![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today In The Life, &C.
Oct. 24th, 2009 11:40 pm6 AM: Crawl out of bed after sleep in two bouts, one consisting of 2 1/2 hours and one consisting of just under half an hour.
7:32 AM: Pick up person I'm giving a ride -- only 12 minutes late despite zombiegirlness.
8:45 AM: Arrive on site 15 minutes before target time before being 12 minutes late. AWESOME.
10 AM: Take class on the construction of what amounts to 13th-century socks, the difference between the usual ways men and women wore them, and the difference in styles between 13th and 14th century versions. Class detours kind of awesomely into 13th-century undergarments in general and bogs down for several minutes in indignant jealousy over the convenience factor of external genitalia. :D 4 pages of notes.
11 AM: Take class that amounts to "here, have a massive list of cool manuscripts to look at." No pages of notes, but really big handouts.
12 noon: Realize that both of the people with the condition that requires us to avoid a common food ingredient forgot to tell the cook. Admire the REALLY AWESOME FOOD, run out to get lunch that will not cripple us.
1 PM: Sort out all the money issues. Get squeed at by the cook for us all being organized enough to get her a check on the same day. Squee back at the cook over the REALLY AWESOME FOOD. Twice over when I realize said REALLY AWESOME FOOD was done on a budget of A DOLLAR AND FORTY-FIVE CENTS PER PERSON. Get totally distracted by foodgeeking, then totally distracted by a random woman with a top-whorl spindle, which is a type I haven't learned to use yet.
2 PM: Take class on Or Nue shaded-goldwork embroidery. ... a hands-on class. It is technically an hour long. I wind up sitting there for twice that time because it is so pretty and appeals so strongly to my 'put tiny things meticulously in order' instincts that I finally have to put the embroidery down because you cannot organize tiny little stitches to tug carefully at gold threads without ever crossing the threads or letting any of the ground fabric be seen if you are tearing up from happy while squinting at it.
4 PM: Finish up planning how to deal with checks and reports, some of which have a Looming Due Date. Drive home.
5:15 PM: Arrive home 2 1/2 hours earlier than expected.
7 PM ?: Keel over completely unconscious for a couple hours.
So pleased. So very very very pleased. I wish Or Nue photographed/scanned well -- it doesn't, and it's only by comparing a half-dozen photos of the same piece that you start to get the idea of exactly how beautiful it is; it sparkles and steals your breath and has this incredible illusion of texture and depth, and complicated versions have almost more to do with painting than with embroidery -- on the practice piece that I was given I am about to hit the place where the advantages of Or Nue really start to show, bringing in a second color, and I am really tempted to experiment with the shading potentials of it on the fly.
And this from something that I wanted to take only because of its relationship to Opus Anglicanum, which is also incredibly gorgeous but in a different way despite both of them being just goldwork couching techniques. ("Just.")
Want to go back and work on it more right now, but it's dark out and I don't have good light. Want to work on it anyway. It's the time of year where I start not feeling right without something in my hands.
7:32 AM: Pick up person I'm giving a ride -- only 12 minutes late despite zombiegirlness.
8:45 AM: Arrive on site 15 minutes before target time before being 12 minutes late. AWESOME.
10 AM: Take class on the construction of what amounts to 13th-century socks, the difference between the usual ways men and women wore them, and the difference in styles between 13th and 14th century versions. Class detours kind of awesomely into 13th-century undergarments in general and bogs down for several minutes in indignant jealousy over the convenience factor of external genitalia. :D 4 pages of notes.
11 AM: Take class that amounts to "here, have a massive list of cool manuscripts to look at." No pages of notes, but really big handouts.
12 noon: Realize that both of the people with the condition that requires us to avoid a common food ingredient forgot to tell the cook. Admire the REALLY AWESOME FOOD, run out to get lunch that will not cripple us.
1 PM: Sort out all the money issues. Get squeed at by the cook for us all being organized enough to get her a check on the same day. Squee back at the cook over the REALLY AWESOME FOOD. Twice over when I realize said REALLY AWESOME FOOD was done on a budget of A DOLLAR AND FORTY-FIVE CENTS PER PERSON. Get totally distracted by foodgeeking, then totally distracted by a random woman with a top-whorl spindle, which is a type I haven't learned to use yet.
2 PM: Take class on Or Nue shaded-goldwork embroidery. ... a hands-on class. It is technically an hour long. I wind up sitting there for twice that time because it is so pretty and appeals so strongly to my 'put tiny things meticulously in order' instincts that I finally have to put the embroidery down because you cannot organize tiny little stitches to tug carefully at gold threads without ever crossing the threads or letting any of the ground fabric be seen if you are tearing up from happy while squinting at it.
4 PM: Finish up planning how to deal with checks and reports, some of which have a Looming Due Date. Drive home.
5:15 PM: Arrive home 2 1/2 hours earlier than expected.
7 PM ?: Keel over completely unconscious for a couple hours.
So pleased. So very very very pleased. I wish Or Nue photographed/scanned well -- it doesn't, and it's only by comparing a half-dozen photos of the same piece that you start to get the idea of exactly how beautiful it is; it sparkles and steals your breath and has this incredible illusion of texture and depth, and complicated versions have almost more to do with painting than with embroidery -- on the practice piece that I was given I am about to hit the place where the advantages of Or Nue really start to show, bringing in a second color, and I am really tempted to experiment with the shading potentials of it on the fly.
And this from something that I wanted to take only because of its relationship to Opus Anglicanum, which is also incredibly gorgeous but in a different way despite both of them being just goldwork couching techniques. ("Just.")
Want to go back and work on it more right now, but it's dark out and I don't have good light. Want to work on it anyway. It's the time of year where I start not feeling right without something in my hands.
