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a nice day
May. 31st, 2011 12:23 amI had a nice day, partially in spite of myself, but mostly because of those around me. I took my kids (and my Ex) up to Portsmouth. They had a Tall Ships fest this weekend. We originally talked about going yesterday where there were to be 4 ships there, except that my daughter was highly uncooperative and no one had a good day. So instead we went today. There was only one ship left, but they were doing tours and the kids had fun for the half-hour or so we spent on the boat. Then we went to Strawberry Banke and wandered about the grounds and through about half the buildings for a few hours. No one was in a hurry to see everything, which meant we had a relaxing time there hanging out, just the five of us.
After I dropped them back at the house, I decided that it was much too hot to cook dinner in my house, so I went out where someone was going to cook for me. I'd only had a powerbar and an egg salad sandwich and coffee all day, so I was starving. I went (of course) to the Barley House and got a burger, and a salad on the side in effort to pretend to try to eat healthy. Being Memorial Day, the place was nearly empty. I got to sit at my friend Kait's table, and had her almost all to myself (she had 1 other table in 2 hours I was there, I think). Kait is cool. She's a single mom going to school studying interior design. And she's quite good at both. The conversation wandered all over the place and we ended the evening talking art, and I told her about my project.
I found this place down in Massachusetts that gives welding classes on the weekend. I have always wanted to learn how to weld. Welding has always struck me as one of those mandatory, cool skills that every guy ought to have. Welding isn't in the laundry list of activities that Heinline declared a human should be able to do, but I think it should be. Anyway, I want to learn to weld so I can do metal sculpture with scrap metal. I am not much of a creative person, but I have ideas for half a dozen sculptures already, and I'm sure I'll get more once I find out what really is and is not possible to do. And Kait really liked the idea.
She said we should talk more about it after I described one of my ideas to her, which she very much understood right away. I am nearly giddy thinking about the possibilities. Kait is a real artist and going to school to be able to make a living doing her art. She has a good eye for perspective and color, knows how to mix and match various materials (she had an interesting idea about using crushed glass instead of paint for color) and is probably generally smarter than I am. God knows she has more common sense. In other words, she's a lot of what I'm not and the potential for us to provide artistic balance to one another may be huge. Or not. I'm projecting a lot from a single conversation, but then we've known each other for almost four years and there's a certain amount of trust from that too.
I was thinking of doing the welding class after I got back from my vacation in July, as I'm trying to save as much money between now and then as possible, as I have no idea what gas prices will be by then. But after tonight, I'm thinking I should get into the next available class. Or find another place, if they don't have any openings for awhile.
It feels good to have a project again.
After I dropped them back at the house, I decided that it was much too hot to cook dinner in my house, so I went out where someone was going to cook for me. I'd only had a powerbar and an egg salad sandwich and coffee all day, so I was starving. I went (of course) to the Barley House and got a burger, and a salad on the side in effort to pretend to try to eat healthy. Being Memorial Day, the place was nearly empty. I got to sit at my friend Kait's table, and had her almost all to myself (she had 1 other table in 2 hours I was there, I think). Kait is cool. She's a single mom going to school studying interior design. And she's quite good at both. The conversation wandered all over the place and we ended the evening talking art, and I told her about my project.
I found this place down in Massachusetts that gives welding classes on the weekend. I have always wanted to learn how to weld. Welding has always struck me as one of those mandatory, cool skills that every guy ought to have. Welding isn't in the laundry list of activities that Heinline declared a human should be able to do, but I think it should be. Anyway, I want to learn to weld so I can do metal sculpture with scrap metal. I am not much of a creative person, but I have ideas for half a dozen sculptures already, and I'm sure I'll get more once I find out what really is and is not possible to do. And Kait really liked the idea.
She said we should talk more about it after I described one of my ideas to her, which she very much understood right away. I am nearly giddy thinking about the possibilities. Kait is a real artist and going to school to be able to make a living doing her art. She has a good eye for perspective and color, knows how to mix and match various materials (she had an interesting idea about using crushed glass instead of paint for color) and is probably generally smarter than I am. God knows she has more common sense. In other words, she's a lot of what I'm not and the potential for us to provide artistic balance to one another may be huge. Or not. I'm projecting a lot from a single conversation, but then we've known each other for almost four years and there's a certain amount of trust from that too.
I was thinking of doing the welding class after I got back from my vacation in July, as I'm trying to save as much money between now and then as possible, as I have no idea what gas prices will be by then. But after tonight, I'm thinking I should get into the next available class. Or find another place, if they don't have any openings for awhile.
It feels good to have a project again.
