Week

My stylist had food poisoning last weekend so I didn’t get my hair cut or my highlights redone until Saturday. She was super efficient and my hair looks good. It’s really short and angled now. I love it.

I had way too lofty goals over the weekend, but did get several things accomplished.

  • I broke down the gel packs and wash them all for recycling. I have a gigantic apricot tree that will appreciate the water and non-toxic material that becomes moisture over time.
  • I took everything off of the patio
  • I used my neighbors’ pressure washer on the patio and around my French doors
  • I got rid of the plastic outdoor furniture less the chaise chair that I can use to get little bits of sun in my bikini.
  • I completely emptied the BBQ rack and moved it to the corner of the patio where the Weber and the chimney to start fires are
  • I put tools in my new shed
  • I placed a hold on the book for next Saturday night from the library for Book Club

My son came home from his girlfriend’s parents’ house on Sunday and we talked through retaking his exam, scheduling and my paying for a driver’s test, and his emptying the patio with my help.

He had a weird week and was moody and rude.

I had plans with the Ballet Dancer, but she’s been sick for a couple of weeks and has a hideous cough. I texted the Realtor / Photographer, and she was being kind saying that I could join her and housemate, but I don’t know her new housemate, so it could get very weird. I’m not usually a fan of strangers except in short bursts. I can meet strangers in activities. I like to bowl and play kickball most and have taken a few outdoor classes. Ballet Dancer is the only friend who’s stuck who I met in a class.

Monday I averaged 145 which is better for bowling. On Tuesday I worked in person with the students and it was also better than average. I saw two movies in the theater this week.

Wednesday: Did you know that Kubrick made a Hollywood style heist film? “The Killing” was good!

  • Sterling Hayden was the only actor who I recognized, but the others were really good.
  • It was quickly paced and short for a film in the 60s
  • There was a lot of humor
  • I don’t know why, but it reminded me a bit of “Strangers on a Train,” and I’m generally a huge fan of Hitchcock

Thursday: I saw “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”

  • Girls in their early 20s reflect on being raped as adolescents by a village elder who has at least four victims–those who you meet in the film anyway
  • The elder, like all the men in the film, is tolerated and excused for violent behavior. Other men in the film seem immature and entitled.
  • It had wonderful cinematography and I thought that the metaphor was well framed in the film
  • It was a very sad movie

I teach tonight after the day job, but it’s on Zoom and is really easy. I really enjoy this group of students too.

I finally see my girlfriend tonight. It will be incredibly brief, but it will be so nice to catch up with her in person. We always text, and I have spoken with her on the phone Monday and Thursday for about half-an-hour each time, but in person is always much better. I’ll see her for about an hour on Saturday night too. Tomorrow, which is Saturday, marks 6-months of us dating.

Energy

If you’ve read my blog before you not only know that it’s an incognito diary, but that I write about lots of topics which are going on in my life. About 11 or 12-years ago, I realized that I had a children’s book in my mind and heart. I finally storyboarded it all this January.

Then Batman and I worked on it on 2/15, 6/26 and 8/7. I would say that the latter date was the only time in which she contributed any concerted effort because she read the text in its entirety. She made some revisions too. In February, we mostly ate and drank and made out. In June, we talked about her two quarter hiatus from work and what she wants to do for a living and cuddled. She doodled three scenes in a small sketch book.

If I’m being honest, likely she worked focused during the last session because there were two men at my house for the two-hours that she was here and then a project manager for a bit. It took three-weeks to have my upstairs painted and in August I was in the throes. If she’d remembered that we were working on it in July and not just said that she spaced it, it would’ve just been us because the painting crew leader had a flat tire that day.

I have never seen a page.

I am, often, promised a page.

Batman is a dancer and a climber.

Her art cannot have a timeline.

Batman’s energy is only focused from her own volition.

I’d seen Batman by chance a couple of weeks ago and simply texted that I’d seen her to which one of her reply texts was, “Can we meet about the book soon?”

I told her that we could if she got me a page first. Not shocking, but it’s going on the third week with no page. Again, she has focused energy that is fueled moment-to-moment and doesn’t seem to have timelines.

My best friend is a professional musician and also sculpts, crafts, makes jewelry and has recently begun painting and has sold a few commissions.

My best friend has loving, light and almost naive energy. She’s the easiest person in the world to be around and with whom to spend time.

My best friend has introduced me to WI. She’s amazing. Tall, beautiful, and a visual artist who grew up making art with her family. Her work is wonderful. She lives here with her girlfriend and wants to branch out her work as she’s already selling some pieces in two places here.

I get a page on Sunday–one week from today–and only have to pay her hourly fee for it. That is so cheap because she has to read all the text and painstakingly go through the storyboards to tell me things that she cannot draw. My revisions will come from that point.

I told WI the three things that I’m married to in this book. She is sketching a pivotal scene which is a plot element that I’m married to as well. I CANNOT WAIT TO GET THIS PAGE.

It’s interesting to me that working with WI has impacted my energy about the book and writing in general. I think that the reciprocity of working together makes me happy. True collaboration is important to me. I feel good today and my energy is lifted. From slightly hedonistic energy, to light energy and then landing on solidly ambitious energy has changed my focus.