PROOF of nomadic blood (or, Can I just stop already??)

Sometimes in life, we have to realize that we just have to work with what we're given. And also realize that while it's important to follow our hearts and our dreams, those dreams might be a little farther off than we planned.

So, again, I am switching directions (again? didn't I already abandon being an artist before to pursue being a circus and burlesque performer?) This isn't to say I'm giving up or not pursuing art as a career any longer. But dammit, being a single adult in a crumbling economy where everyone has barely enough to support themselves is hard enough as it is, and I'm in limbo. Tired of day jobs that are either too stupid and degrading to be working at (i.e. current desk job) or they are for people looking for a barely paying hobby (i.e. pretty much any creative job, gallery or art organization) but not financially stable (or crazy enough) to just quit my job and hope people will buy enough of my art to keep me going. Not to mention, framing is hella expensive (unless I'm lucky enough to find one that fits at an estate sale), and ceramics, at least to start up, is also hella expensive. I considered going back to school to continue my ceramics education and further my self-taught illustration skills, but what then? And not just "then" - what about when I'm 50? Granted, by then the world's clean drinking water will be reduced to 1/3, and I won't really care about paying my bills if I'm competing for basic survival alongside 8 billion other human beings...

So I'm starting my plan B now, and continuing my plan A sporadically, at maybe a lesser pace. It might sound like I'm taking the safe way, but I have a lot to lose..maybe other people don't.

I am going to pursue my other passion, which, up until now was more of a hobby. I am going to become a pastry chef specializing in vegan, raw and gluten-free and eventually open my own bakery/gallery (low-key gallery, like art shows every two months.) This was a dream I had floating around in the back of my head for 7 years, and I think it's time to make it a reality.

I myself have a sweet tooth, but also a plumper-than-necessary figure; so I generally enjoy baking, sampling, then hurriedly giving the remainders away before my clothes start shrinking. The funny thing is, when I was younger (11ish) I wanted to be a baker. I used to watch Martha Stewart with my mom and I would make glazed pears with french toast, or goat cheese cheesecake with fresh berries from scratch all by myself. When I moved out, I took the plunge into veganism and with that came vegan baking. My first victim was Mark Heggie. Incidentally, the banana bread I made him wasn't vegan, but everything from then on was. Eventually I think the other boys at Big Top wanted a piece of the cake (ha, literally) so it became my get-out-of-telling-a-joke-free card. It worked out - I got to try different recipes and perfect my craft, and they got to fill their bellies with delicious, cruelty-free goods.
What made me want to perfect and sometimes improve vegan recipes with such fervor was when I walked into an unnamed coffee shop and they had these wimpy, flat looking discs they had the audacity to call "Vegan  Oatmeal Cookies!" I was outraged - no wonder people are afraid to try vegan things! Was my secret ingredient love, or rage? I don't know, but the outcome was delicious. I made it a game of tricking naysayers...people with prejudice against anything baked without eggs, milk and butter. If I didn't fool them, I still surprised them at how good it was.

Maybe I go over the top sometimes, like bringing in a batch of (always made from scratch) chocolate-banana-brownies and maple-walnut-ginger blondies to trump everyone's processed-food-coloring-injected-artificially-flavored-store-bought "cupcakes" at the office (sorry guys, I'm kind of an elitist sometimes, I know.) Sometimes, baking is a little like the crusades, ok?

And, as much as people like Paula Dean amuse me ( BAHAHA ), I think it's possible to indulge a sweet tooth without nosediving into diabetes and heart disease. So if a mission is what I need, a mission is what I have. I am going to learn to create delectable baked goods with wholesome ingredients and as little, if any, refined sugars as possible. I'd like to cater to vegans, raw foodists and the gluten-free. It's not a new or innovative idea, but it'll be just one more available choice for those of us trying to make better ones.

To get my foot in the door, I'll need some schooling to supplement what I've already taught myself (it's also harder to get jobs without some kind of professional experience or education), and I think between my backgrounds in ceramics and illustration, I should be able to kick ass with cake decorating - sculpting fondant and designing swirls of icing and ganache. I'll also have to build a portfolio, so expect a lot of bustle in the kitchen (maybe I can use mum's Martha Stewart-esque kitchen out in shelby...) And when I'm done and have some kind of career path started, I'll go back and finish that damn bachelor's degree. By then, maybe they'll have forgotten about that $12,000 I owe them?

So here I am, 27, starting from scratch (god I am loving these puns...)
I'm feeling optimistic.