Update about experiments

Ha, I just read through the previous post. I thought I might write another post in 8 weeks!! It is to laugh.

Anyway, the art experiment didn't work out. I'm not doing any of those things I talked about. They were nice ideas, but life happens and so forth. I am still writing gratitude posts on Facebook, though, so that project is going just fine!

Experiments for 2016

I don't like "new years' resolutions." I like experiments.

I'm on Facebook, being of a Certain Age and definitely of whatever generation it is that enjoys Facebook. A while back, I believe in October, I impulsively started what I called The Gratitude Experiment. Each day I tried to post a statement of gratitude. I never explained to my Friends about what I was doing or what sort of standards I'd made for myself, and in fact I made them up as I went along. I just posted things with the heading "Gratitude Experiment, Day #."

Gratitude experiment, day 2: I'm grateful that I can enjoy my quirky sense of beauty, and share it with others in a way that sometimes causes them to see what I see. As an example, I'm grateful that one day an unseen kid waiting for their parents at the bank next door went around finding sweetgum seed pods and tucking them between each picket of my office's fence. They're still there a month later. I don't know why I haven't taken a picture.

It's been a really nice thing for me. For one thing, it seems to make other people happy, and they have occasionally told me so. It's so gratifying for someone to tell you that they like what you have to say. It gives my heart a good little thump to think that it also makes them happy. For another thing, the effort to come up with something is a fun puzzle and a boost when I'm having a bad time.

Here's an easy example of that last benefit: when it was time to go back to work after a satisfying and relaxing vacation, I was not quite ready. I didn't want to be back in the rut. I didn't want to be grateful for the stupid rut. So I thought about what was bugging me, and considered what might be good about it, and posted the following:

"Gratitude experiment day 71: today I am grateful to get back to work. I certainly love my days off, but it's hard to appreciate them properly without a basis of comparison."

Considering how Distractible I am, it's amazing to report that the following January I am still posting numbered Gratitude Experiment posts. I did announce one rule, which is that I'm allowed to skip days for the sake of spending time with loved ones. I announced that as much for me as for my "readership." Like my mom, I have a tendency to follow an self-set rule religiously, but if I break it, I might as well give up for all I care about it anymore. So with this new rule, I wanted to remind myself that even though I was numbering the days, it didn't mean they had to be sequential so I could just calm down thank you.

I will tell you what the rules actually are, for in case you would like to do this. And you should. It's fun, satisfying, and generates good feelings.

 The Rules for the Gratitude Experiment

Try to be grateful for one specific thing each day.
Tell other people that thing, so that you can share the good feelings.
Try not to repeat yourself, or at least try to come at a subject from a different angle if you do.
Try to be specific.
Give your reasoning.
Especially do this if your day sucks, because that's when it helps the most.
If you need to break the rules, it's ok. This is not supposed to stress you out. Make up new rules if you need to. It's your thing.


I was inspired by someone's photographic experiment. They encouraged folks to try posting a photograph of something that made them happy every day. To be fair, here is the link to that inspiration: The 100 Happy Days Challenge.

So all of this is meant to lead up to my Experiments for 2016.

I like experiments. You don't have to commit. It takes the pressure off, and makes you more likely to bother at all. In fact, here's a gratitude post about it, if I haven't already been excessive with those:

"Gratitude experiment day 67: today I am grateful that my husband and my family, throughout my life, have encouraged or at least accepted my inclination towards behavior experiments. Some have caught on (we always plan our week's meals on a small whiteboard before grocery shopping), some worked for a year then petered off (Media-Free Tuesdays were family game night while my stepson lived here), and some were well-intentioned but shorter-lived (we chose a new donation recipient every month for about four months before collaboration on the choice slowed us down). I love that the experiments don't have to work, you just try them and see. I don't do New Years' resolutions...but I have a couple experiments I plan to try."

So for this new year, I contemplated what I wanted to change about my life. I came up with two things:

• I would like to get back to reading books. I still read a lot, but ever since I got my iPad it's all been articles and blog posts, not books. 
• I would also like to learn how to generate creative content more consistently. I've been an artist, writer and dilettante my whole life, but inspiration only comes maybe once every couple of months. It's not enough to look at what I've done; I want things to Do.

