able to use it and not cut my season short.

So that's it in a nutshell. Me and the army and the rest of my hum-drum life.

More on Work, complete with Art News!

My laptop is working great, well, the hardware is. I still need to reformat it and get it running smoothly again, but overall, I'm just delighted to have it back.

Meanwhile, in the realm of work, a friend of mine is commissioning a piece of art. All I can say is 'Yay!' I've also got a couple other ideas to brainstorm in other art projects, and these projects will be blogged. I need to blog about something, it might as well be art.

I've got a friend who is requesting some art pieces from her friends for a Reptile Rescue she's doing, to earn funds for her critters. Eh, she's a friend, its for a good cause, I'm game :)

Further more, in the realm of even more work, I've got more news on my summer job issue. See, I was originally scheduled to work in Glacier National Park in Montana, and though I was excited about the opportunities and the job, it really wasn't what I wanted to do. But I felt it was important to at least secure the job in case something else didn't materialize.

Well low and behold, I got a job off in Yellowstone National Park, doing what I wanted to do originally! It looks like an awesome opportunity, its only for the summer, I'll be out in the middle of one of the most beautiful areas in the country, and I'll be working with horses doing trail rides and learning how to drive a stage coach!

This is one of those experiences that I'm taking soully for the experience and the little money I make on the side is nice to keep the bills paid, but I can't begin to say how excited this job has me feeling right now! I should have done something like this years ago, but the army has always kept me from doing something like this. This is the first true opportunity where I have the freedom to pursue a job like this.

Its great work around school and army drill as well. I just have to talk to my command about negotiating around drill this summer, and hooking up with one of the two units in Montana.

Hey, what can I say? I'm excited!

Current 'Jobs'

On top of staring at my blog (and personal website for that matter) and realizing that it is in dire need of severe updating, I am working on other matters to make money, though I am guessing my current project might make me ten bucks a month or so at most.

*sighs*

But I can't get to down on myself, these things happen. Meanwhile, I've got my online comic strip up and running. Again. I've got most of my few loyal readers back on board. And I learned how to create a forum. Through phpBB.

I'll call this good news and move along.

I've also started my subscriber services. I'm not sure how well that will do, I'm just hoping that I can get about ten or so people on board so it will make me about, oh, ten bucks a month.

Oh, Yellowstone called. I might have a job there this summer, doing what I originally wanted to do. And that's work with horses. I'm not sure if I have the job yet or not, if not, I'll have my other job to fall back on at Glacier National park.

Whatever the case, I'm excited about that.

I was going to go to Karate tonight, but I failed to account for daylight savings.