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My mother just called in hysterics. Another one of her brothers just died from falling on the stairs. That's two brothers, her mother, and her nephew all dead in a very short time... and her only sister battling a brain tumor. My mother is losing it. She's practically bed-ridden when a pet dies, so losing so many family members in such a short period of time... I joked before, but it's looking like we actually are cursed. She only has one brother left and one sick sister. There have been way too many funerals for her to deal with.

I'm in a mood which means a blog entry. First of all, I understand that I'm completely at fault and can only blame myself, blah blah blah. That doesn't change the fact that I'm horribly pissed off with how this whole thing was handled. I got a call last night saying that I have an outstanding balance of almost $700 for my Alberta Health Care and that if I didn't pay it immediately, I'd be sent to collections. FUCK! I hadn't paid for months because a) I hadn't been working for a long stretch and couldn't afford it, and b) kept putting it off and eventually forgot. Maybe I had just been spoiled from living in a province for 22 years that didn't require me to pay for health care, but regardless, now I owe a bunch. So I went through the details with the woman who called, she told me how to make the payment, and so on. I asked her if I could make the payment next Tuesday when I was paid and she said "No, if the payment isn't made tonight, you'll be sent to collections and your credit will be damaged." So of course I asked, "Well why wasn't I contacted before it got to this point? You could have called me a month ago" and got the typical friendly response of being the one in blame. Whatever, I can accept that... I was dumb. When I began the technicalities of making the payment online, I noticed the payee name wasn't Alberta Health and discovered that it was actually a collection agency. So I had been sent to collections already. I called back the woman who I had talked to before and she had completely transformed into a raging bitch in the half hour. "I was just calling because I was confused about what we talked about before." "What then?" "Well you said that I had to make the payment today lest I be sent to collections but I -" "NO! You've already been sent to collections, I'm from the collections agency." "Oh...that's not what you said before, okay then I -" "It is so. So what's the problem? You can't pay it or what?" WHOA BITCH! First you lie to me, then you treat me like shit? I wasn't confrontational, I wasn't rude and I wasn't accusatory in the slightest. I was only trying to make sense of the situation. So, despite wanting to tell her to go fuck herself, I re-checked the details with her. "Fine, so I owe $amount and -" "And fifteen cents. Don't forget the fifteen cents" "... fine I owe $amount and fifteen cents and I make the payment to 'company name' - " "Don't forget the dash in our name. It's (blank) dash (blank) "... okay. You mean a hyphen?" "NO! a dash. Like, a dash. You know what a dash is?" "You mean a backslash?" "YES! a slash!" "A dash and a slash are different things... So I make the payment to (blank) BACKSLASH (blank)?" "That's what I said" Lo and behold, when I tried to enter the company name into my bank account payee list, nothing was available. I tried every variation with nothing until finally, I tried a hyphenated name instead of one with a backslash and big surprise, the name was there. Fucking. Moron. So I'm cranky. If I was already sent to collections, why would another week before I paid really matter? Instead, I made the payment when I couldn't afford it and now I'm screwed for the rest of the month. Student loans are already taking $500 a month, plus rent, plus a ridiculous phone bill (Rogers are ridiculous) plus the money I owe on the credit card, and now health care and I'm freaking out just a tad. Oh, and I was just bitching to my co-workers about this and right as I exclaimed, "FUCK!" a client walked through the door and heard me. Lovely start to the day.

