my final day of work

My final day of work played out in many ways like any day. I counted out a large order of sweatpants (which was my final task). I burned a bunch of screens. I taped up those screens.

But the nice thing was Boss made a little food party happen. Kara brought some pizza and hotdogs and carrot cake back from Costco, so Boss, Ryan, Jeff, JP, Kara, Stu, and I all hung around eating food and chatting and eating some more. I had two slices of pizza and a hot dog, and then half a hot dog later. ALSO Boss got me another giant bag of candy as a going away present! I just finished the last bag last night. This one is an assortment of chocolates. Like Milky Way and Snickers. Mini ones. So spoiled. It was hard no to tear up during the little lunch. Despite the occasional stressful day, it's been a really nice work environment. I was given challenging tasks, my skills were honed, I was treated with respect and never disregarded due to my gender which is huge because it's a blue collar manual labor based job (on top of needing an eye for detail). It's been a good place to work for, and I'm glad I'm leaving on a good note. I ended up closing up the shop, as everyone else went home one by one. So I did have a little cry in the exposure room. I don't know what emotion specifically I was expressing in that moment, just that it all got to me. My final day! And that I'll be missed. Jeff said that he was glad that he worked there while I was working there.

It's been... it's been a thing. I don't know how to really digest it.

It was raining and cold today. Really actual full raining. Almost cleansing rain, if I were feeling more poetic.

A cold, quiet day. With warm plentiful food. Mmm.

Dropped off a few more things at the storage unit. My art folder, my table, some bins. It's filling up. Just gotta leave room for the mattress.

I had a little breather at home, and then I cruised downtown to the Boardwalk to meet up with Ryan, Anita, and Dan for some bowling! Dan also had his last day at work, so it was double celebration. Dan is what is known as being a "good bowler". He has his own ball! The rest of us get gutter balls. Though I did manage a strike! One strike...between two games. Oh well. I like to play, I'm just not very good. But I think that's how I am at a lot of things. I'll do, I'll try and if I don't win. Oh well.

Ryan and I walked around a bit, before I dropped him off at Dan & Anita's. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me! I'm going up to The City to see Robin and to see the Mary Blair exhibit. So it's off to bed with me! Up and at them!

It's a new day, and I'm nearing the end of the Santa Cruz chapter of my life.

and tomorrow is Friday and then that is it

Got all the stuff out from under my bed! Yay! And I did two loads of laundry, so my sheets can get packed away. I got my art off the closet doors. My room is really starting to empty out, and I have days left. So that's awesome. Saturday I have plans up in The City with Robin, and Friday I might be going bowling with Anita, Dan, and Ryan, and others. But I feel pretty good about where I am, productivity level, so I can allow myself some social ness. The next step is packing away the little things. I need to get all the stuff out of the way so I can "yes" or "no" the remaining things properly. AHhh!!! Dang.

It's really cooking now!

And tomorrow is my LAST day of work! LAST! I'll be done. After almost very nearly 2 years. I'll be leaving Cadillac Designs. It doesn't seem like much, but 2 years of hard labor with very specific and broad knowledge.

Today I was on heat pressing duty. Heat pressed safety vests and heat pressed jerseys and weeded a bit. It ended up being a shorter day, which was good as it gave me some time.

And tomorrow is my last day. Oh what a ride it has been!

3/5ths of the way done

Got one of my rolling shelves packed away, and a box with some more books, and a tub with clothes and stuff. Things are really starting to empty out here. I need to do some laundry. Wash my sheets. Then I can pack those away. I swung by Target and got some more tubs, and a three tiered portable thingy was on sale, so I grabbed that for art supplies. I will be so set on toting art supplies! Stoked. Things are coming together. More things are leaving my room every day. It'll be easier to organize things now that so much has been removed from the equation.

So yeah, good progress is being made! I've got a week. I've got this. I don't want to take the art down yet, but I will have to soon. Under my bed are a few flat boxes, my art portfolio, and that drafting table. I need to get those out, so I can dismantle the bed frame.

Bit by bit!

