Arting and Gaga and Chores, Oh My!

Geez, not that I'm bad at updating or anything...

Birthday was great, work on Sunday was fine.

Yesterday was combinations of fantastic and awful. I woke up around 10, and had decided by 10:30 that I wasn't going to sit around until I had to go to work. Hell with that. I got dressed, packed up my camera and a PB&J, and hit a park five minutes away.

It's called Kate's Park, dedicated to a community leader, and it's filled with flowers and little paths and a sculpture called Educators, and it's connected to Riverwalk, a series of paths and parks stretching down the St. Joseph River through South Bend and MIshawaka. I enjoyed my breakfast sandwich on a bench by some lilac and peonies and thought of home for a bit before picking up the camera and having at.

The weather fought back a bit--very windy, sunny but enough clouds that I had to keep switching settings between full light and full shade--but it was warm, the tone of the light was gorgeous, and I had a garden full of beautiful flowers! I spent at least five minutes trying to capture dew on some tall grass (hi Dad!), and another five minutes getting shots with a very photogenic bumblebee. Overall, it felt like some of the most productive shooting I've ever had.

So I went to work with that feeling, and it stuck pretty well--I cleaned the cafe and helped customers and brewed coffee with a smile and some sunshine.

Then Good Shift put on the Lady Gaga promotion soundtrack, since we started selling her CD yesterday. And That One spent the next two. hours. bitching nonstop about how much she sucks, how she's terrible and weird and annoying, how she needs to jut die already, on and on and on and HOLY CRAP SHUT UP. I didn't even care that he didn't like an artist that I do, he could have been complaining about someone I don't like, but it was nonstop and childish and ugggh.

My mood went up again when he left, and Ryan visited me just in time for my second ten, and I bought a CD from a regular couple, a local duo called The Bergamot that played at my store for the 40th Anniversary Celebration, and they were just overjoyed and appreciative and thanked me again and again! Made me feel nice...plus I love their stuff!

Then right before I left I got the most hostile customer I've ever dealt with. He started off the entire transaction feeling affronted, as if he'd been ignored for a long time (except having just walked in), and mocked me as I tried to serve him. He ended up laughing as I made his coffee (for reasons none of his could comprehend), then apologizing repeatedly as he left. It was surreal and mildly traumatizing.

Anyway...that-all was yesterday. Oy. Oh, and I'm mildly sick, with sniffles and pressure and grossness, and I've managed to pass it on to Ryan. Woo! Don't worry, parents, I'm downing plenty of tea and water at work, taking vitamin C and echinacea at home, getting plenty of rest, and making sure Ryan is, too.

Today I woke to find a text message from Da Boss saying I don't need to go in until 3:30 (two extra hours of free time and only ONE hour of That One? ka-ching!), so I have to finish up this entry and get on with my list:

[o] shower & dress
[o] bank
[o] take more pictures?
[o] upload (and edit?) yesterday's pictures
[o] dishes
[o] laundry
[o] maybe even some dedicated reading time!

I am really enjoying Game of Thrones! It's a great story, and a great read--it's hard to describe exactly why the act of reading it is more enjoyable than with other books, but I'm sure the avid readers out there will understand what I mean. It's also helped me with the TV series, which had me a little confused. I'm actually just about caught up to the show, will start hitting spoilers soon...

Right, off I go!

PS--I have 14 fans on my Facebook Page! They're all people I know, but still!!
PPS--I'm thinking of trying this out, except with photography instead of drawing. Thinking it could be fun and challenging, and maybe could work as promotion for the shop and such? Still contemplating.

Okay, going now!