Regarding the reading, I decided that the best way to get myself to read more is to put books back in front of my face, meaning on my iPad. I've had the Kindle app all along, and the library's OverDrive app, but I needed to get passwords and usernames and email addresses all linked up, and that was a bit of a pain in the butt. Maybe it's easier for someone who totally grew up with the Internet, but it took me a while. Helpful hint: OverDrive is more of a audible book format so just check out Kindle books from the library and skip OverDrive entirely unless you need that format for a road trip or what have you.

Regarding the generation of creative content...well, that's where this blog post comes in!  Kind of. 

I had contemplated the idea that one thing keeping me from working on artistic output was that I was relying on impulse. There's nothing wrong with an artistic impulse; in fact, that's how most of these blog posts get written. I made some new block printed thank you cards just last weekend, on an impulse. But if the problem I've identified is that I'm not generating artistic output in a satisfyingly regular way, impulsive efforts are not quite enough.

So I have two plans: schedule art, and take note of artistic output.

In order to remove the requirement for impulsivity, I'm trying to actually schedule an hour (or more) of artistic output each weekend. I'm trying to be as specific as I can, though that can be difficult. This week my "assignment" was to write a blog post, and not just any blog post but an essay about my plan (see?). Next weekend, I have planned to do a one hour still life painting of something floral.

I'm trying to let the type of output vary, largely on my husband's intelligent suggestion. This is a list of my options--as much as I can think of right now:

• music
• guitar
• singing (choral, karaoke, whatever)
• iTunes/Youtube
• mandolin
• ocarina
• 2d
• oil, acrylic, watercolor
• pen and ink
• block prints
• pencil
• computer (Windows Paint, etc) 
• paper dolls
• photography
• 3d
• ceramics
• whittling: soap or wood
• stained glass
• household crafts like building shelves
• craft kits already acquired (ie paint that Matryoshka doll, miniature display shelf, etc)
• Sculpey
• papermaking
• woodburning
• writing
• blog posts
• short fiction
• write a play: 2 minute, etc
• essays
• auto-biography
• letters
• theater
• improv
• acting classes
• teaching
• stained glass
• block prints
• painting
• culinary
• they can't all have subheadings.

So my plan is to try to schedule an activity related to one of those things once per weekend. A guitar lesson, an improv class, a blog post, etc.

I also realized that I don't give myself enough credit for the output I DO generate. I want to try and pay attention to that. For example, I experiment with new recipes a lot and am learning some good stuff there, and that really should count as something worthy of note and satisfaction. I also sat around making a Youtube playlist of choral songs I know, and I sang along with them. Purely personal output--only shared with my husband--but perhaps it should count too.

A brief glance at my earlier posting dates for this blog will demonstrate to you the idea that you can't count on me to tell you how this goes. You know what, though? Here's what I'll do. Since I'm cycling through a lot of stuff, a blog post once a month seems like a lot to ask. But I'll write "blog post about progress of experiment" into my datebook for 8 weeks from now, and by golly, if this is working, that's when you'll hear about it. 

March 5, 2016. Maybe see you then, no pressure.

Recipe: Asparagus gruyere eggs with polenta

On the weekends I post items to Facebook a lot.  I've already posted at least twice, maybe more today.  The problem is, breakfast was really good and I wanted to share that.  I've decided that I can say so here and get it out of my system.  Breakfast was really good!

It was leftovers and foods that needed to be thrown out soon, and that made it all the more satisfying.  Ha.  So I'm giving you the recipe.  If anyone needs me to I will try write the recipe the way you're Supposed To, but for now it's written how I would write it for myself.

Asparagus Gruyere Eggs with Polenta

asparagus
spinach
eggs
pre-shredded gruyere/Swiss cheese mix from Trader Joe's
pesto
pre-cooked polenta
olive oil
pepper
largish and smaller nonstick frying pans

In one largish frying pan on medium heat, pour some olive oil. Probably around a tablespoon.  Slice the polenta, which you buy in a tube and can slice with a butter knife, into slices about 1/2" thick.  Maybe three slices per adult.  Put the slices in the pan.  Sprinkle pepper on the polenta, and leave to cook.  I added a spatter screen because the water from the polenta combined with the oil can get a little spitty.

