JOB HUNT

I'm on the hunt for a job. I've applied a bunch of places so far but I haven't heard anything back yet. It blows. I've had a group interview at Bath & Body Works that went fine. It's part time and not a job I really want. Especially since I'll have to buy a pair of pants and a long sleeve shirt to cover my tattoos. I'll have to wear pants and a long sleeves EVER DAY I work there. I'll also have to take my two facial piercings out and wash/bleach out the purple in my hair. That was almost a deal breaker for me. I'm so desperate that I can't really turn anything down if they want me but it sucks so hard that I'll have to totally change my appearance just for this one place. A part time place. A place I really don't actually want to work for.

I went to a job fair for a new Urban Outfitters that's opening up in the same complex as the Bath & Body. They did a little impromptu group interview and I did really well out of the group. Jon went with me. We're both in need of jobs. It was really nice to have him there. I felt more confident. I think I like group interviews better because it's a lot easier to gauge how well you're doing, at least compared to the other people in the group. Jon and I were the best, but then I'm pretty biased. I would much rather work for Urban because they actually encourage their employees to be individuals. I wouldn't have to change myself to fit some stupid model.

I think it's really silly that a lot of places want all their employees to look exactly the same. Doesn't it get boring? I don't want to blend in, to disappear in a sea of workers who are wearing the exact same clothes, who have the exact same hair. I'll wear a uniform, I'll wear khaki pants and a white collared shirt, but let me keep my tattoos visible! Let me dye my hair fun colors, let me keep my piercings for fuck's sake! Let me be me! I don't want to be another corporate robot that can be replaced in an instant by someone else who looks exactly the same.

I didn't go to art school so I could blend in with the crowd! I want to stand out, I want to be unique. I want to be bold, loud, colorful, and creative! It feels so wrong to contemplate changing so much about me for a stupid part time job that I don't REALLY want. It sucks that I'll take the job and do the changing because I need a job so desperately.

Please call me back UO! Please, someone, give me a chance to prove that just because I have purple hair, tattoos, colorful clothes, and piercings doesn't mean I can't sell the shit out of your product. Give me a chance and don't ask me to look like everyone else. Please!

APARTMENT HUNT

So here's the story. Jon and I thought we had this nice two bedroom, two bathroom apartment all lined up. We thought everything was going smoothly and we would have this place by Monday. Well it's not happening. The landlord (who owns the building, he doesn't just manage it) raised the monthly rent by $50 AFTER we had filled out the application. Sketchy! If he's comfortable doing something like that what else is he capable of? We didn't want to find out.

So Jon, being the amazing man he is, found a different place in Dedham. It's a townhouse so that means two floors and a basement! There's a washer and dryer that would be all ours. The kitchen looks nice and very cookable. It looks new and clean. Spacious. I'm excited to have two floors! Jon is over there right now talking to the owner ironing things out. His credit should check out just fine. He's a good, responsible boy. I trust him to ask all the right questions and to let me know about anything important. Hopefully we can get all this sorted and have a place to live by next week. That's the most important thing. I'm going to be there on Wednesday the 20th so we NEED to have a place by then. Jon will make it happen.

I wish I could be there with him. He sounds so stressed and run down on the phone and it breaks my heart. He's doing all of this on his own. My only contribution has been the money from my grandparents. I just want to give him a hug. I think he really needs one right now. Sex would be nice too but we'll have to wait until Wed for that. Le sigh.

So that's what's up. We're working on it! I'm packing up my things (finally) and trying to mentally prepare for the grueling flight from Salt Lake City to Boston. At least it's over night so hopefully I can sleep a little? Maybe.

The dog and cat are all ready to go accept that Orson needs a certificate of health but that's easy peasy. Just plop him on the vet's table, a few pokes and prods and he'll be pronounced healthy as a bull moose. Only smaller. And sweeter. <3

SOON

Jon is getting the rental trailer from U-Haul on the 2nd of August! That's so soon. This whole moving in together, starting a new life in a new place with all it's joys and uncertainties THING, really hit me the other day. It's really happening. I'm out of college and it's time to be part of the world. I don't really know what that means beyond getting a job and paying bills. I'm not thrilled about the paying bills thing but I'm looking forward to having a job. Of course I can only say that because I have next to no job experience. That means getting my first job is going to be hard. No one wants to hire someone without experience and it seems very unlikely that I'll be able to find an art type job right away. I'm hoping to work at the Apple Store or maybe get a job at a little boutique or something. If I work at a little boutique maybe they'd be interested in selling my work. I want to keep making crafty stuff, keep working with resin and fabric and yarn but it's not going to pay my bills right now. I'm just not making any sales. I think being in a big city where I can do some serious not-on-the-internet networking might help but I don't know. I need to remember to give my friends my business cards so that they can hand them out when they get compliments on their resin stuff. I've given resin necklaces to a lot of my friends or sold them on for cheap because I love them but I need to eat. They say they get lots of compliments but I keep forgetting to give them business cards. I know where they live though! I'll send everyone some cards as soon as I can remember to do it. Yeah.

