Ok...Here's the Plan

My goal today is to stay focused on one task at a time. I'm actually really good at being able to accomplish lots of things at once, but it leaves me frenzied and tired, and I'd actually like to enjoy my day off.
I had an interesting day yesterday. I woke up seeing an image of a sculpture I need to make (nice when that happens). At work, I figure to counter the terrible customer, there was a customer who I had a spiritual connection moment with (kind of a feeling that a moment in time will change you and give you deeper insight; very hard to explain, but happens to me from time to time).
I'm not going to put a lot of pressure on today...just remind myself that life can be beautiful in silence and peace at times...sounds like I need a break from the hustle and the bustle.
I'm really looking forward to July. I actually have two weeks off...haven't had that much time off in years :-)

I Love A Feel Good Film

I watched the movie Galaxy Quest tonight. I'm not really the biggest fan of Tim Allen, but he was really fun to watch in this role and came off as sympathetic. Sometimes, especially after a long day, it's nice to see people saving the universe :-)

Testing My Patience

Life at work today was troubling. In retail work, there are always days that customers are demanding or agrivating, but a customer today crossed the line into insulting. I don't like it when it is insinuated that I'm trying to rip someone off and that the work I do is not worth the money charged for it (I work in a custom picture framing store). I don't mind so much when people from other places such as the Middle East or Europe try to haggle with me or complain a little; it's a cultural difference that I can deal with.
All custom work is expensive. A person wouldn't be surprised that a custom tailored suit costs more than one off the rack, but with chain stores offering cheap(and often badly crafted) framing deals, it makes people crazy-thirsty for bargains.
I may not be a high salary executive, but I deserve respect for the work I do. I take my job seriously, and modesty aside, I'm good at it. I have worked my entire life at creative endevours and it has given me visual insight. I respect the objects people bring to me and try to help them presere and display them in a way which makes them happy.
Sigh....
I'll get down off my soapbox now.

A Questioning Temperment

I find myself at the end of another day off from work. I spent a good part of the day sewing again. There must be some larger meaning to all this sewing I feel an urgent need to complete (something subconscious perhaps?). I keep meaning to work on pieces for my show, but well meaning as I am, it just doesn't seem like my priority. I'll have to get cracking soon, as August is not so very far away, but I'm a firm believer in not forcing the creative process.
My relationship with how and why I create feels like it is in the process of changing. I know that I am happiest when I'm just making things for no particular reason, perhaps to give away, and most especially when I'm making something for someone very near and dear to me(miss you).
While I don't know for sure how this change will manifest itself (new materials, new techniques, new ideas?) I know what would ultimately make me happy as a creative person......I'm picturing a place to work, a nice studio in a house somewhere not too noisy or crowded. It's a place where I can paint without the worry of accidently poisoning myself with toxic fumes(like I would in my current apartment). It has a place to put all my tools and a nice working surface (like the workbench my grandfather made my family when I was a kid), and ample natural as well as artificial light. I'd like to have a decent sized yard with grass I could walk barefoot in, a place to garden, make paths, sculpt the land; and dare I dream; build my own bizzare stuctures out a found materials. When it comes down to it I just want room to breathe and to make things on my own terms...that's my idea of heaven.