Miles to Go Before I Sleep

So, yes, I have decided to continue on with this uninspired choice of name for my Wednesday post. Sometimes you just have to live with bad decisions. For now.
I have included some of my digital artwork this time, which is a bit different in style than my sketches. I also drew some characters from popular Disney films. Firstly is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I really enjoyed that film, but once you read the original story which from my research I can tell is Sun, Moon, and Talia (Sol Luna e Talia) by Giambattista Basile, it kind of ruins the tale for you. Or even the seventeenth century version The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perrault. They are kind of creepy, but I won't ruin them for anyone else. I also drew Rapunzel from Tangled, of which I truly loved. I had read somewhere that they originally wished to make the film look like a series of oil paintings but the costs would have been enormous. I still would love to see it done in that way. It sounds gorgeous. If you are wondering, I drew these with the program Pixelmator on a Macbook Air with a Bamboo tablet. They are not professional or amazing, they are just an enjoyable hobby for me.

So that title literally has no flow to it. It might be due to the fact that it is Wednesday and the last day off I had was Friday, and I still have another day of work this week. Tomorrow. So you'll have to excuse the lack of creative title. I thought I'd share some of my strange drawings that I've done recently. They are just quick little drawings with pencil and then coloured in with crappy pencil crayons purchased at Walmart because, you know, being poor sucks. I was just inspired by my own polka dot tights, and how they may be a little childish, and thus these kind of weird baby-ish looking cartoon girls with giant heads were born. The Rainbow one kind of has an alienesque look to her. Also, I forgot to give her ears, and therefore she is an alien. I have only just decided that now, as I am writing this. I should have given her skin an eerie green glow. Oh well. Also, please do not ask why the girl with the fire hair is sad. She will not tell you. Lastly, I think they need names...Hmmm....

I quite enjoy having this blog so I can rant and write someplace... My rant today is about the job market and educational systems. It is beyond frustrating to be a twenty something female in today's job market. I have an undergraduate degree of which I had a pretty decent GPA. Yet, those 4 and half years I spent pouring over scholarly articles, staying up until all hours to write papers, working menial jobs that afforded me the ability to have to reuse teabags more than twice because I could only afford hot water, and basically disregarding a social life but for June-August, finding full-time employment that will pay me enough to function normally in society is elusive. I am not jaded enough to think that my degree will get me a job in my field...no, that has gone far out the window, but I had assumed that I could get even a lowly administrative job (that is not to rag on admin jobs, because I have a part time one and it is pretty decent work, just low on the pay scale). Admin jobs often do not even require post-secondary education at all. In fact, it seems to me that experience is the most important aspect to acquiring a job. I completely understand that. It makes sense that someone who understands the ins and outs of a position would be hired. BUT, my generation was told with great vigour that college/university education was almost mandatory for being in the working world someday. So now there is a large group of educated young people who are being overlooked for jobs in their field or otherwise for experienced professionals. So a lot of us realize that we have a slim chance of getting into the working world with a decent job, so we go back to school to gain more credentials because, well, what else is there for us to do? That's great for now, but when these experienced professionals are looking to retire or change jobs we're going to be left with a generation of over-educated under-experienced workers. How are we to gain said experience? It seems as though there are some innovative companies who understand the need for experienced people AS well as the fresh minds of educated younger people. Those companies are elusive to me, nonetheless because I am having one heck of a time getting out of part time employment, as are a lot of my friends who have a plethora of varying undergraduate degrees. The ones that do have jobs are ALL employed in reception, admin, or part-time work. It is disheartening to think that my education has been for naught. I get that you can't take education away from someone and learning is good for other things besides getting a job, but when you have to pay $300.00 plus just to get some freaking glasses, you really wish you had a job that paid benefits.


 Signed, educated and underpaid.

Happy Monday!
Or perhaps not so happy, because after all, it is Monday. Mondays can be so much more than we make them; a new start for example. But who are we kidding, as much as our perspectives can change the outlook, Mondays still suck. So to help with the suck, I like to listen to some good music to deliver at least some sort of cheer and sunshine to the otherwise suck-fest and gloom that is Mondays.
I don't know about anyone else out there, but I have a vibrantly strange mix of taste in music, as you shall soon witness. I am also incredibly obsessive about playlists. Here are my three rules for playlists:
(These are not rules YOU should follow. I am just a tad psychotic with music. Just thought I'd share).

1. There must be a new playlist with each changing season. Once a season has passed, I can very rarely listen to songs of a previous playlist again for fear of changing the memories and feeling of said past season. If it has been over a year (that is the same season, different year has come and gone) I can seem to listen to past season's song a little more frequently. Not too frequently.
2. A playlist must have a good mix of types of songs. Not too many slow, soft songs (of which I am a sucker for). Not too many upbeat fast songs. Country music typically only in summer unless special circumstances. (See this fall's playlist for example).
3. Playlist must have a good flow. Each playlist is different but I currently like to start slow and quiet, build it up to fast and upbeat in the middle and bring it back down to slow and quiet. Very rarely is an artist's two songs beside each other in the playlist. 

What did I tell you? Psychotic! For some odd reason though, I allowed my fall playlist to break part of rule two because I do have a country album in my fall playlist. That album would be Keith Urban's newest album, Fuse which came out on September 10th of this year. There is a special circumstance, for this instance and that is because I am going to his concert in January, and want to know the songs from his new album prior to then. (PS, the album is pretty great).So here is the list of songs on my fall playlist so far, in an order I am generally happy with. ( I have a lot more Keith Urban, but alas 8tracks only allows so many songs from one album).

• Raise 'Em Up (featuring Eric Church) Keith Urban
• Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover) Kina Grannis
• Autumn Leaves Ed Sheeran
• Kingston Craig Cardiff
• Wayfaring Stranger (cover) Ed Sheeran
• Cups (When I'm Gone) Anna Kendrick
• No Faith in Brooklyn (featuring Jhameel) Hoodie Allen
• Pompeii Bastille
• Where the Fence is Low Lights
• We Were Us Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert
• Chocolate The 1975
• Warm Whispers Black Bear
• The Dreamer The Tallest Man On Earth

If you'd like to take a listen to these songs in my OCD order, I have an 8tracks mix that you can hear.

Float Down Like Autumn Leaves from emptyskies on 8tracks Radio.

"That always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste"