hey love, I'm an inconstant satellite

Last night:

• Tried and failed to nap, because I kept having interesting creative thoughts, first about work and then about ceramics. Dang it, brain. I eventually had to get up and write them down before I forgot them, so that was the end of that.


• Met up with genarti and skygiants at a very noisy, very ironic tavern in Davis. Attempted to convey to Beth the full glory of the dragon-game drama currently transpiring. Had tasty potato tacos (but they could have cut the avocado up a lot smaller than that) and some glorified chicken strips with glorified ranch dressing, plus an Original Sin cider from NY that was dry and pretty tasty.


• Went to Apple Cinema, pointed out the ice cream flavors, and saw a shadowcast Princess Bride production at midnight. The movie remains really fun to watch, especially in a theater full of people enjoying it, and the shadowcast had some good moments (though the movie was more compelling). Shrieking eel as pool noodle was especially amusing.


• Found out the MOST AWESOME THING: in two weeks there will be a chiptune/retro-video-game-inspired Rocky Horror, with songs covered and animations made and OMFG. I am surprised I'm not standing in line for this already, I don't know how anything could possibly be more appealing to me.

Today:

• Got up without enough sleep and went to pottery. Sat outside in the sun when I was too early, very nice day. Trimmed two big bowls successfully and went through the bottom of one so proceeded to convert it into an orchid pot with cutouts in the shape of the Light Flight emblem. Shut up. :)


• Hung around after pottery for an extra half hour talking to my teacher about pottery ideas and employment and random stuff. I need to bring snacks if I'm going to hang around after class, I get too hungry!


• Goofing off.


• Successful napping.


• Bubble bath. (Lush Ultraviolet. I'm excited about some of their Mother's Day releases coming up, but I should maybe use more of the Easter stuff first.)

Weekending successful so far!

Mom wound up having much less energy for doing things than either of us expected, but it was okay and we still had a good time.

Tuesday we got discount tickets for things, and she went on a trolley tour while I worked a bit and hoped my boss would contact me about a Skype meeting. (He did not.) I gave up about four and we went home, read, petted cats, and watched tv. This is when I pointed out my romantic situation and she somehow jumped from my generally-friendly poly arrangement to lesbian drama specifically about the person who was a jerk to her recently and happens to be a lesbian. Sigh.

Wednesday I got a Zipcar and we drove up to Salem to the Peabody Essex Museum, where we vastly enjoyed the Strandbeest exhibit. I got to push one around and make its legs go! (video) The exhibit on Native fashion was also very well done, and we had perfectly reasonable pub lunch once we found a place that was open. Very cool outdoor stick art as well, tall thin nestlike houses.

Instead of going out to a movie, I showed her the Avengers, which she hadn't seen despite liking Iron Man and Thor. She recognized Mark Ruffalo, which as someone who knows him only from the MCU I was rather bewildered by. It's nice that I can just feed my visiting mom leftovers; I know not everyone has this relaxed attitude.

Thursday I had pottery class, and she chose not to come. It ran a bit long, but we managed to meet up at Shake Shack for lunch so I could pass on the gospel of the gingerbread milkshake. Then we went over to my work (one stop on the bus so we didn't have to walk, which gives you an idea of her mobility level) and I showed her my samples, the DNA robot, and the herbarium cabinets and sheets. We were planning on the department holiday party, but she wasn't really up for it and didn't mind not seeing the Natural History Museum (horrifying to me but there it is), so we went home in easy stages of walking and bus.

We talked about how she could maybe get her fitness up, but it's hard to be motivated about this stuff, and she's not sure how much of the problem is left over from her heart attack vs. joint problems. Motivation is even harder when you don't know if the annoying thing will help.

Unfortunately she didn't get to meet anyone except a couple of random co-workers and the annoying roommate (who was at least on good behavior). The roommate I like lent her his bed, so at least she had a good impression of him from a distance!

I'm more worried now than I was, and probably so is she, but I feel like our relationship is all right, so that's an improvement at least. And I get to see her again in a couple of weeks.

One moment of being intensely pleased with myself: I decided that hateboners are filled with bile instead of blood. Am I right or am I right? (Also, then I said "HEADCANON". :D?)

I am feeling better slowly! Currently I am actually up to doing things to help with my extreme social isolation. (Unfortunately signing up to Fetlife has immediately made my life goal of not interacting with any pompous motherfuckers who call themselves lord much more difficult. Really, get someone else to send your welcome messages.) Be nice if the timing worked out better, though -- I haven't been to any meetups yet, nor will I next week since all the things are Tuesday and I'll be in NYC.

For some reason someone had hung a container of new, vaguely botanical wall decals on a chain-link fence on my way to work. I stopped and went back for them once I'd thought it through a little, then when pretty much everyone had gone I put them up on the cabinets and appliances at work. It's only reasonable for the herbarium lab to have a vine decal on the fume hood and various sprigs on cabinets and drawers, right?

The Girl With All the Gifts is (1) really good and (2) sneakily written by Mike Carey. Ha.

October 28
Not entirely what I had in mind, though I've been thinking about drawing this since the beginning. Oh well! It is a finished piece, and that's the goal. Anyway, in Woodland Park Zoo they give the animals pumpkin treats for Halloween, but a lot of animals don't care for pumpkin. So the tigers get meat chunks inside a pumpkin, and the bears will eat pumpkin but get really into it if it's full of honey and bugs, and the otters? The otters get a pumpkin of a size they can roll around and play with, and it has small holes cut into it and fish bits stuffed inside. So they dive and bounce around with it, and every so often a piece of fish comes out!!1! and they go ahng nahng nanhg eating it with little pointy teeth and open-mouthed chewing. It's adorable.



October 29 and 30
Someone dressed up the very archetypal rhino statues that stand outside the bio building at school. The googly eyes made me laugh out loud the first itme I saw them -- there were extra limbs too, but those were not particularly inspired in my opinion. The other one I guess is a mummy? Pretty happy with these; I think the stuff I started trying on the otter worked a little better here.



Partway done with today's, decided to finish tomorrow. It's not really the spirit of Inktober, I suppose, but the drawing is another one I've been thinking of for a while now, and I want it to be cooler but also to do the other thing I have planned tonight.

October 25
My elephant jack-o'-lantern from sovay's party. He remains adorable and on the porch. (And wow, brush pen and pumpkin are a great combination.)



October 26
Black Forest cake made by me and rushthatspeaks. Fun with representational shading!

Cold-weather kitties!

I found the Platonic ideal Inktober subject today: a fallen leaf for my autumn theme... with oak-leaf galls on it! You make ink with those!

Crickets in the evenings as I walk home lately. Really pleased with this one.

( obviously an insect image, though it's pretty cute )