Now hiring full-time employees: No pay, no benefits.

/ insomniadoodles / Leave a comment

Now hiring full-time employees;

You will be expected to make regular appointments with clients, and keep up with them often. Additionally, you must follow a strict daily routine if you want to work efficiently. Even then, there is a chance your daily workflow may be interrupted by sudden unexpected changes, so you must be able to adapt quickly and work well under pressure.

While you only have to come to the office every few months, you will be expected to continue your work from home, available at all hours. No weekends off, no holidays, no vacation time. Sick days? You’ll have plenty of those, no worries.

Your schedule can change at any time with no prior notice, so don’t expect to be able to make recreational plans in advance. If you would like to request a day off, well, that’s too bad. We’re sure your friends will understand.

Work starts whenever we choose.

Congratulations, you’re hired! 

Oh, you didn’t apply?
That’s not our problem.

Regards,
– Chronic Illness

Chronic Illness Stories: Tales from High School and a message to teachers

/ insomniadoodles / Leave a comment

This is my first blog post here regarding my life with chronic illness. I have a congenital condition called “Panhypopituitarism”. Don’t know what that is? I’m not surprised, it’s very rare. That’s why I made this short video explaining it.

If you went to high school with me, you probably know I was on the Speech team for a while, and I was interested in Theater. If you know the teacher I’m taking about, please don’t drop her name. I’m not sharing this to shame her.

One year, I auditioned to be in the play “The Princess and the Pea”. It was a comedy musical. A lot of my friends were in it, and I was able to get a minor role as a chamber maid character. I had a lot of fun attending practices and getting to know the other students.

Unfortunately, I kept getting sick. I’m not talking about your common cold. I’m prone to respiratory infections that can get pretty serious, and I had to rest often, so I missed practice a lot.

When I did get to come to practice, I really did try hard to get caught up and learn the lines and choreography. It was obvious I was falling behind, and I was embarrassed when I had to be singled out to learn what everyone else had already done. I still tried, though. I wanted to help make the play a success.

The teacher that directed the school play also taught a theater class I was in. One day, she asked to speak with me out in the hallway. In private, she explained to me that I had missed too many practice sessions, so she was removing me from the play. I was heartbroken, but I understood. She was right, I had fallen behind too much. I just nodded and said okay. She then went on to tell me she was disappointed in me. I very clearly remember her words. “I thought you were going to be my strong freshman”.

She looked me dead in the eyes and said “This is a big deal. Why aren’t you crying?”

I was stunned, but I replied simply “I’m not going to cry in front of you.”

We retuned to class and I sat at my desk with my head down in my arms. Ashamed.

I regret never explaining to her the extent of my illness. Hell, at the time I didn’t even know how serious my condition was. I just took my medications every day and never really looked too deep into it until I was much older. She knew I was missing practice due to illness, but I don’t think she understood how serious it was.

Maybe it’s not fair for me to resent her so much because she couldn’t have known how serious it was, but I still look back on that memory with regret, shame, and anger.

Teachers, please think before you speak. If it wasn’t for the way I was talked down to that day, I probably wouldn’t have given up on speech and theater like I did. You are there to enlighten students, not to shame them and beat them down. Before you start talking down to someone, at least try to understand what they are going through.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

40683_418892889911_3696849_n

This is a picture of my friends and I from High School, taken in 2010.
I’m the one in the grass-stained jeans. haha

 

Featuring: Artem Chebokha (RHADS)

/ insomniadoodles / Leave a comment
edca62518bbf1952ede3df52456ad436-d9oovo8

“Regular Magic”, by RHADS on DeviantART

Artem Chebokha is a 30 year-old artist from Siberia whose digital paintings depict surreal landscapes characterized by perfectly executed atmospheric lighting and contrast with stunning splashes of color. His dreamlike works of art have been a favorite of mine for years now, so I was thrilled when he agreed to let me feature his work here!

18f7469b3857543b9407efeddc004d79-d92spc1

“Forest Spirit”, by RHADS on DeviantART

Each painting he creates takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 hours to complete. Artem uses his Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop, relying heavily on the “mixer” brush, which is his favorite tool.

In 2003, he started taking traditional art classes in college. He discovered digital painting in 2008, and has been hooked ever since. “It was something new, a new experience for me,” he explained. He went on to cite his first love as his main inspiration for his artwork. Judging by the overwhelming beauty and sense of joy I get from his work, I can absolutely see that. Only love could inspire such touching works of art.

I was unaware of this until just now as I was researching him a little more for this article, but he also creates his own music based on his artwork, and it is beautiful. I’m listening to “Birds are Flying to the Sunset” right now, and I am at a loss for words to describe it! Please take a moment to listen, you won’t be disappointed!

Artem offers prints of his work on DeviantART and Society6, and you can follow him on Facebook and Instagram as well. He also has a VK account, if you can read Russian.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Featured image at the top of this article: “Cloud Regatta”, by RHADS on DeviantART