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.

well, hello there.

it's been a while.  well, what... a week?  last we chatted i told you about my sisters and their soap-opera-y parental situation.

things have been hectic since then.  i haven't really 'announced' it or anything (even though i personally think it deserves announcing) but i've been asked to apprentice as a body piercer.  so yours truly will be jabbing needles through various pieces of flesh shortly.  i'm superexcited about it and think it's an awesome opportunity - and one that not everyone gets.  the piercer that's teaching me has been piercing for like 25 years, and is one of the best. 

but it's a hectic time of year to be adding to my schedule.  while i'm apprenticing, i basically want to be in the shop as much as i possibly can.  that way, i can see as many piercings as possible and learn as much as i can.  the shop is closed monday and tuesday.  so i have 20-23 hours a week for my at home facilitator job, 15ish hours a week for school, and then A LOT of time at the shop.  i try to get there wed-fri by 3pm and they're open until 8 on wed/thurs and 10 on friday.  and then like 2pm to 10pm on saturday.  and 12ish to 6 on sunday.

which adds up to... hmm...

a lot of hours.

thankfully i had much of my holiday shopping done and was able to finish up the rest online.  now i just have to wrap.

today we had first christmas at my inlaw's house.  part of the family cannot come to christmas on christmas so we had first christmas.  and we thought 4 kids were going to be there.  turns out our four nieces and nephews would be there too, and we were giving them their gifts too.  and OF COURSE i hadn't wrapped anything yet.

and we had to go pick up a loaner car first.  so it was hectic.  and i feel like i have no time to wrap presents.

the loaner car was because we bought a brand new car three weeks ago.  and it already needs a new engine.  i'm livid, but awesome husband (diesel mechanic extraordinaire) says this kind of stuff happens sometimes.  the dealership has had our brand new, less than 600 miles car for five days and still hadn't given us a loaner.  and awesome husband has to go away for school soon and i need a car here so i can, you know.  do things.  and the dealership kept fucking us around and pissing me off and whatever.  i love the new car, but i'm really a bit pissed at the dealership. 

i mean, they called us and were like 'we have a loaner now, come get it' so we go to get it (after wrapping the gifts).  and they make awesome husband wait like 20 minutes and then they say 'oh, we need to FIND THE CAR'.  like it was fucking lost?  YOU JUST TOLD US YOU HAD IT.

anyway.

on top of that, i seem to have pinched a nerve or something in my shoulder?  it hurts.  a lot.  it hurts to do almost anything.  and pills don't seem to help :/  hopefully that goes away soon.  i'm thinking i may now have a valid reason to schedule a massage for monday.