why i love being indie part 1

note:

this may or may not become a recurring topic. lets see how this goes. 

so, today i was reminded of exactly why i do what i do. and no, its not because people constantly bow down to my awesomeness, although that is a plus.  

its because i have absolutely no control over my income, which, when coupled with my irresponsible tendencies in the financial department, leads to an extreme case of feast or famine syndrome. 

sometimes, like this summer when, seriously, i was depending on a not very lucrative custom silkscreening gig to barely keep gas in my car, and mcdonalds diet coke (anyone else remember the 75 cent giant sodas?) in my bloodstream, and using my bff money to fund a local show habit (i dont think the king is dead know how many times ive given them my last $10). it was really fun, and i was really happy, but i couldnt afford ANYTHING, and racked up something like $300 in debt. to my mom. cause cell phones only break when your scraping up quarters for coke. 

but on the other hand, right now, i have more money than i know what to do with. of course, i really *shouldnt* buy any expensive things, cause i have to pay my car registration and buy school supplies next month, but still, i thought i was doing pretty good with that extra day at work last week, but that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. cause i have more money at bff than ive ever had before, and if that wasnt rad enough, i just got a pretty big order via myspace! 

yeah, im pretty much loaded, and if i knew what was good for me, id wait things out and with the next big wave of money and buy me that button press ive been coveting. hmmm.... lets see. 

well, this has been an interesting weekend

its funny how things always happen to me like that. for starters, my aunt (the cooler one, im sure youll hear about the other one later), calls me friday, asking me if i want to chaperone the "little girls", which is what i call my oldest sister and cousin, partly cause neither of them is very little, to a show. in riverside. im not sure why, but i said yes, even though it meant going all the way to riverside with my cousin, sister, and cousins uncle to see the other uncle's band play at this surprisingly cool club. i guess i went cause i just cant pass up supporting (at least somewhat) local music on somebody elses money. we saw two bands that night, the first one totally sucked and the singer was pretty much my dad (it was sooooo creepily funny), and the other was the intended band (called i am in your radio if youre interested) they were ok. but for the most part, i was really bored, and ended up dancing. alot. im still sore. its weird. 

anyways, yesterday i had a big "portfolio meeting" with one of my dads artist friends (his name is chris davis). it was really difficult, looking at all of my artwork and pick out my favorites, and then put them in order, and then photographing them, all while keeping in mind that this portfolio is supposed to represent me as an artist to not only usc (where im applying to transfer, again, youll hear about it later), but also to any galleries i deal with in the near future. yeah, i not only had to go through the emotionally draining process of explaining about 30 different pieces of artwork, but chris also decides to really like my work, and tell me that i should start making as much art as possible, AND start showing and selling. great. now im annie rexic, college student, secretary, clothing company owner, picnic enthusiast, habitual thrift shopper, occasional merch girl, and professional artist. can i lock myself in my room with some iced tea and just sew in my little imaginary world now? thanks. 

so, i guess the moral of today's story is that 1. my life is really really strange, 2. i am quite a bit further towards being a legit indie designer than i thought, and 3. i can not take very much emotional stress. 

tune in next week for when annie starts extra freaking out about transferring!

alright, here goes....

hi, my name is annie rexic, pleased to meet you. i shake you warmly by the hand. i am not going to share my life story with you now because that would be quite redundant as i will have to reiterate any points of importance as they apply to my anecdotes.  

i will be your tour guide through this fantastic fascinating indie life of mine. ok maybe not. but i am here to share with you the ups and downs of my adventures in the pursuit of the indie dream. that is, to make a living (not much, just enough to live independently and support at least a little bit of my typical frivolity) off of my craft and assorted side gigs, without much of a legit job, the ultimate goal being opening up an indie boutique/art gallery with my best friend (marisa jane), to help out the other kids like us get started. 

this will take time though, lots and lots of time, and hard work, proper time management, and patience, and all kinds of noble qualities that i apparently lack. for instance, today i woke up at 1:00 pm, got out of bed at 1:30, ate some sushi (that my mom made for lunch while i was sleeping), took a shower, and now i am sitting in my bed blogging with an empty glass of iced tea and a half-crochet hat calling for my attention. this is a typical day. i will probably eventually get up, change my shirt (i dont like the one im wearing very much) and get to doing some kind of crafty work (probably finishing that hat, and maybe ill start something involving the 5 or 6 trader joe's bags of vintage ive been meaning to attend to) in the hours before and after dinner, before roaming myspace, facebook, icanhascheezburger.com, and the etsy forums doing nothing productive and then going to bed.

i presume the first step in achieving any sort of goals would be to spend my days in a more productive manner, at the very least not sleeping for half of them. and so, i am now setting my alarm clock for 7:00 am, and leaving the computer to re-fill my iced tea, finish this hat, and finish whatever the hell it was i started on tuesday. 

thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the next episode, when annie rexic probably actually has something cool to say!