I'll get the obvious shtick out of the way - I wouldn't say October's been frightening, however it has been a bit upside-down to say the least.
As I mentioned last month, I started a 6 month work placement at a charity shop - having not worked for 4 years, it's taken a bit of getting used to, having to get up early and go walk around a shop all day, shifting stuff around and sorting stuff out, but I guess I'm pretty much adjusted to the routine now, though I have found myself feeling a lot more tired at the end of the day - having a full-time job will do that to you, not that that hasn't already been said.
To be honest, I dont mind it, going into the shop and doing the work, it keeps me busy, makes me feel useful, and most of all I get some exercise out of it. The part I have the problem with is having to go and do 4 hours of jobsearch once a week - the training provider who organised this placement and who supervises the jobsearch are just a joke, more specifically the attitude of their staff, they come across as very condescending, and while I haven't really been on the receiving end of it, some of the others who I work at the shop with have, as I have to listen to them rant about it on a daily basis. It just really brings everything down, and there's been too many days during this placement that I've wondered what the point of it all really is. When it boils down to it, everyone in this situation is being exploited just to massage the unemployment figures, and we have no choice but to go along with it. I do NOT want to be stuck in this situation for the rest of my life - but the only way to avoid that is to get a job, and it's the obvious failure in that department which is the whole reason I'm in this situation.
On the flipside, even though it might come along more slower than normally, I'm still doing my artworks in whatever spare time I have, and still doing my livestreams also. Working shouldn't mean having to give up what you enjoy - as a well-known saying goes, you should work to live, not live to work. As well as that, it feels like it's getting closer to December, closer to taking my next US trip and seeing Nicole again - and it really can't come soon enough.
I'll leave you with not one but four sets of Halloween themed artwork - one for each of my comic series. Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween, and also hoping that November will pick things up.
A Monster Thing Halloween 2014
Bob & Flyer Halloween 2014
Snow Sam Halloween 2014
The Surf Club Halloween 2014
31/10/2014
30/09/2014
September 2014
September usually isn't one of my favourite times of year - it's that time where summer ends and things turn very autumnal, and of course in the past it was also the month where the summer holidays ended and I had to go back to school and get readjusted to being in a different class and having a different timetable, and all that jazz - and the way things have gone this month is not too dissimilar.
Last month I mentioned about being put on a training course that turned out to be refreshingly bearable...well, I've now been put on something else by that certain place I keep mentioning, and this time it's definitely not bearable - for 6 months, I'll be doing a 30 hour work placement, which will be in a charity shop, along with having to attend a 4 hour jobsearch session at a training provider every week. The problem is that I don't get a wage for this, just my unemployment money every fortnight as normal. As it stands, I don't have the placement yet, the training provider is apparently trying to sort one out for me, however if they can't, I have to attend their jobsearch session every day and do nothing but jobsearch for 30 hours a week. It's all BS, I know it is, because I've been in this position before, and the only reason they make people do 30 hours of jobsearch is so they can keep tabs on them - as I mentioned, this is only designed to massage the unemployment figures and put money in the pockets of the organisations concerned, and I have no choice but to go along with it, for if I choose not to attend, I'll get my money stopped. I'm really not happy about being put in this situation at all, and I find myself worrying that I won't be able to have much of a life outside of this placement/jobsearch deal - I know that's how it would be if I had a permanent job, but at least I'd be earning money to justify it. I just feel like I'm being used as cheap labour at the end of the day, and other than work experience I fail to see what I can get out of this. Obviously once more happens, you'll hear about it here.
That's the bad stuff out of the way, now onto the better stuff.
Since around 2008, when I flew on a plane for the first time, I've had a big interest in planes, more specifically commercial airliners - at the back end of August and most of this month, I've been taking that interest a bit further. You see, I like to planespot, just watch planes flying up above, and it just so happens that where I live lies right under the flight path of air traffic flying in and out of Newcastle Airport, which is great. By taking it further, I mean that I've now been logging each plane that I see, and obviously if I've logged a plane already I don't log it again. This also harks back to a hobby I had when I was a kid - me and my brother would walk around the streets and write down the make and model of all the cars parked in the street and tally them up. Funny how things come full circle.
