*yawn* *stretch* Good morning. My sleep schedule is b0rked, because I keep not getting to bed until very late, and I'm either waking up punishingly early or quite late. Throws off my mornings, which throws off my days. Must get that under control. I think I probably had enough sleep last night.
Elayna's review of the Contemporary Art Wing of the MFA: But the wing that stole my breath away was the contemporary art wing. The first art piece was something I almost walked right past. It was an LED moving screen, like the type you see in train stations, and I expected it to just be information about the museum. Instead, it was an hour-long loop of startlingly dark statements, one after the other. One sentence in particular that I remember is “I strive for perfection, but if I succeed, half of everyone dies.”
The rest of the art in that wing was just as incredible for me. There was a sign on one end of the hall that I couldn’t read up close no matter how hard I squinted, but when I went to the other end of the hall, I could see that the sign clearly read “INTENT”. A chandelier blinked in Morse code that I, unfortunately, couldn’t read. There was a painting that was painted entirely by someone walking back and forth across the canvas with paint on their feet to create a mostly solid line straight across.
Every piece that I saw in that wing nearly took my breath away with the way that it referenced pop culture and media, or pointed out unusual things about our own behavior. It fascinated me, and inspired me to work on my own artwork.
We have a![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zarhooie in the house! For new readers, zarhooie is basically my internet daughter. She is just as ridiculous as me, so we are dangerous in combination. I have been her internet mama since she was sixteen, and I only ever almost killed someone for her once. She and Elayna have a very sisterly relationship, and they'll be taking off today to do touristy stuff around Boston; they were originally going to go to the Aquarium, but apparently today is a big families-of-small-children day so no. They're doing that Monday instead.
The whole hauling-her-out-of-the house thing means I may actually get writing time. Which, frankly, I haven't had all summer for more than a few randomly-grabbed hours. I am upset about that, yes. Basically all summer has been like "What are you doing today? When are you leaving? It's three hours after you said you'd be leaving; are you leaving soon? Why are you home two hours early?" Which has meant that I do not get to do anything that requires any concentration or more than ten minutes. This is an interaction of multiple people in the household on me. Despite the fact that I clearly and repeatedly stated at the beginning of summer and all through summer that I needed people to have a schedule and stick to it so that I could get work done. Complete disregard, and constant reinforcement of the idea that I am not allowed to have a career or any hobbies. And then they ask me why I want a six-month residency somewhere. Ha.
ANYWAY. Adam is back on his regular schedule, Elayna goes back to school in two weeks, and then I only have to make Judah adhere to a schedule. But I've lost three months of worktime.
I did do something nice for myself recently, though! I signed up for a knitting class! Fit to Flatter with Amy Herzog. (I was threatening to go to Rhinebeck last year just for this class.) I'll be learning how to select and modify sweater patterns specifically for my body. This is so worth the money and time. I've been wanting to knit sweaters for myself forever, partly because there are just so many beautiful patterns, partly because storebought sweaters usually just don't fit quite right. I'm 4'11" and have a very short torso, proportionally, so everything sags and looks boxy at my (actually well-defined) waist and has too much fabric at the shoulders. Also I carry my weight in an unusual way. I look at patterns and have no idea even where to start with the modifications, knowing that I'll have multiple things to calculate and that no pattern for adults will have the right length, because people don't think adults can be this short (and no pattern for kids will accommodate the boobs). Trial and error is time-consuming and expensive, so I've been holding off on doing this til I know how to do it properly. So this class is an investment in a future of custom-fit sweaters in flattering colors, which will make me happy. And it is me allowing myself to spend money on a thing just for me. (Everyone else in the household is an off-the-rack size - juniors XS, men's S, men's L.)
My fish really likes my coffee mugs. Whenever I put one near him, he comes over to chat with it.
Judah andlbitw will finally finish clearing the backyard tomorrow, they say! Judah did a preliminary sweep, but it's still a jungle. We've utterly missed the deadline for spring planting, obviously, but we can make fall planting happen! Fall is when you plant garlic! That is all I know about fall planting. But I'll learn! zarhooie and I may plan out the future layout of the backyard while J & J are up to that, and Judah says he's building the storage cubbies for my office today, so maybe I will get to finally unpack those last boxes and clean up the clutter in my office and bedroom (bedroom is overflow). I live in hope! The guys and possibly Elayna will be going to a gaming day from there.
