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January 9th, 2011
04:02 pm - New Year Resolutions
Inventory of 2010 New Year's Resolutions:
FAILED Solicit at least 100 commercial galleries (I did 40)
SUCCEEDED Do POST (Philadelphia Open Studio Tours) (Sold 2 pieces and traded for 2 more)
SUCCEEDED Do Main Line Art Center's Sale (Sold 3 pieces)
SUCCEEDED Eat vegetarian 6 days a week.
FAILED Exercise 5 days a week (but did exercise fairly regularly)
FAILED Finish the 7th and final draft of The Cousins of Sede and begin marketing it to agents. (not even close)
FAILED Finish the first draft of Worshipping Chaos (not even close)
2011 New Year's Resolutions:
Make more cookies, cakes, pies, and ice cream
Make all the drawings for "The Five Princesses and the Dragon"
Complete the first finished print for "The Five Princesses and the Dragon"
Make an illustrated haiku booklet
Write in my blog three times a week (with exceptions for major holidays or serious illness)
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February 3rd, 2010
11:56 pm - peony petals ready to be spat out
I went to the latest opening at PAFA last weekend, part of Philagrafika 2010 festivities. Specifically, this was part of "The Graphic Unconscious", which takes place at five major venues in Philly and features over 30 international artists, and mostly prints. Being a printmaker, these are art exhibits that actually excite me. However, given my crazy life (3 jobs, 5 month old baby, studio work, and being president of HAGP), my friend Alice still had to be the one to get my butt to the opening at PAFA.
Anyway, much thanks to Alice for getting me out of the house sans infant, because I discovered a few printmakers whose work I didn't know before and who I really like.
For starters, John Buck had an awesome print of frogs at the exhibit. He doesn't feature that particular print on his website, but he does have these two others which are quite nice:
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Next, Daniel Heyman also does some striking woodcuts. Although if you check out his website, much of his contemporary work depicts images from Iraq.
And third, I absolutely loved two pieces in the show from Sarah McEneaney. One was a woman in a bathtub and the other was a woman in a shower. Something about art with figures and water draws me in; I also love the movie "Shower." Of course I'm also attracted to how McEneaney uses color in her work. And this piece below, while not in the show at PAFA, is one of the most lovely depictions of an animal I've seen in a while:
Plus I'm getting into dogs. I'm starting a print of two dogs next week (as soon as I finish my latest turtle/baby print.) And I'm submitting three prints with dogs to the Main Line Art Center's Sale this year.
Woof.
Current Mood:  exanimate
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January 5th, 2010
12:49 pm - because it was the epitome of what I try to get from a team in a crisis situation
Not very impressive. But I suppose I should give myself a break since I was pregnant and a new mom for all of 2009.
Inventory of 2009 New Year's Resolutions:
SUCCESS: Create a brochure for my art...
FAIL: ...create a list of 100 appropriate galleries and begin soliciting galleries
FAIL: Eat vegetarian at least 6 days a week (but I did get close.)
SUCCESS: Exercise regularly every week (except the 6 weeks when recovering from birthin' Lysi.)
FAIL: Finish the 7th and final draft of The Cousins of Sede and begin marketing it to agents
FAIL: Finish the first draft of Worshipping Chaos
2010 New Year's Resolutions:
Solicit at least 100 commercial galleries
Do POST (Philadelphia Open Studio Tours)
Do Main Line Art Center's Sale
Eat vegetarian 6 days a week.
Exercise 5 days a week
Finish the 7th and final draft of The Cousins of Sede and begin marketing it to agents.
Finish the first draft of Worshipping Chaos
It's almost comical how those last two goals keep reappearing year after year in my resolutions. Think I'd get wise and give up on them by now. Maybe next year.
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October 20th, 2009
03:11 pm - body and soul serve the regime
Dude. Last night Lysistrata only woke up once and only went through 2 diapers! She's also gone through less diapers during the last 3 days. We're thinking it might be finally time to try cloth diapers during the whole day at home (we plan to keep using disposables at night and when not at home.) I hope we can manage it 'cause disposables were getting so expensive.
Haiku for Lysistrata
With an empty bladder
And a belly full of milk
She goes to sleep.
Current Mood:  busy
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October 18th, 2009
02:35 pm - bad breath, watery eyes, and clear sinuses
Determined to give baby a broad flavor palette
Today I cook onion soup and hearty rye bread, cabbage and noodles, dhal, and eat lots of kimchee. Savory overdose! I don't even want to know what that'll make my milk taste like. But somebody in this house is gonna find out! :-)
People talk about pregnant women having weird cravings, but my eating habits are way more adventurous normally.
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September 17th, 2009
12:14 pm - the cost of having a baby
As much as I tried to have a natural birth, it just wasn't in the cards. Because of a series of complications, I ended up needing an epidural, a petocin drip, and ultimately a c-section followed by a 3 day stay in the hospital. I just received the list of expenses from the hospital (keep in mind that my insurance covers it all.) Ready for it? Almost thirty six thousand dollars!
Oh, yeah, we don't need health care reform in this country. People should just all be responsible for their own health care expenses, and if there is disparity, that's just part of the good ol' free market.
Note that my insurance would have paid for up to a 4 day stay in the hospital. I chose to leave after 3 days (with absolutely no pressure from anyone at the hospital) because I felt good enough and wanted to be at home with Will. So the bill could have been $4K more. In short, Lysistrata costs as much as a college education before she was even a week old.
