Pixiq

I wake up.  That much we have in common.  In NYC, I put on channel 7 which goes from Good Morning America (which I don't like much but I need some noise) through the woman's shows.  The longer I work at home, the more of a housewife, or what I envisioned as a housewife when I was growing up, I become. 

I don't actually sit in front of the t.v. which is losing at least one scan line a day.  It's more of a radio for me.  And so far, I don't watch any of the shows that they're talking about.  I haven't watched the housewives of anywhere yet. 

Oh, and I've got to print out that order for the couple that's coming from Germany... when did they say they'll be here... don't forget that...

And I stumble to the stove and make espresso that tastes like acid and mud.  Feed the cat.  Brush teeth.  And think about what's ahead.

What's ahead is packaging today.  It's packaging or printing.  I have a box filled with orders for prints.  Or I forgot to print out the framing instructions that go with the prints.

Sometimes I go down to the bodega for two scrambled eggs on a toasted roll.  The espresso is done. Gulp.

The Fedex place has last pick up for home delivery at 3 p.m. and most of my orders are going via home delivery so that's my deadline.

And I begin flipping through the orders looking for the easy ones.  The easy ones to package are small, or at least un-matted.  Once matting gets into the picture, it's going to take some time.

I'm not cutting my own "window mats" anymore; I buy them precut, but the mats still need to be put together and then the print needs to be adhered to the backboard.  Blah, blah, blah.  I've been asked whether I could find an intern. 

I had one intern so far.  When Josie (not real name) discovered that their job was cutting cardboard and loading tape onto the dispenser they lasted for about two hours.  I don't blame them.

So on it goes until about one o'clock where the t.v. gets switched to USA channel and it's cop shows that I've seen a million times.

By this time, I've hopefully finished three packages and now I'm looking for something more difficult to package.  Most difficult would be anything that's going to be on a 20 x 24 mat.  Period.

Sometimes I wander over to the couch / bed and lie down  and before you know it I'm asleep.  This isn't very often but it happens.  If it happens around 1 pm then I may be out until 3 pm and miss the home delivery deadline and then I'm on a new schedule because Fedex Express pickup is at 5. 

At the same time, I'm working on getting some post in my own blog which lately is filled with all the stuff I've been doing at night when I work in color.  Yes.  After all these years, I've come to some sort of agreement with color.  It's going to be nice to me; and I won't talk badly about it.  And then there's always something coming up with the web site itself.  Recently I decided to splurge on a McAfee logo (checked by McAfee) which is actually more expensive than hosting the site itself.  And those guys send me alerts every day about little things to fix on the site.  Stuff you couldn't possibly get your head around.

Throw up a blog post with one of the images from the day before I've worked on. But I don't put these single image posts into Pixiq because - well - it doesn't feel like it fits.  Most of what I write doesn't really fit into Pixiq.  People seem to want as many how to posts as they can get.  I understand that.  But I don't have the time for how-to posts now.  Unless it's some little tidbit that I don't want to forget about the stuff I'm working with at the time (NIK software with Lightroom).  That's a giant subject.

The cat meows for something.  The morning shows are over.  And on a good day, I've finished about 3/4s of what I tried to do.   And the weekend is spent on what I'll call prospective clients, work, writing, things that will eventually (if I'm lucky) lead to larger paydays. 

I work longer and harder than when I was in the corporate world - and you know what - there's no going back.  And you know what else - don't wanna go back even if I could.  Yes, I would like to clone myself.  But a lot of busy people feel that way.

And then - after tons of hours - and some creativity - at the end of the year I find that I've survived (financially) to live and fight another year.  And every year that you're in it - is a year that might take you over the top.

No, it's not a bad life selling my photography.  But I have to admit that it's been a while since I've taken any photographs unless it was on some assignment.  I'm mostly into the things that can be done with post-processing.

I will have a diversion Monday night.  Going to see Dylan in NYC.  Main thing is to be able to get my dslr in.  I know Dylan is a million years old and looks older, but if I could just get one good shot of the guy.  I would be thrilled.  He is about the only person I can think of that I'd have to call an idol and inspiration.  One good shot.  Please, that's all I ask.

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