Goth Awful World

So the one artist who I've been having a real hard time working with turned in a week notice.  He claims that if the other shop doesn't work out he'll be coming back in a month.  I don't know how the owner will feel about all of this but I suspect he would take him back considering how hard it is to find artists this time of year.  I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

I'll be going on Thursday with another artist to apply for our renewed permits.  We're going to grab breakfast first which should be nice. 

 So after a year of bothering my boyfriend, we'll just call him Jer, finally he let me pierce his ear!  We did a little captive bead ring on the helix.  He didn't have any piercings, tattoos, or other body modifications and has been pretty against getting any himself.  This was a big thing so I hope he likes it and it heals well for him.  I think it's super sexy.

In other news, my artist has almost finished the design for my next piece.  It's going to be an old school styled pirate ship.  He designed it kind of like a ship in the bottle and we'll add some rope and flower embellishments.  I'm hoping to cap off my right sleeve with it so that'll be nice.

My new meds are making me constantly sleepy.  I immediately notice it when I take them and I'm downing so much caffeine just to make it through the day.  It probably isn't helping that I'm working such long shifts lately.  Luckily staying busy distracts me from the sleepiness.  The only thing that's really concerning is I'm having some difficulty driving at night.  I might be getting Jer to drive me to and from until I get more settled with the new meds.

So the shop owner stopped by yesterday and asked me to do some spring cleaning.  So first thing today I cleaned under the sofas and did a ton of dusting.

Of course, since this is a super adult workplace full of grown ass individuals, someone had left a prank poop under the sofa.

I'm trying to keep myself motivated to do a daily entry of some sort just to stay in the habit.

The boyfriend and I went to the Asian supermarket and ate steamed buns for lunch.  Afterwards I did a little birthday shopping for my kid.  I found a couple of books I thought he might be interested in and also ordered an ukulele.  I think it'll be a good introductory instrument for him to try out and we can practice together.

I had to buy a new battery for one of the cars.  My little 16 year old Pontiac's battery was in dire need of replacement.  The last one worked for about 4 years so that's not too bad.  I'm just glad we didn't get stranded somewhere with a dead batter.

Yesterday dragged!  I stayed fairly busy but that was a loooong 13 hours.  Right after all of the artists left I received a call from a customer who had stopped by the other shop but they were booked out.  He wanted a tattoo tonight and no other time would do.  He pitched a threatening hissy fit at me because our artists weren't willing to work until 3:00 am.  I calmly explained that after the first 10-12 non-stop hours (their normal shift) they really couldn't pull another decent line no matter how good of an artists you are.  The guy was still bitching!  I just don't understand why anyone would want a tattoo from an artists that was so obviously fatigued.  Where the fuck is the compassion?!

After that I realized I had forgotten my knife.  I'm thankful that he didn't stop by because I thought I might have a fight on my hands, if so.  My boss gave me a little pocket taser thing for Christmas since I don't carry a gun like the rest of the artists and I get here earlier and stay later alone.  (Plus, the joys of being female.)  I really didn't want to have to carry it but I may just keep it up here as an emergency measure.

I'm not sure what to expect today because although it's almost 80 degrees outside, it looks like it's going to be a rainy day and that usually affects customers.  In addition, the artists that is supposed to be here at noon told me last minute that he wouldn't be coming in until 2:00.  When I ran a retail store this kind of crap wouldn't have been allowed but since were already short on artists as it is they feel like they can just do whatever.  Sigh.

I'm very much looking forward to my two days off after today.  Sounds like the boyfriend and I will be going to play some VR games and then I'll do my normal art day with my best friend.  Plus, seeing my kid is always nice.  There's just not enough time in the world.

So I suppose it's a good idea to do an introduction post. My name is Panda and I'm a 30-something artist with bi-polar type one and severe anxiety. Somehow I've made it into tattooing and piercing after years of trying to get into the business.  I enjoy music and have recently been taking up the banjo (very badly) and the ukulele.  I have two cats, three mice, and a tarantula.  There's so much that I could say here so I may come back to it later.  Feel free to ask any questions and I'll definitely answer.

I've been trying to find an outlet to connect to others who have similar interests to me and also speak out about my struggles with my bipolar since I don't have many "real life" friends, i.e. I have two. I hope that this will be a good place to pursue those goals and if you're interested in similar things feel free to subscribe.