Life Update

It's been awhile since I've had the time or desire to blog.  So I thought I would take a few minutes to update the 3 or 4 people that read this drivel.

As my blog entry below this one says, I have been out of work for going on 4 weeks as of this coming Thursday.  During this time, I really thought about what it is I want to do with my life.   I've come to realize that the Home Health Industry holds no interest, and for that matter desk work in general doesn't really 'do it' for me.  Art is what motivates me, makes me happy, and keeps me content.  All along I have been kidding myself that I could be happy doing anything but.  I was chasing after 'the dream'.  Trying for the six-figure income, the perfect house, nice car, etc.....  After awhile I discovered that I just want to be happy with what I do, and as long as I make enough to survive, pay bills, and squirrel some extra away for retirement, then that's all that matters.

So for the last few weeks I've been looking at all the normal job posting sites: Career builder, Hot Jobs, Monster.  Then I remembered Tank telling me awhile back to check out Craigslist.com.  While perusing that site, and not seeing much that tickled my fancy, I clicked on the 'Creative' section under the 'Gigs' topic.  There it was, staring me in the face.  A position as a production artist, with potential for growth and advancement to hire paying subcontract work.  Under that was another company that was looking for a temp-to-hire artist familiar with Corel Draw.  I applied to both of these, and crossed my fingers.

Fast forward to this past Saturday.  The first job I applied to, the production artist one, was with an outfit called 'Divine Imagery'.  One of the owners invited me down to the shop to speak for a bit.  Right now they are slamming busy with a contract from the Outback Restaurant chain to retrofit existing restaurants, and outfit two new restaurants with new artwork.  I think the restaurant supplied the pieces, or purchased them, and Divine Imagery is painting them.  While we were talking she said that in shop rates weren't that great, BUT, if I proved to be dependable, and hardworking, I would be allowed to take work home and paint there on a piece-by-piece rate basis.  I followed up with a phone call today, and they want me to come in late tomorrow afternoon and work into the night with them to meet a deadline!!!!!!  So, I may be truly on the path to do what I've always wanted to do, and that is simply create art, get paid for it, and be happy!

On the puppy front, we've managed to sell the 1 boy and 2 of the girls.  That leaves us with three left!  Thank God!  I've never seen so much poop in my life!  It's not so bad now that they've had all of their shots and can now go do 'business' outside.  However for awhile there, the washer and dryer were running 24/7.  I'll be glad when the last three are sold and gone.  We are getting lots of calls from interested persons, so it should only be a matter of another week or so before we say "bye-bye" to them.  What an experience it's been.  My wife and I are debating on whether or not we want to go through all of this again.  We're thinking about giving someone a puppy as payment, and having them come over to do a majority of the feedings/kennel changes should we decide to breed Lola again.

Here is a link for some pictures..they've grown quite a bit since these were taken, but you'll get to see what they look like at least. 

http://usera.imagecave.com/wilderz/puppypics/

Everyone take care!