I got a lot done for the move last week. Tons done in the past two weeks. I hit my physical limits though. Yesterday was a complete rest day. Did nothing, not even daily art sketch. Couldn't sleep well last night. Woke this morning to pain. Took pills. Tried to move.
Wrench... got up to do something after resting to let the pills work. Back twinged. The tightness that tells me Stop Now or you'll be on bed rest for a week.
I weighed my laptop bag since my carry on needs to be under 20lb with machines in. With my old laptop it was 20lb exactly, nothing else could go into it. HP new one that works didn't fit in it anyway, so gifted that to Kitten and brought it downstairs. Back whinged. Stop and rest.
Hours later got up to find other bag. HP laptop wouldn't fit in the lightweight canvas art bag. Oh well, no need to repack that then. Rummage in closet. Find big art bag of many pockets. Empty, at least. Hold up to HP laptop - yes it'll work. Put netbook in it and weighed it - weighed less than the six pounds the Dell bag was when it was empty. HP won't fit in the laptop pocket built in, but the netbook's nicely protected. Big laptop can go in the middle with something padding it, maybe a towel ala Hitchhikers or some lightweight bubble wrap to reduce the space I stuff heavy art supplies in.
Weight testing on it full comes after I turn off the computer tonight and get it in, then see what my weight allotment for travel toys, lunch etc. is in the bag. It'll have more space than weight available the way it's built. That's what I accomplished for packing so far today. Planning and getting out the carry on bag to organize it. Every little bit gets something done.
I'm going to try to pack up my travel on plane stuff first, then pack up everything else and ship some boxes ahead to Nevada. Especially art supplies, so I'll have them fast once I land. My Western friend has a big 4x4 and promised if everything didn't fit on the first load, she'd make a second trip.
I'm nervous about getting the packing done in time because this is what happened when I packed to leave Kansas. I packed about half of what I had and they packed the rest in three days, packing down the stuff I needed most and kept out to use to the last minute in with the lowest priority stuff. Can't do that this time, no leisurely unpacking with space to put boxes. I have to make sure there's only low priority stuff in the low priority boxes because they go in storage.
Real tempted to put ALL books on a middle priority to send for them later, just so I don't have to do anything with them but will get them once my studio's in place.
Money's looking good but still tight even with that budget. I'm only about $200 from goal now, maybe less than $200 - but need to reserve as much as possible so that I can cover Internet bill till I've got an income or moved to a rent controlled place. Ah well. It's an adventure. Right now the biggest gap is my body energy and physical capacity to pack the stuff.
Wrench... got up to do something after resting to let the pills work. Back twinged. The tightness that tells me Stop Now or you'll be on bed rest for a week.
I weighed my laptop bag since my carry on needs to be under 20lb with machines in. With my old laptop it was 20lb exactly, nothing else could go into it. HP new one that works didn't fit in it anyway, so gifted that to Kitten and brought it downstairs. Back whinged. Stop and rest.
Hours later got up to find other bag. HP laptop wouldn't fit in the lightweight canvas art bag. Oh well, no need to repack that then. Rummage in closet. Find big art bag of many pockets. Empty, at least. Hold up to HP laptop - yes it'll work. Put netbook in it and weighed it - weighed less than the six pounds the Dell bag was when it was empty. HP won't fit in the laptop pocket built in, but the netbook's nicely protected. Big laptop can go in the middle with something padding it, maybe a towel ala Hitchhikers or some lightweight bubble wrap to reduce the space I stuff heavy art supplies in.
Weight testing on it full comes after I turn off the computer tonight and get it in, then see what my weight allotment for travel toys, lunch etc. is in the bag. It'll have more space than weight available the way it's built. That's what I accomplished for packing so far today. Planning and getting out the carry on bag to organize it. Every little bit gets something done.
I'm going to try to pack up my travel on plane stuff first, then pack up everything else and ship some boxes ahead to Nevada. Especially art supplies, so I'll have them fast once I land. My Western friend has a big 4x4 and promised if everything didn't fit on the first load, she'd make a second trip.
I'm nervous about getting the packing done in time because this is what happened when I packed to leave Kansas. I packed about half of what I had and they packed the rest in three days, packing down the stuff I needed most and kept out to use to the last minute in with the lowest priority stuff. Can't do that this time, no leisurely unpacking with space to put boxes. I have to make sure there's only low priority stuff in the low priority boxes because they go in storage.
Real tempted to put ALL books on a middle priority to send for them later, just so I don't have to do anything with them but will get them once my studio's in place.
Money's looking good but still tight even with that budget. I'm only about $200 from goal now, maybe less than $200 - but need to reserve as much as possible so that I can cover Internet bill till I've got an income or moved to a rent controlled place. Ah well. It's an adventure. Right now the biggest gap is my body energy and physical capacity to pack the stuff.