This also ties into the other good part of this month - on the 28th, myself and my lovely Nicole celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Sadly we couldn't be physically together for obvious reasons, but we still made the most of it via Skype - I sent Nicole a home-made greeting card complete with cheesy words, plus two packets of her favourite Aero Bubbles chocs, and a little gold clock that I came across a few months back - I thought of Nicole as soon as I saw it, because even though we're separated by distance and time, there's also not that much time until we do get to physically be together again (December). So it just seemed right that I buy the clock for her, as a reminder that time isn't always against us.
I said this ties into the planespotting - Nicole's present for me was a model plane, and not just any plane, but a British Airways Boeing 747, just like the ones that have flown me to the US to see her on three occasions now, and what will be flying me back there again in December - and it goes without saying that I can't wait. Too bad we can't just skip over October and November, I'll especially want to this year.
I'll sign off with some artwork, as always - a group shot of the cast of my comic series "A Monster Thing", and speaking of that, I've gotten back to making my series of cartoon blogs on my YouTube channel - go take a look at those and more if you're interested.
Sayonara for September.
PS: One last mention - many congratulations to two good friends of mine, Andy and Hayley on their recent marriage - all the very best for you two crazies. :)
Last month I mentioned about being put on a training course that turned out to be refreshingly bearable...well, I've now been put on something else by that certain place I keep mentioning, and this time it's definitely not bearable - for 6 months, I'll be doing a 30 hour work placement, which will be in a charity shop, along with having to attend a 4 hour jobsearch session at a training provider every week. The problem is that I don't get a wage for this, just my unemployment money every fortnight as normal. As it stands, I don't have the placement yet, the training provider is apparently trying to sort one out for me, however if they can't, I have to attend their jobsearch session every day and do nothing but jobsearch for 30 hours a week. It's all BS, I know it is, because I've been in this position before, and the only reason they make people do 30 hours of jobsearch is so they can keep tabs on them - as I mentioned, this is only designed to massage the unemployment figures and put money in the pockets of the organisations concerned, and I have no choice but to go along with it, for if I choose not to attend, I'll get my money stopped. I'm really not happy about being put in this situation at all, and I find myself worrying that I won't be able to have much of a life outside of this placement/jobsearch deal - I know that's how it would be if I had a permanent job, but at least I'd be earning money to justify it. I just feel like I'm being used as cheap labour at the end of the day, and other than work experience I fail to see what I can get out of this. Obviously once more happens, you'll hear about it here.
That's the bad stuff out of the way, now onto the better stuff.
Since around 2008, when I flew on a plane for the first time, I've had a big interest in planes, more specifically commercial airliners - at the back end of August and most of this month, I've been taking that interest a bit further. You see, I like to planespot, just watch planes flying up above, and it just so happens that where I live lies right under the flight path of air traffic flying in and out of Newcastle Airport, which is great. By taking it further, I mean that I've now been logging each plane that I see, and obviously if I've logged a plane already I don't log it again. This also harks back to a hobby I had when I was a kid - me and my brother would walk around the streets and write down the make and model of all the cars parked in the street and tally them up. Funny how things come full circle.
This also ties into the other good part of this month - on the 28th, myself and my lovely Nicole celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Sadly we couldn't be physically together for obvious reasons, but we still made the most of it via Skype - I sent Nicole a home-made greeting card complete with cheesy words, plus two packets of her favourite Aero Bubbles chocs, and a little gold clock that I came across a few months back - I thought of Nicole as soon as I saw it, because even though we're separated by distance and time, there's also not that much time until we do get to physically be together again (December). So it just seemed right that I buy the clock for her, as a reminder that time isn't always against us.
I said this ties into the planespotting - Nicole's present for me was a model plane, and not just any plane, but a British Airways Boeing 747, just like the ones that have flown me to the US to see her on three occasions now, and what will be flying me back there again in December - and it goes without saying that I can't wait. Too bad we can't just skip over October and November, I'll especially want to this year.
