couch day

It doesn't get to happen much anymore, and that's probably for the best, but every so often, a day with crappy weather and no plans is the perfect day to become the couch. I had an inkling that last Sunday was primed to be a couch day and guarded the blank space on my google cal fiercely. Preparations needed to be made: supplies laid in for the cooking of breakfast, a quick house tidying-up so the prospect of spending all day inside wouldn't be perverted by clutter.

I saw so much live music this past week — Viagra Boys and their openers Kills Birds; Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction and Poppy; King Gizzard with black midi; and then six hours of DIY rock music put on by Friendship Quest Booking that I also filmed. A lot of sonic energy to absorb and a long time spent on my feet! I also got some strange news related to my current job that was displeasing but also a relief. Meanwhile the weather turned from sunny 60s perfection to a gray wet vibe. Lots of energy was swirling in the air and it was time to hide from it inside.

After knocking out an episode of Infinite Cast, the next order of the day was Minions Brunch. Minions Brunch as a tradition started whenever the first Minions movie came out on streaming (early 2016?) when I insisted we watch the movie at home and also eat brunch. If I recall correctly, the first Minions Brunch's food was a giant potato and egg skillet. This time we did pancakes, to christen the griddle pan that was one of our registry gifts. Griddle pan: perfect registry gift. Just this side of useful, and every time it is used, it will be remembered specifically as a registry gift, containing all the warm memories and latent stress of that wedding season. Oh and the maple syrup we used was also a wedding gift. It's truly abbondanza season at the Wade-O'Brien household.

Minions 2 was actually kind of a banger (eating an edible helped of course). Without the help of something like I Love The '70s, it'll take a movie like Minions 2 to transfer 1970s pop cultural and aesthetic knowledge to the next generation. Tupperware parties, rotary phones, avocado-colored wallpaper, you get the idea. Also I made Chris rewind an action scene because at the very end of it, there was a shot with a huge fluffy dog being walked way in the background and I just couldn't get over it. What a nice bit of scenic texture, totally unnecessary and yet extremely necessary for me, a stoned, dog-loving woman.

We followed up that movie with two more movies about how familial loyalty and organizational obligations are difficult to square with personal desires: The Princess Diaries and The Godfather: Part II. The day melted into a sludge of comfort, and then the comfort became so comfortable that it turned into discomfort with that comfort, as happens inevitably on all couch days.

At one point I paused a movie to talk to my mom on the phone about the work developments I'd been experiencing and she pointed out how I'm in a different stage in my life where said work developments did not have the power to destabilize me the way they did if they happened in, say, my early twenties, and how that was a great accomplishment. This is the Power of Moms: at their best, they have a perspective on your development even more robust than your own, because they've got their entire life experience from before they dragged you out of the womb to draw from, plus they've been watching your sorry ass fall down and get back up again Chumbawamba-style for decades. I bow down to Mom Power. Very humbling, very correct.

The weirdest part of a couch day is when you go to bed, moving from a horizontal position on one piece of furniture to an even more horizontal position on a different piece of furniture. It feels wrong, and yet right. Like I always say, you gotta power down to power up, and now I am ready to spent the last bit of "Q4" going balls 2 the wall.

I want to get a little personal for a sec

Below the cut I'm going to talk about my struggle with art, energy, time management, and trying to be an artist in the current social media climate while having a full time job in an unrelated field

In august 2023, i moved out of my parents home for the first time--I moved out of state and got a full time job. this is a good thing and a super positive life event for me! I'm now living with my partner of nearly 7 years and my best friend of 5.

However my relationship with art since before I even moved out... has been really rocky. My job now occupies my time for 6 hours a day 5 days a week. I work from 6:45 am - 10 am (im including travel time here because its still my time thats occupied by work...) and then I have a break until 2 pm. Then I work 2 - 6 pm, and depending on where I'm working at, I get home anywhere from 6-7 pm. I go to bed at 11 pm (This is a very big struggle mentally for me since my jobs schedule is very much opposite of how my body functions. I'm a night owl and not at all an early bird.) This is my monday thru friday.

By the time the weekend comes, I have other household chores to keep up with before I feel like I'm "allowed" to waste my time basically. I also use my time just... recovering for the next week. Every night I get home from work I take a couple edibles to wind down and relax, which is possibly the best part of my day when I finally get to turn my brain off from having to mask and wrangle 30 something kids throughout the day. (daycare aide moment)

How this relates to my art is that I really have zero drive to do any kind of art. I have no ideas. I see stuff online and think "wow I want to do that, I wish I thought of it". Creativity doesn't come naturally to me if it isn't the result of a college assignment or a commission. I struggle a LOT with concepting and sketching. I genuinely don't know how to doodle anymore either

In 2024 I want to focus a lot more on what's going to make me feel satisfied in a career, and so far the only option I have for that is making art my full time gig. However, anyone that is trying that or has tried that knows how difficult that is and how unrealistic it is to just be able to do that with no build up.