My mother made the suggestion of race coaching at the nearest ski resort. She said there's one about an hour outside of Boston. That's a really awesome idea. I fo sho want to ski as much as I can but Jon and I aren't going to have a car. Maybe there's a shuttle or something that goes every weekend or even just once in a while? I don't even know the name of the resort. I should find this stuff out. I would love to coach little girls in ski racing. I loved it, I learned so much and I'm sure I have lots to teach. I also know that having a female coach was one of the best and most important parts of racing for me. I met strong, intelligent women who could ski the pants off most guys. I met women who could stand up to a WHOLE bunch of men and maintain their poise. I really learned from those women. They understood that girls ski a little differently because they went through it. They know that having hips, boobs, and a butt change your balance. I learned by watching them, emulating the way they moved their bodies when they bombed down the hill. I wanted to be fast, strong, and confident. I'm at least strong and confident when I'm on my skiis. I never got all that fast but mostly that was fear of getting hurt. I can go pretty damn fast though. :D

We'll see what the future has in store when we get there. It's not time yet, there's nothing I can do to get a job right now. I'll try and use this time to write a résumé if I can figure out how to actually do that. I'll try to add anything I can think of on there as "special skills" like that I can speak some Japanese and I know how to make molds and cold cast. I can crochet and sew and pour resin. I know how to weld with acetaline. Arch welding startles me cause the spark makes a loud noise and the welding mask doesn't help cause you can hardly see a thing unless there's a spark. It's no good. I'll take acetaline any day. What else do I know how to do? I can draw! And I know more than your average bear about web design, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I can pick up new computer skills pretty fucking fast. I type like a dynamo! Whatever that means. I think it means I type really fast and well. I know how to do some video editing. I know how to etch and I could figure out how to screen print quickly. I understand everything about it in theory I've just never applied that knowledge to the practice of silkscreening.

I want to take all these skills and apply them to my own creative business. I want to make stuff for people to wear and enjoy. I want to do this mostly so that I have the cutest stuff around but I would love to share so that other people can have cutesy things too. I might make some stuff some day that isn't all that cute. It might be scary or weird or ugly even. I just want to make cool stuff that I would want to wear or own for other people to wear or own. I don't think I would ever make something that I wouldn't wear proudly on my own self.

THIS ENTRY IS LONG AND RAMBLY WITH NO REAL PLOT OR DESIGN. YAY!

PLANS

Things are coming together finally. It looks like a sure thing that Jon and I are moving to Boston some time either during or before August. I would like to move at the beginning of August so that there's lots of time to get settled before his classes start. That doesn't mean we're actually going to do that though.

I'm leaving for Utah sometime in the second week of June. I'm gonna hang out there rent free for a couple months, hopefully get a job and save up. Maybe I can get a little job experience before Boston. I'm 24 and I've never had a job before. I guess in some ways that makes me very privileged but in a lot of ways it puts me at a huge disadvantage. Everywhere that's hiring wants experience and I have absolutely none. I'm sure that most of the jobs that want experience aren't really all that hard. I'm really very smart so I can't imagine that I would struggle at something like data entry, but they want experience anyway.

What I really want to do is make resin stuff and live off that, but my internet sales suck and I have no idea how to boost them. Don't get me wrong, I've sold lots of necklaces but it's all been through school. Friends and classmates were my biggest buyers. I got a lot of interest just wearing my stuff around campus. People would come up to me and ask questions, stuff like that. Now that I have business cards I can hand them out to people but school's over, so that's a bust. Anybody know a good way to self promote? I have this blog, I have Facebook and a link to my shop on there. Same with Myspace. I have a Flickr too, and DeviantArt. I never expected sales to just come rolling in with no effort on my part but I'm kinda shy on the internet because I tend to make an ass of myself.... Not really sure what to do.

I need to make some money and getting a real job seems like it's going to be more and more impossible. The job market doesn't seem to be improving. I'm just a little freaked out and worried about this is all. I'm worried that Jon and I are gonna move in together and I won't be able to find a job anywhere. I'm worried that Jon's gonna be spending all his time going to school and working and supporting me because I can't find any place willing to hire an artist with no job experience in any field. I know how to cast things, I know how to make up to a two part mold, and I know how to sew but not well enough to do it as a job. XP

Maybe everything will be fine....