I'll sign off with some artwork, as always - a group shot of the cast of my comic series "A Monster Thing", and speaking of that, I've gotten back to making my series of cartoon blogs on my YouTube channel - go take a look at those and more if you're interested.
Sayonara for September.
PS: One last mention - many congratulations to two good friends of mine, Andy and Hayley on their recent marriage - all the very best for you two crazies. :)
31/08/2014
August 2014
Well, this month was another month of two halves - and as I always do, I'll get the bad half out of the way first.
A certain place that I won't mention referred me to a mandatory training course,the likes of which they've forced me to go on before, you know the type, sit in a classoom with a bunch of strangers while someone tells you "do this, do that". These courses aren't even designed to help the "customers" on them, they're just an exercise in massaging the unemployment figures and keeping the money rolling in - so naturally, I was expecting the worst.
I was surprised, however - the course I was sent on is probably one of the better ones I've been on, there's a relaxed atmosphere to proceedings, and the staff there, unlike other places, actually seem to care about the people in their charge, and I have to admit, there's been some subjects on the course that I haven't been taught on other courses, such as confidence-building and assertiveness. I mentioned those two examples, because I'm lacking in both of those, and I find myself wishing I could be more confident and assertive, not just in looking for a job, but in my whole life too.
Don't get me wrong, I still hate the idea of being stuck in a classroom for 6 hours a day being told stuff I mostly already know, but at least this particular place tries to make the process far more bearable.
During this time, I had some food for thought about my future...one of the staff at the course ave me some advice about what I should do if I want to go into an art career, and their advice was that I should go and study art at college, and try to get a job in something that could lead to an art related job, such as data entry. However, to be brutally honest, I'm not getting any younger, and I don't think I could face being put back into a school situation, at least not full-time anyway. I would like to think that there's another way that doesn't involve college, but that's probably just wishful thinking (I do far too much of that.) I want to live my life, not spend it in a classroom.
On the plus side of things, I got a hold of some new music, and good new music seems to be a rarity these days - the album "Violence & Destruction" by Islander - alternative metal with a sounds throwing back to early 2000's "nu-metal", but without most of the cliches that gave that genre a bad name. Take a listen to one of the tracks from it here.
There was some more nice summer weather to enjoy, and I took advantage of it to take some trips to the beach at Tynemouth - if you haven't gathered already, I love that place. I've been to many beaches, but I always find myself going back to that one, because it's got bags of character, and it's simply beautiful. And needless to say, going there makes my summer.
I'll leave you with a beachside real life/cartoon crossover - no prizes for guessing which beach this was taken at.
A certain place that I won't mention referred me to a mandatory training course,the likes of which they've forced me to go on before, you know the type, sit in a classoom with a bunch of strangers while someone tells you "do this, do that". These courses aren't even designed to help the "customers" on them, they're just an exercise in massaging the unemployment figures and keeping the money rolling in - so naturally, I was expecting the worst.
I was surprised, however - the course I was sent on is probably one of the better ones I've been on, there's a relaxed atmosphere to proceedings, and the staff there, unlike other places, actually seem to care about the people in their charge, and I have to admit, there's been some subjects on the course that I haven't been taught on other courses, such as confidence-building and assertiveness. I mentioned those two examples, because I'm lacking in both of those, and I find myself wishing I could be more confident and assertive, not just in looking for a job, but in my whole life too.
Don't get me wrong, I still hate the idea of being stuck in a classroom for 6 hours a day being told stuff I mostly already know, but at least this particular place tries to make the process far more bearable.
During this time, I had some food for thought about my future...one of the staff at the course ave me some advice about what I should do if I want to go into an art career, and their advice was that I should go and study art at college, and try to get a job in something that could lead to an art related job, such as data entry. However, to be brutally honest, I'm not getting any younger, and I don't think I could face being put back into a school situation, at least not full-time anyway. I would like to think that there's another way that doesn't involve college, but that's probably just wishful thinking (I do far too much of that.) I want to live my life, not spend it in a classroom.
