Fait Accomplis & A Good Example Of What DOESN'T Constitute A Good Day

Firstly, the positive: The studio is finished!!!!
HURRAH!!!
All I need to do now is buy a studio easel and some canvas.
*does a little happy dance*
Here's what my new little world looks like:


My Studio by ~Tashlentine on deviantART


The bad day goes like so:
Nice sunny morning. Ok 11am. I get up, dressed, face on, hair up, announce that I'm off to Ikea to get a couple of bits for the studio (small clock and a few metres of material to use for canvas). Take a brolly anyway because.. well... this IS England and the weather is notoriously crap and unpredictable, also chucked on my vintage (1954) tweed hacking jacket because it was a bit breezy out, and headed out of the door.
Got the bus to the station, 'touched in' with my oyster card, and made sure i had about £6 on there, nipped down the stairs, saw a sign saying that to use the tram i must have a valid oyster card - the trip would take £1 off, but if i wanted to pay cash, it'd cost me £2. Fairy nuff - valid oyster card. Sorted. Got on the tram. (Note, I've never used the tram before). One stop before the one I needed to get off on, the inspector gets on, asks for my card, so I handed it over. He hauled me off infront of everyone and said I'm using an invalid card and I could either pay him £25 now, or go home and pay the fine online which'll set me back £50 instead.
you fucking WHAT?! how is it invalid? I have £6 on there! I checked when I touched in at the station!
I didn't touch in at the bottom of the stairs where the tram was.
Now how the hell am I supposed to know that I had to do that - there were NO signs, I mean, I have a degree in Comparative Literature, ok? if there is ANYTHING I know how to do, it's how to read. On top of that, when I touched in at the station, it took £4 off me. So that is 2 hours of my life and £29 that I'm never getting back.
The bit that pissed me off the most (outside of being screwed out of £29) was that there were half a dozen policemen on that platform, and on the tram were at LEAST 6 kids who should have been in school and who were bunking off/cutting class. Now, I don't know about America, but in England, that is actually illegal. So the sod's law stung even more: I was penalised HEAVILY for making an innocent mistake, while those kids who were knowingly doing something that was completley illegal got off scott free. As, I believe Dickens once said, " The law is an ass!". I wholeheartedly agree with him.
The day got better.
I got into Ikea, my shoes started giving me blisters as I walked around looking for two things: the small clock, and the material.
Ikea is like... You know that David Bowie film, Labyrinth? it's like that - there is no rhyme or reason to it - it just meanders around infinitely - there are no shortcuts to take to get to a specific area - no lift, or escalator to get to a certain place. You just have to follow the snaking path to the edge of bloody eternity. When I got to eternity, guess what? no small clocks, no plain fabric thick enough to use as canvas. A totally wasted journey.
I consoled myself with a 45p cup of coffee... which tasted like it had already been in and out of several people before me, and stalked out of the store to the tram stop, determined to touch in properly this time.
got to the station, got out, had to top up my card with a fiver. The whole time feeling as if i'd experienced the financial equivalent of rape, then got outside. No busses. Over half an hour waiting. 1 min into the wait, guess what? yes. the skies opened - icy wind blowing sheets of rain at me, and blowing my umbrella inside out. Bus came, got on, soaked, eau-de-sheep rising from my soggy jacket, and realised that the strap of my shoe (like mary janes) had broken off.

So. Wet, broken, hungry, tired and robbed. That was my day.

this was 2 days ago btw. I've peeled myself off the ceiling SLIGHTLY. I'm still seething though.

I've also embarked on another web-based pet project. The past few years through sheer boredom and lack of having money to collect anything else, I've amassed a collection of literally thousands of pictures of Judy Garland. They're all just sitting on my external hard drive so I thought I'd make a little website and upload a ton of them there so that other people can get some enjoyment from them. When I actually have something to show, other than the bare bones and blank pages, I'll post the link up here for any of you who might be interested.