I'm in a mood which means a blog entry. First of all, I understand that I'm completely at fault and can only blame myself, blah blah blah. That doesn't change the fact that I'm horribly pissed off with how this whole thing was handled. I got a call last night saying that I have an outstanding balance of almost $700 for my Alberta Health Care and that if I didn't pay it immediately, I'd be sent to collections. FUCK! I hadn't paid for months because a) I hadn't been working for a long stretch and couldn't afford it, and b) kept putting it off and eventually forgot. Maybe I had just been spoiled from living in a province for 22 years that didn't require me to pay for health care, but regardless, now I owe a bunch. So I went through the details with the woman who called, she told me how to make the payment, and so on. I asked her if I could make the payment next Tuesday when I was paid and she said "No, if the payment isn't made tonight, you'll be sent to collections and your credit will be damaged." So of course I asked, "Well why wasn't I contacted before it got to this point? You could have called me a month ago" and got the typical friendly response of being the one in blame. Whatever, I can accept that... I was dumb. When I began the technicalities of making the payment online, I noticed the payee name wasn't Alberta Health and discovered that it was actually a collection agency. So I had been sent to collections already. I called back the woman who I had talked to before and she had completely transformed into a raging bitch in the half hour. "I was just calling because I was confused about what we talked about before." "What then?" "Well you said that I had to make the payment today lest I be sent to collections but I -" "NO! You've already been sent to collections, I'm from the collections agency." "Oh...that's not what you said before, okay then I -" "It is so. So what's the problem? You can't pay it or what?" WHOA BITCH! First you lie to me, then you treat me like shit? I wasn't confrontational, I wasn't rude and I wasn't accusatory in the slightest. I was only trying to make sense of the situation. So, despite wanting to tell her to go fuck herself, I re-checked the details with her. "Fine, so I owe $amount and -" "And fifteen cents. Don't forget the fifteen cents" "... fine I owe $amount and fifteen cents and I make the payment to 'company name' - " "Don't forget the dash in our name. It's (blank) dash (blank) "... okay. You mean a hyphen?" "NO! a dash. Like, a dash. You know what a dash is?" "You mean a backslash?" "YES! a slash!" "A dash and a slash are different things... So I make the payment to (blank) BACKSLASH (blank)?" "That's what I said" Lo and behold, when I tried to enter the company name into my bank account payee list, nothing was available. I tried every variation with nothing until finally, I tried a hyphenated name instead of one with a backslash and big surprise, the name was there. Fucking. Moron. So I'm cranky. If I was already sent to collections, why would another week before I paid really matter? Instead, I made the payment when I couldn't afford it and now I'm screwed for the rest of the month. Student loans are already taking $500 a month, plus rent, plus a ridiculous phone bill (Rogers are ridiculous) plus the money I owe on the credit card, and now health care and I'm freaking out just a tad. Oh, and I was just bitching to my co-workers about this and right as I exclaimed, "FUCK!" a client walked through the door and heard me. Lovely start to the day.

I'm making an update out of sense of duty, really. I fear I've lost all desire to make lengthy in-depth posts as I used to. I swear, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Plurk (which is awesome BTW) have completely robbed me of any attention span. Any post more than 140 characters is a chore for me. God, even Facebook is growing tired for me lately. As always, I hesitate to give up on my blogs entirely because of the friends I've made through them. And although I don't write nearly as often as I used to.. or comment for that matter... I read everyone else's entries every day. I imagine it'll only be a matter of time before it's time to throw in the towel and delete at least one of my journals. I don't need three or four blogs out there -- all with the same sporadic entries. ANYWAY! Life has been going really well. Work is excellent. I sent two jobs I'm really proud of to the printers and am excited to get them back. I've already accumulated a few portfolio pieces from this job that nicely fill in the gaps of my previous somewhat limited collection of work. I'm also getting a lot of valuable experience with client relations, pre-press, production, invoicing, etc. I'm trying to get a grasp of the important stuff for when I work for myself, (which WILL happen one day, gosh darnit) My bosses have been quite receptive to suggestions I've made in the last little while too. In fact, based on a few comments I had about their current website, I've been put in charge of completely re-designing their web presence. It's a big job but I'm loving it. I presented them with roughs today and they seemed quite happy overall. Tara in particular is extremely excited and asked if we could launch a new site next week. No. No we can't... but it feels good that she's that pleased. Other than work, not much has been happening. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. My bosses, bless 'em, are giving us an extra day and a half off so it'll be a very nice break. I've been trying to get some personal stuff done (illustration, as always and also re-designing my own website) so hopefully I'll have some opportunity this weekend. I'm feeling extra creative lately and just can't seem to find enough time. There. I made an update. :) Go Jared. Ta!

