"To talk of many things ..."

Namely, how much this week has SUCKED. Profanity with a capital "P".

The plan was to spend the first couple weeks of May winding down from school and Expo and finishing up art-type stuff (namely the incredibly overdue contest prizes) before I go to take care of my mom after her surgery, since I won't have any time free after that for the rest of the summer (nor a tablet, nor scanner, nor any means of getting art from "real-life" to "magical computer-land").

Well, to that I say ... what freakin two "free" weeks of May?! I experienced no such f@&%ing thing.

I don't even remember sleeping in my own bed more that once or twice this whole stupid month. Once Expo was over, it was off to mom's to sterilize the house top to bottom so she doesn't get an infection after her surgery, and then off to look at houses so I can have a place to live next year, then off again to do first aid/ATV training for my new job, then to do that, then this again, and oh look, someone ELSE is demanding time from me now ... And to top it all off, we had to put my cat down on Wednesday, which I'm not even going to start talking about because I'll just end up bawling snot all over the keyboard.

Now here I am, at mom's place with nothing but a hastily packed bag because the hospital discharged her two freaking days early with no fucking forewarning ... because y'know, people don't ever try to PLAN around this shit at all. We had to call my brother's girlfriend away from work because I don't have a car and can't afford a taxi. Thank you, Alberta fuckin' health care.

Total of art done this month: BIG FAT FUCKIN' ZERO.

Well, okay, I DID do a few doodles of Evian on scrap while I was taking my first aid course. I DID bring my sketchbooks with me, and I'm still able to write on the computer here. Not that that's anything anyone cares about ... I've just lost track of who and what I owe art to ... All I can do is promise to try my best when I can.

As for the contest prizes ... ONE of them is done ... it was finished some time ago, I forget exactly when. Unfortunately, I've no way of uploading it from here, since it's on the comp at home. I didn't put it up before because it's really not fair to the other two winners, since I won't get theirs done for months yet. Once my job finishes training me, I'll be away for weeks at a time, with precious little time in between trips. This is hardcore Resource Management work this time ... not mamby-pamby little five-day trips. Even when I'm not off in the oilfields trying to salvage precious archaeological material before it gets bulldozed, my stuff will probably be packed up for the move and subsequent renovation of the new house. Which we've yet to find.

Bottom line: I WILL DO THE PRIZES. It's just going to take a really, really REALLY long time.

No, it's not fair. To any of you guys. I'm really sorry, but I just can't muster any more enthusiasm than that. I'm so tired, so frustrated, and so, so very emotionally drained right now. I just want to pretend this whole stupid month never happened. Can you do that for me, Reality? Hello?

It never listens. Sigh.



To Do List:
- Contest Winners' Prizes

others to be announced