On the plus side of things, I got a hold of some new music, and good new music seems to be a rarity these days - the album "Violence & Destruction" by Islander - alternative metal with a sounds throwing back to early 2000's "nu-metal", but without most of the cliches that gave that genre a bad name. Take a listen to one of the tracks from it here.
There was some more nice summer weather to enjoy, and I took advantage of it to take some trips to the beach at Tynemouth - if you haven't gathered already, I love that place. I've been to many beaches, but I always find myself going back to that one, because it's got bags of character, and it's simply beautiful. And needless to say, going there makes my summer.
I'll leave you with a beachside real life/cartoon crossover - no prizes for guessing which beach this was taken at.
31/07/2014
July 2014
Things have warmed up this month - not on the job front though, I'm afraid. The TK Maxx job was a non-starter, I heard absolutely nothing back about it, and I'm inclined to believe that contrary to what I was told, there was never going to be an interview at the end of the course that I took in June. Typical false promises as always.
I did actually get an interview though - not with TK Maxx, but with Greggs the Bakers, for a job as a team member in my local store. Trouble is, it was also a managerial position, and of course I have no managerial experience - they as good as told me that at the inteview. I think you can guess how that ended.
The weather's been warm though, much warmer than June, and I've been making the most of it, going out for walks and heading to the beach at Tynemouth. I prefer it when there's a breeze to counter the sweltering heat though, that's not to say I don't enjoy the sunshine. Summer is my favourite time of year for a good reason.
This month brought back memories of last July, when I was over in the US for my longest trip abroad to date - you can read about how that went right here and here.
While I wasn't abroad this summer, I did get to go to this year's Sunderland Airshow - it was my fourth time there, the first three being in 2005, 2006 and 2012. The getting to and from the airshow was a nightmare, because of all the crowds, chock-full trains and buses not turning up, however, the airshow itself was as brilliant as it always is. I saw quite a few aircraft, some I'd seen before and others that I hadn't - my personal highlights of the airshow were the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster); the Breitling Wingwalkers; and of course, the star attraction of the airshow, the Red Arrows display team.
You can watch my videos of the airshow at the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Again, I wasn't abroad this summer, but my brother Chris was, he spent a week in Prague in the Czech Republic, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't mind having the house to myself, although you know how it is when one of your family goes away on holiday, you're soon wishing for them to come back. Chris has set foot in Holland, Germany and now the Czech Republic - I have yet to set foot in any European country outside of the UK, so there's a bit of sibling envy going on there!
As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - and considering it's summer, it's only right that it's something summer themed.
I did actually get an interview though - not with TK Maxx, but with Greggs the Bakers, for a job as a team member in my local store. Trouble is, it was also a managerial position, and of course I have no managerial experience - they as good as told me that at the inteview. I think you can guess how that ended.
The weather's been warm though, much warmer than June, and I've been making the most of it, going out for walks and heading to the beach at Tynemouth. I prefer it when there's a breeze to counter the sweltering heat though, that's not to say I don't enjoy the sunshine. Summer is my favourite time of year for a good reason.
This month brought back memories of last July, when I was over in the US for my longest trip abroad to date - you can read about how that went right here and here.
While I wasn't abroad this summer, I did get to go to this year's Sunderland Airshow - it was my fourth time there, the first three being in 2005, 2006 and 2012. The getting to and from the airshow was a nightmare, because of all the crowds, chock-full trains and buses not turning up, however, the airshow itself was as brilliant as it always is. I saw quite a few aircraft, some I'd seen before and others that I hadn't - my personal highlights of the airshow were the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster); the Breitling Wingwalkers; and of course, the star attraction of the airshow, the Red Arrows display team.
