Memoirs of a Slacker

A strange kind of weekend off, for a student person. The big lead-up to my Friday morning exam was all consuming this past week, cramming, making study-guide outlines, craving that "A". By 11:10am Friday, I was free, and felt just like I did after driving away from Pioneer Place Mall for the last time with my car loaded and no 'God' key on my keyring anymore, just over a year ago.

The sun was even out, it was about 50 degrees, and I had nothing pressing at all. My term paper wasn't due for two weeks yet. I stopped by FedExKinkos and got the artwork for it printed in color from my flash drive, and it wasn't even noon yet. what to do, what to do, what to do?

Caught the bus home, bought some beer, walked Miss Daisy Bassett, and basically goofed off.
It is a weird feeling, to be a "grown-up" and know in your head what you should be doing, or could be doing, and still just slack like you were born to be one, because nothing is a crisis right at the moment. I like this.

So, being the adult, I am spending a part of this afternoon being responsible, doing laundry, reading over my art history research notes for that paper, running over to New Seasons for a couple of things, but I may just be getting better at time management after all. Or getting better at power-slacking; like power-napping, in the right amount at the right time, I feel like I'm getting away with something. Or taking art classes, leaving the library with a $200 book on the history of still-lifes, and it was okay to do that, too.

It all sounds so silly, I know, but I just thought all of this was going to be so much harder than it is, and I had that idea since I began thinking about going back to school in 1986, 5 years after I had had to quit. The cost, the job-juggling, the shitty local Florida college, the re-locating to one I would want to attend, the relationship, the commute, the age difference, the unmet expectations, the Magic Golden Perfect Job at the end of the stage when I got my diploma, the debt to repay, yadda yadda yadda. It was all too much. Abandon ship! Just get a job and work your way to some mid-level with some insurance and make Life be about something else. Don't listen to that little voice going on and on about dreams and being real, get real about paying the bills instead.

Also, now is just the right time, it came together without the moving of Heaven and Earth effort it would have required before. There was some noticeable remorse when I was sitting in that room of my peers at the Anthropology Dept. lecture a few weeks ago---they have their Masters and PhDs already, shit, I'm still just an undergrad---and it did feel crappy. It really did.
But I realized I'm not interested in excavating all my regrets and reasons, it would take a long time and just make me feel worse, so don't do it. Keep moving--- advice I gave friends and employees for tough times, just keep going forward. Take naps---my other bit of advice. Put on some great music and something will surface. Lay in some snack-age, frosty bevs, and chill. Take a long brisk walk, come home to a hot shower, then snooze for 20 minutes. Then---get back to your task. Or not. slacker

The Unswept Floor

When the 10' high image flashed up on the white screen at the front of the lecture hall, I experienced a moment of utter delight and the thrill of seeing why Art is so crucial to education.

This is a mosaic on the floor of a Roman villa, in what was a sumptuous dining area with reclining couches for feasting, and this charming floor to toss your lobster shells, peacock bones, sea urchin spiny shells, bruised olives, lemon rinds, etc. So it all would blend in with the tromp l'oeil cast-offs already tiled with faint dimensional shadowing beneath your chaise. Don't hit the mouse.

So I think at least 50 of my cohorts in the ancient art history class are ditching their previously researched research topic for something as fun as this. We'll all say the same thing 50 different ways, our poor professor. She'll regret slipping this slide into the lecture, it wasn't in the textbook.

So maybe some more art history classes for me are in store, I am really enjoying this one, and there are specialized classes spending an entire term on one era or cultural movement, not just a week like this Intro class. Romanesque, Ancient Near East, Ancient Asian, Islamic, Renaissance architecture...if I only have 54 more credits to fulfill my major, I'm going to need some electives.
Honestly, I knew I'd like this class, but I didn't know it would be this much fun. Mosaic artists do their modern version of this, with RedBull cans, cigarette butts, gum, lipstick, underwear, dust bunnies, Cheetos---the average dorm room floor. Mine would be books, magazines, cat toys, recycling in the corner, bus tickets, shoes and bookbags. This type of art is basically a snapshot of popular culture of the time---Roman villa to PSU dorm floor. Full circle.