How much for the tofu-dog in the window?

I'm feeling better--the above drawing aside ;-) If you'd like to see more of my SICK drawings, hop on over to Kunstpike for the whole bunch of me looking ill :-P

Work was ok.. I hate Mondays, period, no ifs & ands or buts. Even when I'm unemployed Mondays suck. I don't mind Thursdays though. Weird eh? HRSDC was as numbing as ever. My pod-mates were all antsy today too. No one wanted to work, it was a consensus of irritable boredom. 2 months (sort've) I've been at it, and it is still as icky as ever. Who knows what'll happen next? I keep applying to whatever comes up in the ICN. So far I've applied for 2 graphics jobs and got an application in to the Canada Council for the Arts. Now we just wait for a few months (or longer... the wheels turn slow!)

Speaking of slow wheels. Development (in animation-land) also moves slowly. But not for lack of trying. I just received an offer to renew my contract with Decode for "Ivy & Dummy" and my "Moon Warriors" show ideas, so that's cool. I can't believe 4 years have swung by already. But everyone down there still seems keen, so I said "sure"! At least with the Development happening, I feel like one day a ship may come in, even if it's an optimistic coracle ;-)

What else? I have a few things lining up, might even get a chance to sharpen my pencils and help my friend Nick on some storyboard clean-up, which would be nice. It may even save this old wreck of an artist; at least from gnawing off a limb or two! There may be creative things brewing with my dear friend Tracy too! That would be swell :-D Also, the summer is coming..and with it possible travel plans.. have to see how the dough holds out, but I am hoping the Clay-dude & I may hit Detroit for the Palladium Books open house in May, and if all goes well, a wedding out west in June. Again; tentative, but something I can look forward to. Yay!

Had a nice lunch Sunday with Mom at Mexi's at Centrum which I'd never been to; it was huge! We had fajitas (of course) and used Mom's coupon. The beer went very well with it. I'm so glad I'm not feeling nauseous any more. Yes! Poked around at Cdn. Tire for colour chips and got some sandpaper. Sandpaper costs .72 cents. That's your fact for today! I'm going to sand, scrub and prime the studio... then we'll slap on some paint... just have to see if I'm firm on the idea of a bright violet wall or not *wink*.

I have been reading like a monster, as usual... Reviews will follow when I have more time. I have to hit the books and study; this is my last week of French study at work (Block 5) and all the tests and evaluations are this week..so.. je devrai etudier mes livres! Zut alors!

I hope everyone is well and that the creative fires burn brightly for you all. Courage my friends!
May the Muse be generous, the creative souls quiver with eager anticipation and the pieces of time you carve in which to lay down those juicy creations be enough to salve your souls.

*hugs*
Suzanne.



I got a bunch of these this week from a buddy at work.. this is my fave. I am tempted to print it on good photo paper and get it laminated. I think it would look swell over my computer. It's one of those lovely little pics that Management would glance at and go, "Great! It's one of those motivational pics! What a great sign of glowing morale!" When it fact, it is a sign of moral decay and the need for suicide prevention officers wielding mega hypos of thorazine to chase us down one by one and cart us safely to the Quiet Room for Deprogramming.

wheee!

PS: Today's "secret word" is salve.

Can do

I went in to work with the usual dread in my gut, which has become my unwelcome companion. It reminds me of the days I spent half of my time not at University, then invariably would turn up for exams and critiques to try and pass somehow. (Not recommended.)

Tried reviewing my French material this morning over breakfast and the dim gloaming of another winter sunrise turning the horizon to breathtaking dusky purple and fuschia. These sunrises are wasted on me because I'm caught up on the treadmill of the joe job.. poor Mother Nature, shaking the hell out of her palette for all the sleeping artists to miss. And the wretched one who is awake is motioning through the movements, staggering to work and remembering the beauty in half-wary dreams and haunted whining.

So, my exam got postponed til next week. YAY. I was soooo not ready. Missing a couple of weeks can do that to you. I had done a few of the excersises and one of them we corrected (I was actually prepared! go figure.) When I got back, I keyed for about an hour and then the department exited for an extended lunch! Now before you go all "You Gov't People And Your Extended Lunches" on me... this is like, the only extended lunch that has ever happened to me in the department. This is OID, the most uptight division at Stats. And within that is Data Capture.. and, well, so on. So it was a nice (singular) event.

We went to the Tansy Buffet near Lincoln Fields. I enjoyed it; lots of broccoli and plenty of tasty Dim Sum. The dish labeled "Lasagna" contained suspicious looking eggplant (go figure...) They had canned peaches though.. MMmmm Peaches For Sue! :-D

So, returned to work in time for the afternoon break. Yay, I love days like these. Keyed for an hour, caught up a bit with Myra and then turned the Echo Westward and home. Worked on a Sudoku when I got to Kanata... I'm getting a bit better at these. My brain felt like it had sprained itself. Math... echhh :-P

Then Fi called! Yayyy Feefers. We've been playing phone-tag for months. So it was cool finally catching up for real. She's knitting like a fiend and has a special surprise for me that she's been working on since before my bday last year! (A house cosy?) We'll see.

Well, I should go and draw.. the pencil is calling my name...
Cheers,
Suzanne.

PS Check out my post on Kunstpike about Nick Cross' "Waif of Persephone" that arrived yesterday!
PPS Check out Art Wanted. "Black Diamond" one of my drawings got voted the site's Top Ten today!
PPPS Don't forget to vote for Amanda on the Model Search. Only 3 days left!
PPPPS Umm.. can't think of anything else.. :-)

Marking passage

I finally uploaded the pic of our backyard covered in MANGO FOOTIE PRINTS. Can you believe it? Of course, now the backyard is smoothed out with fresh snow. But only a couple of weeks ago it looked like a doggie playground. As you can see, I have two sheds, a fence, a nice thick cedar hedge at the back and off to the far left is my compost mound. Whee!

Work was so-so. It is with myopic blinking gurgledge that I spasm back into the leather traces of HRSDC and keying. Only the people make it bearable. I know, I shouldn't whine; I could be digging ditches, laying pipe, swimming across the North Atlantic or something.. but at least there would be a bit more of a mental engagement happening. A wee little one? Hmm..

Got paid, got my over-time pay.. and headed off to the Bulk Barn, Pet Value and Farm Boy to get whole wheat pasta, rabbit food and .. well, more rabbit food (but for people :-) It wasn't too busy out.. but almost got creamed by a couple of trucks. People A) don't look where they're driving in parking lots *and* B) don't signal their intent. Thus C) Sue almost got creamed. I always figured I'd do more damage to a grill than they would to me.. but these were muchos big trucks. So, I just kept scooting out of the way with my cart and hoped that they'd spare me.

Although considering my fate tomorrow (French exam & keying HRSDC) it might've been preferable.

On a sadder note.. my elderly rattie Diego passed away yesterday, at the age of almost 3 years old. He was a rex who at the end was looking a bit threadbare, but still was an engaging friendly fellow who accepted Cheerios with gentle jaws. He lived alone more than half his life after his cage mate Gandalf passed on, and after he was rejected from integrating into a group cage with his brothers (Salty & Coal.) He lived his days between eating yummy grapes, pizza crusts and rat blocks, sleeping in his Mandarin box and sipping water. When he wasn't doing that, he tottered along the couch, a geriatric rattie who had outlived all his brothers.

He'll be missed.