...bike wheels

So, my bike wheels got stolen. And I want to punch the person who took them in the face. They were stolen in the middle of the day three steps from my front door. By someone who left a flyer for a bike race taped to my door. Nice. I took my bike in to a local bike shop downtown to see about new wheels. And apparently, my wheels are not me only problem, my chain and brakes are fucked up also. So, we are looking at over 200 bucks at the minimum to fix a bike worth about 50 bucks. Plus there are other issues with the bike because it's so old, like eventually, I would need a new chain well and the handlebars suck, etc. So, I'm thinking, "dude, 200 bucks is halfway to a brand spanking new bike which will have no problems." So, I look around at the bikes, ask a ton of question about tires and handlebars and the guy lets me take this one bike out for a test ride. Holy crap! I didn't know a bike ride could be so smooth. It was awesome! I didn't realize how bumpy and grindy and jolty my old bike was until I rode this new one. So, yeah, I bought a brand new bike. It's right between a mountain bike and a road bike, so slick tires but wide and sturdy. It's 390 which I didn't have so I made a payment and put it on layaway and should be able to pay the rest by saturday. I'm pretty excited about it. Although, I'm not excited about now having a bike for 6 days. I ride my bike almost everyday because I ride it when I go anywhere downtown. But, yay for new bikes!

I just got back from a week in Bremerton, Washington. It was pretty boring. I finished two new drawings. I'm halfway through the alphabet now. My cousin got married. The preacher gave an impromptu 15 minute sermon in the middle of the vows on how marriage is like paying taxes. My brother and I had a very hard time holding in our laughter. I went to the beach. I bought a fabulous lamp at an antique store. Yep. That was the trip. Wow right. I have some pictures I will post probably tomorrow.

School starts in a few weeks. I'm ambivalent about this. I usually spend July dreading school and not wanting to go back and being distressed by the idea and then August hits and I'm ok. I have made my peace with the passing of summer vacation.

I got my tattoo on my wrist fixed up Aug 1 by the same artist who did my foot. I realized halfway through the session that I'm tattooed out right now. I don't want anymore for a while. I found myself annoyed with the pain. Usually, I kind of like it but not this time. I am over it for a little while. This artist is way cool. I think I'm going back in a few months to get just a shamrock with no swirls or vines on my other foot to kind of match up. And I want to ask him about drawing up a really cool Art Nouveau Mary Magdalene half sleeve for my other arm. I'm thinking a Mary Magdalene set up like this picture that looks kind of like my Medusa tattoo but very curly and pretty and nouveau in just black ink, half surrounded by red flowers, probably lilies.

I finished J and M. They look pretty cool. I'm stuck on N now, so I think I might skip to O for owl. I have started getting some attention for my drawings and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I have always drawn, just for myself, because I like it. Sometimes I give them away as presents but I have never pursued shows or galleries or sales. And now people are starting to ask me about commissions and the gallery in the building I live in wants me to contribute artwork to the next show. It kind of makes me nervous, self conscious kinda.