I've been working on the reorganization project I didn't fully finish 6 months ago, so I pulled all the plastic bins out of the hoard room and I've been sort/purging in combination with the stuff in the front room. It is a necessary disaster. Much is already sorted, it's just figuring out what goes with what and swapping bin sizes. Copious labeling. The move was terrible for my memory. Toward the end, all the decisions blurred together. Every week seems like I run across something I can't remember if we still own or if it went away in the move. Then I go looking for it and I am unsure if I can't find it because it got tossed, or simple disorganization. It's very very very frustrating, compounded by the fact that I haven't made it a priority to get what I need to organize and set up a functional workspace here. Passive aggressive self sabotage. A part of me is just plain bitter about being an artist, or dismissive of what I need for success, or fixated on low resources, or all of the above. Like I have this spartan mental ideal that I ought to be disciplined and tough enough to work in any condition, but in reality I am fussy and mentally high strung and without decent organization and workflow I lose the plot. Nobody likes admitting they are a priss.

I know that I work best when I have a couple projects going in different stages. When one task gets too repetitive or I hit a decision making wall, it's good to have the option of changing gears and still staying in a productive groove. I did this when I worked embroidery - there's a digitizing stage (turning the art into instructions for the machine), a setup stage (choosing thread, setting up machines, tweaking the file), then production (running the order(s)) and cleanup (trimming, fixing any problems, boxing). They all have their fun parts and tedious parts and I would track a list of orders for the week and tetris different stages together. I kept myself productive by keeping the mental novelty factor high, and being in a nice smooth production groove was a reward by itself. And my workspace was organized, too, I knew where everything was stored and stocked the supplies I needed and everything was efficiently laid out.

So, like, I know how to do this - I should be able to do this at home. The rampant chaos has just been mentally killing me. I can tell that moving the furniture was a big positive. I have a real project work area now. I know why we ended up with the old furniture layout - because spouse is a factor in this too and we thought we'd have friends over. So the priorities were 1) spouse 2) possible visitors and lastly, 3) me and my project space. I also didn't advocate for stuff I need, like a good task chair. I made sure spouse got a comfy office chair, but my seat options have been either a wood kitchen chair, or the couch, or the floor. Tattooing does make you a lot more aware of your posture and how you use your body to move a tool. You wouldn't think of drawing as needing the same physical coaching as a sport, but some of the first steps in the apprenticeship were relearning the physical mechanics of drawing. Especially since I'm not in my twenties anymore, I really need to watch how I sit. So I told spouse I need a quality chair. Frankly, I don't even know where I would go locally to buy a good chair. The ones at office box stores are overpriced garbage. I also know a really good chair (like steelcase) is $400+, and that's a bit rich. So I scoured the bejeesus out of amazon and found one chair that met my specifications, and then I went to their website and ordered it direct from them.

It's a $240 chair, ouch. I was hoping to keep it in the $100-150 range, but I couldn't find what I wanted that didn't have durability issues in the reviews - peeling vinyl, bad pneumatics, broken seat backs, etc. I want a comfortable armless chair with fully adjustable back, tilting seat, in vinyl (needs to be easy to clean for tattooing). Any color but black. It doesn't sound like a super difficult list, right? Shoot, I even looked at black chairs in the end.

So I've ordered a laboratory chair. Good reviews, warrantee on the pneumatics, fully adjustable, anti-microbial vinyl, and it comes in ORANGE. Orange, my secret favorite color! Hope it's good.

This one.

I should finish the reorganization today and once the chair arrives I should be set. The new furniture layout is a big improvement. I want to keep the tv/couch area really neat and project free and contain the filth and chaos to the work area. So far the one downside I have found is that the couch faces away from the window so I don't get the mental benefit of the early dawn light when I have my coffee.

Cat has been a real pain in the ass this morning. He puked on the carpet, chewed on the X wing hanging mobile, tried to get on the printer stand and mess with the mint plant, followed me into the bathroom and chewed on the door stopper (he likes the obnoxious BOING noise) and tried to knock stuff off the coffee table. He's chewing on my shoes now. I feel like I've been yelling "NO, STOP" at him for a solid hour. It's revenge for messing with his living environment. Spiteful, furry little jerk.

Spouse has his fit test tomorrow and we're both on a slow anxious boil. I think Cat is picking up on it. We're both so sick of the waiting limbo. He needs to pass this test because we're backsliding into a motivational dead zone. It's only going to get harder from here because we will def want to self medicate with taco bell. I got us movie tickets for later tomorrow to give spouse something to look forward to (that Snake Eyes GI Joe movie - I expect it to be terrible but whatever). Like there's not much I can really do. I make sure he takes vitamins. But spouse won't respond well to carrot or stick. Neither bribery or threats will make any positive difference with him. He just has to do it himself, for himself.

Anyway, fingers crossed. But he really really needs to pass it this time.