Here's where my struggle comes in; I have no fucking energy for anything anymore. I got diagnosed with adhd and autism last year, or just about last year. My job is insanely socially heavy (I'm around 30+ kids and have to manage them) so by the time that I get home, I just want to get stoned and watch movies. I don't want to create. I don't want to do anything. not even shit i like to do.

drawing has become so fucking hard for me. it takes me so goddamn long to finish a piece, I get overwhelmed by current trends, and it doesnt help that the fact of the matter is, social media has moved onto video formats. This means I will have to keep up with video trends to get any kind of eyes on my work. But how do you keep up with video trends when you don't even have any art to show to begin with, nonetheless ones that fit with the theme of the trends going around?

So now I need to make supplementary/filler recordings to fill out content if I want to be serious about my social media presence. On top of the fact I actually have to create art. On top of the fact that there's dishes in my sink every day and laundry that has to be done every week and groceries that have to be shopped for and a job that has to be attended to five days a week. I know 30 hours a week truly is not as much as others work to be full time but my god is it exhausting? All this shit on top of itself makes me feel like I regret moving out a little bit. Overall I don't, because I don't have to live with my parents and I can relax around my partner, but like. oh my god?

literally how does anyone live like this and not want to kill themselves. I had to get a zoloft script because i kept having mental breakdowns every sunday because I have to go back to fucking work and I never feel like I have enough time to do anything meaningful. by the time my brain is like, "ready" to work, its 9 pm and i have to get ready for bed in 2 hours.

I've contemplated getting my masters in teaching to be an art teacher, but I really wouldn't.. want to do that for the rest of my life? you don't really get days off if you need it, youre obligated to work outside of work hours just to get anything done, parents right now kind of suck, school admins also suck, curriculums are cutting art programs, and kids are also becoming so much more disengaged with art at younger ages.

with the state of everything I find it really hard not to just spiral into a depressive episode. I don't know what my future holds. Sure, I have my parents as a safety net now, but theyre approaching their 70s and arent going to be around for the majority of the rest of my life. what happens then? what happens when theyre gone and i have literally no other support beyond the little life i made for myself right now? i already feel like im not allowed to prioritize myself at the moment given my position in the household (full time consistent job that pays somewhat decent ((Decent being $16.75/hour lol)) for the area im in, im the one that can drive, im the one with the largest paycheck and most consistent hours). I can't really get days off at work if I wake up having a panic attack or even physical sickness. I'm supposed to just deal with it and clock in because we dont have enough people to cover last minute like that. And I'm someone with (honestly) debilitating stomach issues. I had to have an upper endoscopy and tests done which only yield so much if you don't follow up with an allergist, which I still have yet to do...

Currently I'm supposed to set up appointments for my dentist, an allergist, a cardiologist, and I need to contact my psych because my pharmacy told me my zoloft cant be refilled (second month on it btw lol).

so like. when the fuck am i supposed to have any kind of every to dedicate to a second part time job, my own fucking art business? the thing i want to be the most passionate about, i have no energy left for. I feel so wildly unsatisfied in my life right now because of this. I'm struggling. I'm struggling a lot and I wish i didn't have to work at all. I wish I could just have my art be my full time thing, but I dont have the audience nor the social media prowess to make that happen so quickly.

I'm tired. I'm fucking tired. everyone keeps saying "take care of yourself" or "self care" but jesus christ how am i supposed to when i cant even just work 4 days a week consistently because for whatever reason I'm the only person at my job that can do what i do? how am i supposed to practice self care when that self care would mean i quit my fucking job lol. i'm at such a loss and i feel like im just letting the time pass by like grains of sand in an hourglass. being torn between wanting to die and wanting to push through is a fucking insane feeling. all we do in life is struggle until we die and I'm finding it harder and harder to get over that kind of mental hurdle. every time i drive i have to fight the genuine intrusive thoughts of yanking the steering wheel to put myself in a ditch with my car just to give myself a couple weeks of a break.

I'm tired. And there's nothing i can do about it. how long can one weather a storm before getting lost at sea

Spent a very pleasant evening watching old Disney movies (pirated) and darning a hole in the elbow of a sweater. Never darned before and it took me two tries, through the last 20 of sleeping beauty and all sword in the stone.

Pretty much all of my current creative energies have been going into digital or edible endeavors lately, so it's really nice to have a more permanent bit of work to show for my efforts.

My husband's favorite brown sweater has a red darn on the elbow now! And since I have the stuff now, so will any other holes in any of our other clothes.

There's a post on here where someone talks about how important it is to have creative hobbies that have tangible results, and it's true. I'm gonna start looking for more small projects I can do while in bed.