And nowzarhooie is awake! So I should see what we're doing for breakfast.
Elayna's review of the Contemporary Art Wing of the MFA: But the wing that stole my breath away was the contemporary art wing. The first art piece was something I almost walked right past. It was an LED moving screen, like the type you see in train stations, and I expected it to just be information about the museum. Instead, it was an hour-long loop of startlingly dark statements, one after the other. One sentence in particular that I remember is “I strive for perfection, but if I succeed, half of everyone dies.”
The rest of the art in that wing was just as incredible for me. There was a sign on one end of the hall that I couldn’t read up close no matter how hard I squinted, but when I went to the other end of the hall, I could see that the sign clearly read “INTENT”. A chandelier blinked in Morse code that I, unfortunately, couldn’t read. There was a painting that was painted entirely by someone walking back and forth across the canvas with paint on their feet to create a mostly solid line straight across.
Every piece that I saw in that wing nearly took my breath away with the way that it referenced pop culture and media, or pointed out unusual things about our own behavior. It fascinated me, and inspired me to work on my own artwork.
We have a
zarhooie in the house! For new readers, zarhooie is basically my internet daughter. She is just as ridiculous as me, so we are dangerous in combination. I have been her internet mama since she was sixteen, and I only ever almost killed someone for her once. She and Elayna have a very sisterly relationship, and they'll be taking off today to do touristy stuff around Boston; they were originally going to go to the Aquarium, but apparently today is a big families-of-small-children day so no. They're doing that Monday instead.The whole hauling-her-out-of-the house thing means I may actually get writing time. Which, frankly, I haven't had all summer for more than a few randomly-grabbed hours. I am upset about that, yes. Basically all summer has been like "What are you doing today? When are you leaving? It's three hours after you said you'd be leaving; are you leaving soon? Why are you home two hours early?" Which has meant that I do not get to do anything that requires any concentration or more than ten minutes. This is an interaction of multiple people in the household on me. Despite the fact that I clearly and repeatedly stated at the beginning of summer and all through summer that I needed people to have a schedule and stick to it so that I could get work done. Complete disregard, and constant reinforcement of the idea that I am not allowed to have a career or any hobbies. And then they ask me why I want a six-month residency somewhere. Ha.
ANYWAY. Adam is back on his regular schedule, Elayna goes back to school in two weeks, and then I only have to make Judah adhere to a schedule. But I've lost three months of worktime.
I did do something nice for myself recently, though! I signed up for a knitting class! Fit to Flatter with Amy Herzog. (I was threatening to go to Rhinebeck last year just for this class.) I'll be learning how to select and modify sweater patterns specifically for my body. This is so worth the money and time. I've been wanting to knit sweaters for myself forever, partly because there are just so many beautiful patterns, partly because storebought sweaters usually just don't fit quite right. I'm 4'11" and have a very short torso, proportionally, so everything sags and looks boxy at my (actually well-defined) waist and has too much fabric at the shoulders. Also I carry my weight in an unusual way. I look at patterns and have no idea even where to start with the modifications, knowing that I'll have multiple things to calculate and that no pattern for adults will have the right length, because people don't think adults can be this short (and no pattern for kids will accommodate the boobs). Trial and error is time-consuming and expensive, so I've been holding off on doing this til I know how to do it properly. So this class is an investment in a future of custom-fit sweaters in flattering colors, which will make me happy. And it is me allowing myself to spend money on a thing just for me. (Everyone else in the household is an off-the-rack size - juniors XS, men's S, men's L.)
My fish really likes my coffee mugs. Whenever I put one near him, he comes over to chat with it.
Judah and
lbitw will finally finish clearing the backyard tomorrow, they say! Judah did a preliminary sweep, but it's still a jungle. We've utterly missed the deadline for spring planting, obviously, but we can make fall planting happen! Fall is when you plant garlic! That is all I know about fall planting. But I'll learn! zarhooie and I may plan out the future layout of the backyard while J & J are up to that, and Judah says he's building the storage cubbies for my office today, so maybe I will get to finally unpack those last boxes and clean up the clutter in my office and bedroom (bedroom is overflow). I live in hope! The guys and possibly Elayna will be going to a gaming day from there.And now
zarhooie is awake! So I should see what we're doing for breakfast.