Saturday, October 27, 2012

200/wk

This week I got my first paycheck since I became a storyboard revisionist. It was $200 less than my old checks. Of course part of my brain screamed at me, "ZOMG IS THIS WORTH IT?!?!?!?"

I sat for a few seconds and contemplated that question. Having money to get through the inevitable lean times that is working in AnimationLand is a plus. It keeps the reek of desperation at bay when looking for the Next Gig when the current one is up. I also happen to like Buying Stuff, and it's nice to have the luxury of paying off a motorcycle when one lays down their old one on the 10 freeway, let's say.

But in the end? The answer to IS THIS WORTH IT?!?!?!?! is a resounding,

FUCK.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Money isn't worth shit when one is a total bitch and basketcase. I feel more focused at work, and definitely more productive. I'm borderline feeling...what's the word? Inspired. That hasn't happened in a LOOOOONG time. I shall enjoy this while it lasts! So what if I may have to watch my Kindle purchases a little bit? I live like a college student anyway!



Here are some photos from my Bicyclist vs. Car Door adventure from Monday.


My hip bone. By far the most painful wound, as wearing pants rubs against the wound something fierce. NO, I can't go around without pants, so I have to tape bandages over this tasty little treasure until it heals up:




















Here is the inside of my knee, which apparently was a fantastic cushion between the car door and the bike frame. It doesn't hurt at all, but it's by far the nastiest-looking of the various bruises and contusions:




















My quad muscle. Painful, but in an achey sort of way, as if one was smacked with a car door, as opposed to the hip bone wound that is way sharper and immediate. I expected the bruising on this to be the worst, but it looks quite tame, especially compared to my knee:




















I'm healing rather quickly, all things considered. I've been taking arnica to help speed up the healing for the bruises. I bought some arnica from the local health food store in both gel and pill form. I had discovered in the past that it's sometimes difficult to find arnica in pill form, so I was excited to get it so easily this week. I popped a couple at lunchtime, and then had a reaction where I felt wired for sound. I was hyper and lightheaded for a few hours. I looked up the side effects of arnica, and discovered that it does indeed speed up one's heartrate and raises blood pressure if taken orally. Oh, and BONUS: it can be used to induce abortions. WELL NOW. So I stopped taking that particular brand of arnica and am only using the gel, thankyouverymuch!



Here is my last-minute Tina from Bob's Burgers costume that I literally threw together in about an hour last weekend to wear to the LA Derby Dolls game:





















People were very amused. On the webcast, we were stumping for money to help offset the costs of the webcast(renting the equipment to do the professional-looking feed costs the league $500 EACH GAME. Btw, we're still taking donations. Go to the derbydolls.tv page and check out the Paypal button at the top of the page), and I said a Very Stupid Thing:

If someone would donate a lump sum of $100, I would wear the Tina outfit again for LADD Champs on Nov. 3. And wouldn't you know it, Fight Crew Superfan Little Kenny said, "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!" So now I have to be Tina again next weekend. Good lourd!

Not only that, but there will also be a Season Ticket Holder party at the Champs game, and I was told that my presence was requested by the Season Ticket holders. So I will be there. Dressed as Tina. Holy fuckballs.

Well, I can't say my life is too boring, now can I?

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Another Bucket List Item

I don't have a Bucket List. But if I did, I wouldn't have "getting hit by a car door while riding a bicycle" on it. However, I had that very thing happen to me yesterday morning on my way to work.

I don't think anything is broken. My right leg took the brunt of the impact of the Mini car door as it flew open as I was riding past on Chandler Blvd. in Borebank. I wasn't on the middle median bike path that runs down that street because I intended to turn down a side street to catch a light at Magnolia. No matter. Car door swings open, I hit it and go sprawling into the the street. No backflips. Just a loud hollow SMACK when I hit the door, then a dull THUD when I hit the ground. My immediate response? I yell, JESUS H. FUCKING CHRIST!!!!!!!!!! as I try to assess what just happened. Luckily there wasn't any traffic, so I was able to lie stunned in the middle of the road for a few seconds before limping to the side.