In a smaller pan, again on medium heat, pour some water. Maybe 1/4 cup.  Next comes the asparagus.  Re: asparagus, did you know that before you use it, you should snap each stalk in half and discard the bottom?  It apparently breaks at the natural point to help you avoid woodiness or something.  Whatever, just do it.  Then slice the asparagus into 1/2" pieces (or smaller) and put them all in the pan.  Let them cook for a little while.

Flip the polenta and pepper the new side just before doing the next step.

When the asparagus starts to smell like it's cooking (flip the polenta) then add a handful or so of spinach to the asparagus and stir them around.  Make sure the water doesn't ever cook off completely, because it's steaming things but also acting like oil would and keeping everything from sticking.

When the spinach is wilty and the water almost gone, add eggs.  I usually like two per adult, but because the polenta is filling, I only added three eggs for me and the Hubby.  Break the yolks and mix them into the greens.  Let that cook for a moment.

Add a pinch of gruyere cheese to the top of each polenta slice.

Mix the eggs again and add some gruyere to them.  Stir occasionally until no part looks too shiny.  "Too shiny" means not cooked enough.

When the eggs look almost done, turn off the heat under the pan and turn your attention to the polenta.  Move the slices from the pan to the plates and spread some pesto on each slice.  Then divide the eggs between the plates, either on or beside the polenta, and serve.

There you go.  I've never tried to post a recipe before so we'll see whether this is adequate.  Some other day I might post a photo of the food, but frankly we ate it too fast to think of that.

There is a thing my Mom and I do, and maybe my Sister, when food is extra good.  We take the occasional bite with a flourish of the spoon, like "bite--ta dah!"  When I find myself doing that, it is Good.  I did that this morning.

Tiling the Plane: making patterns like MC Escher

Funny to look back on this blog.  It certainly exemplifies its name, although I can't see that aspect attracting people to read it.  I mean really!  Posts in 2011, and then 2014?  I'll never have regular readers, because my posts aren't regular.

Perhaps I don't need people to read it.  This is not to say that you, the random person who is peeking at this right now who is not me, are not welcome.  Welcome!  But personally I wonder if I am more likely to write or be creative here if I just assume that no one will see it unless over my shoulder in the kitchen.  Which is where my computer is, by the way.

That's all right. 

So it turns out I like to teach things that I know.  When my husband's brother visited to see Hubby's play, one evening I taught him how to design, carve and print "linoleum block prints."  I put that in quotes because nowadays it's not actually linoleum, thank GOD!  If I had to stick with linoleum my hands would be much more scarred than they are now.  Nowadays it's that white eraser material.

ANYWAY.  So last night Hubby and I went to see a play performed in someone's living room.  Who knew that kind of thing happens?  Afterwards there was schmoozing, and I ended up chatting with a pleasant lady about theater and glass and writing and inspiration.  Turned out she had to leave very soon, so I decided to give her a quick art lesson. 

...I had had a glass of wine.  I don't know if she really wanted to know this.

But, I gave her the briefest lesson I could in "tiling the plane."  One minute.  Way shorter than this post.  On my hand I drew an invisible square and gave instructions; she nodded like a very kind person who might or might not have any idea what I was talking about.

So, "tiling the plane."  Ever heard of it?  I learned it in math class in junior year of high school.  Many thanks to my wonderful math teacher from that year; I would mention him by name but I don't know if he would care for that.  Anyway, it's a fun little activity if you want to inspire your creativity, and you don't actually have to know math to do it.  It is just a good illustration of geometric concepts I can't remember now.

Remember MC Escher's patterns of birds and fish (etc)?  For copyright reasons I can't just show you one, but have a look at this link: http://www.mcescher.com/gallery/ink/no-41-two-fish/  He is using the method of "tiling the plane" to create that pattern.  You can too.

So here's what you do. 

Choose a geometric shape.  A square is your best bet to start with, although triangles and hexagons work.  I don't think I would suggest a pentagon because of the odd number, nor octagon because of the complexity.  But they might work.  *shrug*  NO to a circle.  Won't work.

