Time off

Well, with next week being the holiday, my freelance assignments are all cleared out. So I've got a week to celebrate my independence. Outside of a trip up to see the family with CT-legal fireworks, I'm basically going to be working on some online goals - fleshing out my gaming world, poking my head back into the novel and the non-fiction book to see if the muse has returned there yet, maybe some sketching and walks in the nearby park.

And Warcraft. Definitely warcraft.

See, I've been a caual gamer for Warcraft for a while now. Over a year, off and on here and there. It passed the time in the winter, and it was cooler than Everquest for Mac was. Dark Iron server, Horde, Troll mage named Runika. And I'm happy to announce that she's level 70 and making a good entrance into the endgame.

Well, okay, she's 70 several months after the rest of the server levelled up. She -had- been at the endgame max level of 60, but we arrived there just as news was coming down about the expansion to 70. And at the time, the server had already been 'old', in the sense that the regulars all were already well-entrenched in their endgame, just running some odd alts with the stray newcomer like me. So there were plenty of people who already -did- everything I was trying to do, and everyone just assumed we knew all sorts of stuff.

Now at least there's still a significant portion of folks not yet at endgame, so new arrivals are common and there's a support system in my guild, Dire Beef.

Virtual Success during Real Life Mediocrity

I'm totally using escapism. I know it. I know that it's a *game*, and that there's a real world out there. But right now, I get the daily 'fix' of -feeling- productive, and -feeling- like I'm advancing, like I'm building something meaningful. And right now, I need that. I'm stuck in transition, trying to get myself together, trying to clear the way for whatever comes next...

More later.

Cable out again, no Warcrack :(

Well, it's that time of the season when the paychecks don't line up right and the Cable company gets vicious. We've got another 'cable interruptus' happening right now, which means no phone calls out right now and worse, no Warcrack. I mean, life revolves around Warcrack, sorta. Okay, so it doesn't really, but Warcrack is fun and I enjoy blowing off some smoke and just grinding. I'm really starting to 'get it', as far as the endgame thing goes.

Well, that's good because I'm approaching it again. I was capped at 60 until they brought out Burning Crusade and upped things to 70. I started the slow, inevitable climb and now I'm churning things out. Finally reconnected to my mage-ness with Runika. Here, for those who play and want to see her on the new 'Armory' website from Blizzard...
Runika

It's not like I play all the time. Storm started playing Runika on the off hours because, well, it's a fast ticket to the top instead of earning his way there on Vanolen. But I don't mind. He mostly PvP's, and I mostly don't. So it works out. Just makes me feel slightly schizophrenic when chatting with folks because it's the same alt, different gamers.

In any event, Burning Crusade came out in February, and here it is almost July and I'm still grinding out the upper levels. 67 for now. But the pacing picked up.

HEY! It's not like I live this stuff. We're talking maybe an hour or two of play every other day or so. Back in college, I would have speed-levelled and sunk most of my time into the game. I imagine most college kids do this now, themselves. And when I was unemployed and without freelancing prospects, I got so turned off on the game I gave up the whole 24/7 thing because I didn't want to be living in a fantasy world.

All good. Adults need a different pace. But now, I'm finally starting to absorb the way things work in the game, and starting to plan out my strategies for self-improvement as I come close to the level cap again. I'm not rushing into it, but I'm not dallying either. I hope that next week when I'm not freelancing, I'll be able to grind out the last two levels to 70 and finally, finally get myself into the endgame again when it's all about Rep and Item sets.

Ah well. We'll see. But until Wednesday, there's no hope. Cable's out, and payday is Wednesday.

-Adam

Getting back to things?

I've been freelancing again as a graphic designer. My bank account thanks me profusely, but my Landlady has been less than happy with having to wait until mid-month to get the rent. It's on its way, so we're fine, I just hate disappointing people and looking irresponsible.

With freelancing in my life again, my schedule is slowly returning to the M-F 9-5 corporate grind pace. I'm just happy to be productive. Such an odd feeling, really, but there it is. I'm not cut out for not having a job yet. I'm sure I could get there, but I don't have the chops for it quite yet.

With the return to work, even temporarily, I'm prolonging my unemployment benefits, so the weeks that I have no work or don't clear my unemployment benefit amount I can at least count on that to get me by. I'm also able to pick up the pieces of everything that I dropped these last few months, including the return to art.

