Studying Stones

Sooo....I took a chance, and fifteen bucks, and entered 2 pieces in the Autumn Leaf art show, in the amateur class. Money well spent! Not only did the judge absolutely *get* my piece, she also awarded it second place! Wha?!!! Yeah! Me. Second place. And- it's not like the competition was bad, either. There is some awesome art. And nearly 40 pieces (39, to be exact) in the amateur class, ranging from photos to oil paintings to watercolours to ceramics...all different kinds of media are judged together.

Needless to say, I'm quite speechless and rather honoured.

Granted, judging of such things can be totally arbitrary. I mean, there were some pieces that I think should have definitely won over others. But. What I'm more excited about was that in her critique, it was obvious that she *got* my work. She said pretty much the same things that were going thru my head when I took the pic, and when I titled it, and when I entered it. So the pretty ribbon is icing on the cake! I'm so excited about this :)

I am putting the award money in my savings account, and if anyone buys the print, that will go in my savings account to, and I've decided I will use that money to facilitate getting a few more prints matted and framed to sell downtown at Artfunkles, and then putting that money towards getting a whole show together to hang at Michelle's next year- I'm aiming for March.

Weeee!

My pic and a view of it with it's purty lil' ribbon!



"perfection"

Ok, maybe not official, since all you really have to do to have pieces in this particular show is be a member of the arts council, and all that you do to be a member is pay dues and stuff.

But still. Two of my photographs are on display this month for the Council Members' Art Show. I went sunday morning to help hang the show. The only bad part was that doc e was there- when I saw him, I was hoping he'd be...I dunno....somewhat different, since it was a different crowd. But no. Still bossy and all-knowing. One event in particular annoyed me.

I was helping John, the president of the Arts Council and also the owner of an artsy store ^{in other words, a guy who knows his shit, wouldn't you think? since he's been doing this for years and years?} hang a canvas. But he needed to put eye hooks in first. So he was doing that- hammering one in. And doc e comes by and is like "if you would use a nail first, it'd go in a whole lot easier"

Ok. FIRST of all, doc e hadn't been in the vicinity for the past 5 minutes, so couldn't have known if John had already DONE that or not. SECOND of all, he was all condescending about it. As if John was an idiot and wouldn't know such things.

It's the second part that ticks me off. It's not what you say, it's how you say them, you know??

And it'd be different, even, if John were prissy and all-knowing-acting and stuff too. But he's not. At least, not in my interactions with him. He was lovely to me today, asking my opinions on things and making sure to let me know that if I had ideas or suggestions or thought what he was doing was 'wrong' or could be done better that I should let him know. Even tho I had very limited experience in such things (which he knew, cuz I told him...) But still, he made it very clear that my opinions and considerations were welcome.

doc e just grates on my nerves. UGH. I was hoping that since I wasn't involved in Allies anymore, sort of, that I'd not have much interaction with him anymore. I would've reconsidered joining the arts council if I had known he was a member. bleh.

Oh well. At least there are other people there that I like. A pair of lesbians (lol, i hate that word!) who are....odd, but nice.

After we were done, I took some pics of my stuff cuz...well, it was really quite awesome to see MY work up there on the wall with a bunch of other amazing art. i didn't take pics of the other ppls art, and I blurred out the ones that are in vicinity to mine, cuz I don't want to infringe on any rights or anything. But. Mine is...kinda on par with much of the other work. ^{even in their five dollar wally world frames, heh...} Pretty kewl...



Here they are in digital form (the ones I submitted don't have the watermarks, obviously. Well, they do, but they're smaller and out of sight, not plastered all over the middle.):

If you hurry, you might be able to catch the tail end of a kick ass meteor shower. The peak was the 12th, but I sat outside tonite (the 13/14) and saw at least 10 in an hour. Most were quick and of the "was that really a shooting star, or just my eyes playing tricks?" variety, but I saw at least 3 that lasted almost 2 to 3 seconds, with wonderful blue tails.

So go out tonite, away from the lights, and look at the darkest part of the sky. If you can see all of the stars in the little dipper, you're good to go. It's best if you can find a dark horizon, although I was just looking mostly straight up. After 11pm is the best time- I was out between 1 and 2am.

