Someone Needs to Change My Brain Pan

I was going to go to school today to do some work, but woke up feeling very spacy and unfocused. It's that old migraine feeling again, and although I don't have the blind spots or any pain, I cannot concentrate, and my vision is not working as it should. So I went back to bed and slept an additional three hours. It mitigated the feeling somewhat, but I still feel disassociated from reality. The silly thing is, it's all my fault.

When Little André brought over his game-riddled computer on the weekend, I stayed up until four one morning playing Starcraft. Being awake for too long at a stretch is one of my biggest migraine triggers. I guess I was just hoping I could pull an all-nighter every now and then without it bothering me. I guess I was wrong.

Boggledness notwithstanding, I did have a pretty productive day yesterday. I went to a barbecue at Patrick's (one of my metal instructors) house, and chowed down on burgers, hotdogs, couscous, strawberries, nachos, and pasta salad. And then I stopped by the school on my way home and surprised myself by making a ring in about three hours. It's another tube-based ring, and I set four stones in it: two 5mm brilliant cut peridots, and two 1.1 mm brilliant cut rhinestones. The rhinestones are the smallest stones I've ever set in my life, and caused me many problems. I used a bezel rather than a claw setting, and I swear, stones that small require three hands to set. And Smurfs probably have the ideal hand size to do so! Still, I persevered and succeeded. And to think I had no intentions on working in the studio yesterday!

Unfortunately, when I got the ring home, f00dave was quick to notice some firescale. Damn. I don't know how I missed it. I normally have no problem getting rid of it. I guess I have more sanding to do. I'm miffed that I didn't catch it before setting the stones. Now I might wreck 'em while cleaning the ring up the way it ought to have been in the first place.

I watched a pretty terrible movie called Beowulf last night. It stars Christopher Lambert, which is a pretty good indication of the movie's level of badness. The movie is a futuristic retelling of the Beowulf story, and it does a half-decent job of it until the end, when it suddenly veers into an erotic horror tale. I really don't remember the Old English version having Grendel's mom as a hot blonde porn star. I also don't remember the epic being boring, filled with clichéed second-scare, bad cuts between scenes, or Beowulf being such a wooden character.

The movie had two good things going for it: a great industrial soundtrack (which nonetheless doesn't go with the movie at all), and the way it's made me want to reread Beowulf, if only to clear the bad taste of this movie out of my mental palate. I haven't read it for at least ten years, and it's definitely worth the reread. It also made me remember how I want to learn Old English. I know it's taught at the university. I'd love to be able to read the poem in its original language.

More Dance Photography! More!

Oooh, I sure do like these boots! I like the quasi-Victorian look of them. Someday, if I ever get cash again, I'm going to go shopping for boots. It's been quite a few years since I last bought any, and my collection is not aging gracefully. Ah well. Maybe I'll luck out and find some funky boots at a thrift store. It hasn't happened yet, but I did find a pair of Doc Marten Mary-Janes which I wear frequently.

And now, since it's been quite a while, I'd like to share some more vintage photos with you. These ones all have theatre or dance as a theme, but are pretty disparate, otherwise. ( Enjoy! )

Count the Exclamation Points

Although I was feeling generally shitty and overly cranky all day, I went to kung fu, and it cured me! Not only that, but I made it through the entire class without having to stop or even slow down. And it's not like it was an easy class. Oh, no! I did 320 dragons, about the same amount of one-two punches, a couple hundred front kicks, the gung gee form, and the first third of the broadsword form.

I was actually the senior student for the sword form (the only two students who know more of it weren't there), so I got to help all the others with their technique. It's a bit of an ego perk to be able to correct a black sash kung fu student. Heh heh heh....

I expect to be quite sore for the next couple of days, curing up just in time for a huge workout day on Thursday (aqua box, dance class, and another kung fu session). Yes, I'm back in the saddle!

And now, eating that strawberry/blackberry pie I made this afternoon is a most lovely and well-deserved reward. Mmmm!