When I was in undergrad, I asked my advisor, "Is it possible to get worse at time management?"
She contemplated this for a moment. "It's possible, but not advisable." I started a new job and school in the same week (Note to self: do not do this again.) The job is temporary. School is totally online and I have never even taken an online class before, much less done an entirely online program. So that's also taking some amount of getting used to - making sure that I'm putting all my assignments in my planner, making sure that I'm scheduling enough time for reading and discussions and things of that nature. Every professor arranges their courses differently, and I don't want to miss anything. Yesterday it poured down rain all day and I couldn't work (I'm outside, usually, for five hours a day), and then today it was supposed to storm all day so I took the day off, but it's looking pretty nice. I feel kind of like I am playing hooky, but it was either change my availability because the forecast said storms all day, or leave it and wind up possibly having to leave work early again because of the weather. Can't win. So I am going to use this glorious free time to try to figure out how I want my days to look for this next month. I have been trying to find a balance for a while now, of how to best use my time and make more space in my life for things that I want to do, learn, read, draw, et cetera. So I am actually going to stop typing and post this and I'll report back with my findings.
0 Comments
There are funny things everywhere. You just have to keep your eyes open. Here are some funny things I have seen lately. who is this child? why is she on the grocery store shelf? is this the modern day milk carton? Not only do these people have a statue of Bigfoot, but Bigfoot has a helmet. Is it because they are adding on to their house? Is it a hard hat for Bigfoot? Or is Bigfoot going to space? Port Authority hand sanitizer stations: now with stinging insects! A story in three parts: (All along the same stretch of sidewalk.)
I think that all my friends hate summer. My friends love autumn, which I used to enjoy, but now despise. In my Florida childhood, the change in the air meant cooler temperatures and that it was time to trick or treat. Now, the change in the air reminds me of two things: - Being home alone and catching someone peering in my window at 3 am, which frightened the daylights out of me and made me afraid to sleep at night; and - Packing off to divinity school and having a mental breakdown which resulted in memory loss and a long string of moving. Summer is not as exciting in Pittsburgh as it is probably anywhere else. The first summer I spent here, it was so overcast almost every day. I thought, I'll never get a tan. The few days that were sunny were maybe in the mid-80's; it didn't even feel hot enough for me to be outside in a swimsuit. I wore a blazer to work in August. (This is inconceivable to me as a Floridian.) This year, summer is summer. The sun is shining. The temperature goes above 90. In the two years since I've moved here, my blood has thickened, and I get hot very easily. We didn't have rain for weeks. I would take two showers a day, not long showers, just short cool showers to rinse off the sweat and lower my body temperature. (The pool is closed due to COVID-19, which is an extremely wise move even though people are mad about it and have signs in their yards asking people to sign a petition to reopen it. ) Whenever I'd get in a cool shower, I'd think: I just want to be dropped bodily into Weeki Wachee Springs. Despite growing up in Florida AND being obsessed with beautiful women and mermaids for most of my childhood/adulthood/life, I did not finally go to Weeki Wachee Springs until I was in my 30's. My best friend and I went with her kids and it was a non-stop delight. Weeki Wachee is famous for its mermaid shows - there are several within a day - and they are a delight. The ones in rotation when we went were: - A version of The Little Mermaid which include a fun sea witch and someone dressed as a turtle, as well as requisite handsome prince (ours had an anchor tattoo) - A modern mermaid show with the current mermaid roster, which is, as I recall, just some underwater choreography as well as deep diving (the auditorium is basically a clear wall built against a side of the actual spring, so the bottom of the spring isn't visible to the audience) - A retro mermaid show with the older women who were once Weeki Wachee mermaids, doing more underwater choreography in the style of the shows when they were mermaids, as well as the fun tricks like drinking a bottle of soda underwater: Weeki Wachee Springs is, after all, a cold spring, so guests may swim in the cold spring. (It's cordoned off from the Underwater Theater.) It is absolutely delightful. I think the water stays around 75 or 77 degrees Fahrenheit, almost too cold for a temperate day, but it is so crisp and cool and makes one feel like a brand new person. There is a nice waterslide into the springs as well, and your little Florida wildlife animal shows with snakes and baby 'gators and whatnot. For souvenirs, you can get a photo taken with a live mermaid or with the various and sundry mermaid sculptures set up around the park. Or, for a mere $2, you can get a mermaid Mold-O-Rama: These are apparently not in huge rotation these days, but it was really the perfect souvenir. Mermaid? Yes. Cheap? Fully. I believe they have this posing blue mermaid and a green version with a mermaid riding a seahorse. I love summer. I am an island girl, I guess, at heart. My friend Jayne used to make me summer mix CDs with great J-Pop bands and singers: Petty Booka, The Pillows, Namie Amuro, Coconuts Musume, HEARTSDALES. I have one from 2005 that is unfortunately so scratched that I could only import seven songs of it into iTunes. Ever resourceful, Jayne has made a Spotify playlist called Bittersweet Orange that is a little more modern.