I forgot to post about this before but was just reminded of it. My boss Tara is reading this book... and I think my friend Tracey is reading it too. Anyway, she was describing the book to the people at her party - how the book was a bunch of short stories about people living with AIDS and how it's heart-wrenching and poignant and all that... to which Michael replied, "So, it's like Chicken Soup for the AIDS Soul?" I almost died. :D As far as offensive statements go, I think Michael's tops my statement of "Oh whatever, screw the blind people" when discussing Enzo's(office dog) dwindling time with us. Oh, and did I mention they just hired a visually impaired girl at the office one door down? And that her desk is literally three feet inside their door? And that their door was open so even if I hadn't shouted my statement, which I did, she was bound to hear me? Yeah. Open mouth, insert foot. But Michael's is still better.

Today is Drawing Day 08 and I originally had some good stuff planned but didn't get around to it. I still wanted to post something though so I figured I would post some progress stuff.

I haven't had much time to work on this lately, but here is some progress on my character, "Cashew" - part of my dress-up series. I'm going for a teal/brown/tan color scheme for this one and I think it'll look pretty cool when I finish it - which hopefully won't be too far away. And here is an EXTREMELY rough sketch of one of the other characters. I didn't even finish sketching it out because I realize that I usually ignore my sketches when I start painting anyway so it's a waste of time. I still have the rabbit one to paint after I finish Cashew, plus I have a girl with goldfish sketched out and ready to go. After that comes snake, frog, sugar glider, turtle, etc.... or whatever else inspires me in the meantime. DRAW! _______________________________ Moving on. Last night I went to a party at Tara's(boss) place and had a great time. There was a much larger group of people than the last get-together and it was kind of a potluck thing. Mike and I made caesar salad with homemade dressing, croutons, etc. It was so garlic-y that the collective breath of the party could peel paint I'm sure. I also made pina coladas which went over well. Originally the party was planned as a hot dog eating contest between my co-workers but as more and more people got invited, (or invited themselves) they crumbled under pressure for fear of appearing piggish. Bernie did eat four though.. so that's something. ;) My appreciation for my job continues to grow and I feel quite fortunate. The woman I'm replacing was at the party for a while and I told her she's not allowed to return in January. Tara spoke up and said I shouldn't just assume I'd be leaving when Gillian returns but I guess we'll see. A lot can happen before then. As soon as the summer is over and my seasonal depression kicks back in, I'll likely be anxious to move away again anyway. I actually had a lot of stuff I wanted to write about but I was hung-over this morning and I'm feeling lazy now. Slowly but surely this blog is being abandoned. I'm pretty impressed I still write at all after eight years. Ta!

I've mentioned our office pooch a few times before but have never shown him. I figured it's time.

It'll be a sad day when Enzo has to go to some blind kid. Selfish.

I NEVER do these. In fact, I generally hate when people do them... but this one seems a little fun at least.

60 Things You Possibly Didn’t Know About Me [But Now You Do]

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
Don't have a car.. or a license.. or a desire for either, really.

2. When was the last time you threw up?
Ummm... whenever Jeff had his last party and I puked in the hamper full of clean clothes.. and on the floor, and the wall... and I think a little bit in the toilet...yeah. Years ago.

3. Whats your favorite curse word?
Fuck Cunt Douche Shit... I really have to work on it. I don't like to swear

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Enzo (office dog - he counts!)
Tara (boss)
Mike (he's handsome)

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Turning off my alarm, being cranky at having to go to work.

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Buying lunch with Karen 

7. Have you ever been to a strip club?
No I have not... but I've seen people strip. ;)

8. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Back to work I guess....

9. When is your birthday?
02-27

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Coconut ice-cream from the Asian supermarket, or GreenTea ice-cream from the sushi restaurant.

