CrumpArt

I’ve had some sort of infection over the past couple of days. My ears ache and my sinuses are under pressure and my joints hurt and my back is all tight. I haven’t been sleeping well. It was the first week back at school and the studios were like a sauna. All of this leads to headache.

I got a call yesterday from work asking if I could work all day today, and I nearly rejected them until I found out I could wear casual clothes and stay off the selling floor — all I had to do was wrap wedding gifts all day. I took my bone folder along because I’m a geek like that. I like wrapping the gifts, but at the same time I get a bit sad and angry when I think about the fact that we sell all this stuff to help people celebrate their weddings, yet a large percentage of the people I work with aren’t even allowed marry the people that they love, with their relationships not recognised as valid on any level by our government (it didn’t help that Gold FM played Queen and Elton John all day). Two paracetamol tablets got me through physically.

On a completely different note, I ordered myself a birthday present two days ago, and it arrived yesterday (I was extremely impressed with the service — I’ll put a link in here later when I’m back on the laptop). In fact, I ordered exactly the same thing as a birthday gift for my seven year old niece.

The spirograph kit we had when I was a kid was my favourite, favourite toy, and I’ve wanted to get another one for a while. Plus I thought it might come in handy with my space-y, physics-y ideas for printmaking.

Speaking of childhood favourites, I’ve been meaning to post a picture of this for a while. This is probably my most prized possession. I made it at kindergarten when I was four, and distinctly remember drawing it, right down to the point where my teacher asked what colour I wanted to write my name in, and after assessing the situation, I chose the burgundy. She was somewhat taken aback by this — I don’t know why — and asked me if I was sure. On the left is my brother James, who was a brand new baby at that point (my mother was breastfeeding, which is probably why it’s all nipples ahoy, but I have no explanation for the lack of arms). Next are my brothers Andrew and Ben, followed by me and my mum. As I barely squeezed my mother in, there was no chance of adding my dad, two sisters and dog, Smurf. Consider it an early demonstration of my mad organisational skillz.