Today’s Zero To Hero cyborgs have asked us to just kind of mish mash a bunch of our favorite stuff from all challenges and kind of mix it all up in a molotov cocktail and spew it on the page.

I think.

The post below, is my interpretation of that. Oh, and there’s new widgets, too.

I’m not going to lie people of Planet Blog… I am so incredibly tired, that I just went to put the almond milk back in the fridge and totally missed the perfectly obvious and mostly empty shelf on the door and dropped it on the floor. Luckily, Tetra Packs are amazing and the lid was screwed on tight or I believe I literally would have cried over spilled milk. Honestly. I would have laid myself down in the spilled milk in the fetal position, spun around in a mopping like fashion and just lost my shit, proper.

That’s how tired I am.

I’m 74% sure that I’m tired due to the 100% lack of sleep I received last night. No wait. That would leave 26% doubt, which is completely inaccurate. I guess the good news is…umm…math.

Wow… I see where this is headed.

I think I can contribute the insomnia to one of two things, or possibly both. One is this goddamned 5:2 Diet that I’m on, while continuing my quitting smoking journey. Going to bed hungry is not a flattering color on me and without cigarettes there to eat, I’m left restless.

The other thing is likely because I splurged yesterday. Now, now, let’s not get over excited here. Everyone back in their seats.

It’s not that big of a deal. This is something I actually do quite often and impulse shopping comes as naturally as shopping.

No, wait!

I mean breathing.

I always get those two confused as I can never remember which one is the one that keeps me alive. Treating myself isn’t a rarity. I work hard for my money (there’s a song about me) and I like to be surrounded by people and things that I like, and I know what I like, so I usually go for it. This applies in every aspect of my life… relationships, work, shoes. One thing I always get especially giddy about indulging on, is art.

I don’t consider myself a collector, but when I see a piece I know if I must have it.

I learned to turn my dark jealousy demons that not only tortured me with terrible knock-knock jokes, but also with the fact that I can’t even draw a smiley face correctly, into light pink aardvarks that showed me how to love and appreciate others that CAN draw smiley faces, instead of killing them.

I’m covered in tattoos, 95% of them designed by well respected artist friends of mine and the other 5% are portraits of (2) actors that I love, whose 4 characters representing 5 tattoos, have had a profound effect on me  (because of their art, and the artists themselves…see the theme here?)

About a year ago, while perusing the various Art Blogs out in WordPress land, I found an artist whose work really spoke to me. Ray Ferrer. I didn’t need too much convincing to hit the follow button.

Through the year, there was one piece that spoke to me more than any, every time I would visit any of his pages.

This one. Ferris Wheel.

THIS piece, and this piece alone brought about so much inspiration not just in writing and photography but also in life. I went to various amusement parks and took photos of ferris wheels in the summer, but none of them evoked the feelings that his piece did. I finally found the closest thing I could find, in the form of a closed down amusement park in Åland, Sweden about 2 weeks after the season had ended. It was close, but it still wasn’t THAT piece.

Yesterday, I was on the internets at the right place and the right time. I normally don’t check WP Reader until later in the day, but yesterday, I took a peek over there to check what my favorite blogs had been up to while I was sleeping (Seriously, FU insomnia…sleeping is my all time favorite activity. You really suck).

The second post I saw, was one from Ray saying that he was having a “rock bottom blowout sale”. These words are like crack to me. I picked up my pipe and smoked these words like the blowout sale junkie that I am and clicked on the link.

There it was. MY Ferris Wheel painting on sale for what could only be described as a multiple orgasmic promised rock bottom price. I wrote him and we began discussing shipping options. It was still currently out of my price range until work picks up again, but I don’t believe artists should have to haggle already reduced prices for something they put a piece of their soul into. I looked up at the blank space on the wall and knew that I had to be the one to give this piece its next home. It was mine within 10 minutes.

Oh and bonus, insanely tremendous customer service and due to some back and forth emailing, we’ve now figured out a couple of projects coming up that we can actually help each other out with, so that was like getting a free purse thrown in with the deal. My junkie urges were satiated.

I think this could have been an underlying reason why I was having trouble sleeping. All I could think of, is how excited I was to finally get to see the piece that brought about so much inspiration, in person, and have the privilege of owning it and looking at it everyday.

So there you have it, kids. Sorry this wan’t my regular shit your pants with laughter post, but I’m pretty sure I just felt one of my eye bags droop down my chest, which is so gross on every level imaginable, that I will just end with these two things.

I’d love to hear of any artists that cause heart palpitation insomnia followed by intense sweating (these are all totally normal things) for you, or if you feel you can give me a borderline creativity stroke caused by excessive excitement insomnia with one of your pieces, send me a link 😀

Oh, and don’t forget to vote for this week’s Tuesday: Picture Poll!