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Water

12. What are you wearing right now?
jeans, sandals, white T-shirt, red-brown sweater

13. What is the last thing you ate?
Chicken, spinach and feta panini

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
No 

15. When was the last time you ran?
Does eliptical machines and bikes count? No? Fine... like last year. *shame*

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
Oilers game in the winter

17. What's the last sport you played?
*blink*

18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on myspace?
Go Facebook!

19. Ever go camping?
Yes. Hopefully again soon.

20.Do you have a tan?
No. BUT THIS IS MY YEAR! I'm going to fake bake fo' sho'

21.Have you ever lost anything down a toilet?
Poop?

22.What is your guilty pleasure?
candy, chips, chocolate, greasy fries... pretty much anything food related.

23.Do you use smiley faces on the computer a lot?
:) Yup ;) 

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
No sir

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
Work, gym, America's Next Top Model, calling Jess... 

28. Where is your mom right now?
at home, playing online poker probably.

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
a bruised apple, a picture of Mike, my sketch book

30. What color is your watch?
No watch

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia?
Andrew (close enough)

32. Ever ridden on a roller coaster?
yup. Maybe this weekend!

33. What is your birthstone?
Amythest

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive through?
No car... so inside

35. What is your favorite number?
130

36. Do you have a dog?
No. :( wah Princess Penelope will have to suffice

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
random client

38. Have you met anyone famous?
Not officially.

39. Any plans today?
Going to the gym... complaining about the gym....

40. How many provinces have you lived in?
2 (though it feels like more)

41. Ever go to college?
uh huh

42. Where are you right now?
at the office *sigh* 

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
life in general

44. Last song listened to?
Mariah Carey - Emotion. :D

46. Are you allergic to anything?
NovoMoxin. 

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
my sandals

48. Taste in your mouth right now?
tomato

49. Are you jealous of anyone?
loads of people, actually. not good.

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
I seriously doubt it

51. Do you love anyone?
Yes. Very much.

52. Do any of your friends have children?
Yes. 

53. Do you eat healthy?
I try to.. but fail quite often

54. What do you usually do during the day?
procrastinate, design, procrastinate, design, procrastinate....

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
No. It's very nice not to

58. Do you own any big sunglasses?
Sunglasses and I don't get along.

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
No. I grew up poor.

60. How did you get one of your scars?
My brother has tried to kill me more times than I can remember...

I've had an interesting week... and I don't really feel like writing about most of it. I am, however, excited to have recently finished my first painting on my new computer. Big screen + more RAM = happy painting times for Jared. I've been looking over my recent work and I wasn't entirely happy with how it's been turning out so I decided to try out a different technique with this illustration. I think I achieved quite a bit more tonal depth with this than I have with my previous stuff. I get frustrated pretty easily when I struggle with painting, but all I have to do is look at some of my work from this time last year and I become pretty satisfied with my progress so far.

(apologies for those on my friend's list on multiple blogs and see this stuff like ten times...)

I had a ridiculously long, shitty day. I was originally going to post a rant about it, but I'm far too exhausted a the moment to dwell on it any longer. If today was any indication of how the rest of the week is going to be, however, I'm sure they'll be a lengthy rant in the near future. Clients from hell. :S

I decided to focus on the positive instead. I'm currently working on a series of 'dress-up' illustrations in my free time that I'm pretty happy with. I find I have two very different styles for my illustration work - one which comes very naturally to me and one which takes a little more time. This is an example of how I draw naturally and I decided to just go with it for once instead of always trying to force myself to draw in a style I'm not comfortable with. I had honestly forgotten what it felt like to just draw without all my hang-ups. I was surprised by how quickly things came together.

Anyway, here are three of the character sketches for what I'm working on. I won't go into much detail now but I hope the final series is as fun as I expect it to be. I have nine more characters at various stages of development at the moment. I'll start painting these once I get my new computer and have the correct RAM and screen size to properly illustrate.

Cheers