christina's journal

I’ve finally got back to drawing. I don’t know why I’ve had such a creative block for so long. Just doing a bit of sketching in Photoshop at the moment, on my laptop in the kitchen because it’s a lot cooler down there. I’ll have a go at some vectors after lunch. I’m way behind with that job for Iliana. Hope she’s not too mad at me.

So, first day back wasn’t so bad. As usual at the start of the year I spent some time using my project management software to outline all the things I need to do – course guides, update notes, write quizes, update the online site, etc etc. I wonder how long being so organised will last this year?

We have heaps of students. Seems our quota for the Associate Degree somehow quadrupled at the start of the year, and we might be running four groups!! I could end up teaching so much web programming in second semester that my hours won’t cover it. Graham has in fact asked me if I’d be prepared to do five hours overtime (paid) next semester, if necessary, and I’ve agreed to that as a once off. Busy busy.

I came home for lunch and shot it before I ate it. I thought about the glass of wine but it didn’t end up preventing me from doing any work in the afternoon. All very civilized. Things are ticking over quietly on istock. Hope they pick up a bit.

Back to work tomorrow. I’m not really looking forward to it, but I guess I’ll settle into it pretty quickly. I’ve had a good break, pretty different from usual. Lots of movies, some reading even. Did work on something new of course with the illustration (and still plenty of that to do) but all in all a good holiday. I’m pretty positive about the coming year.  Meanwhile I decided to snap my lunch today. I don’t usually eat smoked salmon with champagne so thought I’d make the most of it.

Life has its seasons, they say. I certainly feel there has been a big shift in my life recently. For most of my life I’ve been struggling to acquire skills, to learn. Always working on learning something new, usually quite obsessively. Time now to actually use my skills rather than forever preparing for some new challenge.

It’s taking a bit of adjusting. There isn’t anything new I want to learn at the moment. Nothing major anyway. Of course I need to extend what I already know, to keep up to date, but no completely new area. Turning my attention to actually getting on with doing what I already can do is proving quite difficult. Somehow I need to find satisfaction in just getting on with the job. It might take a while to reach that point.

11am Well, I’m right back into working mood. I think I just really needed a holiday, even from doing things I like doing but that take a lot of energy. Now that my leave is effectively over I’m firing on all cylinders again. Hope it lasts.

Macarthur Place, 8.30pm. Well, a grunge version thereof, courtesy of Photomatix. Pretty wild huh? And here’s the straight(er) version.

After a few hours nap after dinner I’m buzzing at 3am. Just checked my dls and #500 is in the bag. A fairly boring image of textured wall tiles, but that’s what stock is all about. A Best Month Ever (henceforth referred to as BME) for royalties too (excluding ELs) if not for downloads. Things are picking up nicely.

No, haven’t hit that 500th download yet, but I have got back into a creative space again after weeks of having a serious creative block. It was photography today, shooting food for my istock portfolio. This was quite a major exercise. First the shopping, not just for the food but also a suitable tablecloth (white with some interesting texture), a new breadboard and knife (not shown here). I had to iron the tablecloth of course, trying to keep it clean all the time. Then setting up these plates without getting oil everywhere was very challenging. The shooting was fairly straightforward, and most shots were uploaded with almost no processing except some minor brightness adjustment. Getting it right in camera helps a lot. My expodisk is great for correct colour balance. I think the days work – 23 images to my portfolio – was very worthwhile and I’m very happy to be back in a creative frame of mind again.

Two overnight downloads. Might still take ’til Tuesday to get that next one, but perhaps I should buy some champagne today. Sales have picked up in the past few days. Ebb and Flow. Probably some tweaking of the BM. How much of this makes sense to a non microstocker?

Just checked my weight and I’m down to 99kg. That’s about a kilo and a half down from when I started my lifestyle change. Of course it fluctuates a lot so it might not be all that meaningful, but still promising.

Three more to go before I break out the champers. Weekend is usually quiet though, I’m guessing Tuesday will be the day. Hope it doesn’t drag out longer than that.

Under 100kg this morning, so I think I’m making progress with my new lifestyle. It’s not all plain sailing though. Yesterday I was extremely tired most of the day, slept a lot later than usual, didn’t do any singing practice or get any exercise. Perhaps all the out and abouting of previous days had finally got to me. I feel a lot better and more energetic today though.

Making some small progress on istock too. Last night I went to bed with a balance of $56, and when I woke up this morning I hoped it might be $60. It was. Only 2 sales, for $4, no big deal but there is slow growth. Back to work next week, although classes don’t start for another couple of weeks. Time to get stuck into those illustrations. I’ve been in such a creative slump lately, hope I’m coming out of it.