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What's up FA 2014?
12 years ago
General
Theme of December: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-N2540l3ZI
So where do I start? In July of 2013 was the last month of living in a townhouse with two "friends" of mine. I had gotten to the point of their incompetence and selflessness that I decided to go home, live with my mom and get back on track. At the time I had been working at McDonald's for 2 years now, working overnights, for shitty pay and being fed up with the "management" if one can call it that.
I sign up for a temp agency and get hired at a warehouse a week after and up and leave McDonald's to go work at a warehouse position. Now for the most part it started out good but then after a while I saw how shitty this place was becoming to me as well. People being the type of people who work in warehouses and see either the same people everyday or those who see people come and go and think nothing much of them (like myself).
Now at this time, which was August, I still had my computer with me but I had to ditch my computer monitor but I still had my Dell scanner with the broken printer device. So I guess the manager that worked with me on the docks thought I was good because I was smart, intelligent and knew what I was doing. Which in a simple docking job must mean something I guess. I was tasked with unloading and loading trucks, labeling boxes and odds and ends when we didn't have any work. Most of the money I got from this job was used for daily needs and helping out the family, so i really wasn't saving any money. The thing though was that the closer it got to winter the less trucks we were getting and less work overall, plus, the warehouse had little to no heating and was pretty big. I don't like sitting on my thumbs when I work so I had a plan to make money elsewhere.
I do medical volunteering for money, I consider myself quite healthy, I work out and I try to keep the junk food and crappy foods to a minimum. I signed up for a medical study in November of 2013 and up and left the warehouse too. I had a pretty easy study but when I got back I didn't really utilize the money properly. When my girlfriend was in the states I spent a bit on her and helping my mother out because she's disabled and on SSI and gets a check once a month.
Now where was all my art during this time? Mostly out in bumfuck and nowhere, because I wasn't truly as motivated as I am now. I have the living room but I don't have that solitude that I had for four years, but one has to give and take with these type of things. I did some art when I had my scanner but I was adjusting from using a computer monitor to using your HD TV as a computer monitor (thank you tv to CPU adapter cable).
I end up taking December off (do nothing basically) and January comes around and even more good things happen, note sarcasm. 1. My mom threw away my scanner because she thought it was broken entirely. When I moved in and/or at some time last year I told her the printing mechanics on the scanner doesn't work and she thought that meant it was kaput. So when that happened I lost a lot of edge to draw. 2. I do my taxes and I was going to use that to pay some bills but the IRS took what I owe them last year from this year and I received 1/5 of what I thought I was getting back. :( 3. I had contracted a disease and it wasn't fatal, but I couldn't do any medical studies until I got cleaned out, and that required time and money. 4. I still have bills to pay from last year's debacle of a year for me that includes a gas bill, a hospital bill and government taxes.
But now I feel like a changed man, because of motivation, the people around me (also being rid of negative people as well). I go to the library which has a pretty sweet scanner, I've written all my art ideas on paper since that seems to work better than typing it on a journal, I'm either going to get a job soon or get back on the volunteering scene soon, make money and go to college possibly this year. I have a woman in my corner who's there for me and makes me smile, I plan to make a portfolio and take that somewhere, I'm on Weasyl now with the same handle. I have a sketchbook and i'm looking to fill it all without tearing any pages out (something I've never done actually because I'm finicky like that, but I've clearly gotten better at sketching).
Strangely enough, I recently found out I had a Rule 34 page, and there was good comments on my sketch work. I think they really liked my Chowder stuff so I have to add that to my itinerary.
So it's good to be back, even though I didn't really leave as I was mostly lurking but I finally decided to put it out on the table.
I sign up for a temp agency and get hired at a warehouse a week after and up and leave McDonald's to go work at a warehouse position. Now for the most part it started out good but then after a while I saw how shitty this place was becoming to me as well. People being the type of people who work in warehouses and see either the same people everyday or those who see people come and go and think nothing much of them (like myself).
Now at this time, which was August, I still had my computer with me but I had to ditch my computer monitor but I still had my Dell scanner with the broken printer device. So I guess the manager that worked with me on the docks thought I was good because I was smart, intelligent and knew what I was doing. Which in a simple docking job must mean something I guess. I was tasked with unloading and loading trucks, labeling boxes and odds and ends when we didn't have any work. Most of the money I got from this job was used for daily needs and helping out the family, so i really wasn't saving any money. The thing though was that the closer it got to winter the less trucks we were getting and less work overall, plus, the warehouse had little to no heating and was pretty big. I don't like sitting on my thumbs when I work so I had a plan to make money elsewhere.