Personal Patterns

I know myself well enough that I really think I can stop trying to live up to someone else's ideas of how my creative work should go. I know that actively -working- on it will yield the best results, but the creative urges come and go. Focus shifts. When things get to the point that they're ready to move forward, they do. As things get closer to completion, I can buckle down and study or be productive, but until I can see a point I want to get to, I'm generally not able to work on things that don't interest me.

It's not a good habit to have for the purpose of making money off of my art, but it's a lovely luxury for an artist who earns a living in the daily grind.

Well, I'm returning to Guru Dave next month to resume lessons. I've got Craft projects running now (that's Craft of the Wise projects, not 'Arts and'), a novel at a midpoint break, and my fine arts pursuits. My recent return to the freelancing world of graphic design has actually increased my Photoshop skills significantly. Not in the manner of picking up whole new avenues, but more in the way of "the penny dropped" and I 'got' how to use the Channel Mixer and Selective Color palettes for better control over photo retouching.

Took me a bit, but I'm glad I picked it up.
Still, I'm happy to be returning to working with Guru Dave. I've missed the studio and the intense possibilities that he represents. As well as the "tidying up the past art education I neglected" bits.

Well, we'll see. Really.
Back to work for now.

Update

It's been a bit of a ride this past couple of months. I was fired from my job doing recruiting, went on unemployment, had a hearing, and the hearing was found in my favor. My old boss still didn't get me my stuff back, and I found the original hearing decision suddenly challenged by my old boss who tried to claim I was guilty of 'Wilful Misconduct'. We went before a much more formal appeals adjudicator, got sworn in, gave testimony, questioned each other, etc. A week or so later, the adjudicator communicated her findings to us both in writing... intial decision upheld. I'm not guilty of wilful misconduct, I'm still entitled to my unemployment benefits. And on we go.

Now, it's 3:45 on a Friday afternoon. I'm waiting for more work to come in because I cleared the hopper ahead of time. I'm back freelancing again for one of the industry giants. I'm not going to say where, because my psycho ex-boss seems to not be able to get beyond our differences and has actually threatened to attack my reputation and livelihood in the last email she sent to me. So I'm keeping a low profile when it comes to -her-. She fired me, fine... it was a bad fit for a job anyway. But she tried to make it into some kind of weird extended breakup. She still hasn't returned any of my stuff. I'm writing it off as a loss, and good riddance, frankly.

So anyway, I'm here at this agency, got done with the work, got invited back for next week with possibilities of renewal beyond. Great news! Awesome!

The unique work world of advertising

It's hard to understand what you have until it's lost. I formed my first profession in the world of Connecticut Advertising, and I was blind to some of the better perks that come with working in the industry. For example, I've just been treated to a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and some cheese, served to the whole agency as a regular Friday treat.

In another example, my resume impressed the department head, and my performance yesterday assured them that my experiences were bona fide. I'm left pretty much to my own work ethic and devices to plan and execute my day. I get told the deadlines and what the agency needs, and then they leave me to provide it. We don't dally because the work tends to pile up if you do, but we aren't tied to punching a clock. I'm treated like an adult whose professional experience is sufficient to make my own decisions regarding my workday flow. So long as I deliver on time and on target, I'm left to manage myself.

Not so in the rest of the world, where appearances matter more than reality, and everyone is treated like interchangeable cogs in a machine. I guess that's because of the Art aspect to advertising. Artists don't respond well to timetables and schedules and micromanagement as a rule, and two equally competent artists are NOT equivalent, because each has their own style. Management quickly learns just how fast commercial artists will jump ship if they aren't treated respectfully, and the non-artists tend to enjoy the same level of pampering (at least in the corporate sense of things) that the rest do, too.

Casual dress every day. Emphasis on the deadline, not the kickoff meeting. Some flexibility for arrival times due to traffic and the fact that mornings are not normally 'productive' time for agencies. Yet everyone stays until their jobs get out the door or done for the night. No exceptions. If a rush job drops in your lap at 4:55pm, and it's going to take you 3 hours to do it and it HAS to get done, then you will be at work that night until 8pm or you get the job done.

It's a dedication to the job team, not to the job. There's a difference, and it's subtle, but it's an important one for me. I guess I should have gone out for team sports more in high school.

So... no more recruiting. Back to the bullpen for now as a graphic design freelancer. For as long as it lasts. There's more plans in the works, but I'm not divulging yet.