- Current Location:San Francisco on August 1 2011
- Current Mood:
anxious
Proud member of the Oil Pastel Society
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robertsloan2- Robert A. Sloan, author of Raven Dance
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Comments
Flying, i presume it's a shorter flight ( under 5 hrs). I think you have the situation well in hand re mobility issues, but even flying can be a physical challenge for me. Airline pillows are useless, bring something for back/neck support, even if it's a soft jacket that rolls up.
Once on the plane, if you stash Ari, have your MOST needed things at hand, even if its in some small sack. Its tricky to access one's carry on mid flight.( attendents will do it but there's little room to be rooting for a book, or earphones.
I've never found gum to be of much use when trying to equalize the pressure in my ears, but blowing one's nose, or using any manner of scuba diver's tricks works so much better and faster.)
It may be worth taking one pain pill or half dose( if you think a full dose will be too much?) at the start of the flight to ease in air achyness. Upside, sometimes just sleeping thru the flight's the best damn option.
most airlines seem to have seatback TV so you might like that. I do. Its the only time to catch up on movies, and usually there's a selection of great documentaries.
Go on and ask me ANYTHING, i'll be logging about 26 000 miles in flight across about 8 countries and heaves knows how many airlines!
So I've got that as #1 plane toy in my pocket. But having the Kindle handy would be a good idea. Ari's carrier has a pocket but his window is on the other end, so I'll root through the bag before sticking it up on the rack. Also get my lunch out.
They will not feed me enough food on the plane if any. So I'm going to mix granola and a NUT-rition can and shake it up good, then fill a zip lock with it for travel food.
Gum never helped me in the past. Ooo. I can have Kindle on iPhone, that's a free app. So the Kindle itself could stay in the bag and I read books on the phone when I'm tired of trying to make Brushes work.
I will also be wearing my Vest of Many Pockets with all its usual art supplies except for my pocket knife. Conte, pens, pencils, pencils case, pocket moleskine or even the big one, watercolors, the "large" moleskine would fit in the back pocket.
Wow! That's cool you flew so often! Glad to know that I don't need to be that worried about the family scale being off from the airport scales on the weight of carry on. My biggest worry was having to ditch an expensive art supply item for weight.
Will your flight have a layover? Depending on how long it is between your incoming flight and your connecting, you might have time to grab something in-between if you're getting hungry.
I know there's always McDonalds, but I'd rather not spend the money on restaurants unless I have to. Though when you mention that, I'm tempted. Wouldn't be if it was sushi, but that McD stuff always gets to me. I'll be very good until I go, because I can let myself have that sort of thing maybe once a month tops.
I'm beginning to train myself to fast food as a rare treat - but moving to SF is something to celebrate! I'll even have a Starbucks at the airport with Kitten before leaving. But I'll be real hungry like it's dinner time by the layover.
I'm still a bit concerned about budgeting for boxes, will relax a bit when I see what the UPS bill comes to. It was three figures when Brendan and I left SF to fly to Chicago all those years ago.
I'd say that a cross-country flight deserves a bit of a treat! :P
When I moved from TX to MA a few years ago and had... mmmm... some three, four large tubs? It was under $500, I don't remember the precise amount, just that it was lower than that. So it should hopefully not be too bad.
If you find out you need more help, lemme know and I will ask folks to boost the signal some more. :)
I might draw badly when drunk, but better to lose a sketchbook page or two in silliness than to deal with the pain otherwise. My pain pills cause drowsiness with alcohol therefore I should not DO anything after drinking. But sitting still waiting to be there and wheeled off, I don't care if I stagger a bit. I would anyway from the flare.
The meals on planes are tiny, sometimes snacky, so yeah, bring some grub. Some airlines ban peanuts so i generally avoid em. Some airlines do have a decent light meal, but I always travel with snacky things.
Its kind of trippy to watch TV inflight but if you know the airline, they should have some kind of page regarding inflight amenity. food wise, some only take CC, some ONLY cash for food purchases. The tv/movies are always free. Yay.
If you pack your carry on so your essentials are at the top...its easier. Stash cat. Yank out the holder of essentials. Stash carry on. grab essentials, hop into your seat, and settle in for the flight!
I've gone this year : Toronto to Cinicinnatti to Detroit to Toronto ( was to be TO to JFK to Dulles DC..).
Then toronto to Ben gurion, israel: 12 hour flight each way.
Then Toronto to Schipol netherlands,, then schiphol to CDG paris to Toronto.
THEN in fall: its Toronto to atlanta return, and Toronto to Beijing, return( at least that's business class, its 18 hrs.)