Work. I caught a job and ran it for a bit while Jeff mixed ink. And I did heat presses on these saftey vests. And coated screens. It was another full day. Vests take a lot of time. Oh! I also counted in this job that had so much random stuff. Did a tally of everything and hopefully the counts work out. It'll be ran after I'm gone. Kinda sad setting up stuff that I'll never see finished. The shop work goes on.

Two more days.

it's only Tuesday but it feels much later in the week

Bought yet another little multi folder folder thingy. Those plastic ones with dividers. I love using them to organize things. This one is for the trip, for stickers and coasters and flat knickknacks. Also documents. And I treated myself to Chipotle for dinner because I worked late. I went through all the stuff on my end table and tossed a bunch of clutter, and pulled some things to put in my car to take to storage tomorrow. I spent a good long while organizing and it didn't seem like I did much, but I did something. I also cleaned out my tackle box and rinsed it. Now it'll get the chosen art supplies stored into it!

Hopefully I get out of work tomorrow with more time in the evening with which to pack and sort. I think once I get the shelves out, it'll really feels like something. I almost have the one by the side of my desk emptied.

It'll get there. I still have art on my walls and my furniture, so it doesn't seem caved out. Just gotta keep doing it and working on it. Also since I have plans for this weekend that remove me from Santa Cruz, I gotta be extra productive!

Work? Well I weeded and coated and reclaimed and burned and taped. We got a new table in the office and a shiny new computer for doing shiny computer things. The sun was out but it was windy, so I was in shorts and a hoodie. Though the hoodie came off every once and a while.

four days left at work

Dropped stuff off at my storage unit after work. A quick trip, but not quick enough because Palace Arts was closed before I could get to them to pick up some stuff. Womp wooomp. Tomorrow.

I was tired all damn day. I think I'll go to bed early just so I can let my body fully rest. I stayed up late packing and sorting and tidying. Sleep schedules are important.

We ran the zipper fronts on these sweaters which took a while because we wanted to do a really good job of it. I also did this banner and coated a few screens and started work on vinyl. Pulled a full shift!

Did a Trader Joe's run. Had some pre-made spring rolls because I was feeling lazy. Had a nice chat with Jeff. A rejuvenation day. Tomorrow I want to do a supply run and get my packing on once again.

Things are starting to feel...packed away.

next week is my last week of work. dang. the LAST.

Took down the knick knacks from my tetris shelves, packed up 3/4 of my books, and some shirts. It's still not a big chunk. But I guess I gotta halve everything and then halve it again. Just whittle it down instead of making final decisions at the get go, ya know? Anyway. Made some progress at that. I'll make more progress over the weekend. I don't want to take my art down, because that'll make it all barren. But I must!

Anyhoo. Talked to ma and pa. Had a nice little evening in. I'm planning on going to the dog beach tomorrow morning. Gotta see Janet and Joey!

Work was a shorter day. The job ran really well up until the printing over the zipper part, which is very difficult to do well. I coated screens. Refreshed Ryan in how to coat them. I taped and burned. I tided up. I counted. The weather was good. I took some photos with my new shmancy phone, because I have like...no photos of the studio. Even though after nearly two years, I could probably draw it all from memory.

smartiepants

I got up early and called Straight Talk and gave them the info to switch my phone over from Verizon. They said it may take a few hours, but up to 36. So I went to work eagerly anticipating the activation of my ZTE Savvy. Savvy, like a pirate. Hee. Yay.

Anyway, work was all right. Started cold but it warmed up. I peeled the numbers off this vinyl banner and applied new ones. And burned and taped. And did the tertiary stuff. Jeff has been teaching Ryan press & catching stuff. The day went by though, slowly but surely. I burned and double coated some stuff right at the end. Full 8 hours. And now tomorrow is Friday. And then it will be the weekend. And then my last week of work.

I spent the night playing and fiddling about with my phone. I got several apps running. Customized the ring tones. My text message alert is the bing bong from Cabin Pressure and my ring tone is Allam as Richardson singing Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. I got phones on the wallpaper and photos on the lock screen, and my own lock screen unlock! Anyway, I'm stoked on all the features and I'm pleased thus far. The layout will take some getting used to. Still figuring out where things go and how to turn this and that off. But yay, I am now a smart phone haver!

that's one of the big things ALMOST out of the way

Bought my phone! A ZTE Savvy. Hopefully it's good! I bought a warranty. $15 and it covers everything except if I lose it or it gets stolen. Works for me, don't wanna drop it and then it breaks and all that. Tomorrow morning I try to set it up! So exciting.