The bike is fine. The car door is fine. The lady was apologetic. She offered to take me to work, but really? I just wanted to GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE. Except that my leg hurt and I felt very similar to how I felt after my motorcycle accident: I wanted to cry and throw up at the same time. I had to sit and catch my breath for a few minutes, and I left. I didn't get the woman's name. I didn't take photos of her car. I just didn't care. Because I could walk and the bike was rideable, I just wanted to leave and assess myself later.

I make it to work and limp around for the rest of the day. Good news: nothing seems to be broken. The quadricep muscle is very sore and is bruised. Surface bruises that are easily seen, and a deep bruise or something, that's swollen a little bit. It hurts to move, but when I'm sitting or lying down it's fine. So no bone damage, I'm thinking. Some road rash, but my clothing covered all those areas, so I'm not worried about infection. After the Infected Finger incident with the motorcycle accident, one would expect me to be more worried about that this time. It doesn't hurt the same way the finger did, so I'm just focusing on the leg right now.

I spent the rest of the day feeling a little nauseous and anxious. I wanted to go home and take a nap. But actually, being at work and forcing myself to work wasn't so horrible, as I stayed in one place and waited to see what would happen. I managed to ride the bike to the Metro station to get home. At the transfer station downtown, I managed to get on the wrong train, since LA Metro doesn't seem to like labeling ALL its trains super clear so that one doesn't get confused between two shades of blue that run on the same track. Luckily I was able to hop off that train and hop on the correct train at the next stop.  Obviously, I should not be left alone to my own devices, or else I'd end up in the hospital in Long Beach or something.

I'm beginning to think these accidents are the fates catching up with me for being incredibly sedentary in my twenties and early thirties. No doubt, if this happened when I wasn't working out like I do now, I wouldn't have fared as well. But damn, I would've been perfectly happy going through life without having this happen. And this happens a LOT to bicyclists, unfortunately.

Today I'm working from home. The less I move around, the better for us all.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Odds and Ends...

For the first time in a few years, I'm excited about Halloween and having a costume. The idea came to me out of the blue, and has been done before by many people. But I don't really care, because I'm having fun with it, and I like fun! Photos will follow...

I finally asked for a demotion at work. The stress was revealing itself in obvious and some not-so-obvious ways. Insomnia, panic attacks, total creative bankruptcy, crying jags, being incredibly grumpy. Some snarky folk would say, "How is that different from your usual demeanor??" and I'd punch them if they said that to my face because Fuck You. I'm hoping that this status change on this show will be what I need to be a productive person again, because I sure need to be that way again!


These two photos of the space shuttle Endeavor aren't impressive in and of themselves. But I feel very very lucky to have been able to wander down to Westchester early on a Friday morning while the shuttle was on its incredibly slow journey from LAX to the Science Center near downtown to get a close look at it:








































I'm not a science geek but I've always loved planes, and the shuttle is plane-like enough for me to lose my mind when it was brought to LA on the back of a 747 and then moved to the Science Center. Seeing it on tv doesn't give justice to its scale. There are quite a few people on the internet who have huge bees in their bonnets about trees along the route of the shuttle's journey to its final home being cut down because again, that shuttle is freakin' huge. But the Science Center has promised to not only replant trees, but replant them FOURfold over. With two years of free maintenance thrown in. I'll get peeved if they don't follow through on that, but to get all upset over replaceable trees over an unreplaceable shuttle is baffling to me.



I was asked to do the shirt design for the annual SNIFF funfest in Jackson, CA again. This year I went with a Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse theme. I was pleased with myself on this one, mainly because I kept the design a secret from the party organizer, Redbeard Emeritus:





















I wish I could have gone, as I would've liked to put the bike through more road travel paces, but alas, it wasn't to be. Which actually may not be the worst thing to happen, since I seem to be coming down with a cold. Feh! I hope to get my own shirt of this soon, though!