At this moment
It is 1:24 on Tuesday afternoon. I just remembered that I was supposed to Skype with family this morning and completely spaced it, so I’m feeling bad about that. We were hip deep in Aztecs this morning, which is why I forgot. I have always been fascinated with the Aztecs and Incas, so this section of history is fun. Would you like to learn the little handmotion we did this morning about the founding of Tenochtitlan?
Once there was a lake *wave your arms to the side like a hula dancer*
On the lake there was an island *put your arms in a hoop in front of you like you’re hugging a bear*
On the island there was a cactus *put one arm up and one arm out to the side, you know, like a cactus*
On the cactus there was an eagle *flap your arms like a chicken*
And the eagle had a snake *put your arms in front of you, hands together, and slither your hands like a snake*
And so it goes. We also learned about Mars. Did you know that Mars’ two moons are tiny? It’s true.
I will post about books tomorrow, since it’s the end of the month, but I will say that the book I’m reading right now, Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielsen has already made me cry multiple times. It’s the story of her life leading up to, and then after a horrific plane crash she was in with her husband and a friend. The friend died of his injuries, and she and her husband were seriously burned. I was following her sister’s blog when the accident happened, so I’ve read about the whole thing before, but reading her own account of her fear and suffering is heartbreaking. It has to have been a scary book to write, because she is so honest about things that it would be easy for people to judge her for. But I’m grateful for her honesty.
I am working on posts about our trip to Disney, but I currently have culled down the mass of pictures from over 1800 to around 200, and that’s still too many for blog posts, even if I break them up. But I will give you these two teasers.
I watched Tank Girl last night, after remembering that it had been a really long time since I’d seen it. It is wonderful, and I was highly entertained. 🙂
I started a new class on Skillshare that I’m excited about- it’s a class on watercolor fashion illustrations. I have no idea how my attempts will turn out, as I am not very skilled at either illustration or watercolor. But it will be fun to try. Skillshare just started a new membership deal where for $9.95 a month you can take any/as many of their classes as you want. The previous pricing was about $9.95, so this is awesome. And if you sign up soon, you get a free first month, so you could try it out and cancel before the end of the first month and be charged nothing. (If you sign up, using that link up there I get a free month too, which is always nice. 🙂  )
I made a new inspiration board/background for my computer yesterday, and these are the things that called to me.
I cannot wait to see Only Lovers Left Alive – Swinton! and Tom Hiddleston as vampires in a film full of visual decadence? Yes, thank you.
Speaking of visual decadence, I didn’t put this picture in the collage, but I am also always inspired by it:
I love the shapes here, the slouch, the angles created with the plie in releve, the tilt of the head. I want to write like this pose; quirky, controlled, subtly grand. Which is not how I write at all. 🙂
This of course reminds me that I fell down a youtube rabbit hole the other day and watched videos of dancing for an hour- you really can’t go wrong by doing a search for Eliana Girard and just watching everything. This is one of my favorites, Eliana and Alex Wong. It’s utterly gorgeous.
She’s a Joffrey Ballet School and Alvin Ailey trained dancer, and she worked for Cirque de Soilel as a performer on aerial pole. She’s seriously one of my favorite dancers ever, her strength and grace are just incredible. Here’s a video of her doing a contemporary routine using poles.
Time to go, I’ll post tomorrow!