I packed up some clothes and mugs and took a few boxes to my storage unit. I like the storage unit because they have dollies free to use. Makes it so easy. Gotta just take all my stuff bit by bit and go through it. Just sit and sort. And clean out my art supply tackle box to put travel art supplies into it. Just what to take? Ahhh!

I've got two weeks. Dang!

Had pasta for dinner. Mm.

Work. We have a bunch of rush jobs. I counted out tons of shirts. I caught a job. I did banner rope on a banner, which was a multi layering process. Had to put down banner rope to reinforce the edges. Had to tape it down and put double sided tape on top of that. It doesn't stick totally well.

kinder surprise

House meeting tonight. Justin cooked and damn it was good! Potatoes with bacon, quinoa, chicken in a butternut squash soup thing. Mmm. Very good! I was full but not bloated and all was well. Meeting went good too, surprisingly quick actually. Maybe because half of us are moving out in two weeks, lengthy conversations are not so needed.

Didn't advance on packing, but the meeting took up time. And I went straight from getting home to dinner to meeting. I like to have ~20 minutes after work to myself to just vege and I didn't get that.

I did some banners at work, though these ones needed banner rope. Burned and taped a job. Weeded vinyl. I think I did some other stuff, but I didn't catch. I guess banners and punching out stickers took up most of my time. Not a bad day.

And now my paycheck and return are deposited, so I can go get a smartphone and join the wunderkinder! Or whatever that word is for magical people.

1 down

Officially declared May 25th as my last day at work. That'll give me 5ish days to pack up and clean, without having to rush my weekends.

9 days work days left. Wow.

I caught shirts for most of the day. We had to have the garage door shut due to Ryan sanding outside and us having a vehicle in the garage that couldn't get the sand shavings on it and stuff. Anyway, it got really really stuffy and hot for the majority of printing. We drank lots of water to keep cool, but uhg..

I cleaned some squeegees and floodbars, and coated screens. And told the boss the 25th was the last day.

Dang.

At home I got to work on an Odd Owl illustration, and I worked on it for many many hours. It took a while to draw, and I didn't get any packing work done. But I'm pleased with the drawing! Haven't heard back about it yet, though.

Watched the moon eclipse. That was neat.

cold cold HOT cold colder coldest

Friday:

Wore pants to work. I could tell it was going to be a cold one, and I was right. I cut some banners and showed Ryan how to tape them. I also cleaned and reclaimed and burned and taped. It was mostly solo, which I don't mind. We are on top of things when it comes to printing! We are not behind, we are good to go. And that is very good.

Akira at midnight! I spent my evening excited and looking forward to that. I worked on some Odd Owl drawings for a new shirt design. I should have that done by weekends end. So I worked on that and had some dinner.

Akira on the big screen was AMAZING! You could really just relish in the detail of the older animation and just how much labor went into it. The line was the longest I've ever seen for a Del Mar midnight showing, and nerds of all creeds were in attendance. I like nerds of all creeds, those are my kinds of nerd. Non exclusive nerd things. And the theater was really fully too! People came in droves for Akira, but granted it is an older film so most have never seen it on the big screen outside of showings like this. So awesome.

Oh, I saw the movie with Ryan, of course.

Saturday:

Slept a well deserved sleep in. And after breakfast and tea, I went and got myself a storage unit! Now I can start putting my stuff in storage. A good chunk of my stuff I can easily store away (clothes, jackets, very non essential for road trip items) and with them out of the way, I can sort through my stuff. It's good to pair down.

Dorothy is the manager of the rental place and she was really nice. And there are security cameras and it all seems nice and secure. I unloaded some of the stuff in my car. I still had my lock from when I put stuff into storage during my Portland moves, so it's good that that is getting used again. Harrah!

