my busy week & a color update

s u n d a y

my long and busy week started last sunday with a full day of figure drawing. I went to Gage for another long pose (it's a 3 hour model session w/ the same pose), and then headed over to Dr. Sketchy for a couple of hours of shorter poses w/ a burlesque model, Miss Kitty Baby. It was definitely a fun day. Here are a couple of my favorites from the day:

This one is from Gage, and it was a nice change of pace to work from a male model.

And this is Miss Kitty Baby from Dr. Sketchy

By the time I got home from all of the drawing sessions on Sunday, I had to rush to finish up a couple of discussion questions for my Capella class before trying to get to bed at a decent hour. (which reminds me, My final class at Capella started last week. It finishes in mid-March, and will conclude my post-bacc project management certificate! Looks as though it's going to be a nice class to end with, too. It's centered around leadership, and I have plenty of experience with it in the classroom).

m o n d a y

Monday was a little crazy. I had the day off for MLK day, and although I really probably would have enjoyed dedicating the day to volunteer work or something - I took advantage of the weekday off to go and take care of my car. The nagging check engine light was still on, and I had an appt. with my (awesome) mechanic to figure it out once and for all. He had taken a brief look at it for me last friday after work, and wanted to take a closer look at my fuel injector, which is why I went back on Monday. He told me the testing he wanted to have done would take about half the day - and so I wandered down the street and settled in at Cutter's Point for a cup of tea, thinking I'd finally be able to get in some time to sit and read. I'm still trying to get through the Harry Potter series - and I've been making a real effort at it lately, but have found this week in particular that I have a serious lack of time to actually sit and do the reading.

Not an hour later I got a call from my mechanic, who told me what the problem was (I don't actually remember what it was), and (here's the important part) he told me it should be covered under warranty. I had thought my warranty was up, but apparently not. He assured me he had contacted Saturn, and double checked for me that it would be covered. Nice of him isn't it? He could have just done the work and charged me for it, and I really wouldn't have known the difference. Having a mechanic I know I can trust is priceless.

And so I picked up my car, and drove out to the old Saturn Dealership (they still work on Saturns). They told me they had to check it out themselves, but that if the problem my mechanic cited was verified, it would indeed be covered under warranty. While I was waiting for them to do their own evaluation, I went and had lunch with Hillary. I got a call from Saturn verifying the problem (which was no big surprise), and the lady told me they would need to keep my car for about a week to fix it. She said it would be totally covered, including a rental for me to drive while they fixed it... except she didn't have a rental in. I had to wait a couple of days for a rental to come in. but that concluded my Monday car adventure.

I was intending to go to my Monday evening zumba class - and I didn't realize until I drove all the way out there that it had been canceled for the holiday. That worked out well, since Harvey came to dinner that night for dinner too. Since the class was canceled, she was able to stop by a bit earlier and hang out longer.

t u e s d a y

Tuesday was a waiver day at work - it just means that staff attend, but students don't, and there's supposed to be some sort of training involved. for us it meant a staff meeting to discuss some stuff that very well may not even apply to me next year for scheduling. I was thanked at the meeting for the "work" they've had me do around the building so far this year. I thought that was very nice of them. Half the time my efforts at work go completely ignored, so I did really appreciate that they bothered to take the time to recognize it - though I thought it was a bit ironic & funny that it happened THIS year, considering they've got me mostly sitting around doing nothing, compared to previous school years where i've put in loads and loads of hard work that went largely unrecognized.

During the second part of the work day, I had requested time to go to a training through the district for gang awareness. I'm glad I did because it would have been another boring and wasted day for me otherwise, as teachers were given time to work in their classrooms for that part of the day. (and being that I have no classroom as of yet, I wouldn't have had much to do). The gang awareness was interesting. It was lead by a police officer who had been working on the gang problem since the '80's. He emphasized that the gang problem was down city-wide lately, but I did learn a few things that should help me to recognize gang related chatter and symbolism if it should happen to show up in my classroom (assuming they get around to assigning me to one, that is).