I always turn the horrid air nozzles off above the seat as its so drying and I picture it being just a wee jet of germy recyc'd air.
At security, your vest will need to go thru the baggage scanner, it may cause some consternation if all the pockets are filled with pencils and art tools ( best to use a small pencil case, to be honest, and stash the watercolors in your checked or carry on, it is really impossible to use art supplies finer than a crayola crayon on flights. I'd stick to muckery with the Ipad instead. ( bring the power cable on board.)
That was what the American Airlines lady said, just be sure to put all the pens and pencils in a bag so it can go in the tray in one lump when I turn out my pockets. No separate small tools. Kneaded eraser in bag with pens etc.
I'm getting good at loose sketching and watercoloring and have sketched on planes before, years ago when I flew often. Usually small sketches, sort of thing a pocket Moleskine is perfect for. Must check inside pockets when I pack it though so that I don't forget some stupid small thing like nail clippers.
I think I flew american once....probably!
I used to plan to "do things" on the plane but now I just embrace it as off the earth downtime. Stare at TV, play brainless games on ipod.
I don't have an iPod. My iPod is the new iPhone. I'm ordering it as soon as I get the article proceeds I earmarked for it come in on Paypal. Then I have good access even up here. I have my San Francisco phone number with my SF address to give out on things I'm signing up for or changing address on. And I have some extra days during my enforced by back rest times to practice on it, learn to type, make a few tweets, maybe even learn to draw something on Brushes.
Some artists warned me the learning curve on Brushes was steep. It was on Gimp too, but if I can start getting used to it that is an amazingly convenient little sketch tool.
I might download some brainless games too. Bedazzled is probably a game I'd have to buy but it's one I know - they're not brainless if they are new games, or very Robert-friendly if I'm sick. I hope Solitaire is available free though, because that's extremely familiar in any form and wouldn't be too hard pushing cards around with my finger.
I need practice at the touchpad use. I don't even mouse with the touchpad. I use a real mouse, it's faster and easier except that right now I'm using a defective one. Staples is replacing it, I get the new one on Tuesday.
I played a lot of "pocket frogs" on my travels because it was mentally JUST distracting enough but didn't require mega brain power, and I played it a lot when sidelined with sinus migraines. and there's freebies like Tiny towers for the megalomaniac in you. I mostly have euro travel apps...no help there, i'm afraid! ( tho the rijkswidget app is kinda awesome and free!)
tiny wings is cute for the awesome music.
. I had to get R to dig up a cordless mouse since editing with the touchpad on the netbook is YARRGGGG inducing.
R's taking his iphone on his flight on tuesday to vegas loaded with movies.
I heard of someone creating little mini-brochures either using some app or in Word PDF format, then emailing them out on the iPhone and keeping it ready to open for a client to leaf through the brochure on the spot. I'll probably print some of them out too and keep them at my booth in case I get higher end commissions.
I'm not planning anything about pricing until I get there and scout out all the other street artist booths. See what the average prices are for the type of work I do, then price to my skill and see what happens. Or price dead average so that's invisible.
That was something I didn't have before: prints. The artists who did scenery sometimes had prints. They had steadier income because if business was slow, tourists on tighter budgets would pick up cheap prints rather than walk away because they couldn't afford an original.
take pix of the luggage on your phone. use notepad to jot its identifiers and size. Use a small portion of carry on for a washcloth, toothbrush, and socks.
lesson I've learned the hard way, but if your luggage is delayed on a connector, having the photo and info, and the small bit of comfort, will make life super easy.
I've never had luggage lost but on two different connector flights, my suitcases were delayed. ( upside, they usually deliver em to your destination if you're all nice and polite and organized!)
The same can be said of most airline staff: lay on a bit of sweetness, and they'll usually be just extra awesome I find.
Good idea taking pictures of the luggage with noticeable identifiers. Tempting to take acrylic paint and make sure there's a real obvious artistic one. "The black suitcases with silver Celtic Knotwork" was what I did to identify them easily when I moved to Colorado, because my friend thoughtfully bought me a matching set of black wheeled luggage. So I got silver Sharpie markers and decorated them with Celtic knotwork patterns.
If I use those, that's really easy to describe from anyone else's. Or I do something like that again between now and leaving - something I can describe in two or three words. Something I can live with esthetically.
( the airline brought my stuff to the hotel I was at, which was kind of awesome NOT having to lug it!)
As long as there's some kind of identifier so baggage crew can look for the black suitcase with "Insert weird random marker".....
I like my silver Celtic knotwork. It took a bit of skill and I've never seen anything like it. Wasn't that hard because I was doing it huge anyway with a big Sharpie pen. Just need to use something permanent on the blue suitcases if I use those.