I do medical volunteering for money, I consider myself quite healthy, I work out and I try to keep the junk food and crappy foods to a minimum. I signed up for a medical study in November of 2013 and up and left the warehouse too. I had a pretty easy study but when I got back I didn't really utilize the money properly. When my girlfriend was in the states I spent a bit on her and helping my mother out because she's disabled and on SSI and gets a check once a month.
Now where was all my art during this time? Mostly out in bumfuck and nowhere, because I wasn't truly as motivated as I am now. I have the living room but I don't have that solitude that I had for four years, but one has to give and take with these type of things. I did some art when I had my scanner but I was adjusting from using a computer monitor to using your HD TV as a computer monitor (thank you tv to CPU adapter cable).
I end up taking December off (do nothing basically) and January comes around and even more good things happen, note sarcasm. 1. My mom threw away my scanner because she thought it was broken entirely. When I moved in and/or at some time last year I told her the printing mechanics on the scanner doesn't work and she thought that meant it was kaput. So when that happened I lost a lot of edge to draw. 2. I do my taxes and I was going to use that to pay some bills but the IRS took what I owe them last year from this year and I received 1/5 of what I thought I was getting back. :( 3. I had contracted a disease and it wasn't fatal, but I couldn't do any medical studies until I got cleaned out, and that required time and money. 4. I still have bills to pay from last year's debacle of a year for me that includes a gas bill, a hospital bill and government taxes.
But now I feel like a changed man, because of motivation, the people around me (also being rid of negative people as well). I go to the library which has a pretty sweet scanner, I've written all my art ideas on paper since that seems to work better than typing it on a journal, I'm either going to get a job soon or get back on the volunteering scene soon, make money and go to college possibly this year. I have a woman in my corner who's there for me and makes me smile, I plan to make a portfolio and take that somewhere, I'm on Weasyl now with the same handle. I have a sketchbook and i'm looking to fill it all without tearing any pages out (something I've never done actually because I'm finicky like that, but I've clearly gotten better at sketching).
Strangely enough, I recently found out I had a Rule 34 page, and there was good comments on my sketch work. I think they really liked my Chowder stuff so I have to add that to my itinerary.
So it's good to be back, even though I didn't really leave as I was mostly lurking but I finally decided to put it out on the table.
Good to see you're getting your motivation back. That's the hardest thing about being an artist.
I've been working at a warehouse for years and I'm finally quitting next month. Some days you work you butt off, some you stand around. All the time it's loooong hours and effectively no life at all. I know how that is.
Were you at least getting paid well at that job? I was making minimum wage and knowing I could make better money I said fuck this shit and left.
Thanks for replying, I really appreciate it.
You drew me a pencil sketch for a commission a while ago, but you didn't like it so you redid it. I still wanna ink the first version you gave me. For a while, I had a thing for offering free inks for peoples' sketches, but I stopped doing that since most of the sketches people gave me were already so finished it wasn't worth inking them. I just started my vacation today and I'm itching to get back into drawing, so I'm going through my working folder looking to tie up some loose ends.
As for the warehouse job, I hear the wages vary a lot. With the 2nd shift differential, I was making $19.02/hr. That scales up quite nicely with overtime pay. The problem is that there's mandatory overtime, and trust me, 60+ hour weeks doing heavy lifting really does a number on your body. You also need to move your ass. Casual walking pace is not really an option. It's good for focused, OCD-riddled drones like me, but most people really hate the work.
The big change is that they're moving to a new building and moving me from ground level to a stock picking machine, which lifts you and a pallet up to 100ft. into the air. They're also implementing voice picking, which means you strap a computer to your belt and wear a headset. The voice tells you where to go and what to pick, and you have to talk back to it. The system RARELY understands your voice and regularly goes berserk and does things on its own without you saying anything. It's infuriating to use. I guess you have to figure why a warehouse job can pay almost $20/hr. It's not a job a lot of people can tolerate.
Technically, I'm still employed. For how much longer I'll work there, I don't know, but I do know I can't fulfill the new job requirements. I like being physically active and I can deal with the damn computer voice, but I'm finished with the obscene hours, and I just can't operate a stock picker due to my phobia of heights (it's not just fear, it's paralyzing).
So, yeah, today is the first day of my 2-week vacation, and I've got time to think about a new job. I may continue this line of work if I can work someplace smaller, but most likely I'll be checking out the local machine shops and manufacturing lines. Retail isn't for me. I like building stuff.
Good luck on your current and future job, mate. I didn't have a problem with working in a warehouse, but just seeing the same old, crabby people really turned (that particular one) off for me. I need to get back traveling, doing medical studies. IDK if I can go back to mundane work for some time but I'm trying...just because I have no money, and the only money I have is the little bit my gf gives me.