Bad & Good News

This is a copy-paste from my DA, but it's important and relevant to you guys here too...

Hey guys, long time no... see?  Well I've been meaning to write a new journal for ages, especially for my trip to Portugal I had during October. It was such a wonderful experience. It's so much to explain, but I'll save it for another time in more detail.

Basically the whole trip was amazing - except for one thing. I ended up getting an ear infection during the last 3 days of the holiday (which was meant to be 2 weeks. I was meant to fly back on the 23rd October) thus, I was not well enough to fly back home. I acted quickly and rescheduled my flights, but the next available flight back to NZ (with my airline) wasn't until November 12th. Luckily I had insurance, but they wont be able to pay me out instantly, so I had to use my own money immediately. Cost me about $1200 to change my flights on the dot.  

This would have been totally fine, if it werent for my Boss kicking up a fuss about me being stuck overseas for an extra 3 weeks. I was sick, the ear infection didnt clear up until around the 3rd November. Yes, I was fit to fly back sooner than the 12th but I couldnt. If I tried to book an earlier flight back with another airline, it would have cost me $3500-4000 minimum.  And the trip time would have been close to 60 hours, which is ridiculous. My 12th November flights back were 29 hours.   
Anyway, I arrive back in New Zealand around the 14th November and I'm fine and healthy again but ever since I returned, I've been treated terribly at work. The boss didn't believe I was 'sick enough' to stay overseas, he didn't believe my medical records. He also continued to guilt trip and victim blame me for 'abandoning' the job, even though I DID NOT abandon it. I was stuck on the other side of the world for goodness sakes -_- he was even threatening to fire me on the spot and keep my holiday pay... (I dont think he could legally do it anyway, but yeah...)

Insurance even paid me out for the flight changes and medical costs about 2 weeks after I returned to NZ. So the proof I had presented them was more than enough! Thank goodness... but I still lost about $400 in excess, and I'm missing 3 weeks of work wages, which is quite a large chunk of what I could have saved. I never got any sick leave for the time I was sick overseas too. I was shown no sympathy for my hardships.   
I used to love that job, but after the way I've been treated as of late... I'm at breaking point. And even worse, he's now cutting my work hours down to a mere 20 hours per week. How am I supposed to survive on such a low amount of hours? The rent here is rising next week, I've lost one of my main art jobs, and the public transport fees are rising next year too. AND this boss is expecting me to commute more than an hour 5 days per week to work for only 20 hours, a week?! I cannot live off that.
So I'm trying to find another job. I've been unhappy with how poorly I've been treated ever since I returned from Portugal.   

BUT. I do have some good news too.

Thanks to this trip, I now have a clear path on what I want to do with my life going forward. After meeting that special someone in my life, I now know what I can do to get out of this bad life situation. And so, I'll be moving overseas around May 2023 ^^

and once I do move, I'll be doing art as a full-time job. Yeap, if all goes well, I'll finally achieve this dream and so much more (thus, have more time for Patreon & art projects) BUT I need more time to be fully prepared, and these setbacks with mistreatment at work has really ruined me. My plan right now is to find a new job for January to May, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. So for now, I desperately need to sell a few commissions. I'm going to be away from home 23rd Dec to Jan 6th hanging out with Ashetoret (and KalmaHine^^) and we'll be doing lots of traditional art. SO I'm going to accept a few of these:

Please help spread the word so I can get as many orders as I can handle, just to cover the missing wages from work and help me prepare for next year. I'd love to not be broke asf this Christmas.... please? Any help is appreciated. I'll take digital commissions (and bigger traditional coms) at a later date after the 6th, right now I have too many to do until the 22nd Dec.

Until then, I'll write more about my Portuguese experience later. But for now, I desperately need commission work :-(