Been accomplishing things this week. But so far it hasn't improved my life much. It is unusually hot for this climate, and my house is infested by otherwise innocuous little black flies...they are only annoying due to their vast numbers, and their affinity towards any liquid I leave out...coffee, soup, wet paint...
My Shapeways order arrived monday and if not for the custom knob it looks like I really need (the shape of the knobs I have are just wrong for it), I'd have the box physically done by early next week. Electronically, I'm not sure how long it might be. Not so much because of breadboard time, soldering and debug time, and programming time, but because I may need a few parts I don't have, and they aren't the sort of things I can pick up at the local Radio Shack.
I started carving the box, finally (the top is a Shapeways print, as it is more complex and has raised lettering/graphics.) And that is going well enough that, assuming the molding step goes well, I'll be able to make the second box without paying for another Shapeways print. Actually, the print price isn't bad. But I'm more shy of money than I am of time -- though neither are good.
I still wish I had a shop. These boxes would be a lot easier to start if I had a table saw. And was otherwise set up to use MDF or basswood. Instead I'm cutting them from balsa, sheet styrene, and this rather fragile carving foam I bought a few months back at the art supply store. Can't say I'm thrilled by the stuff. The toughest part about getting these boxes right is they have to be exactly dimensional -- they have to fit the printed top. The other tough part is they need to look, well, not like they were carved from foam. Which means smooth sides, right angles, and completely flat surfaces.
I rented some of my sound gear and the client came to pick it up Monday. Annoyingly, without the check. Turns out the company decided to move their offices over the weekend and no paperwork got processed. I also managed to sell off two of my old synths on eBay. Within hours of listing them...I should have set a higher "buy it now!" I shipped today. But, annoyingly, the eBay/PayPal system is to freeze the deposit until delivery. Which meant there was nothing in my PayPal account to cover the UPS charges. Which meant going into my very small bit of cash -- which was an advance to cover the expenses of building the props. At least there was still enough cash left to get some casting resin. But not enough for paint.
I also worked a one-day show so there is more coming in. Plus I'm already on contract for two shows and busy doing research and making meetings for one of them. Which doesn't pay until opening night. A PARTIAL payment. A SMALL one.
Still, by early November I'll be finally seeing daylight on finances. Until then, I can't afford credit card payments or my gym membership, I can barely afford food, and of course I can NOT prioritize over food and overdue bills and art supplies to finish my paying work to pick up even one tiny can of FREAKING BUG SPRAY!
(Seriously...other things are going pretty well, and I have left-over food from the gala stuck in the fridge so I won't starve, but those little bugs are really starting to annoy me!)
No comments:
Post a Comment