After that I met Ryan and Marina at the Art Bar at The Tannery. I got this noodle dish and some ginger soda. We chatted and drew. Rio and Adrian and Arlo, some kids from The Tannery, hung out with us as well (Ryan lives with Arlo, and Arlo's parents of course). Damn smart kids!

Hanging out with Ryan typically means seeing a movie, so we saw Under the Skin. Which was.... nightmare inducing. One of those slow movies without a lot of dialog, but it still carried a good amount of weight. Scarlett Johansson is a really amazing actress. She pulled off the subtlety in the role so well. But yeah, I think I'll have nightmares about this movie. Some of the scenes were just yeeeesh.

green food

Made a necklace. Though I need to get a better clasp for it. The magnetic ones I have are not reliably strong enough.

I also looked into a Straight Talk phone. Hard to tell what phone would work best, but all I need right now is reliable GPS for my trip. Not signing up for a contract is significantly cheaper per month, but I have to pay for the phone so now fancy freebie phones. But... cheaper is better!

Anyway. Had to go to WalMart to look into the phones. There is one in Marina, about 40 minutes south. It was a nice drive, though the road changes the number of lanes frequently. And I was behind this BMW who kept going fast then slow then fast then slow. I guess they were lost or looking for a turn or something. Still... why is it always BMW drivers that are the worst?

WalMart was harmless. Big, but not crowded. I got a charm and some beads to turn into a necklace. Like I said, I need a better clasp for it.

Work was cleaning screens, reclaiming screens, cleaning more and reclaiming more, and then coating. Also some burning and counting in of shirts and cutting of vinyl thingy.

Jeff made all four of us dinner! It started with him being all "you want vegetables?" and we three said yes to veggies. Then BAM kale and chicken, artichoke, avocado, and brussel sprouts cooked in this specific way that was so damn good. SHHHH don't tell mom I ate so healthy. She must never know.

"hey Ryan, can you collect honey?"

Did banners almost all day. Big 20 foot banner, a smaller 13 foot one... some in a variety of sizes. Lots of cutting down and taping. Almost ran out of grommets and banner tape! But didn't, so that is what is important.

It was a sunny day.

Oh and there was a swarm of bees hanging out at work. But in the back of the yard, away from people. We could hear them humming. Very cool. I'm not afraid of bees. They make local honey which continues to get rid of my allergies.

Got out of work late, and was tired so...I didn't do much.

I've been reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? on my kindle and I'm totally hooked! So fun. I love stories that are told through multiple points of view.

on the comp, like a pro

An awesome productive day! We got so much done, it was amazing. I showed up and one job was finishing. Another was ran off. Then another. I cut patch fabric, which was a first. Taped screens. Burned screens. Counted out banner rope. I even helped with the digital work! Another first! If I was planning on sticking around, I would ask for digital training on the film separation side of things. As is... I'll just work and work.

At home I had some chips and dip and took it easy. I worked on a digital map and travel list. Want to get a good sense of things to do and see, but I don't need to strictly plan it all out, ya know?

nice super hero butts

Whoooo! Saw Captain America. It really just proves that there needs to be a Black Widow movie. Had some great action scenes, and was pretty enjoyable. Worth seeing. I didn't see it in 3D.

I worked on my road trip plan a bit. Right now it starts Santa Cruz to Los Angeles through Las Vegas as fast as possible to Zion then Petrified Forest National Park then Albuquerque then Mesa Verde. From there? Hmmm. Not sure which states to visit headed East, and which ones to see going North to South and t'other way around. But yeah, got a start! What's in Oklahoma? Some places I'm just looking at the map and eyeballing the National Parks. Some I need to Google which cool museums are in which cities.

Work was pretty relaxing. Jeff & Ryan had been running the press for almost 4 hours when I arrived. They both like to start early. I come in, count shirts, do banners, tape screens, coat screens, burn screens. We run a smooth ship. I cleaned a bunch of screens at the end and got out at a reasonable hour. Hurray!

jumbo

The rain gutter woke me up at 4am. It rattles. The downside of all this great rain.

