5 little known things tag, and I made 2 haikus too!

Dredging up that Blueberry header again. How can I resist?

Are these the right rules?
Nava composed a haiku
and so here is mine.

I am not an artist anymore. All my artsy stuff is done to promote other people's ideas, so it doesn't even count as art, but it does count as design, graphic design, web design, or illustration. Let's see... 5 little known things. When I was barely even two, I was drawing and painting at a pretty advanced level, and kept it up passionately until I was in my 20s when reality and mortgages kicked in, so I sold out to the J-O-B. As a person with art schooling, I will bring up some of the jobs I've had.

1. Retouching Sears portraits. Some of these portraits were just butt-ugly crap, and on top of that the negatives were dusty and scratched, so we all sat in a big open warehouse room and if you looked up from the roll, the supervisor goon yelled out "you outta work?". The photos were on a motorized roll which we operated with one hand while holding a tiny brush in the other. We made minimum wage (which was $1.75), and after paying my rent I didn't have enough money left for food, or even enough to park my car at work and had to park several blocks away in an even scarier part of downtown St. Louis. The place also had stupid rules about fraternization, in that males and females were not permitted to sit together during lunch or be seen speaking to each other socially.

2. Bartending in a redneck dive. I was paid $15 cash for ~9 hours of work with no actual breaks, plus all the booze I could drink and a frozen pizza. This job has a few colorful stories that go with it, so I will leave them for a later post. I quit it to take job #3.

3. Automobile assembler. Hard work. Noxious fumes. Hands exposed to naphtha all shift, booze, drugs, 125 degF at my spot on the line in summer. This was the job that convinced me that I need more schoolin', and this time with a desk job in mind. Decent pay and benefits for the unskilled, but we were laid off. Then the plant closed.

4. Housekeeping in Nursing Homes. This job was a promotion I sought after doing job #5.

5. Laundry worker in a Nursing Home. Practically the definition of the bottom of the barrel. We worked in the basement and it flowed down the big chute at us.

Five little known things.
I've been tagged as an artist
and must tag five more.

(I think the haiku is highly optional, ya'll. Just 5 little known things and tag 5)
tagging: konagod, a creative from my neck of the woods.
Dr. Monkey, Lord of the Crunky, who manages to keep the fez on.
mando mama, you are tagged as a string enthusiast.
undeniable liberal, who shows artistry with the turn of the phrase, and in coming up with NEW words where they are needed!
Michael, you are an artist, so consider yourself tagged if you happen to read this. No pressure!!

Cartoon from Toothpaste for Dinner.