New Job

So if you couldn't guess from my lack of posts over the last month, I got the job! My ingenious plan of standing out against the other applicants and actually making a "chalkboard sign" out of a piece of black foam core (I painted it to look like it had a three dimensional wooden frame around it and everything) as part of my application apparently worked really well. Since I had applied at Trader Joe's before and had really gotten the feel for their aesthetic, I just mimicked that on the board--the lettering, the placement of the "product" (i.e. me) and the price, the colors, etc. I even lifted a few things from their website, like the vintage pub sign pointing hand motif. The message read something like: Bailey Quillin--reliable, creative, 100% organic, hire me! I researched some art nouveau posters, Indian art, and Victorian etchings for inspiration. Brian Webster found it amusing and hired me a few days later. He didn't even mess around with my pay--I now make $3 an hour more than I did at Arvid, have more hours, and soon will have medical and dental as well.

I was totally busy and exhausted at first because for two weeks I was working both jobs with no days off at all. Trader Joe's needed me to start right away so working at the cabin on my few off days was the most "notice" I could possibly give Arvid. It worked out well though, because on my last day there we found out the paint we had been using for the corks contained a dangerous toxin that has already been banned in the state of California and can only be handled in outdoor spaces for short periods of time while wearing a full body suit and gloves. We of course had been painting in a basement with no warning, no masks, and no gloves. The ventilation system they have in the studio is for oil paints (larger air particles) so the filter was useless against this stuff. We actually left early that day because Heather, the new studio assistant that had been hired the week before, finally broke down after having severe headaches, breathing problems, and disorientation since day one. This happened to coincide with Maggie and Tye feeling ill all the way up on the third floor from nasea, headaches, and feeling like their "eyes were popping out." That was the day we decided to research what they had given us to work with on the internet and evacuate the premises until further notice. Lucky for me I got to evacuate forever. Plus, when I stopped at the Starbucks down the road to try and get rid of my headache, I ran into Francisco, a friend I used to work with at Outback that I hadn't seen since and was oddly just wondering what had happened to him moments before. It was meant to be, and we hung out a few times since. It was a nice distraction to have while dealing with my Dad's surgery, which went as well as possible, by the way. He is now out of the hospital and on his way to recovery. He's got to recover; I bought him a gift card to go hangliding in Chattanooga and that requires some physical exertion.

So between my infinitely better new job, my Dad's surgery, and a random couple of visits from Martyn to see a Spinal Tap concert (awesome) and Devon to wish that she lived here, I've been pretty distracted. I am probably going to be for the next few months actually as Martyn sporadically visits to find a job so we can find a place and move in together. He's arriving this Thursday actually, to stay for a week of searching. Hope it goes well. In the meantime I worked a smidgeon on that second Pinky Myspace photo, and hope to do more soon. First there was the watercolored version that I spoke of (blank white spaces have been cleaned up digitally):


And here's the painting with the base colors blocked in. That's all I have so far.