Wtf? Today flew by so fast. I didn’t do anything besides to go the movies and watched “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (for the third time!) Then, all of a sudden, Sunday was over. I’m still beat from yesterday’s gig and tomorrow I gotta get back to work in the “Any Given Bars Mural.” Sundays oughta be longer. Waaahhh…
Last night I woke up to the sound of a bunch of cats being loud as fuck and making crazy sounds outside my window. Maybe it’s mating season, they’re in heat, and they were having a fuckfest in the backyard but I came out and shushed them and they all ran away. No more loud horny cats keeping me awake. That was the basis for this comic strip I sketched tonight.
I’ve always sucked at drawing characters the Marvel way. I still do! It took me over two hours just to get this far and it’s not even close to being inked. Excelsior!
After two and half months of constantly calling Covered California (Obamacare), Medi-Cal (Medi-Care), and Kaiser Permanent, after an error caused me to lose my Premium Tax Credits and pay full price on my monthly health insurance premiums, I finally got confirmation that my money was refunded and my PTC were retroactively applied. It was a huge pain in the ass because no one new what caused me to lose my PTC, and once that was fixed there were more hoops to jump through in order to get my money back. I hope I never have to go through that again.
I had a shitty afternoon and was pissed off for most of the day. I didn't do shit besides sit at a McDonalds for an hour and half, eating junk food and sketching, waiting for my car's oil change. I spent the rest of the day on my phone or TV watching YouTube videos. I haven't had a bad day like this in a long time and it fucking sucked.
It hadn't even been 24 hours since I finished the Eastridge mural that I was right back on site. This time I was only passing by on the way to the movie theater. I went to see the King's Man. On the way in I saw that one of the stanchion ropes was off so I closed it back up. After the movie, on the way out, I saw it was open again and once again I closed it. I hope no one's going up to the mural and touching it before it gets the protective anti-graffiti coating.
Today was one of those days where, after 8 hours, it looks like I didn't do much to the mural, which is kinda frustrating. only 3 more days to wrap it up.
Holy shit. I spent the whole day in bed. It started last night. I couldn't sleep and tossed & turned till around 7 in the morning, when I finally was able to pass out. I woke up a few hours later feeling really tired, with a headache, and upset stomach so I slept some more. I woke up feeling the same. Then I went back to bed and repeated the process. It's now 1:00 AM and I feel a tiny bit better but far from 100%. I hope tomorrow is better. I've never felt like this before, if it doesn't go away I might go to the doctor or ER. This sucks!
After feeling heartbroken and depressed all weekend about how the mural at Eastridge ended up after the community paint day I went back to Eastridge to take a look at it with fresh eyes. I woke up feeling better today and thought maybe I'd been too hard on myself after what transpired on Saturday. Or maybe it didn't look as bad as I remembered. Nope. When I walked up to the mural my heart sank. So much of the work I'd done up to this point, ruined. I no longer want credit for it or want my name attached to it. It's no longer a fair representation of my work and I feel like having my name on it will only damage my Frankie Mcfly brand.
I spent the day trying not to think about how the Eastridge mural ended up after the community paint day. It was impossible. All I could think about was how much longer it was going to take for me to fix it, and wondering if I'll be compensated for the extra work. I wonder if I'll be forced to leave it as-is. I wouldn't be happy with that. I had been so happy, and proud, to be working on the mural and now I feel the complete opposite. Tomorrow I'll go to Eastridge and have a good look at the mural, talk to the folks at Local Color, maybe Eastridge too, and figure out how we're going to move forward.
Welp, the community paint day, as an event, was a success. There were a bunch of people who participated in painting the mural. Mostly small children, and unfortunately, the mural itself is a bit of a mess now. I think it's going to take me even longer now to clean it up and finish it. I left feeling disappointed so I'm taking a day off, or two, before going back to Eastridge to reassess the situation.
On Sunday, I fucked up my right knee at Viva Calle, and I didn't even crash or fall off my bike! When I got downtown, I rode a couple of blocks, then got off and walked my bike through the crowded activity area on First Street. When I got back on my bike and started pedaling, I felt minor pain in my right leg between my foot and knee. It wasn't that bad, so I kept riding my bike for the rest of the event. Yesterday and today, my right knee was hurting! It's swollen, and it hurts when I walk or try and bend it. I've been limping around for two days now, and it sucks! I came across this sketch yesterday. It's years old but still relevant!
I didn't do anything artsy today. I spent the day with friends at a going-away party. Before heading over there I came across a gigantic dead moth in the backyard. I'd never seen one this big before. It kinda freaked me out so I'm glad it was dead! This afternoon I was told that the mural project is back on! Yesterday it was put on hold and it kinda bummed me out. Thankfully it was only one day! Hopefully there are no more hold ups going forward. I just want to get this thing going!