You can watch my videos of the airshow at the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Again, I wasn't abroad this summer, but my brother Chris was, he spent a week in Prague in the Czech Republic, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't mind having the house to myself, although you know how it is when one of your family goes away on holiday, you're soon wishing for them to come back. Chris has set foot in Holland, Germany and now the Czech Republic - I have yet to set foot in any European country outside of the UK, so there's a bit of sibling envy going on there!
As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - and considering it's summer, it's only right that it's something summer themed.
30/06/2014
June 2014
What a difference a year makes...
Last June, I was feeling excited and happy for my 6 week trip to the US, getting to see Nicole again and seeing all the sights that we did.
This June, however, I've been feeling pretty much the opposite. I've been feeling just a bit overwhelmed and stressed, and it's all to do with the ongoing jobsearch. I mentioned in my last blog that I had two interviews lined up - the one for the security steward, I went to it, however I quickly realised that it wasn't the right job for me, with it being a zero hour contract, meaning no stable income, so I had to turn it down - plus, it's not a career I wish to pursue, as I've mentioned.
The interview for the assembly operative didn't happen, because it was being held through an agency to have a reputation for putting people through pointless training courses for money, and the job suddenly failing to materialise. However, it was also because something else came up - the work programme that I'm on arranged for me to attend a 2 week "pre-employment" course, to do with the company TK Maxx, who are opening a new store in my area and are looking for staff. I did the course, which involved going over customer service skills, interview techniques and even having to visit a TK Maxx store, plus a mock interview which went really well. I am supposed to get a real interview at some point in the next week or so, so I'll keep you posted on that. I am concerned about the job though, I'm worried that 16-24 hours' worth of wages isn't enough. I want a job, but I don't want to be working just to have every penny I earn be spent on bills. I actually want to have a life too, is it too much to ask?
On a brighter note, it's now my favourite time of year - summer of course, although I'm hoping the heat won't be as unbearable as it was this time last year. And as much as I love summer, I'm still looking forward to flying back over to the US in December to see Nicole again - at least, I hope I will be.
There's also been quite a bit of sport going on - I used to be into it as a kid, but nowadays I couldn't care less about the football. I'm talking about the World Cup - teams from every country kicking a ball around a field for 90 minutes just to win a glorified tin cup? We know it's all just about the bottom line really. I know the same thing could be said for the Wimbledon tennis, but I'd much rather watch that than the football, any day.
Anyway, as always I'll end this with a bit of artwork - inspired by a livestream request from Granitoons, here's Bob & Flyer looking a bit elementary.
Last June, I was feeling excited and happy for my 6 week trip to the US, getting to see Nicole again and seeing all the sights that we did.
This June, however, I've been feeling pretty much the opposite. I've been feeling just a bit overwhelmed and stressed, and it's all to do with the ongoing jobsearch. I mentioned in my last blog that I had two interviews lined up - the one for the security steward, I went to it, however I quickly realised that it wasn't the right job for me, with it being a zero hour contract, meaning no stable income, so I had to turn it down - plus, it's not a career I wish to pursue, as I've mentioned.
The interview for the assembly operative didn't happen, because it was being held through an agency to have a reputation for putting people through pointless training courses for money, and the job suddenly failing to materialise. However, it was also because something else came up - the work programme that I'm on arranged for me to attend a 2 week "pre-employment" course, to do with the company TK Maxx, who are opening a new store in my area and are looking for staff. I did the course, which involved going over customer service skills, interview techniques and even having to visit a TK Maxx store, plus a mock interview which went really well. I am supposed to get a real interview at some point in the next week or so, so I'll keep you posted on that. I am concerned about the job though, I'm worried that 16-24 hours' worth of wages isn't enough. I want a job, but I don't want to be working just to have every penny I earn be spent on bills. I actually want to have a life too, is it too much to ask?
On a brighter note, it's now my favourite time of year - summer of course, although I'm hoping the heat won't be as unbearable as it was this time last year. And as much as I love summer, I'm still looking forward to flying back over to the US in December to see Nicole again - at least, I hope I will be.
