It ain't easy

Sorry I dropped off the radar. I've been retardedly busy. Work has been unbelievably stressful and I pretty much reached my breaking point last week. Having a better time this week, though I'm floating just under the surface of breaking again. Anyone out there looking for an entry level technical support position? We're hiring - without some help I'm going to snap one of these days (again).

I've been working very hard at turning my life around these past few weeks. I've take account of all the things that I am not happy with and am working towards fixing them. It's extremely exhausting and time consuming and the only thing that's keeping me going is the end goal - more free time to enjoy my life and to be able to relax more. We spent all of last Saturday unpacking the house - after being in there for, oh, only a year. It's such a relief to walk down the stairs in the morning and not be greeted by boxes waiting to be unpacked and stressing me out. There's still some work to do, but my goal is to get everything done and finished by the end of May so I can enjoy my summer.

I've also been working hard on other projects too which I'm not able to blog about. Very time consuming and energy draining, but will be worth it. Who knew that taking control of your life would be so difficult? No wonder a lot of people don't do it and just settle for whatever. It's tough.

Had some disappointing news yesterday. I had applied for a booth in the Toronto Outdoor Art Festival in July. It's a 3 day event which you get to promote and sell your artwork and keep all the profits. I thought for sure I'd get in, but apparently that's not the case. It's disappointing enough to be rejected, but here's what really pissed me off. When you apply you have to pay a $300 application fee plus a $10 paypal fee - but if you are rejected, they keep $40 as a non-refundable service charge. So I only got a cheque for $260 and was out 50 bucks. I felt scammed. It's posted clearly on their website, but still it just feels wrong. According to the letter they had over 1200 applicants for 500 spots. That's at least 700 rejections x $40 = $28000! Talk about a cash grab! Fundamentally I think it's a great cause and I support the effort, but at that cost I just can't support the event. It's for the same reason that I decided not to do SNAP! this year. I realize it's a charity event, but after paying for the materials, paying the application fee and then paying again to get in, it ends up costing me well over $100. It's like if you're willing to give a little these art organizations just grab whatever they can get.

In the end it's not a bad thing. Q's big family reunion and his parent's 50th wedding anniversary were on that same weekend. We hadn't told them I wasn't going yet and thankfully don't have to now. Plus it was going to cost me $1500 - $2000 to get all my prints made. Money I just don't have right now. So I'm disappointed at being rejected, but I'm relieved I don't have to do it now. Everything happens for a reason.

Oh and Dead Robot - let me know where and when you're exhibition is. I'd love to see it.