Got up early for work. Hurray! Starting early to get a jump on things. And what a jump! 8 color back and it looked amazing, but it took three rotations to print, so it took a while. And 7 color front, and only two rotos, so that went faster! Ryan caught shirts during the start, so I worked on banners and prep. Then I stepped in to catch. I was so tired all through the day and just...well tired. Really needed a nap. But we got it done and it looked so damn good! It was an awesome day. Everyone was in good spirits, despite working so hard.

It's good to work hard for good work.

I took a little nap when I got home. Then I got a second wind. Wind enough to watch Hannibal. Now imma read and go to sleep properly.

11:06am edit:
I also added some art to my website: trilliantrillian.com when I realized I hadn't updated it in almost a year! Mostly sketches and a few illustrations.

a fairly mellow Thursday with good humor

Work is really busy now! So many jobs coming up! We have an 8 color front & back due tomorrow, so it'll probably be a very long day. I'm starting at 9:30 which is some clue.

Today was awesome though. Really the perfect mash of Jeff on the press, Ryan helping, Nick doing hats, and me doing the tertiary stuff. Finished jerseys. Counted in several jobs worth of shirts. We are implementing a new box labeling system, so that is neat. I like labels. I also tallied screens (again) and burned screens and generally helped out. I like being the helper/tidying third person. It's a nice blend of skills I can do and variety of tasks.

At home I had some potstickers and washed my towels and watched TV.

Time to go to bed! Work starts early, and hopefully I'll be out on time.

roachheads

Got up early and got to work early so that I could leave early to see the Mary Roach talk! Yay!

What a day! Boss was gone for the first 2/3s. I did hats, burned screens, printed hat transfers, and then did some banners, counted out shirts, started some jerseys. Boss got a new NEW hire: Jason. I think he'll be helping with vinyl application? Anyway. I did some jerseys then I coated screens.

A full day! And damn busy. Andrew stopped by for a bit to pick up some signs. Nick did hats. Ryan reclaimed. Lots of running about and trading jobs this way and that. Whew! So busy.

I changed at work into not-work clothes (well just my shirt and sweater) and headed downtown for the Mary Roach signing at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Oh it wasn't raining today. It was nice, though a bit chilly.

Anyway. Parked in the CVS parking lot because who cares about paying for parking and wandered the bookstore and made note of books to try samples of on my Kindle. I grabbed a seat nearer to the back of the set out chair ( because people had come early and grabbed spots). I was next to Melissa, a very nice couples counselor with the prettiest face I've seen in a while. And so friendly! We talked about travel and experiences and weighing the things a person has done versus their creative output. This guy who was seated in front of me looked so much like Stephen Mangan, and I even told him so. And when he looked him up he was like "that does look like me!"

Mary Roach was spectacular. Funny, blunt, no bashfulness. Just really sweet and smiley and anecdotal but also brilliant. Love her so much. And when I had my copy of Gulp signed, she knew where my name was from! And she signed a 42 in the book. She's so great. Absolutely wonderful.

sopping

Another soggy day. Good!

I got to work a bit early, and wasn't feeling too well all through the day. Just not firing on all barrels ya know? The job today was just so... argh complex. Several styles of shirts requiring color changes. And different inks based on what to print. And different sizes of shirts and stuff. Just a whole big pile of stuff. I showed Nick and Ryan how to do pole banners. I taped screens. I pressed hats.

At home I had some mac n cheese and then took a lengthy bath to relax.

Mary Roach is going to be at Book Shop Santa Cruz tomorrow! Yay! Gotta go to work early so I can get out early and see my girl Mary.

march ending

A full day with full rain! Hurray! Have I mentioned that California is experiencing a drought? Well it is.

I coated screens and showed Nick how to coat screens. He did a very good job! Nice and even. I also showed him how to work the heat transfer press a bit. And I taped screens and burned some later on in the day and caught a job and broke down the press. The day went surprisingly fast.

I held down the fort at home, then Jeff and I played the Marrying Mr. Darcy card game I Kickstarted. I lost! I was unable to marry Mr. Darcy. I ended up an old maid. Then popcorn was made and we three (+Tara) watched a bit of Big Trouble.

Nice to have a full day of work. We got lotsa stuff going on soon.