I'm pretty sure my own degeneration is just getting worse and worse

I ran across a meme on tumblr. "Draw yourself exactly as you are right now."

So I did.

What I did with my summer vacation

Things I didn't do: Get hired, move out, get a rabbit, have my life go according to plan.

Things I DID do: Get turned down for a job and offer to volunteer for them instead and find out that it was totally worth it.

The photo up top are the nine apprentices I helped teach at ArtWorks this summer. ArtWorks is a summer program, but it's not a camp. The closest comparison I can make is that it's a paid internship, because all the apprentices are sorted into different co-ops (vocal, architecture, ceramics, dance, painting, etc) and their main objective is to learn an art skill, but they're also paid and taught about professionalism and good behavior on the job. There were also occasional guest speakers.

I applied to be an "on-site coordinator" for ArtWorks, a full time paid position, but it didn't work out due to lack of experience, as well as what the organizers perceived was a need for me to teach. So instead, I took on a part-time unpaid assistant teaching position for the painting co-op and it was seriously one of the best six weeks of my life. There is something really cool about telling an apprentice how amazing he's doing and watching his eyes light up. Or bringing in artbooks and watching one girl start writing the names of artists and movies all over her hands.

Apparently this went a really long way for a lot of them too.

So maybe I'm a little broke right now, but it was a great experience and I'm really happy I decided to take it on.