Some weeks you feel like there's time to sleep. Other weeks whack you on a treadmill and laugh as you try to cope with running uphill on the spot at high speed. This is one of the latter.
I spent Saturday at a workshop run by American book-meister Ed Hutchins, learning really fun paper animation techniques. Not film animation, but more pop-up book methods. It was lots of fun, and I have a book of samples to show for it, but I can't show you because I took it in to the Bookstud to show my students and forgot to bring it home.
Saturday night I HAD to go to two parties. I know you won't be surprised when I tell you that I am a First Class Party Piker, especially when I've used up my daily quota of acting pleasant. But when one party is a farewell for someone going overseas and you won't see them again for ages, and the other party is the 21st of someone you've fondly watched survive adolescence, piking is just not an option. Unfortunately party 1 gave me vodka lime cocktails and party 2 gave me champagne, and when I mix grape with
So Sunday was pretty miserable, even though BB and I snuck away to a movie to find some time to hold hands instead of look at the backs of each other's heads (me on a computer, him at the stove). We went to see Dean Spanley, delightful movie, only spoiled by an old lady sitting behind us on her walker, surrounded by rustling plastic bags hung onto the handles, who made the following litany of annoying noises:
RUSTLES (chips, plastic bags, etc)
VELCRO HISSES
ZIPS (up, down, up, down, u- no, down)
CREAKS
POPS (a cork! tally ho!)
CLINKS
TUTS AND SIGHS
MOBILE PHONE (talked to someone up to instant of movie starting, and again the instant movie finished)
And -- no joke -- spent a weird period during the movie ads seemingly going through the cinema's bin.
Very odd.
I did manage to get to the Lifeline Book Fair briefly on Friday afternoon for an hour (only spent $25!) and then again briefly on Sunday afternoon when I just crammed masses of nice bindings into shopping bags to be taken away and carved up to make other bindings. (The nicest unwanted bindings were in the Dutch/German/French section. Other cultures are so boring with their bindings, saving all the decoration for the paper dustjackets. The D/G/F section was full of fantastic board embossings, gold blocked decorations and painted paper quarter bindings. And many have uber-exotic font choices as well, perfect for my current collage obsession.) I didn't look for reading matter. So I didn't find any :)
Anyhoo... I am trying to meet ZILLIONS of layout deadlines for various books, journals and community groups whilst setting up my part of an exhibition --
ANNOUNCEMENT!
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH IS NOT ONLY COLONEL AND LADY DUCK'S WEDDING ANNIVERSARY BUT ALSO THE OPENING OF THE ART-I-TECH EXHIBITION AT THE ANU SCHOOL OF ART FOYER GALLERY AT 6PM. A showcase of art works by the school's excellent [insert creative collective noun here] of Technical Officers, including myself.
-- and preparing my head for participation in this coming weekend's TWO FIRES FESTIVAL at Braidwood, NSW.
Also trying to plan the school holidays around everyone's different access needs and working schedules, and realising I have to take Bumblebee shoe-shopping in the next 3 days so that he has something besides crocs to wear at next week's SCHOOL CAMP! And do a stocktake of his clothes. He turns 12 in a couple of weeks, and he's taller than ever. PUFF! PANT! Ye gods, it's frigging APRIL next week... someone turn the treadmill off! Please!
At least I have managed to update my website about the lovely works in progress for my upcoming Books to Hold or Let Go exhibition at Craft ACT. One thing off the checklist tonight.
I have resolved to write more about the actual arty farty stuff I've been doing lately. But not tonight, Josephine, not tonight.
6 comments:
oh, I'm hearin'ya, I surely am.
ha ha, "daily dose of being pleasant"
I use mine up by about 10.30 am.
god help me, April indeed, what am I to do????
at least you appear to finish stuff........
But I never tell anyone about the things I don't finish... they swarm about me like dust bunnies.
April-avoidance is endemic. In the last two days, two people have tried to make appointments with me for early March dates for next week. They both got very upset when I corrected them - one head-desked in despair.
Gawp. That's a lot of stuff.
Do you get your nice back after a decent night's sleep?
Actually, yes, Penthe, I do. I get it back even after a dreadful night's sleep. I like to think that one of my only true charms is that for at least the first part of each day I am completely Pollyanna-ish, and ready for a new adventure in this fabulous potential-laden world. And then my commitments build up, and the afternoons get a bit stressy. I'm not a morning person, though. I can be grumpy, yet still have my brain reset during the night to start the day fresh. I also try not to be horrible to anyone that doesn't deserve it, and that really does take a lot of energy, doesn't it?
Would have liked to hit the Two Fires, but I don't get back from Adelaide early enough to do it. Hope it goes well!
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