insomnia vs. the internet...

not a good thing, on the whole, to be blogging at 4 in the morning, but when insomnia coincides with the network coming back to life, you have to carpe the diem and log on to make blogging hay while the sun, um, doesn't shine.

main items of interest yesterday:
1. bone-marrow freezing cold (i wore a camisole, a t shirt, a cardigan, a large rollneck fuzzy jersey, my paint-stained hoodie, leggings, sweat pants, and my thick bedsocks to class, and i HAD GOOSEBUMPS; i have no idea how the model managed with nothing on and a tiny space heater, but she is clearly made of tougher stuff than i am). the only time i was warm all day was after i got home and poached myself in the bathtub for half an hour.
2. i started re-reading kate atkinson's behind the scenes at the museum; am enjoying it _very_ much
3. attempt at blackberry tart with L - we made the pastry shell and the pastry cream last night and we will put it all together this morning. not sure what it will taste like (there are no measuring cups in the apartment, and we were missing a couple of key ingredients (cornstarch, proper tart tin) that might turn out to have been crucial, but at least the blackberries will be good. hard to screw up fresh blackberries.
4. painting all day: a demo in the morning, and then we had our first crack at a rounding study in the afternoon; the idea is to paint a simplified version of the figure, leaving off features (eyes, nose, mouth, fingers, toes, etc.), just concentrating on creating the 3D effect of the larger shapes (head, torso, limbs) in space. it was good
5.M (english guy) has gone vegan!! totally a surprise (this was the guy who brought chicken and nothing but to our potluck dinner the other day). he said it was because his cholesterol is high, and he wanted to try the experiment of veganism while his wife wasn't there to suffer through it with him. he is in fact swearing off all fats of any kind (olive oil, etc. as well). it was difficult not to go doctor on him, i have to admit, but i limited myself to wow, that's interesting, you'll have to let us know how it goes. after all, i watch plenty of other people eat crap socially and don't feel i need to say anything, and my own diet at the moment isn't exactly designed to lower cholesterol. oh, speaking of, i have seen God, and he/it is a slab of pecorino romano cheese i got at the market on friday. sharp, salty salty with cracked peppercorns running through it.... oh oh oh so good. it was the only thing that got me out of bed when it was so cold yesterday morning (that and the pilates lady. not as sadistic as the yoga guy. she is perkier, and talks to me about my "powerhouse" (which i think means abdominal muscles) and tells me i am beautiful. although the demo class that she has on her video is comprised of leggy blondes who are able to completely disarticulate their hips at will, so maybe it's them she's talking about.)
6. king charles - i decided to abandon the curtains temporarily, and do the tapestry thing over his lap and his hand; he is now done except for the bloody curtains and a little bit of background. the background is also going to be tricky - it's sludge green but with bits of red sort of bleeding through. i may have to bring him to school for a professional consultation.
7. i had a dream last night that i turned up for my first day of work at harborview, and there was a big machine in the front lobby of the hospital that dispensed whatever your needed things were for that day, like charts of patients you were supposed to see, coffee for those that needed it, etc. since it was my first day there, the machine was supposed to give me my employment paperwork to fill out, a nametag, etc., but it was malfunctioning and just spat out a stack of charts that some ICU guy (now on vacation) was supposed to dictate before he left. i went to see human resources, and they said the only way that i could get my nametag, new employment paperwork etc, was to complete the charts and put them back in the machine, so i had to go sit in the work area and try and dictate ICU discharge summaries on a whole pile of patients i didn't know. eek. not a good dream. i clearly need to stay on holiday for a LOT longer. oh,wait, how convenient.... :)

okay, i am going to try to go back to sleep for a couple more hours before the siren song of the chirpy pilates lady lures me out of bed again...
love to all.