There's also been quite a bit of sport going on - I used to be into it as a kid, but nowadays I couldn't care less about the football. I'm talking about the World Cup - teams from every country kicking a ball around a field for 90 minutes just to win a glorified tin cup? We know it's all just about the bottom line really. I know the same thing could be said for the Wimbledon tennis, but I'd much rather watch that than the football, any day.
Anyway, as always I'll end this with a bit of artwork - inspired by a livestream request from Granitoons, here's Bob & Flyer looking a bit elementary.
30/05/2014
May 2014
Normal service has been resumed - the start of this month was my return from US trip #5, and I can't put into words what a great time I had, getting to see Nicole and friends again. I mean it when I say I really didn't want to go back home, and the day I had to fly back home, while not as bad as the last time, was still a bittersweet day. More memories to cherish, though...and also more on all things US a little later on.
For the most part, aside from a mini heatwave in the middle of this month, I've been getting back into the normal routine - and as I've experienced before, after coming back from a trip some things about the normal routine seem to be worse than what they were before - especially the jobsearch side of things. I feel like over the last few months the pressure on me to find a job is getting ramped up, to the point where I'm getting anxiety issues before I have to attend each of my mandatory jobsearch sessions.
On that note, as I type this I have two job-related "interviews" next week, but they're not really interviews - one is a recruitment day for a security/event steward job, and the other is an induction for a supposed assembly operative job. They're both well outside of my comfort zone, and I was pretty much press-ganged into applying for them by certain quarters, because I have no experience in either job and they're not careers I ever wish to take up - but I will go to both "interviews" anyway, if anything just to see what happens.
Also - I might've mentioned this before, I know I have to a few people - there's an issue I've had for the longest time. Whenever I'm in a group situation, either online or offline, and with anyone, I can't help but feel that I'm the odd one out, while everyone else just talks over. It's half my own fault, because I'm a very quiet person most of the time, and I don't know what to say or how to make myself heard, and I'm always afraid that I might come across as rude if I do speak up or say "Hey, listen to me!" However the other people in the group are half responsible too - I'm not saying that they do that intentionally (the vast majority, anyway), but that's how it can come across to someone like me. Plus, if everyone's talking over each other and/or talking about something that just completely goes over my head, it really doesn't help. I know this sounds harsh, but this is how it can be sometimes.
On the plus side of things, and going back to the US trip again - I wasn't expecting to say this so soon, but I have booked my next trip to the US - I'll be flying back over in December, for a month, and I will be there for Christmas, New Year and my 29th birthday - and also a wedding. Two of Nicole's friends, Paul and Crystal, are tying the knot in December, and I'm not only invited, I'm also in the wedding party, so it's a first - and hopefully it'll be a great occasion, too. And the best part is that I'll get to spend it with my lovely Nicole (how many times have I said that now?) - I can't wait.
I'll leave you with this comic I produced for one of Granitoons' art jams this month, based around the very funny improv show "Whose Line Is It Anyway", which he introduced me to recently - give it a watch, and also check out Granitoons' gallery if you haven't already.
For the most part, aside from a mini heatwave in the middle of this month, I've been getting back into the normal routine - and as I've experienced before, after coming back from a trip some things about the normal routine seem to be worse than what they were before - especially the jobsearch side of things. I feel like over the last few months the pressure on me to find a job is getting ramped up, to the point where I'm getting anxiety issues before I have to attend each of my mandatory jobsearch sessions.
On that note, as I type this I have two job-related "interviews" next week, but they're not really interviews - one is a recruitment day for a security/event steward job, and the other is an induction for a supposed assembly operative job. They're both well outside of my comfort zone, and I was pretty much press-ganged into applying for them by certain quarters, because I have no experience in either job and they're not careers I ever wish to take up - but I will go to both "interviews" anyway, if anything just to see what happens.
