10:37 a.m. - 2002-11-04
Big Weekend
oooh, I have the most wicked headache....
Which is a bummer because I'm otherwise in a stupendouly good mood. Yes, Bruce, if you're reading this: I repeat, I'm in a good mood!
Can ya'll tell that Bruce has had to put up with a lot from me lately?! But I did make a pretty good broiled tuna dinner on Saturday night, so I'm not completely useless!
Actually it was a pretty good weekend, even besides the tuna. Bare Hands opening on Friday night, which found me feeling shy and out of it at the beginning but much more social at the end. So social, in fact, that Bruce had to drag me away at 10 p.m. and then I had to drive partway home because he was so tired.
Saturday was the dreaded brunch at the Dean of Sciences house. It has been a long time since I've dressed so carefully, but I'm proud to say that the end result was that I blended in perfectly with all the other faculty wives. Well, except for the flaming red hair.
And I actually had a lovely time. One of the newer faculty members and I hit it off and so I spent most of the morning hearing about her trip to Paris and her research on strawberries. I could have listened to her for hours and hours and hours upon hours. Did you know that a strawberry is actually not a fruit but a modified stem? It is actually a big red stem, folks!!
We also talked about genetically modified food, which she was tentatively in favour of, if it was tested extensively, on the grounds that it might enable farmers to give up all the outrageous pesticides they use. She was very concerned about pesticides. It was such an eye opener to me because I've always thought of scientists who develop these things as being driven by greed, but no, Maria was more concerned about ending pollution. Gave me hope for the world.
And yesterday started with a call from Simon. I was vacuuming when she called and she was intrigued by the fact that we have a central vacuuming system. Everyone is intrigued by this. It's the ultimate 1950's bourgeoise fantasy - why drag around a vacuum cleaner when you can just carry around a hose and plug it into wall outlets?
My mom went gooey when I told her we had one.
And then Wendy and Michael came up from Birmingham to see the house and go to the Red Clay Survey at the Huntsville Art Museum. This was especially fun as many of the artists at the survey also show at Bare Hands and so Wendy knows all the background dirt! And it was a good show - only one piece made me semi-disgusted which was a gigantic plastic horse a la "My Little Pony". When Wendy saw it I thought she was going to roll on the floor.
Let's just say the "Cutie-Pie" movement isn't where I am right now.
While wandering around all the art Wendy and I talked mostly about one of the Bare Hands artists who drives her crazy. She's thinking of dropping his work because he is not only obnoxious and arrogant, but he won't settle down and focus. She talked about how in the last few years he has tried to work in ten different mediums and doesn't know what he is doing in any of them. And his work is blantantly ripping off what other artists are doing as well.
It was a good thing for me to hear, because I've been struggling with a lack of focus lately, and I'm realizing that what I need to do is admit to myself that I love fiber, I love this medium, and even though it doesn't get the respect it deserves and doesn't command the prices or get the shows that, say, oil painting would, I shouldn't give up on it. I should just continue on doing what I really care about.
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