Above: one of my SuperModel pals...

Last October there was this:

http://albertsworldofartsyfun.blogspot.com/2009/10/newz-insomnia-up-at-4am-and-so-was-one.html

There are still a few beaurocratic hoops to go through, but it looks like it may actually happen. Yay, and freaked simultaneously!!! Will keep all y'all posted.

I realized I needed a break from the thoughts in my head, especially on the commute home from work, so I am dipping back into Balzac.

Taken out of the library: Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, translation: A Harlot High and Low.

Appropriate, n'est-ce pas?

Newz

Insomnia, up at 4am and so was one of my kitties, racing thru my bachelor pad and eventually crashing into my ironing board which then crashed into my oven door. Sorry for the racket. downstairs and upstairs neighbors!

Main reason for the insomnia: a potential position shift (a promotion of sorts) in my job: different designer/ floor/ schedule/ money/ responsibilities.

I feel flattered that I've been asked-- it's a more high-profile fashiony spot. It just means... having to "swallow the Retail Kool-Ade" more than I've been willing to do thus far. I definitely can't go into more details than that.

My fate's now intertwined with someone who's leaving the position at some point in the near future...

Wondering if it's God/Goddess/Universe/Tao/Spirit's will for me?

Nude-ling Around on Another Sick Day...

I read my work schedule wrong today and didn't realize it until too late (as in: I would have been two hours late for my shift if I had shown up!). So I did the easiest thing and called in sick again. Woohoo. I still felt sick anyway after a grueling Post-Xmas Bargain Shoppers and Return-ers Day yesterday. I think I've just been OUT OF IT due to this killer of a cold.

RE: the post title-- I do have clothes on! It refers to the quick study charcoal nudes shown here, from one of my recent painting class sessions. The poses were each maybe 15 seconds long. This particluar model was very bony, kind of muscle-y for a Lady, and some of these remind me of primitive African sculptures, especially the second one that's lower on the page.

I just came back from a beautiful walk around "Serenity Lake," which was my healing gift to myself for calling in sick! :-)

Merry Cough Sniffle Christmas, Happy Hack Hack Hannukah, All Y'all!

After busting my butt to provide Overall Outstanding Customer Service for several weeks at my Retail 'Ho job (not succeeding 100% of the time, I'm afraid to admit) I came down with the Mother of All Colds on my last shift on Monday, and have been inside ever since, missing out on all the Holiday festivities I had planned for my three days off. It's been a bummer. I know that there are many people who aren't able to have the holidays they want. People who are having hard economic times, people in the military, in the hospital, etc. I am still pretty blessed right here in my cozy 'Frisco Bachelor Pad...

I have wonderful family and friends who have missed my presence at Holiday get-togethers as much as I have missed theirs, and we're just having to postpone hanging out together until I feel better. So I can't really complain too much.

In the meantime, I hope all my "bloggy friends" (to use the expression of one of them!) are enjoying their festivities!

Insanity vs. Serenity

Yesterday I started work at 7:30 am and today at 6:30 am. No one was shopping at 7 am when the store opened! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I know that many people in the rest of the world have to go to work early, but I am not the rest of the world! I need my beauty sleep!

I've been spending extra time in Golden Gate Park or out at Ocean Beach during my time off lately. Being in nature replenishes my spirit, which I really need right now. I am so lucky to live in a city that has so much natural beauty in it! This photo was taken at a lake in the park that's about a 10-minute walk from my place. I call it Serenity Lake. It's a great spot for bird-watching, and the ducks and squirrels that aound live there are quite well-fed and happy too.

Blechh Friday & Saturday

Hope all y'all had a nice Turkey Day on Thursday! I enjoyed the afternoon at a friend's pot luck gathering, but all the while, in between bites of deliciousness, I was facing the impending doom of a 4:30 am start-time at my place of employment on Black Friday. And it was even more hellish than expected, although the store did extremely well business-wise. Everyone who had not shopped all during October and early November came out in a mad rush on Friday, looking for slashed prices-- and finding them. It was ugly! It was insanely crowded! I wanted to go home!

I am grateful at least that I was not TRAMPLED TO DEATH like that poor Wal-Mart employee in NY. (I know that area; it's a pretty dicey neighborhood these days... my Mom used to take me to Green Acres Mall when I was a little boy).

Anyway, my heart goes out to that poor man's friends and family. What a way to go.

Were any of my (7?) faithful readers out at a department store at 5:00 am on Friday? C'mon, 'fess up! If so, we need to talk!

The Sound of Crickets Chirping...

It's kinda creepy being in the retail world right now.

T.G.I.M. (My three days off are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)

This customer yesterday had the hugest fake eyelashes I've ever seen; I want to paint them next!

Happy Halloween from PimpDaddy AlbGlinka!

I dressed up for my Retail 'Ho job today! It was a challenge to do Male Drag that wouldn't scare too many customers away... I ended up as a vision in 100% Polyester. Various interpretations of how I looked included: Key West Vacationer, the writer Hunter S. Thompson, 70's Porn Producer, Dad from the Brady Bunch on the episodes where they visited Hawaii.

These are pics I took of myself when I got home.

It's the Most Wonderful Day of the Year!

The storm is approaching: Holidays in the Land of Retail. (I've been a Retail 'Ho for almost exactly a year!)

Will anyone be shopping? Probably. Hopefully. Obama will already have been elected and the mood in the country will be newly optimistic.

These big balls were in our storage area near the breakroom. Had to snap them! Festive, n'est-pas?