Also - I might've mentioned this before, I know I have to a few people - there's an issue I've had for the longest time. Whenever I'm in a group situation, either online or offline, and with anyone, I can't help but feel that I'm the odd one out, while everyone else just talks over. It's half my own fault, because I'm a very quiet person most of the time, and I don't know what to say or how to make myself heard, and I'm always afraid that I might come across as rude if I do speak up or say "Hey, listen to me!" However the other people in the group are half responsible too - I'm not saying that they do that intentionally (the vast majority, anyway), but that's how it can come across to someone like me. Plus, if everyone's talking over each other and/or talking about something that just completely goes over my head, it really doesn't help. I know this sounds harsh, but this is how it can be sometimes.
On the plus side of things, and going back to the US trip again - I wasn't expecting to say this so soon, but I have booked my next trip to the US - I'll be flying back over in December, for a month, and I will be there for Christmas, New Year and my 29th birthday - and also a wedding. Two of Nicole's friends, Paul and Crystal, are tying the knot in December, and I'm not only invited, I'm also in the wedding party, so it's a first - and hopefully it'll be a great occasion, too. And the best part is that I'll get to spend it with my lovely Nicole (how many times have I said that now?) - I can't wait.
I'll leave you with this comic I produced for one of Granitoons' art jams this month, based around the very funny improv show "Whose Line Is It Anyway", which he introduced me to recently - give it a watch, and also check out Granitoons' gallery if you haven't already.
30/04/2014
April 2014
No fooling about this April, I can tell you now. Two important things have happened this month, one very much more exciting than the other. I'll get the less exciting stuff out of the way first.
I mentioned in my last blog that I'd gotten a job interview at a shop in Barnard Castle - I'll cut to the chase, I didn't get the job. It was probably just as well that I didn't, because the commute would've made it financially unviable, and they also didn't mention what the hours would be. Still, at least it was some interview experience, which I need badly considering interviews are a rarity for me. The jobsearch continues.
Now for the exciting part - I also mentioned in my last blog that I would be flying to the US for the fifth time to see my lovely Nicole. As I type this, I'm there, on the second week of my two week trip, and it's been great to be back, seeing the sights and getting to spend lots of time with Nicole and her family and friends. The best part was that I was more or less Nicole's main birthday present (how cheesy does that sound? XD), as her birthday was on April 23, and it was great that we got to spend it together. We were also in Newport, Rhode Island for that, where we explored the town, visited some of Newport's famous mansions, walked on the beach and also checked out the International Tennis Hall of Fame, all good times.
I also visited Long Island once again and met up with long-time DA friends Shane and Paula for the third time, took a nice hike in the Rocky Point Pine Barrens and also got together to make some collab drawings, which was just as fun as the previous times.
Despite the weather not being on my side for this trip, I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far, and things between myself and Nicole are as strong as ever. Going back home is going to royally suck, like it always does, but hopefully it won't be much longer before we see each other again.
As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, a somewhat belated Easter greeting.
I mentioned in my last blog that I'd gotten a job interview at a shop in Barnard Castle - I'll cut to the chase, I didn't get the job. It was probably just as well that I didn't, because the commute would've made it financially unviable, and they also didn't mention what the hours would be. Still, at least it was some interview experience, which I need badly considering interviews are a rarity for me. The jobsearch continues.
Now for the exciting part - I also mentioned in my last blog that I would be flying to the US for the fifth time to see my lovely Nicole. As I type this, I'm there, on the second week of my two week trip, and it's been great to be back, seeing the sights and getting to spend lots of time with Nicole and her family and friends. The best part was that I was more or less Nicole's main birthday present (how cheesy does that sound? XD), as her birthday was on April 23, and it was great that we got to spend it together. We were also in Newport, Rhode Island for that, where we explored the town, visited some of Newport's famous mansions, walked on the beach and also checked out the International Tennis Hall of Fame, all good times.
I also visited Long Island once again and met up with long-time DA friends Shane and Paula for the third time, took a nice hike in the Rocky Point Pine Barrens and also got together to make some collab drawings, which was just as fun as the previous times.
Despite the weather not being on my side for this trip, I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far, and things between myself and Nicole are as strong as ever. Going back home is going to royally suck, like it always does, but hopefully it won't be much longer before we see each other again.
As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, a somewhat belated Easter greeting.
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