miasma

i haven't blogged on this site in about two years because of certain privacy issues to do with a job i used to have. they were VERY nosy and bitchy about the content of my personal blog; threatened to fire me once after i jokingly inferred that they were mafia-like because we all had dinner at a family-style Italian restaurant. seriously... well, i no longer have that gag order over me, so i'm starting up again. i don't think my life is all that interesting, i just need to get back in the habit of writing for public consumption on a daily basis. here is a little about me, currently:

i live in San Francisco, in the Mission District, in a studio, with a guy and about 15 plants. the guy and i are good friends. we've been living together off and on for about two years, but he's saving his money to move out and get his own room somewhere, maybe here in SF, maybe Michigan, maybe Portland... he hasn't decided yet.

i'm 38, a girl, a Leo... boy it is weird trying to describe oneself, i feel like i'm writing a personal ad. i guess i'll start with what i do for money. well, i was the web editor for Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine for two years and four months. i loved that job more than any other job i'd ever had. i put hours and hours of my own personal time into making their website be really good, at least what i thought was good. on the last business day of 2007, Juxtapoz and i went our separate ways. it was a painful, shocking, and sad transition, but it was necessary.

two days after i left Jux, i had dinner with my friends Annie Owens and Attaboy who produce Hi-Fructose Magazine... it's another art mag, a little fledgling fella but shows great promise. they asked me to be the third head of the Hi-Fructose hydra! they are stoked to have me and i am extremely happy to be working with them. they are both truly wonderful people. being their first committed employee is a big step for them, so for now, i am working freelance/part-time, writing and helping to re-design their website.

i get to collect unemployment for the next several months, so to satisfy my job search requirements, i am looking on craigslist every day at writing/editing jobs... art/media jobs... HTML/web jobs... and applying for those that look like genuine fits. the hopeful scenario is that my work with Hi-Fructose will become a full-time job and the focus of all my efforts. we've got about 6-8 months to make that happen.

when i worked at Juxtapoz, i was required to work on-site at their offices in the Bayview District. this basically forced me to have a car - partly because i'm lazy, partly because i didn't want to spend two+ hours a day commuting, and partly because i hauled my laptop back and forth to work every day and Bayview is a very sketchy hood... though, ironically, when i was robbed of my laptop in December 2005, it was at my front door. i complained bitterly about having to work on-site. i think it was a huge waste of resources and time that i had to go there every day when my job was entirely internet-based, and i have a perfectly comfortable home where i can work, with my own bathroom and kitchen and wouldn't have to commute, add to traffic, add to global warming, and waste money on insurance, fuel, maintenance, parking tickets, repairing broken windows, and replacing stolen stereos...

now that i work at home on freelance jobs for a rad art magazine and receive the sweet unemployment $$$, i'm going to sell my shit heap of a car. my car has been broken into multiple times. after the fourth incident, I kinda gave up. there is now a gaping hole where the stereo used to be - the face plate wasn't in the car, so the person tore my car apart trying to find it. also, some time last year, a creep in a stolen car ran a stop sign and hit the back of my car nearly tearing the bumper clean off. since he gave me false information, i received money for an uninsured motorist claim. i needed the money pretty badly at the time, so i never got the bumper fixed - it just sort of hangs off and is held in place by the hatchback. i'm over it.

the reason i am cool with getting rid of my car is because of the wonderful City Car Share program. CCS is a non-profit car sharing system, whereas Zip Car is a regular business. this morning i had my first reservation for CCS and drove a white Prius to my doctor's office and the post office. the best part was getting back to the "pod" next to my apartment building and just rolling right into the designated parking spot. AHHHH. parking in my neighborhood is a nightmare. if I don't get one of the coveted week-long spots in the alley where the homeless/crazy/drug addicts live, then I have to move my car every two hours. i'm not eligible for a residential parking permit, even though I LIVE HERE, because on my side of the street, there is no permit zone.

i went to my doctor's office to sign up for a program through Glaxo Smith Kline to receive my medication for free. losing a salaried job means losing one's health insurance of course. who can afford COBRA??? anyone? Universal Health Care, please? there's a bunch of hoop jumping (i have to go out to her office again tomorrow to pick up a new prescription and a voucher), but it's worth it since my meds run about $135 a month. i'm living pretty comfortably on unemployment, but that amount would strip me of about half of that comfort, so this is a very fortunate thing.

it's amazing how busy one can be when one isn't working a real, full-time job. i seem to go to the post office an awful lot. i have been selling a bunch of my extra crap on eBay and Amazon, so that's been another nice thing - getting rid of things i don't need/want and getting a little money. and, i finally had time to take my vintage typewriter in for repair last week. i'm super excited to have it functional again.

oh yeah! all this free time means i have time to do art too. i am currently working on painting a background design on a big, plywood cut-out luchador mask for a show with my friend Peat Wollaeger. i'll post pics when i'm done. it's not the greatest thing ever, but it's been fun to work on, and a learning experience. it's humbling for an art writer to try to make their own art. i appreciate other artists' talents and skills more than ever. artin' ain't easy.

a couple days ago, i found out that i get to go to Cannes, France in early March for an art festival. i'm going with Annie and we're staying at some crazy-swanky hotel for a weekend, then i'm going to grab a train up to Paris and visit a friend of mine for a few days. i have only been to France once before and my French is rusty as fuck, so it will surely be quite an adventure. i can't freaking wait!

for the most part, my days now are just relaxing and awesome: consisting mainly of doing dishes, surfing the internet, painting, making the bed, playing a little Nintendo, running errands... a true highlight of my day is checking the mail. and, since the writers strike means less new TV shows, i've been setting my TiVo to record movies i always meant to watch. like, i finally saw The China Syndrome, National Treasure, and Cool Hand Luke. good stuff. ooh, and we've been watching Breaking Bad - which i can't recommend enough. it is SO good. who knew the dad from Malcolm in the Middle was such a bad ass?

i love my life right now. the other day i scored a used Powerbook for $500, so now i sit on my cozy little sofa with my feet up, typing away at my lapdesk, sipping tea, and listening to the crashing road construction outside my window. i feel so free and happy. what have we learned? change can be painful, shocking, and sad, but it can bring some great rewards. :)