It's been an outright peculiar year and a half since I moved into this apartment. There's been a lot of good, and more recently, more bad. I guess part of getting out on your own is learning how to live in society and still make ends meet. What started out as a venture in getting a new apartment with ample space to set up shop has become a constant silent battle with the downstairs neighbor. She moved out during the summer, but left the hoard she had accumulated in the basement. A new person has since moved in that is way more tolerable, and also shares the burden of dealing with "the shit in the basement". I knew long ago that I would not be able to use the basement as a studio space, simply because all space are belong to the landlord's mom. Since then, I had acquired a wonderful room mate under non so savory circumstances, and was able to enjoy her company up until she acquired an awesome job over in Illinois--far far away. I've rearranged my habitat and have decided to dedicate one room to crafting, rehabbing and all out art hedonism. I already have a few projects I need to finish up-- turning a 6 drawer card catalogue into a jewelry box, refinishing this kindergarten chair I found out by the dumpster, roccoco'ing up a faux fireplace, finish sanding and painting my bedroom furniture purple. Most recently, I am planning on working out a tall lamp shade for a floor lamp I had in my first apartment. I think it lived about 4 months before my old cat completely let loose the rage on it and ruined the delicate orange paper shade. I could never bring myself to throw out the actual lamp base because I always figured I could make a new shade for it (and it was ridiculously expensive). I'm tinkering with the idea of using perforated metal, but I will have to construct a new armature for it since the original one was thrown away, and would probably never have been able to support the weight the base will possibly handle. I already have a lot of metal working tools and my dad randomly bought me metal shears about 6 months back that would be fabulous for this project. I've found 2 vendors that I should be able to order the sheet size I actually need for this. I know the materials I want to use, so now it's a question of getting it all together, in the shape that I want, with no sharp edges. I'm going to get a very cheap lamp from a thrift shop and see if I can construct a mini version so I can work out the kinks for the large scale project.
I've been pouring through craiglist ads looking for a cheap desk that I find remotely aesthetically appealing. I've spotted a few, but haven't stumbled on any I want to commit to. I will probably need to get a table as well and maybe a book shelf to house things. I've brought over my old cork board, so I'll need to start pinning things up soon-- collecting random clippings and momentos.
Another thing on my list is to start using sketch books again and doing a little collage work here and there. I found an old one that actually spanned most of my college years. I was going through it the other night and remembered how much I actually liked using sketchbooks. It made me think of how much more different my life was 3 years ago and how much happier I was then. I guess I've sort of hit a wall. I know what I need to do, and that's get back on the art wagon in one way or another. I'm a much happier person when I'm making.
In recent history, a person I knew had told me that they had no hobbies and that they thought they were a waste of time. Coincidentally, that person turned out to be a waste of time. Don't be that person. Hobbies are normally a way to explore your interests. A person with no hobbies isn't interesting. I'm sure there's some relative witty quote I could insert here from Mark Twain or Oscar Wilde. Pretty damn sure. Instead, I will close this with a qoute from Candy Darling that I feel sums up the state of things in my life currently:
"Dear Diary, I try to get what I want, whenever it's possible. I have
always found that socially unacceptable people make the best lovers
because they are more sensitive. I can be happy and fulfilled. I will
never doubt it. I can not afford to. Each thought, each movement turned
into a great moving force. Love Candy."
And with that, I begin my motion forward to manifest my destiny.
