2003-03-05 - 5:15 p.m.

such a frustrating day. one of those days where tons of little irritations add up to one giant feeling of being blocked.

i had a huge order of acrylic paint to fill for one of my favorite and most loyal customers. i spent hours yesterday agonising over consistency, pigment load, etc. the f*cking container company sent me the wrong containers, flimsy ones that only hold 96oz instead of a full gallon. i managed to make them work by doubling them up and taping them shut.

my assistant was supposed to deliver them, but she's a huge dope smoker and totally flaked on me. no prob, i called the car service and asked for a minivan. my driver was nice but spoke no english (not at all unusual). a little paint spilled when he turned a corner and he freaked. his precious shag carpeting in the back of the station wagon: ruined!

the instructor i was delivering to gave me the wrong directions. he indicated lefts where they ought to have been rights. so i ended up one block over from my ideal destination. he was good natured about it, called his students down to help lug the paint upstairs. i felt so unprofessional i probably kept apologizing. i hate it when i do that. walking away from bard high school early college i had to talk myself down: its over now. to make matters worse, i underbid the job to get it and i only made a small profit. live and learn. at least its done now.

i'm so flat busted at the end of the month this month. i emptied out our change bowl and cashed it in at the coinstar for groceries. coinstar is one of my most favorite things about new york. the best ones for me are at the food emporium, just off the union square subway station at 4th avenue and 14th st. there was more than $25 in that bowl, at least $5 of it in pennies!

they're raising subway fares next month from $1.50 to $2! so save your pennies, my fellow new yorkers. we're going to need them.