... is a dangerous thing. Or, well, not dangerous in this case, but certainly inconvenient. If, an hour ago, I had known one thing about me that I have learnt since, it would have saved me some time and some trouble. It may also have saved me this post, so, for that reason, I guess I'm glad things happened the way they did.
And before my business course instructor comes at me with a hatchet for making that paragraph so abstruse, I'll get to the point. You thought you'd seen the last of me for this evening, since I outlined my plans in pretty clear language. So here's the sequence of events since my last post.
A. Put a few things into my bag especially for this evening (e.g., camera).
B. Spruced myself up. Spent ten minutes deciding on an outfit (very very rare for me).
C. Wore the outfit and the shoes. Just about to leave the house, when...
D. Checked if windows were shut, lights, etc. switched off... the usual. And then...
E. Decided I didn't want to wear what I was wearing. Spent another five minutes thinking of other things to wear. (Almost never happens!) After that...
F. Decided I needed to think of how I should "plan" my evening better. Art Institute Vs. Street Art? Art itself Vs. "chill-out" street shopping (akin to window shopping, except the products are displayed on the street)?? etc. And finally... surprise....
"Do I really WANT to go out?"
"Nope."
" What's a good alternative to going out and seeing people doing creative stuff?"
"Being creative myself."
"How?"
And then I started thinking of the million things I've been
trying not to do this semester. Blogging long "me"-blogs being one of them. A blog that doesn't have "Now I've got to go..." in it in thought, word or deed would probably be a first this year. Then, I've got to get back to my art. It's been ages since I've painted or sculpted or written (
really written). In fact, I've got a canvas from last November waiting to be completed. This semester, my creative juices pretty much went into my classes and, sometimes, into cooking. The goal was usually to cook something within half an hour that still tasted good. If nothing, I got my kick from the usual quick-fix, reading.
The deal is, just the thought of going out Friday evening, in a crowd, doing things everyone else's doing too, messes me up. Added to which is the fact of me not actually having slept properly for about a week now. (That's what this weekend is for.) Also, just getting back from a long and fairly tedious day at work doesn't make it easy. I'd have liked to go to the Art Institute, they've got some good informative talks today. But then, if I really think about it, I'm too tired to
process all that information. And the last thing I want right now is something that seems like class!
Then there's the whole issue of crowds and the way I'd react to 100,000 people swarming and jostling and buzzing around me. (That's the number of people they expect this evening.) Not my day for crowds today. Or most other days.
But there are wonderful perks of staying home this evening. I've been devising this really "cool" recipe for a bean-'n'-mushroom type of soup for a while now. And, just as I was one foot out the door (literally), I realized I'd rather stay home and cook and eat something that doesn't have "Fast Food" written all over it. See, I'm more of a creative cook. So, other than some basic dishes that I know I'm always good at, there's more improvisation than "follow the recipe" in my cooking. While that is a good thing in principle, I do manage to turn out disasters once in a while. (Fi would say it's more often than not, but I beg to differ there.) So, now that I have some time, I should be able to do a really good job out of that soup-dish that's sitting in my head.
And a billion other things. Like listening to some music while I'm cooking. And not reading anything this evening, just sitting quietly in my room, enjoying the silence in my head. And tomorrow, I've a whole list all planned. First of all, it's the last day of a special exhibition at the Art Institute, I'll probably go there in the afternoon. Before that, I can start off in the morning at the book store, and then go to Blick's and use the gift card I got over Christmas. Then, I've promised myself a teeny little bit of popcorn at Garrett's. They've got the usual caramel and butter, but they've also got a lovely pecan and a to-die-for cashew popcorn. Oooh, yum.
That reminds me, I'm feeling hungry. Need to go out to make the soup. Ahh, and I thought this would be the first post this year without the "I've got to go" part. Well, at least this is one of those long rambling directionless posts. That
must be a first in its category this year.
Bon appetit!
