Blurry Sweet Bliss

I found these old paperbacks in a box that I haven't unpacked over several moves.  I can't decide which one to re-read first.

Once upon a time, a dear friend of mine had the misfortune of dating a total pig.  The sort of pig that didn't really start showing his snout until they cohabitated.

He had this cheerleader figurine in the bathroom of their apartment, and during the time they lived there he and his friends made a little sign for her and hung it around her neck (the details of which escape me but I clearly remember it being really offensive), and someone wrote WHORE up the back of her leg.

After my friend ditched his sorry ass, she got talking with a friend of hers about this figurine and the two conjured up a plan for her friend to get herself over to his place and steal it.  Which she did. 

In the years that followed, her friend that stole it sent it to her in Japan, she brought it home when she came to visit me, I brought it back to her when I visited Japan, and now she's in Australia.

When the plan was formulated to rescue this figurine from my friends ex, the idea was to start collecting photos of the figurine all over the world. 

This is one of the photos of The Cheerleader that I took while she lived with me.

Gentlemen Broncos is available on Netflix Canada and here are the top five reasons why you should go watch it right now:

1.  Jennifer Coolidge:

2.  Cool snake:

3.  This guy:

4.  These guys:

5.  Battle stags and surveillance does:

I promise, I'm not kidding.  See?

In a nutshell, this movie is about an awkward young man who enters his sci-fi manuscript into a contest at a writing festival only to have it ripped off by a washed up sci-fi novelist.  Delightfully awkward and absurd.

This movie was directed by the same fellow who did Napoleon Dynamite.  I like this movie better.

This is an old video from a visit to Japan in 2005.  I was at Nagoya castle and wound up agreeing to go up on stage to hit this huge drum, it was all very confusing and there was so much bowing.  

The funniest part is that I actually paid them money to do this.  Sometimes when you get out of your element and go somewhere that you don't speak or read the language, you can find yourself in some pretty ridiculous situations.

This is just incredible.  Great footage of a camoflaged octopus rapidly revealing itself, inking and trying to get away from a diver, plus an interesting discussion about their camoflage abilities.

Going through an ocotpus phase lately, most of my doodling has involved octopuses these past few weeks.  No idea why, sometimes I go through phases where I draw the same thing over and over, or everything I draw has a similar theme.

I love the idea of this character with a giant pacific octopus living on her head, I've been drawing her over and over again.  The octopus operates as though its part of her (occasionally reaching out and picking something up, wrapping its arms around her, pushing elevator buttons etc) but its never formally acknowledged by her or any other adults she encounters.  

Early on I did a few sketches where the octopus was more menacing and they had an antagonistic relationship with each other, but I think its funnier if the giant pacific octopus just IS and no one reacts to it at all.

I don't feel like I have a very good grasp on the anatomy, so I've been spending some time reading up about the giant pacific octopus online.  Incredible creature.  I got to see one in person years ago at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California (awesome place, highly recommend - the jellyfish exhibit was mind blowing) but it was all tucked up in the corner so I didn't get the opportunity to watch it move around.  There is a great little video about their octopus exhibit on their website.

Scene where she finds her apartment in Italy:

That ceiling is begging to collapse. I wonder if her injury will be a major plot point?

Italian pizza scene:

She develops an acute reaction to wheat gluten. Breaks up with pizza. THE END.

Getting dropped off at her apartment after a night out in Rome:

This is where she'll get mugged. Maybe that ceiling will finally give in?

Arriving at the temple in India, she takes off her shoes sets down her purse and joins inside:

That purse is so getting stolen. Money gone. Passport gone. Stuck in India forever! THE END.

In Bali, after she agrees to help Ketut by making a copy of all his old books by hand:

He's going to figure out she's been sneaking those pages off to town to make copies, and will never trust her again. She'll return home with a crushed spirit and heavy regrets. THE END.

When she first gets involved with Felipe:

Maybe he's not who he seems to be? Maybe he's a human trafficker. She's such a fool. THE END.

At the end, during the kiss on the dock:

Cue the jumping shark, freeze frame when its within inches of eating them both - hit the Back to the Future "... to be continued" music and titling.

THE END.
 

Mid-smooth stoneware with mason stained MSS inlaid, stamped and studded with alphabet pasta. The pasta will burn off in the kiln.

We've been experimenting with Mitch Lyon's broomstick technique from his video. I'm concentrating on handbuilt forms this winter.  Good times!

1. The fact that she bawled her first day when I made her LEAVE.
    
2. Peeking in to watch her interact with the other kids for a few moments before I let her see that I've arrived to pick her up.  After two years of having her all to myself its so surreal to watch her effortlessly adjusted, especially when she doesn't know I'm watching.
    
3. These sorts of articles: Study shows benefits from early daycare (CTV News)
    
4. The place she goes to has a kindermusic program and all sorts of other cool activities.  Beats the hell out of singing showtunes at home with me... they even do yoga!  Yoga for toddlers - I've been dying to have the chance to peek in on a session to behold the insantiy...
    
5. Out of nowhere one day, she started singing "Everybody tidy up! Tidy up toys! Cleem mup! CLEEM MUP!!!" and picking up random toys and books strewn about our living room and putting them back where they belonged. 

Not only is she learning new skills, but having her in daycare has helped me realize that as a parent, sometimes I'm blind to her potential to do things for herself - simply because I've gotten into the habit of doing them for her.

Do I miss having that time with her?  Absolutely, but in a weird way - since I've returned to working full time, I find myself much more present during the time we DO have together.

As much as it pains me to admit it, I think its been kinda good for both of us. 

Do I feel guilty for saying that out loud?  Yes I do.