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A little bit ago my boss gave me a room at work. Small steps forward. Funny how my job and coworkers feel so much like home.

(Source: Flickr / align)

I’ll be back soon.

Yesterday, soon after it happened, I looked at twitter to try and figure out what was going on. I saw a photo with blood all over the ground. I stood up, walked over to my boss, choked up and pointed at the door, tried to tell him that I needed to step outside, needed to somehow immediately reach all of my Boston friends (and ghosts) and know where they were.

Thankfully, they were all safe.

I don’t know why I’m still shaken. Boston was the first city I ever fell in love with. In the second grade, my class went to the aquarium for a field trip. We were on the highway driving into the city, I was staring out the bus window and I knew I wanted to live there someday. I guess this story isn’t important.

I didn’t get home until late last night. More difficult things happened and I ended up in my driveway having a too-serious conversation until 1:30, and I didn’t sleep much after. My heart hurts. For my city, for my friends who were shaken going to work downtown today, and for last night. I want so badly to hold you all together.

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I know, I haven’t been posting much. Lots of things going on. Trying to get better at painting, trying to hold everyone together, trying not to fail at a handful of things. I’ll try to come back soon. In the meantime, here’s an old sketchbook page that is still one of my favorites.

(Source: cassandrawarren.net)

Rest peacefully, Jason Molina.

This interview is so, so good. I don’t remember how I stumbled across Ron Henry Wells’ tattoo work a couple of years ago (I’m sure it was due to some kind of internet rabbit hole that I accidentally fell into), but I loved it immediately. It’s a little weird and a little dark — right up my alley. I then had the privilege of being tattooed by him in September at the Boston Tattoo Convention, and I was immediately impressed with how kind and humble he was. I learned a lot from him even in that short session, and this video is a wonderful reiteration of some of it. It’s about 45 minutes long, but definitely worth the watch.

Now here’s hoping the stars will align and I’ll be able to be tattooed by him again this spring/summer.

(Source: lastsparrowtattoo.com)

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As far as coworkers go, I landed in best-case scenario. All of them have become my friends, teachers, and mentors. And in a little over a week, one of them is moving to San Francisco, which I’m more sad about than I’m admitting or showing. I’ll keep the sentiment at a minimum here. I did ask him to give me a small tattoo for good luck before he went (he’s also done my traditional envelope and “quiet” script), and this is what he came up with. I love it. So perfect and hilarious. 

Thanks for the life lessons, PJ & Guen. Hope to see you on the west coast.

(Source: cassandrawarren.net)

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Big charcoal drawing for no reason. Maybe I’ll finish it, maybe I won’t.

(Source: Flickr / align)

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Then the anxiety drawing devolved into random shit. Bird wings, umbrellas, hearts, and script (not shown). Favorite script letter to draw: F. It’s a good one to get all fancy with. A’s are pretty great too. 

Thus, I conclude the evening’s pointless tumblr posts.

(Source: Flickr / align)

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Second, some girl-face practice. This is one of those things that I struggle with. I can do animals all day every day. Humans? Pfft. Not my favorite creatures. This one is sinking a ship, because sometimes these things happen.

(Source: Flickr / align)