First looking back
This weekend was pretty mellow. I stayed in on Friday to do some editing and brainstorming and thinking in general about my draft. I’m thinking I need to raise some stakes in the story, but I’m not sure exactly what stakes to raise in mid 90s small town america, I am just keenly aware that if I keep the story to its keenly repressed WASPish core it will become a boring overlong character study and I want it to be more than that. So, on the agenda for this week, sort out my stakes.
I also went to the Tate Modern with Jeremy to see the current exhibits there. First up was Rothko. The exhibit featured a lot of his large paintings shown together for the first time. The big draw was the black series, but my favorites were the brown and greys. They made me want to cry. For me, the thing I really like about art is not neccasarily what the artist wanted me to get when creating any given piece, but rather the emotion that comes to me when I see something. I don’t really care so much what was intended by the art when I’m gathering my first impressions, later when I’m still thinking about the image or the emotion, then I’ll research and see how my experience meshes. But in those first moments I like to think of the art as being mine, I like how it becomes unique to me and no one else.
We also say the exhibit of Cildo Meireles’ work. My favorites there were the Red Room even though it made my eyes hurt and then gave me the creeps (the floating sink will give me nightmares someday, I am almost certain of it) and then made my eyes hurt, Fontes, which featured 6000 rulers and 1000 clocks (if I ever have a band this will be the name of our first single, there will be lots of shouting) all with the numbers out of sequence and some even falling to the floor, and the final bit of the exhibit, Volatile, a room filled with talcum powder and lit by a single candle. When you entered the room you had to take off your shoes and socks and the talcum powder came up to mid-calf. You walk through in semi darkness with puffs of powder floating around. It was like a warm blizzard. Jeremy and I were both reminded of winter time in Detroit, especially during the 1998 snow storms when everything was so still and white and the whole city seemed to be murky.
Sunday was spent at home, save for a quick trip to the library, and that was nice too. I knitted, did some yoga, talked Jeremy out of career suicide, and washed some dishes. It was a nice weekend. Especially after two weekends that featured excessive drinking and not enough sleep. This was what I needed.
And now for looking forward.
We go to Prague this weekend! I am really excited about this. I get the better part of one day to myself in the city while Jeremy finishes up at his conference and then we spend the weekend together. Neither of us has ever been before so we’re really looking forward to it. We’re staying at the Pension Unitas and Art Prison Hotel. It really did used to be a prison! I am hoping for ghosts, but you know, nice ghosts, not ghosts like the ones in the Shining. That would suck.
Word is (according to the movie Kicking and Screaming) that the beer in Prague is really good. I also have a feeling that the pastries will be tasty and that there will be plenty of coffee. All in all, I am just excited to have a weekend away full of new things to see and explore. It’s been awhile since I’ve been out of London for the purposes of seeing something new.
And then, when we get back my friend Lori will be here for the week. I have technically known Lori since I was 3 and she was 4, back when we went to the same church together but we really became friends when we both moved to Detroit. We lived in the same house for awhile and she used to drive me to school while I quizzed her on pshycology terms. I also ‘helped’ her study for the GRE by making her go to the bar and drink away some of those pesky nerves. I am a good friend. She visited Vegas with me when I went out there the first time. She also helped me plan my wedding and pick out my dress. And i have taken the better part of next week off so we can hang out.
So yay. Good things are on deck and good things have been happening. Sure there’s a credit crisis and the banks are being fussy about remortgaging our house because of our limited leave to remain, but let’s not think about that right now. Let’s think about Prague and old friends and happiness. Yes, let’s.
I am not a reliable narrator 