Next, draw a squiggle or shape along one side.  Don't make it too drastic and dramatic at first; you'll see why later. I would say you should draw in black so that you can color your shape in later, but I will use blue and green so that it's easier to refer to.

Now you need to copy that squiggle to the opposite side.  If you're doing this on paper, just trace your blue line and mark where the corners of the square are, then use those corner marks to help you see where to trace it onto the opposite side of your square.  In Microsoft's Paint program I had to select the blue line and copy it, then paste it onto the other side.  Imperfect process but you'll get the idea.

Repeat the process for the remaining side of the square: draw a line on one side, then copy it to the other.  The trick here is paying attention to your blue lines.  Since your green line is going to repeat, you don't want to draw it so that it will cross over the blue line.  Imagine how it will repeat below as you draw it above.

Now, the reason this shape is fun is that you can use it as a repeating pattern.  In the same way that you can have a grid made up of squares, you can use your underlying square from this image to create a grid of your new shape.  Look at my image below: see how my squares are in there too?

This is what I meant about "you'll see later:" if your lines are too dramatic before you understand the way they will repeat, or if you don't know to take the previous (here, blue) lines into account, you might make something that is impossible to repeat without drawing over itself.

 I suggest coloring in the tiles in a checkerboard pattern to make the shapes easier to make out.  Then you can see what the overall impression of your pattern will be.

And that is "tiling the plane."

If you're like my Gramma and enjoy finding pictures in random shapes, this might work for you: stare at your shape and try doodling in it.  Whatever it might look like.  You can repeat that over and over again, or find a new doodle for each shape.

I'm pretending it looks like some sort of cartoon dinosaur.  Don't pop my bubble.  I know it's a stretch.

That doodle method is kind of working backwards: finding an image in your shape.  Working forwards, you would be trying to actually create the image from the start.  This is what Escher did, but I'm afraid I just don't know how. I wonder whether he experimented a LOT, or whether he had a mathematical formula he used.  You can look that up if you want.

Escher got much more complicated about it in order to have more than one shape that repeated (like the birds and fish together, etc).  I don't how to do that right now (I think maybe I could figure it out) so I'm not going to try to teach you.

You know enough for some doodling time now anyway.  Live it up!

I'm still alive

So I forgot that I have this blog.  Oops.

The reason I remembered is that I was looking at my Facebook contact information, and saw that the link I'd added for this blog was bad.  Upon researching I realized that I had accidentally spelled "distractible" correctly.  Now it is spelled badly and is a good link.  Maybe way too late for anyone to notice.

I have a new computer now.  The old one died so thoroughly, I'm going to have to see if I can retrieve its information using a self-powered external hard drive.  I can't explain it any better.  I have a moderately good idea of what to do, anyway.  Reminder to you, folks: back up your information.  You might get away without doing it for YEARs, but eventually your computer will die.

Soon I will attempt to reload my old information on the new computer--writing, photos and drawings--and then a post like this will become more interesting.  They're much more fun with artwork.

Maybe I'll doodle something.

There you go.  Cat head.

NaNoWriMo

Speaking of how distractible I am...I got interested in National Novel Writing Month, which is an organization rather than a governmentally-recognized holiday.  I like the concept: you commit to writing 50,000 words over the month of November.  There's a website where you can get encouragement and advice, and talk to other people who are trying the same thing, and where you can be held accountable for your commitment.  http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard   They help you track your word count, and allow you to post exerpts if you choose.  They're also very careful about maintaining your privacy/copyright; for example, at the end, when you submit your novel for a validating word count, they explain how you can randomize the word order before submission.  Kind of cool.

There are also forums where you can talk over plot ideas and stuff.  I particularly like that you can give away ideas too.  There are whole sections that just provide you with complete characters or quirks etc.  As a person who enjoys making lists, that has special appeal to me. 