I had a few errands to run after work on Tuesday too. I finally dropped off my late videos at Stadium Video, and I rented The Fountain. It's a Darren Aronofsky film that Hillary had mentioned, and I wanted to see it before I went to see Black Swan (also Aronofsky). I had a small check to pick up at the district office too. It was reimbursement for something that I had paid for, but never arrived. I had mistakenly thought that I needed to drop my car off at Saturn too - so naturally I drove all the way out there only to find that I had misunderstood, and that I needed to wait until they called me. I got home in time to make a quick dinner and rush back out the door to go to Jazzercize.

w e d n e s d a y

Wednesday was a nice day of calm. My gentle yoga class started back up on Wednesday. It's an earlier class than the other workout classes I've been going to - so it gave me a little more time in the evening afterward. Mike wanted to move the Wii upstairs, and so we went up to that room and moved around a couple of boxes to make space. I still ended up with a little time for homework - which was nice. I got a good chunk of it done. I've completely neglected the reading this week, but at least the graded work is nearly finished. I even had time to watch my tv boyfriend in the new White Collar my dvr picked up!

t h u r s d a y

After the day of calm on Wednesday, of course Thursday would have to be a busy one. I had another bunch of errands to run after work. I headed back to Stadium Video to rent movies for my Friday Movie Nite (the theme was films based on literature - i narrowed it down to classic novels that i had read, but movies i hadn't seen yet. it still produced a decent list of films, and several that i was really looking forward to seeing weren't available. even so, I still came home with 9 films).

Then I tried again to drop off my car at Saturn - and was successful this time. The front desk lady who had helped me each time I came in had actually snagged the key for the rental she wanted to give me, and hid it in her purse until I got there, just to make sure nobody loaned it out to another customer. Sweet of her, isn't it? (i thought so!) The rental car looks exactly like my car except it's silver instead of red - and has absolutely no extra features. driving it makes me feel like i'm in a ghetto version of my car. the most annoying things include (but are certainly not limited to) the fact that there isn't a key fob to lock/unlock it remotely, which means i end up standing in the rain fumbling with the key... i can't set the headlights to auto, which means i keep forgetting to turn them on and it keeps screaming at me when i try to get out of the car and leave them on.... and i can't figure out how to make the clock work. it most certainly does not work the same way as mine does - so it's an hour off, and it will only show me what time it is when i hit the button that is supposed to let me change the time - except it won't actually let me change the time. most of the time it only displays what radio station i'm listening to... which is stupid because i already know what it's on & i'd really rather know what time it is).

I got home again in time to eat a quick dinner and rush out to my jazzercize class. Meanwhile i got a text msg from my young cousin telling me he's moving back to WA and was looking into starting classes at a tech school. I'm looking forward to having him live closer to me again (he's currently living in ID). He's one of my two favorite relatives (the other being my grandma, who lives even farther away in the midwest). He's an interesting and thoughtful individual, and i was very excited to hear that he's trying to get into school. He has loads of potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it leads him. We've had some great conversations, and he's recently started writing. He has fantastic critical thinking skills, as well as great communication skills - and I continue to be surprised at how insightful he is. I think he's on his way to great things.

When I got home I (finally) watched The Fountain - only to realize that I've seen it before - and cleaned up the house a bit for Friday's movie nite. I couldn't believe that I didn't recognize the title or the description of the movie - but within just a couple of minutes of starting it, I knew I had seen it before. I liked it the first time around, and liked it just as well the second time. It's a great movie, and I'm glad I re-watched it. Now knowing a little more about Aronofsky, it was interesting to contrast it with a couple of his other (older) films. I certainly preferred this one - but I like the layers and thought that go into his films.

f r i d a y

Friday was great - I try not to plan any errands or chores for my movie nights. I was in the mood for fruit, and so I probably bought too much fruit at Tacoma Boys on my way home - and cutting up all of my fruit probably delayed my movie watching a bit. But Julie and Pat both came over, and we enjoyed The Fountainhead, The Handmaid's Tale, and Kubrick's Lolita. In this case it was interesting not only to compare between the book and the film, but also between Kubrick's other films dealing with topics of this nature in Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut. There was certainly quit a bit of evolution going on in his work between the '60's and the later films - though it was still quite groundbreaking for the '60's I'm sure. I've still got 6 other films that I'd like to find time to watch before I have to return them.