This is an awesome year for the Perseids (dunno if that's spelled correctly) shower in particular because it's a new moon (no moon light to interfere)

Enjoy!

Pics of the new baby, Caitlynn Marie.....




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Although Z weighed only 6 oz more, there's quite a difference, it seems, size-wise. Z was rolls and rolls, and this one is a skinny little peanut. I think she's the same length, or perhaps only a quarter of an inch more or less, I forget.

She's a sweet, sweet baby. Z appears to be adjusting fine. Mostly he just ignores her. heh.

All are healthy, save for a bit of a heart murmur that the cardio says is a small hole between some of CM's valves, which doesn't appear to be serious and/or dangerous. So. Yay!

heh. And, today's AWAD quote: The soul is healed by being with children. -Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I do not completely love the sub-zero temperatures, but I do love the snow. It makes me giddy.
I have no idea when or what I posted last. I'm not good at the K-I-T thing, I know this. It's funny though (not ha ha funny)-- the longer I go without contacting people, the more I tend to be thinking of them.

Anyhow. Apparently my sister spent last weekend in the hospital. No one thought to inform me of this. Her blood pressure was skyrocketting, but the baby appears to be ok. She went to the ER and they did an ultrasound, but a foot was covering the bits that society shall attempt to use to box it/stereotype it/stick it in a gender role/ etc. lah. But it yawned as they were doing the procedure, so my sis got to see that :)

Carole King and Alice Walker both celebrate birthdays today. hmm.

I got new ink, yesterday. Loving it.




More pics of various things

I'm in a relatively good mood. Better than I've been in several weeks, at least. I'm annoyed, a bit, by the fact that I can't always remember to remember the good things in life - the little things - but grateful that I'm able to still appreciate and enjoy them spontaneously.

I was driving home from work this morning, around 8am, when I saw a line of geese spanning the sky. And immediately I was hit with this...feeling. Genuine. Not sure I can name it, except to say it was one of those moments that takes my breath away. One which left me to feel sad for people who don't seem to appreciate nature and hoping they had something in their life as beautiful, but wondering what could possibly compare.

And I watched these geese fly, changing their formation until a new leader was in front and they went into their angles, arrows moving across the sky. I wondered, how do they know? I mean, I can understand how they would know when to switch leaders...fatigue is...instinctual? But how/who determines which geese flies first next? How do they learn their aerial ballet, switching places so smoothly, without knocking in to one another? Do they practice this in some remote piece of sky somewhere until they get it right? Or is it just built in to their brains?

Most will say that humans are the smartest, most advanced creatures. But I have to disagree. It's all a matter of perception, definition, reality.

I found myself sitting in my car, watching these geese travel across the sky, thinking to myself "I want to learn more about geese, and how they do that." It was one of those epiphinatic moments where I realized that I have managed to hang on to at least some small threads of Wonder. (Well, I have a lot of Wonder. It's just that it gets buried beneath all of the other 'mandatory' survival mode crap usually whirling in my brain.)

I thought back to the previous few days and found myself smiling. In just a few short hours I:

-witnessed yet another weirdass local weather freak out, with torrential downpour on one half of the parking lot and not a sprinkle on the other (seriously, it's WEIRD.) which led to...

-an amazing rainbow, which caused me to grab my camera and my car keys and drive around town just looking at it and taking random pictures.





-have had several lovely more-than-20-second phone calls with my girlfriend

-had the opportunity to sit in on a discussion with an AMAZING person, followed by an absolutely fabulous concert by said person. (check her out- www.namolibrennet.com
She's a transgendered folksy sort of artist and an amazing person, in general. Very fun to hang out with, too. :)




-followed by a reception with her where I hung out with one of my bestest friends whom I miss dearly.



-got several hugs from J, which always make me feel better



-decided to make a cd for someone and in the process rediscovered music I hadn't listened to in forever, but which I adore. So. Yeah, it's been a good few days.

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Breathe, remember to breathe. That's what they say. "They" being J, when I call her all freaked out over whatever my latest freakout is.

