Well. Morning arrives bah boom. 12 texts later and I’m sort of awake, although tea takes a while to percolate up to the brain. I don’t know if you know, but I’ve been going to sleep earlier than I used to for about 8 months now. I’m less tired, but yes, I get less done too. I suspect it’s better for my health in some ways, but sometimes I wish I could do art for longer at night and sleep less. Some nights, I barely feel like I sleep, even though I’m in the bed place. That’s probably a different issue.
Last night was Back-to-School Night…I saw a whopping 5 sets of parents…it’s COVID, no kids allowed (which means the translators are all gone!). Plus families can’t always leave kids at home, and some can’t get off work. We don’t usually have a lot, but this was really low. Understandable. It does explain my exhaustion last night and today though. Today is a union meeting, back on Zoom for those, not sure for how long. Some parts of school are easier this year…teaching in person is easier than on Zoom, for sure, although some of the behavior stuff would be nonexistent on Zoom, because those kids just wouldn’t show up. Some parts are just a pain, though. I can’t keep up with the workload, at the moment. I get close and then realize I’m only caught up in one subject, and the other one is yelling at me. I’m not sure when that will change…maybe it won’t this year. Ugh.
So coming home and spending at least an hour making art is one of the things that keeps me sane. Right now, I’m in the tracing stage…I’ll probably be here for about 20 hours or so, so that’s a while on the one-hour-a-day thing I’m doing at the moment. I try to trace at least 100 pieces before I go to bed. Sometimes I do more.
I hate wasting Wonder Under. I try to fill in all the blank spots. Then I remember it’s pretty cheap stuff and it’s not really a waste, because my time is worth something.
And sometimes I worry about how it’s not very environmentally friendly. Sigh. Then I tell myself that making art helps. Me, definitely. Hopefully somewhere else too. Who knows?
Anyway, I’m tracing and it’s like meditation and that’s good. I have a union meeting after school today, so it’s another long one. This week is just bad…but maybe I’ll have time for a walk after the meeting. We’ll see. And maybe I’ll get a lot of shit done at school too and it will feel less overwhelming. I have a list written down. That’s a good place to start.
Kathy Nida 