Whew. It’s done. I finished my mosaic with a couple of days to spare. I approximate that 40 back-breaking hours were spent on it, and then about $150 in glass and the frame (Nauticalina convinced me to spend $50 on the perfect frame, and while she was absolutely correct, it proved to be quite difficult for several reasons, including that it is not foot friendly—I recommend not walking in to the corner of it unless you enjoy bloody and bruised toes). Overall, it was a lot easier than last year’s spider lily, but I still really pushed myself (I do not wish to ever cut out that many octopus’ suckers ever again).
It is off to the gallery tomorrow, where someone can feel free to buy it for $550, which will pay for my San Francisco vacation at the end of the year with enough left over to buy some food. No boots this time. Also, I don’t expect to win two years in a row, but I can certainly fantasize.
Last week I suffered through an annoying cold while having Boston visitors in town, which prompted a lot of anxiety and guilt on my part. I wanted to be a great host, but my energy level dictated that entertainment was mainly limited to the couch. We did leave the house a few times, most notably on Halloween where I was asked to provide a quiet bar, which I thought was going to be hard since Austinites really like Halloween, but I guess no one was interested in going to the Violet Crown Social Club. A foray to Taco Cabana proved there were plenty of people clogging the streets (I had a tense standoff with a car who refused to get out of the way), and Nauticalina fell in love with the driver of a rocking low-rider under the I35 underpass at 5th Street. Alas, we were traveling in opposite directions, so only a longing look could be exchanged between the two.
There was one game of Settlers played where I won but not handily. They were novices, too. I blame my cold for preventing total domination and humiliation.
Overall, I think everyone had a reasonably good time—even if I did stick them on a leaky queen-sized air mattress (borrowed from the kind CSP and his roommates). I consider it a success based solely on the fact that I don’t believe any 3” cockroach came out to terrorize anyone (I’m thanking Clem’s Exterminating Services for that saving grace).
Ex-Cop just had me fix a digital clock for him. It continues to amaze me that he was allowed to carry and use a firearm. This was not a complicated, fancy digital clock with crazy controls. It was the type where you hold down Set then move the up/down arrows to set the time. I told him that I would be ashamed if I was him. He laughed, and said he is ashamed. People who are actually ashamed don’t laugh, they run in to their offices and hide the burning tears running down their cheeks. Jackass.
Today I’ve been reading various things about the pros and cons of moving one’s financial matters to a credit union. I’m not really going to weigh in on the political aspect of all that, but here’s the thing, I have not paid a single bank fee in all my life. I’ve had a checking account since I was 15 (that’s 21 years of banking), and maybe it’s because I’m excessively conservative with my money, but I’ve never bounced a check or had my bank account below the free thresh-hold limit. I do not have any benefactors (my parents never paid for a single thing for me once I left the house, and even before I did, pretty much anything that wasn’t deemed essential was all on me to buy), and I haven’t had cushy jobs keeping me rolling in the dough. I’ve just lived very austerely for most of my life, and thus banking has always been free to me. Frankly, it never occurred to me that people were having such a hard time with bank fees. I only go to my bank’s ATM, I don’t make any transfers between accounts, I pay my one credit card in full each month (I’ve never paid interest on my card in my life), and gosh, I don’t know, what are people doing that is costing them so much to want to leave their banks? Or is this one of those things where it is just bully for me for being so damn, boringly responsible with my money? And if that is the case, then um, I don’t see how switching to a credit union is really going to save your irresponsible ass. Now, as to the question of if banks are intrinsically evil for other reasons, I get that, I really do, but if it comes down to you incurring fees, that sounds more like a personal problem.
Ahem. Stepping down now.
2 comments:
Ooooohhhh...
It's so purty-ful!!
Nice job!!
I love your newest masterpiece!! It's a winner in my book!
And as for bank fees: I've signed up for accounts with no fees, only to have fees added on with little explanation later. I opened an account earlier this year and was told that in order for it to be "free", I had to have a checking AND savings account, and that each month I had to transfer $75 from checking to savings, and they could set it up automatically to do so. Seemed stupid, yet simple enough, so I opened the account. A couple months later I was looking through my statements and noticed all these fees that I didn't understand, so I went to the bank and was told that the fees were due to no money being deposited into my savings account each month. "But I set it up with that guy over there to do an automatic transfer each month!" "Oh, well, it looks like that transfer was never entered." "Okay, well, set it up now and let's get rid of those fees." "I'm happy to set that up for you, but there's nothing I can do about the fees." Blah blah freaking blah, I'm closing the account.
Stepping down now.
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