This week's freakout:

I need a new car. Do I want a new car? Not necessarily. Not that I have much love for my 'current' car. But seeing as my current car is currently sitting in a lot halfway across town, not starting, and requesting a $1,500-$1,800 engine......

Right.

Look. This is me, not freaking out. pltzzzzz.

I'm kind of tired of life being one thing after another. Or rather, one thing on top of another. But whatever. Just breathe.

Went to A.L.F. today...walked in the parade for Big Brothers Big Sisters with my Little. Then took her around on some rides, and finally brought her to my apt to show her my animals. Got a new bearded dragon, cuz I'm like that. She's lovely. Un-named as of yet, til I get to know her a tad better. "Alix" is a strong possibility. But I dunno.

Have spent a considerable amount of time with M & the kids the last week or so, since E finally moved the hell out. Wow...holy less stress, batman. It's niiiiiiice.

Went to a pretty fun lgbt party a few weekends ago with AJ. We had a lovely time. I finally got to slow dance! It was lovely *smiles*

Oi. It's nearly 2am and I've had most of a g&t and am more than ready to sleep, considering I worked last nite and then didn't get any sleep when I came home, and then walked in the parade and then went to babysit! Eep.

As usual, pics!

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List five truths. Five things that are on your mind. Good, bad, it matters not. Lift some weight off. Then, pick five people to do the same.

1. It bothers me that I "have" to ask my girlfriend (who doesn't live with me) permission to get new pets.

2. I don't really enjoy my new job, even tho I desperately want to.

3. I want to go back to school. For something psychology related.

4. I still get excessively depressed about failing nursing school.

5. I'm ready to 'have' (adopt) kids and have a family. Right now.

Got to hang out wiht Emface and Jen today, yaaay. We didn't do much. Went to EnP for some food, then sat at Jen's for a bit. Then Em and I went to an ice cream social/art auction. I didn't win any thing, but I bought some books, of course. Half price and such. 2 that I've been wanting to read, one a classic- Animal Farm. Nope, never read it, can you believe that??. And also Lucky Bones. Plus another that just caught my eye with the title Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat. I almost knew from the second I saw it that I would end up buying it, even tho I had no idea what it was about. I mean, a title like that? Just says "yum!" to me, in Bookspeak, of course. And then the blurbs says "A distinctive new voice with a sensitive insight into Haitian culture...Danticat imbues it with color and magic" "A wise child's exploration- sensual, moving, clear-sighted as the pearly mornings that dawn in her Haitian sky" and "Sexual traumas link a Haitian mother and her daughter in this wonderfully self-assured debut...Danticat keeps graceful control of this difficult material while adroitly sketching the larger political context and making both peasants and pediatricians equally convincing. An impressive first outing." So. It just seemed like a me book. And the fourth is a book of short stories by Barbara Kingsolver. I don't remember if I really enjoyed them the first time around, but I figured I'd give them a second try. For five bucks why not, ya know? So. 4 books for about $16. Not bad, not bad.

Had a lovely, lovely bike ride home in the rain. A good rain, not cold or whipping winds or anything. I actually took the long way cuz I was enjoying it so much.

Heh. On our way in to the store, crossing the street (Em drove us there from Jen's), I ran and jumped in a huge puddle. Soaked my jeans nearly to my knees. *grin* It was great fun!!!!! Got really perturbed on my way home, cuz I passed a woman yelling at her toddler to stop jumping in puddles. I was like, dude. He's not dawdling, he's not even straying away. He's just happily jumping in to the puddles that happen to chance beneath his feet. They're both already soaked from the rain falling. It's not freezing outside. What the hell's wrong with a jump in a puddle???

Anyways.

I'm ultra nervous about this job tomorrow. Nervous that I'll sleep in or fuck up or something. Argh. Everyone keeps telling me I'll be great at it. Yeah. Just like I was great at nursing school? Argh. Ok. Being pessimistic. Need to stop being that.

But I'm still nervous.

Sleepy time, I'm exhausted.

Took some pics the other day....on my way home from work it was all foggy and such, so I got my bike and rode up to the cemetary.

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