s a t u r d a y

Today I took Morpheus to his first nosework class. He is really not a very food motivated kind of a dog. not much at all, actually - but he does like to sniff. He does play a hide and seek game at home with a bone filled with peanut butter, and it's his favorite game ever. So at the class, this translated into him trying to sniff every inch of the classroom, and completely ignoring all of the treats. then he pee'd on the floor. That was awesome and embarrassing. (at least we caught him in the act, and corrected him - turning it into a teaching opportunity for him). on the upside, the nosework teacher did note that sniffing - particularly in unaltered males like Morpheus - usually makes them need to pee. In fact, she said that is the case to the point that in the nosework classes all dogs (regardless of gender and fertility status) are taken out to pee between searches. So at least my dog wasn't just being a jerk.

Then I drove down to Tacoma for a couple of errands before meeting Hillary for dinner and a movie. I went in to the Tacoma Gene Juarez and had them wash/dry/style my hair. that was freaking awesome (and blew my recent Super Cuts experience right out of the water). it was comfortable, relaxing, and the stylist was skilled. I left with perfect hair. Not only that, but she did the entire thing from start to finish in 50 minutes. that is less than HALF of the time it takes me at home! i foresee far less manual labor in my future in the washing-my-own hair department.

Here's a photo of the Gene Juarez experience today - Jessie did a lovely job! (if I look a bit tired, it's most likely due to the jam packed week I've had) :)

I got in a little shopping before I met Hillary too. I'm going to Harvey's baby shower tomorrow, and did some shopping for that. She's having a boy, and I just can't get excited about most of the little boy baby clothes - they're just not that exciting. (can you tell I want a girl when I have a kid?) ;)

I met Hillary at Indochine for dinner - and I remember Jacob once telling me that it was expensive.... which I thought was kind of odd and funny once I saw the menu, which featured pretty normal prices. I had a great beef curry - if only I could live on curry!

Then we went to see Black Swan. It was phenomenal! It was by far my favorite Aronofsky film yet, and Natalie Portman did an amazing job. I loved the layers of meaning woven throughout the film. Hillary mentioned the colors, which shift subtly throughout the film as the character develops - and later I realized that when Natalie Portman's character is describing the storyline for Swan Lake, she's actually also describing the plot of the movie itself. It was dark, yet beautiful, and quite brilliant.

c o l o r s

Now... for an update I've been wanting to post about all week, but haven't had time. (if you've been paying any attention to this post whatsoever, you'll notice that I've been quite busy this week) ;)

I've let my weld pigment project sit, undisturbed for most of the week. It does appear that it's finished settling - and notice that the sediment has settled in two layers. that's not just a photography trick, it really looks that way. I'm not sure what caused the two layers. If I can find some time soon - It's definitely ready to rinse and filter.

The next three photos are of my lichen experiment. The color has been developing and darkening all week. It started as a golden amber color last weekend, and has deepened and become a red-orange color over the course of the week. It seems to change a bit daily. I'm keeping it on my bathroom counter so I remember to aerate it each morning when I go in to brush my teeth. It's been a convenient way to do it - but probably won't be very practical with a full size batch later.

This first photo shows the setup - it's covered with plastic most of the time. I remove it once a day to swirl it around and aerate it. it's tough to see the actual color in this photo though.

I tipped the container a bit for the next photo, so you can see a halo of the color around the edge. It looks kind of orange-pink here. It's a bit of an exaggeration of the actual color - Although it does seem to be showing a slight tendency toward pink, it's not nearly as pink as this photo. (not that the photo is that pink to begin with).

This last photo gives a little better impression of the actual color. I've found that looking at it each morning, it's easiest to see the color by looking up through the bottom of the container - so I took a photo of it that way too. It gives a good idea of how dark the color has become since last weekend. I'm very curious to see what the color does from here. From what I've read, it's really too early to be able to tell if it's going to go red or purple, or stay a yellow or orange hue. This one is a fun experiment, since there's no way to tell what results I should expect. It's like a color experiment surprise.