Friday, September 2, 2005 B

"Styling Salon"
8:38pm

Julia's hairstylist wasn't going to be in Saturday morning, time of her usual appointment. So she had 5:15pm slotted for her hair tonight. I brought her there after work, and needing to occupy myself with something interesting, I passed the time sketching :

Afterwards, Julia showed her hairdresser the picture, who then passed to another hairstylist, and they were suitably impressed. She even warned them it would probably end up on the web. I, feeling bashful, did not offer any URLs, however.

Saturday, September 3, 2005

"Deep Roots II"
2:24pm

The theme for the Friday Illustration this week is Roots, which is interesting, because that's what I titled my entry here yesterday morning. First, I thought of an earlier illo for the theme of Nutrition, as this features some deep roots:

Then the image came into my head of that image transposed on top of the back of a person meditating, as to say they have deep roots to the Earth and its energies. But I don't feel just 'rooted' to the earth, I look to the stars, so I put that element in, as well:

It's strange, the wolf, (which was part of the 'automatic' process but got cropped out of Wednesday night's picture), showed up in this image:

I know I was here before, heard that wolf before, the eternal wolf, the eternal me...

Sunday, September 4, 2005

"More Upbeat"
3:27pm

Yesterday, the day frittered away into evening before we got out and going to the movie. I'll tell you though, Constant Gardener is a SAD movie. It doesn't end happy, at all. We waited through the credits to see who had done the music and where it was filmed. Doing so, we saw the note of the author of the book upon which this film is based, (paraphrased) "not based on reality, thank God, but in delving into these matters, he saw things which made his movie seem "like a holiday postcard". Isn't that a grim note?

Naturally, the mood around here afterwards was glum, but Julia brought me heated fancy bread with olive oil for dipping. It was yummy and it did improve the mood slightly.

This morning, the glum mood continued. We had to turn the TV off, the news was just too depressing. The worst was of two New Orleans policemen committing suicide, as pressure is so bad on them. Hopefully, the Coast Guard and the others can take up the slack. It's dreadful.

But long hours of hearing the same news over and over isn't healthy, so I put some music on, choosing an 'upbeat' Middle Eastern album. Julia replied, "Let's do 'up beat', instead of being 'beat up'." So true...

Feeling we needed to have some laughter, I checked the movie times to see if Wedding Crashers was still playing. My co-workers said it was funny, and it received fairly high tomato ratings, so we went to it. Yes, it was good for quite a few laughs. And I have to say, no matter what jaded movie critics think, I like a happy ending.

Afterwards, we wanted to got to a sushi and steak place nearby, but alas, the building was still empty, except for its sign. So we went to Manderin Palace and Julia had her sushi. I'm stuffed. Once again, Julia ate some of my rejects. One reject was of a bitter melon dish. She liked the bitterness, though, and happily took them. I'd have taken more of the eggplant dish, however, had I known ahead of time that it was tasty. On first glance, I thought it was shiny liver or something. It didn't LOOK tasty. And I had thin, flat noodles and thick noodles and cucumber salad, and cooked bok choy, and... But I should learn to listen to that small voice, "Just ONE teriyaki chicken stick will do you." However, the multitude of different flavors was tasty and now I'm done for the day on eating.

Well fed, and well humored, both of us are indeed feeling in a more upbeat mood.

One thing this afternoon also bears noting. While at the theater, the caption on the back of a t shirt a young man was wearing caught my eye:

Tempus Fugit
Stay Awake!

It's yet another little prod on the path.

This idea is expounded on in better depth in Webb's Fire and Force book. He speaks of the importance of Memory, how becoming more aware in this aspect enables one to see better the interlocking connections in our lives and:

"The biggest benefit is simply the change in duration that the Initiate experiences - the more she comes to look at her days, the longer the days subjectively become. This magic trick allows a person to live twice as long, and therefore achieve in one lifetime what might have taken many." (page 31)

Or as the designer of the t-shirt said:

Tempus Fugit
Stay Awake!

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

"Reflected Art"
9:13pm

Looking at so many beautiful pictures, I felt frustrated and wanted an interesting photo of my own. Casting my eyes about the small apartment, the way my painting is reflected in this mirror intrigued me:

Friday, September 9, 2005

"Shadowy Art"
10:31pm

Julia was so happy her statues came in today. She was waiting for me after work with two huge boxes beside her. We wasted no time in getting them unwrapped and placed. I like the way the light falls on the Venus D'Arles:

The camera doesn't quite catch her as I see her. But then maybe my sketch doesn't either:

I still like it anyway.

A little net search reveals the original is at the Louvre.