✧This Week at a Glance✧: Tattooing, Window Display, Guilt

Hi and welcome to a new blog installment format where we're just going to hang out and casually chat about the past week! 

We're talking low-workload periods (and how I fill my time), waiting for feedback, my upcoming window display for promoting Mushroom Rain at Malaprop's Bookstore in downtown Asheville, "gaming guilt", missing the outdoors, and tattoo practice! 

This is my highlight reel from the past week. Sometimes I feel like it's important to call that out, you know? Like yes, I got to go to a cool art gallery opening at a tattoo shop in Asheville, saw The Batman, worked on a window display installment, and dressed nicely on some days...but there are equal if not more times where I'm wearing sweatpants all day, doing boring things like finishing up my taxes to send off, eating half a bag of kettlecorn standing over my kitchen sink, having a very bad horrible poop, struggling to communicate my feelings to someone I love, etc etc etc. I always want you to remember that social media is a highlight reel. 

My intention is always to help you escape a little, while also keeping it very realistic. Equal parts fun and honest. 

Also I should note that I am in a starbucks and there is a man who looks like a dirty sufjan stevens who has been on-and-off staring at me for a little over an hour now, so there's that.

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

So let's get into the week, kicking it off with my hobonichi highlights from recently!

My hobonichi as I've said before is more of a place for me to do whatever, whenever. I don't have any particular "purpose" with it. For my longer-format journaling I use Day One, a digital journaling app where I type, rather than write on paper. 

Thanks to a wonderful gift care package from @cardinalcrowns (I linked her etsy but Courtney can also be found from that handle on patreon, instagram and twitter) my hobonichi has been majorly upgraded using her stickers, tape, and notecards!

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Low-Workload, Waiting for Feedback

Ah, a position I would have killed for a while ago because of how busy I was, now it's here, and I feel....weird? But I have been practicing not feeling weird about it, hahaha. Basically, I am in this waiting space where I have now done multiple books which are all coming out soon, or later this year, and I'm also in the waiting-for-initial-feedback stage on Book 2 of Arden High. I'm also waiting for the 100% finalized manuscript, and the art cannot be started until then. So I literally don't have any pressing book work right now. 

And me, being me, I must fill my time. But I'm working on being easy on myself and filling my time with half "productive" activities (patreon, tattooing, filming youtube videos, cleaning, organizing, doing interviews for classes and students, small art jobs here and there), and half "enriching" activities (anything non-work related, catching up with friends, relaxing, gaming, fitness training, being outdoors, reading, cooking).

I have written multiple times in my journal how I feel weird about not working. Like, I am an adult, and I'm paying bills, and I'm technically...making money, not actively, but because of the large advances I have already gotten, I'm set financially for the time being. But I have to be working, right??! That's how life works. I think the realization of how sweet freelance life can be has been seriously setting in this year. Like, I can hike all day tomorrow if I want. It does not feel real, and I feel so thankful that I am at a place to say that.

It does make me somewhat anxious knowing that at any minute I'm going to receive a massive email saying OKAY START ON BOOK 2 ALSO HERE'S BOOK 1 REVISIONS ALSO WE NEED THESE 43 THINGS ALSO DO A BACKFLIP????

...but I'm enjoying the period of time before that happens, and I'm actively working on staying calm before the potential storm. 

"Gaming Guilt"

This is what I'm calling it. It ties in with everything above, in a way. It's literally the idea that for a long time I struggled with the idea of taking time out of my day to play videogames. This didn't use to be an issue for me, but once my career really began and picked up, especially because my career requires me to sit in front of a screen, I had a lot of trouble justifying sitting in front of a different screen and "wasting my time". 

Genuinely I don't think I had time for it last year. But I wouldn't even allow myself to relax even once a week to play videogames, I would try to spend that time off doing something active, or just anything that didn't require me to be in front of a screen. When all the big animal crossing updates were happening I felt so heartbroken that it was hard for me to even listen to any of the new news regarding the game--I felt so behind, too behind to even catch up in any reasonable amount of time. I feel like I had a really complicated relationship with gaming during that time, which is kind of a silly thing to say, but videogames used to be such a huge inspiration for me, so I was missing it like a past lover, hahah. 

This year I told myself I was going to try to ease back into playing games since I have the capacity to do so now. I sold my switch lite and got a full-on big boy switch, hoping that would help encourage me to get back to something I loved and work on that guilt I felt. I think it honestly helped! I've been actively playing a little bit of animal crossing or pokemon shining diamond before bed, and sometimes when I wake up. I look forward to it, it's like my special time that only belongs to me. Working on my animal crossing island again (starting completely over) has been a rewarding task where I trick my twisted little brain into thinking that I'm getting something done. And that's just what works for me! I'm so happy to be back into it, and will share some snippets from Kewpie island when it's more presentable. :-)

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Mushroom Rain Promotional Window Display!

I'm so excited that I get to do this. I thought about my options for a while on how I could make this display. What I ended up deciding on, to save time in setup and take the pressure off of myself a little, was to prepare mushroom and raincloud cutouts to prop up in the window, and then use window paint to put the words "mushroom rain" directly on the window. 

I am using foam board to make the installations, painting directly on them with acrylic and colored pencil, then cutting them out with an exacto-knife (which has proven in the past to be difficult. This is how I made those cutout head shapes). 

The most tricky part is working with the paint itself, which the foam board tends to suck up easily, so it's hard to spread the paint and I end up using a lot of supply. I use matte medium to try and thin out and extend my acrylic, also mixing in white gesso where I see fit. It takes some getting used to, but once I get in a flow with it, it becomes very enjoyable :-) I have been hunched over my floor, watching Love is Blind while I work on these. It barely feels like work at all (and I guess it....technically isn't? I'm not sure what I consider "work". I'm not getting paid for this because it's advertising for the book). 

Anyways, this all has to be done by next week, and installation is on the 23rd. I'm not sure yet how I'll prop them up in the window, and I really hope I can figure out appropriate hanging hardware for the clouds/rain drops. I will keep you updated on this process and maybe even film the installation if I can!! If you're in the Asheville area, keep an eye out for Malaprop's book store! 

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Tattoo Practice

I'm keeping this section short because frankly there isn't much to say (I'd like to save this for an upcoming podcast, too). But I did just give my second tattoo to another body besides my own! I sweat so much the whole fucking time! wow! I have a crippling fear that I will mess up and the client will be horrified, despite the fact that I do not charge money for these initial "practice" tats. My home setup is getting better and better though, and (even if they were pretending) my last client who got the kewpie fairy seemed really happy with it. It's not perfect by any means, a solid 6/10 in my eyes, but I know I'm also probably being a little hard on myself. 

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Finally, Missing The Outdoors.

Maybe missing isn't the right word. Getting excited about it is better. Last year I hiked a few times, but felt like I did sacrifice a lot of outdoor time due to my workload. Going into this spring I know I'll have more time to go for runs outside, rollerblade, hike, backpack, swim in lakes and waterfalls, and picnic. I felt my heart leap while typing that!!

I really want to record/vlog some outdoor time for you, too. I am really happy to be living so close to the Appalachian mountains and cannot wait to take full advantage of that this spring and summer! To finish off, here's some photos from springs and summers past just to get some virtual fresh air(?).

Do you have any plans for the warmer weather and sunnier days? 

See you soon and thanks for spending time with me!

-JG