The thing about this idea is, of course, that I got distracted right away.  Plus I am eager to find excuses to avoid doing such a difficult thing as consistent writing.  It's the 12th, and I've written about 560 words so far.  I haven't actually got any plan for a plot, which does tend to slow things down!  The fellow who started NaNoWriMo (as it is affectionately known) has put out a book called "No Plot?  No Problem!" but I have purchased quite a number of how-to-write books in my time so I'm going to try to finish them before buying another one.  What a concept! 

My stepson also tried to help me out using writing techniques he learned in school last year.  They were great, and even inspiring...I think what I want is a teacher who not only teaches those techniques, but also looms overhead, grading me on my efforts.  I wonder if that would cause me to finish? 

I hope you readers (I assume you are plural, ha!) go and check out the organization website.  If you've ever been tempted to write, it's an interesting motivational tool.  Good luck on that.  I don't expect to finish--or even to write any more than those 560 words, really--but I'll try to remember to post here when the time is up.

Dec. 23, 2011 update: Yeah, I didn't write any more than those 560 words.  I think I really need to go through that entire process that my stepson was describing--basically, coming up with the entire plot before writing.  I had nothin'. 

Gettin' Married

So, I wasn't kidding, was I?  I'm totally distractible.  I am tempted to look around on the internet for other blogs and bloggists who claim to be distractible, and check just how often they post.  Heh--I should have left it at one! 

I got all inspired to write again because I find myself with an extra hour this morning, and yesterday I discovered that a friend of mine had given me a shout-out from his website, "Give Us Art!"  Here is a link to the page where he did it.  I had recommended an artist for his blog.   http://giveusart.com/2011/06/02/stunning-glasswork-judith-schaechter/#comment-160

Anyway: I'm gettin' married.  I thought I'd tell you about it because obviously, it's my latest project.  We've chosen colors, ordered flowers from Safeway, started assembling favor boxes, bought dresses, and created & sent out invites.  Here's the art from the front of the invites:

I sketched that in my drawing book, photographed it, and colored it using the free Paint program that came with my computer.  We've also put together a website, but it doesn't seem wise to share that with the wide wide world.  Suffice it to say, that was a fun project!  I was all over it.  

Neither of us is originally from the state in which we live; we're getting married in my home state, some 350 miles away, so my Mom is helping with a lot of the running around.  The biggest challenge right now seems to be locating and affording a wedding cake. 

My town doesn't seem to have many cheap options; it has seemed like the only cake we can afford is the type with that frosting that I have always scraped off of the cake before eating.  My main bridal pickiness has been that I don't want that cake.  The cake is hundreds of dollars...it's not fair that it should also taste like cheap work-birthday-party sheet cake.  It should be special, I think.  I'm also aiming at plain-looking, so that the flowers can be the decoration--see the below example photo from theknot.com:

We did find a caterer whose cakes sounded delicious and much more to my taste, and she's even affordable, but she totally disregarded my request for references--and those online seemed to be 2/3 written by her.  Also, when we asked whether it would be possible for my folks to visit & test the goods, she replied that the taste would cost $100 because it required so much effort on her part.  I can't blame her, she being a one-man-show.  Still, I am spoiled by modern life and want references and a taste of the goods, so she's out for now.  Pooey.

I have made a birdcage veil to wear in the ceremony.  That required buying one of those little curved hair-combs, weaving some narrow ribbon through the base of its tines, and sewing netting to the ribbon.  The lady at the fabric store kindly gave me a 5-minute demonstration, although there are also classes available there.  I lucked out in that I have a wig form, so I was able to sort of sculpt the netting as I went, and to take into account the fact that I will wear the comb on the side.  She's slightly creepy, isn't she?  Even more amusingly creepy, she's styrofoam so when necessary I pinned the veil right to her head.  Ouch.

In order to really decide about the wedding colors, I sketched the wedding party and table setup and colored it a few different ways.  This is how I learned about saving drawings in Paint as bitmaps instead of jpegs, so that the quality won't deteriorate and make it imPOSSible to color neatly when you've decided to start over and see what it would look like if all the table linens were red.  Many thanks to Bill for that information, even though I learned it too late.

All right, I might add more to this topic (or maybe I won't write again for another year, so don't hold your breath waiting or anything).  For now, though, I've gotta go.  Talk to you in a bit!