time won't give me time.

i know it's been slow around here, but i've been pretty busy.  with the piercing-apprenticing, my 'regular' job, and getting ready for the holidays, i feel like i've been stretched pretty thin.  awesome husband's been cleaning the house for me.  seriously.  and then i got sick at christmas.  i was feeling eh christmas night and then was sick at work the next day.  today's my first day feeling normal again :(

and that was all while on break from school.  i'm more than a bit nervous about how i'll juggle everything when school is added back into the mix.

of course, i'm going to be piercing part time.  i'm just spending as much time at the shop as i can now so i can see and learn as much as possible.  so once i'm not spending what seems like every waking moment at the shop to learn, it should be easier.  i'm also probably going to bring my computer to the shop so i can do schoolwork while i'm there.  that should make a big difference.

today's the first time i've cleaned the bathroom in weeks.  i've been making awesome husband do it.  here's a snapshot of what my time has been like.

monday: wake up.  shower.  work at 'normal' job from 9-3pm.  do house stuff or school stuff until 6pm.  cook dinner.  spend time with awesome husband.  bed at 11pm.

tuesday: wake up.  shower.  work at 'normal' job from 9-3pm.  do house or school stuff until 6pm.  food shopping.  make dinner.  spend time with awesome husband.  bed at 11pm.

wednesday: wake up.  shower.  work at 'normal' job from 9-12pm.  take care of randomly scheduled 'thing' (doctor's appointment, holiday shopping, other errand).  go to shop from 2ish until 8pm.  go home.  eat something.  hang out with awesome husband until bed at 11pm.

thursday: wake up.  shower.  work at 'normal' job from 9-12pm.  do some household-y stuff.  go to shop from 2ish until 8pm.  go home.  eat something.  hang with awesome husband until bed at 11pm.

friday:  wake up.  shower.  work at 'normal' job from 9-12pm.  fuck around online for an hour.  poke at the cats for a bit.  go to shop form 2 or 3ish until 10pm.  go home.  eat something.  go to bed at 11pm.

saturday:  wake up.  shower.  work at 'normal' job from 9-12pm.  squeeze in an hour of family time (either with awesome husband and the cats, awesome husband's family, whatever).  head to the shop from 2ish to 10pm.  go home.  eat something.  poke at the cats.  go to bed by 12am.

sunday:  SLEEP LATE (late being maybe 9am).  grab breakfast or early lunch with awesome husband.  head to shop around noonish until 6pm.  go home.  order sunday night pizza.  stare at the television blubbering until bedtime at 10pm.

lather, rinse, repeat.   as you can see, there is little to no room for cleaning the house, cooking appropriate meals, playing video games, reading, blogging, or seeing friends.  this gets my my 7-7.5 hours a night (i can't fall asleep right away) which i need or my medications make me like a zombie.  and when you look at it, i feel like a little bitch for complaining.  i'm doing 23, 24 hours for my 'normal' job and 35ish in the shop.  and it's not like i'm WORKING in the shop.  i watch a lot, i do a few piercings, i study, i play sudoku, i fuck around with the tattoo artists, i look up ideas for my next tattoos.  occasionally i vacuum and take out garbage.  but it's still a 'job'.  so i'm 'working' almost 60 hours a week in my mind. 

the last time i held a full time job (40 a week plus a bit of OT) i landed in the psych ward with a nervous breakdown.  so you can see my trepidation here.  it's terrifying, thinking that it might happen again.  yes, i have better medication this time.  yes, they're both less stressful jobs (you'd think that sticking needles through people is stressful - and you'd be right.  but the full time job that landed me in the nuthouse was in stocks and funds and shit.  and i don't like numbers) but there's SO MUCH OF THEM.  the time i do have free, i don't want to DO things aside from stare and blubber a bit.  maybe cuddle with awesome husband or go out to dinner. 

and then of course this week i was sick.  today's my first day out of the house really since monday.  and since i'm trying to catch up on my 'normal' job a bit, it means i'll be at the shop even less than i should be.  which just prolongs the process a bit; i need 1000 hours of time before i'm not like an apprentice any longer. 

and i'm learning a lot.  i feel pretty damn confident with most of the common piercings.  i'd like to see some of the less common ear piercings before doing them.  but i've already seen a lip, monroe, tongue, nostril, navel, and hood piercing (i was surprised that the woman let me watch, but thrilled that she did because seeing it done really made the written process make sense).  i've already done two nostrils (including awesome husband's), three navels, a helix (cartilage on the ear), a tongue, and a lip.  i almost botched one navel because there was so much scar tissue.  but luckily my mentor was there and rescued me.  he's been piercing for almost thirty years and has seen most of it - and if he hasn't seen it in person, he knows about it.  i'm lucky to be learning from someone like him.

i can always back off a bit too.  i mean, at this rate, i'd have my 1000 hours in about seven months.  which would be GREAT, but it's not a race.  i figure i'll keep plugging away like this until i've seen and performed most of the piercings, including ones i'm less confident about.  then maybe i can cut back a bit.  who knows, maybe i can take a day off every week!

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so tomorrow's new year's eve.  we don't have big plans - a quiet night at home, i'm sure.  we got a nifty fondue set for the holiday so we might cheese fondue it up.  because, yum.  i'll let you know how that turns out.

and as for our 'new car'?  still in the shop, waiting for an engine.  at this point, it's been in the shop longer than it's been in our possession since we bought it.  damn it all.  at least they finally got awesome husband a loaner car.