The first one was really for yesterday. and then these two are different subjects. different. so I'm splitting them and so there.

Yesterday was New Year's Eve. Also it was my parent's 30th wedding anniversary. It seems kind of cool to have gotten married on New Year's Eve, but they say it sort of sucks, because everybody starts celebrating as soon as your occaision is over. Also it's clearly right by christmas and just ends up getting overshadowed easily.

I spent New Year's Eve alone in the house, except for Erica, who was supposed to go up north with my parents, but then was in a foul mood and ended up staying home. This is okay in principle, we both pretty much left each other alone. But it's still very different being in the house with your little sister and being in the house alone. I can't talk to myself, I can't shower and then wander downstairs naked to look for clean clothes in the laundry room. And well, its just not at all like Alone. Which is what I wanted.

Now, honestly, I didn't want to be alone so I could wallow. I didn't wallow. I just wanted some downtime over break, and I got downtime, but not alone time. And shortly I'm going to be moving my whole life into one room which I have to share with someone else. So Alone is good while I can get it, I say.

But let's see. What did I do on New Year's Eve? I slept in late-ish. I started reading The Map That Changed The World by Simon Winchester. I think that in general it is a good sign when a book comes with a map in the front of it, so clearly this book is good: It's dust jacket unfolds into a map! Honestly, this is a large portion of why I bought it. I love maps. maps are good. I want the maps you had in highschool history classrooms that have 12 maps on a roll and you hang the roll and then you can pull down whichever map you want and they're huge and informative and historical and etc.

also road maps and atlases and just topographical maps and hiking maps and geological maps and etc.

politcal maps are my least favorite.

I like ones with arrows and lines drawn on them.

um, yess. what was i talking about? oh yes. so I read some book. Then I started cutting out the pattern for my coat. I just got this really great red coating weight wool (god I love fine fabrics. mom and I went to the good fabric store in Grand Rapids and spent most of our time in the wool section. fine wool suitings and coatings and felts and jerseys(!) and it was heaven. wool and silk blends... there were some honestly gorgeous fabrics, and they were just regular), It's a rich dark red, not that bright orangey red, and a dark gray (silvery) satin for the lining. And I'm making a coat, knee length, relatively fitted (classic 8 piece construction) with some nice tailoring details. It will be a challenge. Sewing is all in the prep and the details. So I spent forever lengthening pattern pieces and getting things laid out and pinned. My fingertips got really really sore from pushing all the pins through two layers of coating wool, and it's not a super bulky one. And I still have a good deal of cutting to do. There are a lot of pieces, just two more from the wool, but then the entire lining and then I have to mark everything, and I'm going to have to thread mark it, cause there is going to be much steaming and pressing involved.. Augh. It's going to be quite a while before I get to actually sew on this.

Boo.

Um, and I watched "Bridget Jone's Diary," which I hadn't seen and a good deal of stupid tee vee, which I haven't done in years (watched tee vee that is. I've tried a couple of times and if there isn't anything on, I just turn it off. having no tee vee for more than two years has really ruined me for the medium.) and i got to watch an episode of Star Trek (the next generation, of course) which I've been craving for months. And I finished the last of our three christmas puzzles and I took a bath and shaved my legs, because I was clearly possesed by some demon. And I gessoed the canvas that I stretched a couple weekends ago. And I made cocoa and then forgot about it and then found it a couple hours later and it was cold and thick and settled and I have no idea why I drank it.

I got lost in here somewhere. My words slipped away and my head kept going. except really it was the other way around, because the words never stop, and my head just pops on down to the pub for a drinkof.

Any appreciation for my body has once again left me.

And i need to paint. I will paint the world into and put it in my coat. I will paint.

Which reminds me of the Van Gogh and Gaugin exhibit, which I will once again put off until later.