Areas of Unrest

11 March 2001 - Tired, Hungry and Covered With Paint

QOTD: "I do not exist; therefore, I am a mustache." - Jean Paul Sartre

Reading: today's L.A. Times

Listening to: At Home With the Chenille Sisters

I was going to go to a storytelling concert in Eagle Rock (not that I know quite where that is - somewhere near Glendale I think) this evening. But, as I told Penny when I called her just before five, "I'm tired and hungry and completely covered with paint and there is no way I can keep my eyes open to listen to anybody tonight."

As it is, I've driven more this weekend than I usually do in two whole weeks. Yesterday morning I went to Rancho Santa Margarita to do a Volksmarch in O'Neill Regional Park. The path through Trabuco Canyon was muddy and slimy, so I stuck to the bike trail there. But O'Neill Park itself was okay, despite a rather soggy river crossing to get to the main park from Feather Mesa. The weather was nice and I was glad for the exercise, feeling far more energetic at the end of the walk than I had on the drive down. There was one steep hill and a couple I passed teased me about how I kept charging up the hill, like the Energizer bunny. But I'd rather keep pushing on and stop to catch my breath and stretch at the top - that way I get the torture over with. At any rate, most of the walk was pleasant, with lots of wildflowers to look at. I could have lived without the noisy Boy Scout gathering at one of the campsites, though.

The traffic coming back was heavy in a few spots, apparently because of road work throughout the South Bay, so I barely had time to shower and change clothes before I had to leave the house again. I picked up Audrey and we headed down to have dinner in Los Alamitos with a large group before the Women of the World concert that she and I (and several other people) were performing in. Maya told the story of Phyllis Wheatley, a slave who became a famous poet. Then Audrey told an Eskimo folk tale. I have to admit I barely heard her, because she was on just before me, and I can never listen well just before telling. I'd settled on telling "Thank You, Miss Tammy" and embellished it with a few bits from another story to make it slightly more suitable for a Women's History Month event. At any rate, it went well, and I got tremendous laughter. I was complimented on my delivery and how relaxed my telling style is, which always surprises me. I don't have any trouble with stage fright, but I think I tend to talk too fast. Still, it was fun. Suz closed the first half with a song and we broke for refreshments. I joked you could tell it was a woman's event because they had plenty of chocolate.

The second half opened with one of the real highlights of the evening - Patti's interpetation of Louisa May Alcott. I'm not really all that keen on people dressing up as historical characters, but this worked well for me. Then Sylvia told the real story behind the legend of La Llorona. (La Llorona is the best-known Hispanic folktale and tells of a woman who has drowned her children and now searches the world for them. She's used as a threat to keep children from staying out too late, since they might be mistaken for her missing children and taken away with her. But the real source story involves the mistress of Cortez, who drowned her son to keep his father from taking him away to Spain.) Nancy followed with a personal story and Suz sang another song to close the evening. Overall, it was a good mix of material, very well-balanced, and a lot of fun. I didn't get home particularly late, but I was rather hyper (the usual performer's high) so didn't get to sleep until later than normal.

I couldn't sleep very late, though, since I had the usual round of errands to do before going to Wildfiber for a marbling class. The instructor, Galen Berry, was visiting from Oklahoma, so it was a rare opportunity. And the samples of his papers that they had in the shop the last time I was there were just gorgeous. Despite the exhaustion, I'm glad I took the class. He was very methodical, leading us step by step from stone marbling to swirls to nonpareil and feather patterns. We moved on to French swirls and Italian veins and the incredibly difficult peacock or bouquet pattern. We finished with making figures (flowers, hearts, fish, butterflies, etc.). I did ten pieces of paper and one piece of fabric and I'm satisfied with most of it, though I have lots of mistakes. Galen also demonstrated a ripple technique, but we didn't have time to try it ourselves.

Overall, it was an impressive class. Everybody was pretty amazed at the effects we were able to get and we all oohed and aahed at the results. I also have to admit that I always find it very satisfying to produce things. One of the reasons I do crafts is to counteract having the sort of job in which all I do is go to meetings and write email. I like my job (well, most of the time), but sometimes I need to feel like I'm doing something more concrete.

I'd like to find time to photograph some of my paper (both this stuff and paste paper that I've done in the past) and put up a sort of gallery, but I'm way too tired right now. I did take care of being hungry and I've gotten most of the paint off, though I could still stand a bit more scrubbing. I've also made a note to remind myself not to schedule so bloody many things in one weekend. Everyone I've told that to has just said "ha!"