Althouse: "He works overnight at the post office, comes home, paints a little bit, takes a nap and then does it all over again."

October 21, 2012

"He works overnight at the post office, comes home, paints a little bit, takes a nap and then does it all over again."

"He survives on two to three hours of sleep. Eats a sandwich on his break at the post office. He gets a 30-minute break, and then he goes back to sorting mail."

13 comments:

edutcher said...: One presumes this is another method of going postal.; 10/21/12, 8:08 PM
a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...: Really is lovely work. I always liked stopping at the Healthburger in Waco in part because of the denial working in it's name. Shame about his son. Intriguing work and sleep habits.; 10/21/12, 8:40 PM
ALP said...: "He works with acrylic paint that he gets at Michael's [craft stores]. He works on very cheap watercolor paper."
******
Echoes advice I got from my fine arts professors decades ago, that serves me well to this day. Whenever I work with materials that are "precious" (ie: costly, hard to get) I immediately seize up creatively. My professors preached you should create as if materials were free. Easier said than done - and easier if they are free or low cost.

That's why I never understood the attraction to Moleskine sketchbooks - waaaay tooo nice for me - I seize right up. My mind works better with the looseness that only a cheap-ass K-Mart sketchbook can provide. That way, if I fill a page with crap design ideas I don't like the next day, I don't have to deal with the thought that I just wasted a nice sheet of that thick Moleskine paper!; 10/21/12, 8:50 PM
madAsHell said...: Sooo....why does he still deliver the mail.

Does Hermes not pay fair wages?? All those profits going to fat cats?

We are the 99%!!...or sum'thin'; 10/21/12, 9:00 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: As the NPR story notes, this was a feature in this month's Texas Monthly, which is an exemplary publication. Old-school long-form journalism and thoughtful, measured, clear-eyed coverage of business, politics, education and culture all across the nooks and crannies of this huge and interesting state.; 10/21/12, 9:41 PM
tiger said...: I like the fact that the writer buried his race until almost the end.

Nice touch to down-play it.; 10/21/12, 9:41 PM
Carnifex said...: Humbling story.

About the working with cheap materials, I had the same experiences related by others. As a young apprentice I was told to cut some plywood to certain dimensions. After 15 minutes my boss came over to see why I hadn't cut it yet. "Well, it's oak plywood" I said, "It costs $80 a sheet! I keep measuring it to make sure I'm doing it right."

"Would you have measured and cut a normal sheet of plywood without all this measuring?" he asked.

"Well of course. That's different." I said.

"No it's not." he told me,"It's just plywood. Measure it and cut it."

Never had any trouble afterwards with cutting the most expensive woods. You must have faith in your talent and skill, that's all.

Ps.

I still mess up a cut or two. A good carpenter makes few mistakes, a great one can hide them. :-); 10/21/12, 10:13 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Newman: I'm a United States postal worker.

George Costanza: Aren't those the guys that always go crazy and come back with a gun and shoot everybody?

Newman: Sometimes.

Jerry: Why is that?

Newman: Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup, it's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, and you gotta get it out, but the more you get out, the more keeps coming in! And then the bar code reader breaks! And then it's Publisher's Clearinghouse Day...!

Jerry: All right, all right!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL6ubXD9ZjY; 10/21/12, 10:20 PM
Sydney said...: I love that turkey design.
He probably keeps working for the post office because the benefits are very good - good insurance, good pension.; 10/22/12, 6:32 AM
rcommal said...: "... In other words, he designs the frames of the pictures that he's painting. ..."; 10/22/12, 6:58 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: One never knows where genius lies.; 10/22/12, 9:07 AM
Strelnikov said...: Women actually pay money for and wear these things? His illustrations look like they belong on black t-shirts or velvet. I would expect to see these on a rack at a truck stop. Particularly the turkey.; 10/22/12, 10:03 AM
Sam L. said...: madAsHell, he sorts mail, he doesn't deliver it.

Apparently he doesn't think this is a guaranteed flow of income.; 10/22/12, 11:05 AM