I also love the smells of summer: The ocean, the smells of the river tides, the coconut and papaya scents of sunscreen. The smell of a tropical storm. Summer memories: coconut car air freshener bought from a surf shop, playing the 2005 summer mix in my car when driving my sister to our favorite beach access, banana flavored icees from the corner store, Saturday tacos al pastor from La Sureña accompanied by a Cocola in the glass bottle. Late-night pizza from Townies after the dining room has closed. Eating clementines at the beach as the sun rises and the ocean is glass. Swimming in the glass ocean at daybreak, when no one's out, so you can loop your bikini around your wrist and skinny-dip for a bit. Building a sand pyramid. (Making sure you have a ruler in your beach bag so you can build a sand pyramid.) Being a kid and running directly into the surf as soon as you put your towel down. Digging far enough into the sand to get a nice pool for your sand castle. Finding a pelican skull. Seeing a beach ghost. Having a friend take you to the restricted beach access so you can look at the stars without light pollution. I haven't been in the ocean in three years. It's about 400 miles away. I don't know if I'll go back to Florida, but I have to go back to the sea. Everything has felt so non-stop lately. Until today. I think it's because yesterday I had a time-based deadline that I almost didn't make (resulting in me literally running to the post office & making it there at 4:53), & today I didn't have a real deadline, & on top of that I woke up too early & could NOT go back to sleep despite trying. Twice. So eventually I just got up & made coffee & tried my best to get rid of the day. I wanted to do a piece that was a little more abstract than what I usually do. My friend Jayne had passed along some recommendations, and I spent an hour or so this morning researching her picks: Wassily Kandinsky, Hilma af Klint, Paul Klee, and Lyonel Feininger. (She also recommended Hasegawa Kiyoshi, who is not an abstract artist, but who made some wonderful etchings that reminded me of the work of Leonora Carrington.) It's kind of interesting , thinking about going from representation to abstraction; it's more difficult than I had really anticipated. I did that above painting today - watercolor on paper - I am still thinking about what is next if I want to do more abstract work. Since the last time I posted on this blog, I have started up the daily practice of making mini-zines: I have really enjoyed making these. They have become a little more like diary entries this time around. Today I have not made a lil' quarantine zine (yet) - I did a little mini zine called The Magicians. Today I was being a little Precious with my ephemera. I wound up typing a few things into the typewriter because I didn't want to chop up the ANGELINA SPIRITUAL CONSULTANT flyer I found on the subway (they're everywhere, but I think the font might have been too large for this little zine) nor the October 1982 issue of Cricket magazine I found in the Little Free Library the other day. Earlier this week I finished up a commission, a belated birthday gift, and another painting that I gave as a gift. Today the above painting, the zine, some sketches. Soon I will be starting graduate school. I've been trying to stay busy so that I can hit the ground running with grad school. I have to make a decision on which program I will go with. Like, tomorrow. But I think I might be done for today. "Let's go home and enjoy the simple things. The good things, the real things. The laughter of a child. A flight of swallows winging their way back home. Life can be beautiful, Miss Morris." Maybe not a perfect day, but Laura Pharis always told me, "Don't let 'perfect' get in the way of 'good enough'."
July was a busy month: Covid wedding, dogsitting (which left me with a sore back), house inspection, closing, and moving, moving, moving. We finally turned in our keys to the old apartment yesterday, got our security deposit back, and today I took the day off. Today was Lammas/Lughnasadh, so I suppose a holiday is as good a time as any for a little break. It has been a little difficult finding rituals for this time of year that are Goddess-centric while also being solitary - generally, Wiccans and Pagans will use this holiday to honor the God Lugh (hence the name) - but I am practicing a Goddess-centric (-only) practice at the moment, and the Habondia ritual in Ariadne's Thread is for a group. So I just did what I felt was appropriate, and it was nice. Though I'm hoping in the (Coronavirus-free) future that I'll have a community to celebrate the Wheel of the Year with, I'm focusing right now on my personal feelings surrounding the seasons and what those mean for me. Despite my Dianic-leaning preferences, I am a little bit of a traditionalist, and use the quarter calls and circle castings that the Farrars use in A Witches' Bible. It has been interesting to say the least to revisit this tradition after all these years. I remember everyone was reading this, that, and the other thing, and we all had our Opinions on them, as teenagers have to spare. I do remember someone dismissing the Farrars outright based on the name of the book ("Witches don't have a Bible", no further discussion allowed), but I have learned quite a bit from their work & hope to continue to learn. Although, I must admit, my structure here is purely religious, as I have no talent for the magic(k)al arts, my ownself. Despite being busy, I have been doing just the slightest bit of this and that and the other. I did a little Sad Night Crime postcard: I have also almost - almost! - finished my Odin mask. (I only have a video, and Weebly won't let me upload videos, so I might have to bite the bullet and put it on Instagram.) My now-former roommate has a painting of mine that I did in college, and after looking at it on our mantle for a couple of years, I decided to work back into it just a little. I think it has improved a bit. Tomorrow I have a couple of small painting projects to finish. All this between trying to get this new apartment in order/internet ordered/electric sorted out/the old apartment cleaned/transcript requests faxed/and so on. I did get into both programs I applied to for graduate school, so that's exciting! Now I have to decide which one I'll attend. They're both online. Been reading Station Eleven as part of a pandemic book club, and it's really wonderful so far. I'm enjoying it greatly, just as I enjoyed Year of Wonders.
That's all for me, for now! Tomorrow is another day. |
AuthorArtist, essayist, divinity school dropout. Here for a good time, not for a long time. Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|