Year in Review

January:

• Started the year out getting stupid-drunk at Sin City and making an ass of myself
• Had to make a presentation upon which hinged my job and realized five minutes in that the whole process was lip-service and I was fucked. This was verified when I was subsequently handed my already-prepared "retention package" letter giving me eight months to undo everything I had done in my last three years at work.
• I made a "Welcome to Siberia" demotivational poster

February:

• Started applying for jobs in New Zealand and Australia
• Bought the Big Black Camera of Doom™
• Paid off my student loan.

March:

• Applying for jobs all over the planet
• .Started putting together Convergence 12 bid for Vancouver
• Finished Forest #5 after having it nearly rot on the easel

April:

• Went to Convergence 11 in San Diego
• Vancouver Convergence 12 bid goes live
• Rode on a city bus where the driver got lost

May:

• Lost the Convergence vote to New Orleans
• Lost my office and moved to a cubicle
• Found out from kaRIN that one of my pictures of the Collide show in January was going to be published in Keyboard Magazine

June:

• Bought a high-end flash for my Big Black Camera of Doom™
• The issue of Keyboard Magazine with my photo came out - my first internationally published photo!
• Converted my old camera to infra-red.

July:

• Redesigned my website
• With only two months left in my retention package, Tolko starts to consider what they might actually need me to do.
• Pitched new website to new Lignum
• Started the Red Chair Project
• Photos of mine used for Kooper Kain album
• Entered my "late thirties"
  
  

August:

• Started the City of the Future Project
• Went on medication to deal with all the fun I was having at Tolko

September:

• Incorporated 0734206 B.C. Ltd.
• My employment at Tolko ends. 0734206 B.C. Ltd.'s contract with Tolko starts
• 0734206 B.C. Ltd. launches new Lignum website.
• Run into an old client at Elaine's opening at the Port Moody Arts Centre and get to talking about working for Port Moody city hall again.
  
  

October:

• Show two of the City of the Future photos in Hive group show
• Pick up a new lens for the Big Black Camera of Doom™
• The Bauhaus concert
• Interview at Port Moody
• Tolko announces they are closing the Vancouver office

November:

• Got the job with Port Moody, and notify Tolko that I won't be renewing my contract with them
• Finish the first Red Chair Project painting

December:

• Leave Tolko for good
• Start with the City of Port Moody
• Get a lead on a job in Toronto
• Finish the second Red Chair Project painting
• Picked up reflector umbrella, slave flash, and portable printer
• Finished the year getting stupid-drunk at Sin City and made $97

And now for 2006.

Last night was fun despite my scatter-brained stupidity. I started out by leaving light-stand and reflector umbrella in the cab. It took about half an hour to get it back (mostly on hold, trying to get through to to cab company at 9:00 on New Year's Eve) and cost $20 (including the healthy tip I gave the cabbie for bringing it back to me). Once I got set up I was utterly swamped with people wanting pictures. It was hard keeping up and I barely managed to find time to drink - by midnight I wasn't even legally impaired. Just before midnight I started getting a low battery warning and realized I had forgotten to put the second battery in the camera (it's still sitting in the charger right in front of me right now) and with the extra drain from running the printer I pretty much had to give up on taking photos a little before 1:00. Between 1:00 and 3:00 I sucked back I don't know how many double gin and tonics. Enough that when it was time to leave I forgot to bring to foam-core sign I had made. It is probably still sitting under the coat check counter where evilyn13 put it. No big deal on that one - it will probably still be there two weeks from now when I need it again, and no big loss if it isn't. valerian and I didn't even try to get a cab home and just walked/staggered home (hooray for living downtown). My legs are a little sore this morning from schlepping all my gear the two or so, mostly uphill, kilometres from the club to home.

The whole photo-booth thing worked out really well. On the first night I paid for the printer and paper. It's a drop in the bucket if I think about all the money I've put into the camera, camera gear, computer gear, and connection charges for Gothic BC - but a least I've finally found a fun way to make some of it back. Packing up the camera gear and actually enjoying the last few hours of the night was a treat as well. I think I'll make that a regular thing.

I'm also pleased that people didn't have a problem with the model release. As I have mentioned before, it isn't strict legal necessity under Canadian law outside of Québec, but a little ass-covering doesn't hurt.

So I suppose resolutions and such are also in order. I made the resolution last year to smoke more. I did for a while, but it didn't work out as planned so I have taken up lolly-pops. For this year I resolve the following:

• not to let my day-job suck all the joy out of my life,
• to make sure I keep up with exercises to my back doesn't go out (not really a new resolution, this has been ongoing for a few months already)
• to lose at least 2" of girth around my waist (also not really a new resolution), and
• to get out more, especially to clubs, galleries, and the cinema.

I'd also like to sell off some artwork. I plan on having a Red Chair opening sometime this year as the series progresses. I definitely want to do more shoots - maybe I'll set the chair and backdrop up at Sin City for Valentine's Day (although I don't know how I would get it there and back). I've decided that I'm definitely not going to Convergence this year for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is not really being sure right now if we'll be moving to Toronto or not, and I won't have that sorted out in time to plan for April. I hope to go the WGT in Leipzig in June instead, but that is also dependent on how the work situation sorts itself out.

Oringinal post: http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/685230.html