The Sartorialist

I was noodling around the 'Net looking for content in french and came across this Blogspot blog about Men's Fashion... The Sartorialist. It's a blog filled with photos and commentary on men's, and sometimes women's, fashion on the streets and runways of Paris, Milan and New Yawk. (Why no 'Frisco?!) The blogger is a very handsome photojournalist and sometimes model-- Scott Schuman. It's a great, inspiring blog that makes me want to fly to Milano immediately., and sip a cappuccino at an outdoor cafe while wearing a bespoke suit...

I'm surrounded now by men's fashion 30 hours a week. However, I am in the low-end of the pool of high-end men's fashion. We sell some blazers and suits that are in the $900-$1400 price range (!--pour Moi), but most of our customers wait until they go on sale. And we also have many shoppers scouring the clearance racks for $9.99 bargains (and still asking for more of a discount, oy oy oy!).

At the very least, I now know about proper sleeve length, the difference between a structured and unstructured jacket, and other (useful???) information. This, added to my extensive knowledge of the latest happenings inside the Big Brother House, make me the well-rounded person that you have all come to know and love!

Photo appropriated from "The Sartorialist" blog.

Je parle un peu le francais.

My latest game at work is to try and speak a bit of french to our French customers. At least 75% of the customers I deal with every day are from Europe. It's a part of my job I never expected to have to deal with. Because the dollar is so weak right now, the Europeans are buying like crazy, and they love the Polo brand.

I studied french in h.s. and one semester in college and was pretty into it. Then I visited Paris one year and freaked out at being in a foreign city and getting lost and not being able to be understood easily. (I'm not the best traveller.)

The French customers at the store definitely appreciate hearing a few words in their native tongue, even if they end up speaking english anyway. Their english is usually pretty good. For some reason, the Italians are the ones who often barely speak english-- someone was telling me that their school system is not that great.

I'm currently procrastinating getting started on this little freelance graphics job I have-- just trimming and mounting some stuff. It's going to take all day and I'm not in the mood, but I love the client so I said yes. Arrgh, just get to it, Grove/Alb!

Sick Clown

I've been home yesterday and today with a cold and funky fever that's low rather than high. Not the proper state in which to sell merch. It's been very nice having the weekend off even if I feel crummy. There are a million sales associates on the floor on Saturdays and Sundays so no one misses me-- less competition for them.

This is another painting I did last semester, doesn't really have a title. Maybe it should be "Sick Clown" like the title of this post! It's another 3' x 4' canvas, quite imposing.

I'm not sure if anyone would want this hanging over their couch!

Fun with Solarization

Abundance rules my life: I was given a new hand-me-down computer and fancy-schmancy flat-screen moniter from my pal C.W. last week and it is set up on a computer desk I got from another pal eons ago. It almost makes me want to blog regularly again...

My Retail 'Ho job continues to dominate my life, and my off hours continue to be filled unproductively with Re:Ality TV. Painting is on the back-burner until class starts up again in August, and opera supering is off the radar completely due to my work schedule, booohooo.

Hope you all are well!!!!!! luv, Grove/Alb.

A Look Back

Sorry I've been scarce; my new Retail 'Ho--Ho--Ho job quickly took over my life for awhile there, plus I immediately got sick from the onslaught of germs, no fresh air and the stress of being a newbie. It's going okay, I've made a good first impression, but I am definitely apprehensive about the coming days and weeks!!! Have to work tomorrow 3:15-11:30pm, that's a start of what it's gonna be like.

Anyway, today I am celebrating the two-year anniversary of moving into my new bachelor pad. It's really been a great haven for me-- an excellent move. Quiet neighbors, a beige carpet that's a bitch to keep new-looking but that I've managed to keep my kitties from destroying, just an overall healing vibe for me in here.

This photo was taken the morning I moved from my old place. The only thing I miss is the view of the ocean I had-- but all the other B.S. I had to put up with made it so not worth it. Besides, now I just go down to the ocean and experience it all around me. :-)

NYC/ Queens/ L.I. Tour #7- La Comédie humaine

Imagine my delight in seeing this grand sculpture by Rodin of the writer Honoré de Balzac prominently displayed in the new MoMA's glass-enclosed lobby. After finishing my George Eliot craze, I am currently embarked on a major Balzac-reading phase. Could take the rest of my life, as he's written some 94 novels, not including short stories! Anyway, it was cool seeing this sculpture-- I wish I'd gotten someone to snap a pic with me standing next to it because it's huge.

On the reading front, so far I've gotten through Les Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions [that title could be the story of my life!]), Le Père Goriot (Father Goriot) and I am now reading La Rabouilleuse (The Black Sheep). I need a copy editor for all this crazy punctuation-- I may be doing it wrong.

Balzac is a MUCH more cynical and jaded writer than Eliot, which took some getting used to at first. His pointed and witty social and psychological observations have completely won me over now. He writes a lot about lives of creativity, excess and theatricality in the city of Paris, and amusing social posturing in the provinces. Plus, there is a lot of very fascinating historical stuff thrown in.

Speaking of La Comédie humaine , there is La Nouvelle Monde de Retail that I am being initiated into! Oy, Oy, OY!!!

We interrupt this NYC/ Queens/ L.I. Tour...

to bring you some late-breaking news. I just got hired as a P.T. Retail Sales 'Ho, I mean, Associate, at Macy*s, Union Square. I'll be working in the Men's Furnishings department, which means dress shirts, ties, cufflinks and the like.

I am getting ready to provide, as they said during the interview process, OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE. I am getting ready to be super-perky!

OY OY OY!!!!

I am excited but anxious. I haven't slaved for a regular paycheck in many years, but I definitely need the money. Canvases and paints are not cheap, not to mention San Francisco rent.

They put me in that department because a) I got myself all gussied up for the interview and b) because they thought I could bring an artist's eye to helping customers match shirts and ties.