I got word this morning that the mural I'm scheduled to paint was put on hold. The news bummed me out a little, even though I knew things like this could happen. The good news is that the project is on hold, not canceled. Hopefully, whatever issue caused it gets resolved quickly because I'm ready to go!
A couple friends and I got up early Sunday morning to hike up to Maple Falls at Nisene Marks State Park in Aptos. At least that was the plan! I printed a map I pulled from the park's website and soon learned that it wasn't very helpful with the poor/lack-of trail markers at the park. We made our first wrong turn early on and were able to get back on track with a little help from runners & bicyclist. Further along we made another wrong turn onto a trail that wasn't on the map. After a while I started getting suspicious and when we came upon a dirt road I knew were definitely off track. Because the climb was so steep we decided not to go back the way we came. We hiked further north a bit before taking the dirt road back to the parking lot. It was still a great hike and we had a blast even though we didn't see the waterfall. My friend and I also got stung by wasps. Me, once behind the ear and a couple times on my chest. My friend, on her finger and on her back. But like I said, we still had a great time. Next time we'll be better prepared and actually make it to the waterfall.
I got an email this morning from one of the two t-shirt vendors I ordered blanks from saying that 7 of the 9 shirts I ordered from them weren't in stock. Is kinda pissed off but didn't have time to argue, nor would it have helped the situation. I spent the rest of the day emailing back & forth, looking for alternatives and contacting buyers. I think everything is good now but I really doubt I'll have the shirts ready by this Friday like I originally intended.
I did not anticipate was how out of shape I was before DJing last night after a 12 month hiatus. Before covid shut down all weddings & events I'd been DJing every weekend for 7 years straight. I was used to the physical demands of the job. And although I'd been hiking on a regular basis for the last year, I wasn't prepared to be standing for 11 straight hours yesterday. Today I was practically dead to the world. I slept in late and when I woke up my feet, legs and back were all crazy sore. I stayed in bed most of the day, watched a couple movies and only left the house to go eat. I hope tomorrow's better because I gotta start sourcing materials and preparing for Saturday's event. I'll be doing an interactive live painting thingie downtown. It'll be my first time doing something like this and I need to figure out how I'm gonna accomplish it by Friday. It should be a lot fun and hopefully a lot less taxing on my body.
It was a pretty boring Sunday, cleaning and doing laundry, until I took my bike out for a ride. I went up a hill, stopping twice, and on the way down the chain came off the chain wheel and my rear brakes were barely slowing me down. I was afraid I was gonna eat shit. Luckily I didn’t fall and I managed to slow down by the time I reached the bottom. I got the chain back on then went home. I got my workout and a scare. I’ll try and figure out the brake situation before I take the bike out again.
That’s what I drew while I was on the phone. Not on hold but trying to connect with a human being. Instead I entered automated phone system hell.
Nothing exciting to write about today. I just did laundry, answer emails, and a few other to-do’s. I drew and colored this random character a few minutes ago just to say I did something artsy fartsy
I went to Ed R. Levin County Park for the first time on Sunday. I wanted to hike all of the Agua Caliente Trail but I had to turn around, with less than .6 miles to go, so I could be out of the park by closing time. It was beautiful. Saw lots of animals including 2 snakes, one on the trail and the other in the dog park being escorted out by security. I can’t wait to come back. I’ll probably start hiking all the trails at Ed R. Levin when I’m done with Joseph D. Grant. My legs were no longer sore and I was feeling good so I went on hike at Alum Rock Park. The South Rim Trail, from the No Horse Bridge to the Sycamore Switchback Trail, reopened after being closed all of last year so I hiked that. I saw some wildlife feasting, drew in my sketchbook a few times, and found spring water bubbling out of a hole in one of the parking lots. When I got in my car to leave I felt something on the back of my neck and found it was a little green worm. Gross! At 7.43 miles, and almost 1,000 ft of elevation, this was a great warm up for my upcoming hike at Joseph D. Grant County Park. Hopefully my legs aren’t completely dead tomorrow. The next time someone requests my design services and drops that line, I’m charging double! I’m currently working on two design projects for friends and both of them told me the same thing and gave me little to work with, expecting me to pull ideas from the ether. I came up with an idea for one of the projects, after asking my friend a bunch of questions regarding what they need from the design, and sent it it to her today. Sure enough it wasn’t what she was looking for. She then sent me a photograph as a reference to what she wants it to look like. If she had sent me the reference picture at the start it would have saved us both lots of time. So the next time a friend, or client, says to do “whatever I want” I’m gonna raise the price then offer to discount it if they come to me with a better understanding of what they’re looking for in a design.
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