Betrothed

My best friend of 10 years is officially going to get hitched to his lovely girlfriend! I'm super happy for him and his lady. But, on a more selfish note, he asked me to be his "best dude." I of course, cried my little eyes out, because we've been close for so long and I love him like a brother.

Im already starting to diabolically plan their engagement party and his bachelor party. Aww yissss.

Congratulations Ricky and D-Ro!

Life

I am going through an interesting time these days. I have a very odd lineup of jobs, each of which present new and interesting challenges and diverse social instances. Really, my jobs run the gamut of cultivating relationships with people from all different age groups and walks of life.

The teaching job (volunteer work with K-2) has me connecting to really young kids and getting to the point where I am so so looking forward to teaching. The Liquor store job really has me working with people my own age and much much older, around the same socio-economic background as I am, but I'm gaining much more knowledge about beer, wine, and fine cuisine from my manager C. and coworker J. The knitting and needle point store definitely gives me perspective from an older age group, and its been especially interesting working with the women. I feel a bit like I'm a surrogate daughter there, and they all mother me a bit, poking at me to eat when I seem like I'm tired, asking me about who I'm dating, all that good stuff.

And lastly but certainly not least is the set painting. I suppose its taught me the most about myself and about my limits. Post college me is slacking off more than I should be. Deadlines weren't really my strong point in college and now that I have this huge project left up to me in a more professional arena than the stuff I did for MIT, there has been a lot of pressure. A good friend of mine who is also working on the show has been vouching for me, both in terms of skill and responsibility, this entire time, and I know for a fact that I've disappointed him. It will all be done soon, though.

I'm glad that things have changed.

Regarding Jobs

Life's finally picking up in terms of the growing up part. I had been giving myself a pretty big guilt trip about turning 23 and not having a job, and pretty much as soon as the day had passed, I started getting calls about working.
It's one of those things that my mom used to always remind me of (and I always hated to hear her say), that good things will happen when you least expect them.
On the bleh side of this I appear to have gotten sick again, but that's to be expected as right around this time I get either a cold or strep throat. Stupid body.

Anyhow, these days here's the lineup:
-Starting new position at Knitting store in Boston 11/5
-Painting for A.Y.L.I. to be finished on 11/6
-Starting new position at Wine store in Somerville 11/7
-Continuing After School K-2 in JP
-Making art and stuff.

twenty three.

The nothing birthday is fast approaching. A birthday which earns me no novel privileges. However, these days its looking like I'll feel pretty happy to be alive.
I have a gallery show coming up, which has been so widely popular that there are two openings scheduled.
So far the gifts have been pretty freakin awesome. My friend JJ bought me an apron designed by the lovely Jeph Jaques from his comic "Questionable Content." Perhaps I will take a picture of it at some point. ANNND my lovely friend Dawn took me to see Me First and The Gimme Gimmes at the Paradise, which was an incredible show. I also got to chill with my best guys earlier this week, which was a gift unto itself. Not to mention that when the evening came to a close (12:30 or so), I somehow managed to make it back to Somerville around 1:30, though the T is supposed to make its last stop at 12:50.

Anyhow, here are some...
Memorable moments:
Tom: (sam aka "Sudspuss" enters the bar) "Woooaah, it just got all sudsy in here!"
...
Tom: "I'm thinkin' that its about time to bring back the mohawk. I just need someone to do it for me, because I know I'll fuck it up."
Me: "I'll do it!"
Matt: "Ennhh, I dunno. She takes off little too much."
John: "Was that a SCALPING joke?"

The Teenagebottlerockets: "Do people in Boston like pizza? (crowd cheers) RIGHT ON! This songs about BURRITOS!"
...
"DO YOU GUYS LIKE CHESS!"

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Spike Slawson: "Boston, where there are SO many douchebags, but no clean vaginas!"
...
Joey Cape: (after fans keep throwing cigarettes at him) "Man, Boston really wants me to keep smoking."
Fat Mike: (cheers) "Here we go, Cancer, Here we go!"
Spike Slawson: "You know, rhythm is a cancer..."

List of art things to create:
- Set for AYLI
- Comics (creepy songs and "dude, look how big this is getting")
- Pretty posters for musicals and plays (sexy additions to portfolio)
- Fake band posters (for fake bands or not, ie hot little hate junkie)
- flier buffer for Eolune and possibly some for Streight Angular
- knitted quilt
- more ceramics (call Janna?)
- paint my room

I'm trying to cultivate the artist title of "Fury" because it was my grandfather's original last name. He was born to an Irish father and a Souix mother, so due to the times and people not really supporting interracial marriage or children, he was put up for adoption. He was given the name James Fury, which is just one of the most badass names ever.

Anyhow, now that I'm trying to embrace it in my artwork as my pseudonym, I look at it and worry that its either dumb or that it looks a little too much like "Furry"...

Clarification. I am not a furry. It's on the internet forever now, people.

So life has been interesting since last I posted up here.
Its been 2 years, 3 different apartments, and 6 different roommates since my last post.
And now its real life. I finished my thesis in December, finished my portfolio in April, and graduated in May.
I went back to Arizona for a little bit to hang out with my parents and to set up my room for the arrival of my grandmother, who has now moved into what used to be my room.
Annnd then I came back to Boston and was subsequently invited to go to Europe with Matt. It was probably not the best idea in terms of fiscal responsibility, but in all honesty, its the happiest that I've been in a good while. It was 5 days in London, 2 days in Amsterdam, and 3 days in Berlin.

London, as I had predicted, was the area in which I felt the happiest and most comfortable, so much so that I hope to one day live out there. Amsterdam was beautiful once we got away from the more touristy areas of the place and there were lots of really nice people. Berlin was slightly unfriendly, and I suppose I wish that I had found out the artsy places sooner. We got ourselves lost on purpose and then finally felt oddly at home. All in all it was a good bonding experience for the two of us, the fact that we didn't kill each other was surprising after that much time alone.

More recently, I've been settling into a new living situation. The old place was shared with N.M. who I had lived with previously, her boyfriend T.P., an old friend L.M., and our resident fancy gentleman, J.P. All in all, it was a difficult time, socially it often worked out, but in terms of actual important roommate things (cleaning, paying bills, personal boundaries, etc), I think we ended up getting on each others' nerves. I hope to keep them all as friends, but it was certainly time for a change.
Now, I'm living with one of my best friends since middle school E.E., his girlfriend D.R., and another buddy M.D. I'm incredibly happy with how the apartment has been, its a beautiful place and bonding with M.D. has been pretty awesome. She's in grad school at the moment, so she's been somewhat scarce, but its odd. I miss her when shes gone, and we tend to get super excited when the other comes home. It's one of the nicest friendships I've developed.

In terms of my artwork, and work in general, things have gotten much better recently. I have a gallery opening coming up this week at Space 242, a volunteer teaching position in JP, and hopefully a new retail job.

All in all, life has been good these days. I hope it will stay that way.