Back to Work: Obama and I return to the daily grind

Such an exciting week! To have a big holiday, followed by the most exciting inauguration I have ever experienced. The thrill in the air is palpable, and I hardly ever talk like that!

Another wonderful thing about this week is that I am working again…for now. I am at a company that is a temp’s dream: great hours, nice people, breakfast, lunch (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a free lunch in this town) and snacks provided, casual dress accepted…and they keep me busy. No time to worry about the origin of Palin babies*, alien life in Arizona or the looming Bush divorce as reported by the National Enquirer.

But, that being said, I have been too busy to make anything fun this week. I spent the weekend at a friend’s house and she taught me a really cool stenciling technique that I will be trying and talking about very soon.

I do want to give a shout out to The Steampunk Home. They picked up an excerpt from my post about Robbii Wesson’s artwork. If you have never seen this blog, you MUST. It has something to appeal to just about everyone—oh, the wonders you will see!

*don’t get me started on this-—but I do have to say: Google “Sarah Palin “and the”Target dog,” then tell me if that is a 7-month pregnant women, bending over, in a zipped-up coat, to pet a dog . That’s all I'm going to say...

In it for the Art

If you are interested in just how much a musician makes on the road, or selling those cd's, this article will certainly enlighten you.

Johanna Schlegel, Editor-in-Chief of Salary.com, interviews Mike Errico, a former temp, about the struggle to make it as a working musician.

Winter Wonderland: The Final Chapter

...I left off as I was waiting to meet M. by the playground on 43rd St. By now the magical falling snow had turned into freezing rain! I ditched the "meet me on the corner" plan, and I ran into Bread Factory, to buy a giant muffin and to get warm. M. quickly followed suit.

We finally made it over to the Mike Errico performance, after ducking out of the freezing rain into a cozy upscale-diner style joint for dinner. Anyone who is not familiar with Mike Errico's music needs to give it a listen. Of his latest cd, All In, Lisa Heffernan* writes, "With a voice akin to Dave Matthews and a style not unlike (Pink Floyd guitarist) David Gilmour’s, Errico has created an acclaimed 12-song disc that has already graced numerous radio playlists."

My friend Adam LeBow took me to see Mike play, oh, about 10 years ago, at the Bitter End. The place was packed, the energy was festive and friendly, and the performance was great. Just Mike and his guitar, singing about love; disappointment; and TEMPING! I immediately connected.

I took my friend M. with me to a show, and we soon made a tradition out of going to his Christmas Omen show every year. So I was very happy to be going this year--M. is going to India soon for 2 years, and I am going to miss her very much.

The Zipper is a great place, intimate and with good acoustics. Mike played some new stuff, some old, tuned a lot, and, as always, told some very funny stories. He can play big sound, and then takes it down to a very quiet place that just pulls everyone into his space. And then, it was time for the Christmas Omens! Apparently throughout the year Mike collects items that speak to him, and through him they are distributed to the one soul in the universe for whom they will have a fortune about the year to come. This year I pulled out BLING, what can it mean??? I had my own idea about that, until I noticed the chunky Versace-esque head hanging from the gaudy gold beads: I felt immediately the spirit of Bacchus emanating, and my suspicion was confirmed when M. noticed the letters between the beads, spelling out his name (yes, sometimes fortunes have to be spelled out for you!). So obviously the gods are telling me to party a LOT more next year! We examined M.'s omen, a bag of Senora Suerte's incense. Well, obviously the incense ties in to her move to India, and I know the bag does not lie: in India M. will find Amore, Sante, Succes y Abundancia!

I hope that your new year brings the same.

*lipulse.com

About this Blog

I am a costume designer, and I also temp in between gigs to supplement the fortune that I make designing. Temping is a strange thing: people expect you to be able to walk into an office, use some arcane equipment that should probably be in the Smithsonian instead of on someone's desk (especially in a Fortune500 company)without dropping a single call or sending any blank faxes; file their extremely important papers in a system obviously developed by an out-of-work CIA coding specialist who really wanted to specialize in torture; and otherwise run their life for them, while the person who has had 15 years to learn exactly how to do that is out of the office. Fortunately, I can do that.
When it is not absolutely crazy, hectic, frantic and humiliating, a temp job can be a quiet, peaceful opportunity to reflect on future plans and aspirations, design ideas, professional advancement strategies, internet bargains, weird news stories, LOL kittens, etc. I am hoping that a blog will provide a creative outlet for some of the thoughts that pop into my head in these situations, and also allow me to share some of what I do when I do not have temp work at all. Enjoy!
Viviane Galloway