FGM has closed up shop.

FGM is dead – long live FGM!

You may address me as MISANGELA.

Bitches.

You [should] learn something new every day.

Today, you will learn about analemma over at NASA’s Astronomy Pic of the Day.

Go on now, SCOOT!

Even the usually busy LJ has been a dearth of entries!

Eh. I dunno, I’m so busy in my head that I guess I’ve lost the will to write as much as I used to.

How about a catch all post? That is something I don’t do much, but at this juncture, I think it’s really called for! Here’s a list of the random things I’ve been up to, in no particular order:

– I’ve been unhappy with my eating/drinking/smoking routine. I’m about to change all that up drastically. I’m tired of being fat and the only way to not be fat is to stop overeating and drinking alcohol and get back to the Kathy Smith Exercise Bitch DVDs every morning. Here goes nothing…

– The smoking needs to be cut back. I’ve peaked with it as high as it’s ever been for the last year. It’s got to get back to one a day or something like that. And no more binges of smoking a pack at a time. That’s just silly. I’m currently at 2-3 packs a week and that’s simply too much. (I smoke Djarum Vanillas for those of you who don’t know – and they are BAD BAD BAD for you.)

– I built a fenced area for my bird feeders and bird bath. I’m sick of Bernadette eating my birds, so this is an experiment to see if a barrier will keep her out. She’s a climber, but I don’t think she’ll climb this flimsy fence. Even if she does, I think it’ll still give the birds time to get away. We’ll see.

– We’re doing postcards for the postcard show at Mint Gallery in December. I’m doing photography, poetry and some Chinese calligraphy if I can do anything that looks halfway decent. Nick is doing photography and something hand drawn, Emily is gonna do a card or two and even Heather is going to do a couple of things. Anyone else who wants to join us, please drop me a line! It’s non juried and NOT restricted to “real” artists. Deadline is the day of the show, which is Dec 8 or 9 – I’ll have to get the exact date from Mint. :-)

– There’s been some emotional juking and jiving going on lately, too. We’ve got friends who are going through changes and struggles and it’s hard to not get somewhat affected. I’m faring OK with bouts of irritation and/or concern but Nick is taking waaaaay too much of this on as his personal load. Which of course is causing some strife between us. ::sigh:: An astrological forecast that I read today pointed out: “Scorpio, you must find a balance between the Warrior and the Lover within you. It may seem impossible from where you stand now, but I know you can do it. ” Uh, yah. Well that makes one of him.

– I feel a bit disconnected all ’round. This time of year is always challenging for me and it looks like this year is no exception. ::bigger sigh::

– I mentioned the number 8 in a previous post and that we’re coming up on an 8 year. While that is true, it’s not truly accurate. To get more info on numerology, go here. I highly recommend numerology as a guide. I like astrololgy, but it’s far fuzzier than numerology, which is simple addition. I’ve used it for my name, my company name, my address and other things with success…

That’s it for today. I’ve managed to while away my morning with this and assing around the interweb. I’ve got to get cleaned up and over to the restaurant. Ciao.

So, I finally get the news yesterday: Rob sold the stores. When I’d been thinking about this, I totally discounted the money factor and assumed that he’d never sell because it’s his livelihood. I didn’t take into account the fact that with enough money, Rob would be fine until he decided to do something else. The Greeks made an offer that Rob simply couldn’t refuse and I’m very happy for him. He will get to spend a lot of time with his family and that is a very good thing. He’s worked like a slave for the last 10 years and he totally deserves to make some money and take a frelling break!

For me, this means the end of an era. I’ll no longer be the Accounts Payable Wench – probably to the relief of many vendors! LOL I’ll also not have to deal with payroll anymore, which will be a relief – I fucking hate payroll!

However, I also host the website, administer the site and handle all the graphics, so I don’t know what’s going to happen with that stuff.

I think that once everything is wrapped with the store’s bills I may be kept on for payroll and such until the end of the year, which would be great. I’d keep the web/graphics gig with the Greeks, but that’s all. I really don’t like the owner much and they generally make me nervous with their scattershot management style. If they do retain me for web and graphics, then they will pay my normal rates. I’ll do stuff for Rob at half price because I’ve known him forever, but these guys can pay me full price or find someone else. I don’t like them enough to deal with their assholey tendencies on the cheap. I don’t work for people I don’t like – take the corset chick, for instance – and if I do, you can be sure it’ll be for FULL price to compensate me for putting up with their shit.

So, I’ll be busy as hell with Rob for this last bit. Then I may or may not have a large gig with the Greeks. Apparently they plan to rock the Moon concept – they’ve got 3 new locations arranged already. That could lend itself to a LOT of website work and advertising work. But we’ll see. Rob is advocating me, which is very nice. I’d certainly like the work IF and only IF I can negotiate a proper rate and IF I get paid on time.

I’m grateful to be in a lull right now with ID so I can concentrate on all the myriad things that need to be done for Rob. It’s been a wild ride, but ultimately I’ve learned soooooo much. The pay is not all that, but the actual hands on experience I’ve gained working for Rob has been invaluable. I am confident that I can run a business now. And that confidence will serve me well as Nick and I try to get our comics/art business off the ground.

The end of 07 is just fraught with surprises, isn’t it? I guess it makes sense with an 8 year coming up! (8 is the number of karma and plans coming to fruition. It’s a very powerful number.) More on this tangent later…