Damn.
Current Mood:  shocked
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September 1st, 2009
09:23 am - you cannot make yourself as you wish to be
Um... today I woke up and rolled out of bed without grunting in pain from aches in my sides and lower abdomen. Then I stood up and my feet didn't hurt and I felt balanced. I was able to walk down the steps at a normal pace. My back didn't hurt at all either.
By the time I got to the kitchen for my breakfast (which I didn't have any desperate feeling about getting into my stomach) I suddenly occurred to me to look down and feel for belly to make sure I didn't just dream being pregnant. Nope, Notacat still obviously there. *Whew* But, um, okay, why do I feel physically normal and good for the first time in, er, weeks or months, I dunno anymore?
Guess I should feel thankful for it and move on.
Current Music: Tommy James and Shondells - "I Think We're Alone Now"
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August 26th, 2009
11:49 am - The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep. - Henry Maudsley
This was a really great interview on "Fresh Air" that sheds a lot of light on the health care issues in America, and unfortunately also points out how complicated things really are: T.R. Reid: Looking Overseas For 'Healing Of America'
I liked when Reid pointed out that part of the reason health care cost mores in this country than in any other is because of the complexity of the system which is what leads to high administrative costs. He goes on to say how various parts of the US health care system resemble all the other major systems used in different countries. The difference is that here we use them, so one's quality of health care, choices, and how one pays and what one pays all depends on many factors which can easily change throughout life.
This is how people fall through the cracks - they happen to make too much money, be too young, and not a pregnant woman or single mother, so they can't get Medicaid, but at the same time they either have pre-existing conditions which make it impossible to get private health insurance or they simply can't afford private health insurance 'cause they are unemployed, or employed in a manner which doesn't provide affordable insurance. Not to mention the people who have health insurance but can't afford the co-pays.
The more I listened to this interview the more strongly I feel that the current bill - which might not even pass because it's so "controversial" (seriously, WTF?) - will hardly solve our problems. Not that it doesn't matter. The current bill definitely would be an improvement if it regulated health insurance companies so that they can't lock people out for having "pre-existing conditions" and the expansion of Medicaid and Medicare would help catch a lot of those people who are currently falling through the cracks.
But after listening to Reid it seems that our real problem isn't that we don't have THE one and only correct system, but rather, that we can't make up our minds on a single, streamlined system which would cover everyone. There are so many systems to choose from when we look at how other countries deal with health care, and plenty of them are less socialistic and more friendly toward private industry. We don't have to choose between a simpler, cheaper, universal health care system and remaining a champion in free enterprise as a nation.
From the transcript:
Mr. REID: Turns out we have them all right here in the United States. If you're a Native American or a veteran you live in Britain. They get government health care and government hospitals from government doctors and they never get a bill. If you're an employed person sharing your health insurance premium with your employer, you live in Germany. That's the Bismarck model that was invented in Germany and used in many countries. If you're a senior and you buy Medicare insurance from the government and go to private doctors, you live in Canada. That's the Canadian model. As a matter of fact, the Canadian health care system is called Medicare, and when Lyndon Johnson provided it for our seniors in 1965 he borrowed both the model and the name from Canada. And if you're one of the tens of millions of Americans who can't get health insurance, well, you live in Malawi or Madagascar or Mali or something, because if you can pay for health insurance you get it, or maybe you can line up at the free hospital sometime. We've got them all and that's really the most important difference. All the other countries have decided that it's cheaper and fairer to provide one model so that everybody has the same access to the same care at the same price.
W need to do something, because this is just ridiculous. On a personal level, I'm incredibly grateful that I dumb-lucked into a great plan (for the time being) for myself, but I'm sick of watching people I care about suffer (go without treatment, go into health care debt, or take off work to wait in long, humiliating lines at free clinics - I have friends who do all these things) because of our complex, inefficient, and expensive system.
Reid's book has been fast-tracked to near the top of my reading list.
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August 23rd, 2009
06:31 pm - Oh, and some people have a half a one for breakfast.
Oh my gosh I stumbled into creating a truly delicious vegan dinner tonight! Those of you foodies into health should totally try this recipe!
Balsalmic-glazed Chickpeas over Collards:
1 bottle of flavorful favorite beer
1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 nice, big bunch of collard greens, coursely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
Balsamic vinegar
Soy sauce
1/4 cup veggie stock
1 small pot and 1 big pot
IN THE SMALL POT: Saute the onions and half of the garlic in the veggie broth for a few minutes and then add the chickpeas, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and 2 tbsp of balsalmic vinegar. Keep on medium heat, stirring as needed, until the liquids cook down (about 15-20 minutes)
IN THE BIG POT: Heat to medium-high and pour in the bottle of beer, the collards, the other half of the garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar. Stir as needed until the liquids cook down (about 20-30 minutes.)
Serve in bowls with the chick peas over the greens. Friggin' delicious!!!
Current Music: "American Routes" on NPR
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August 21st, 2009
09:57 am - Everything's comin' up roses
I subscribed to babycenter.com's weekly updates on my baby's progress. I'm especially excited about today's email notice, which reads:
Your baby is gaining about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy hair that covered her body, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Next week, your baby will be considered full-term.
This bun is almost done baking. Also happy news: the last few weeks the baby has been in the right position for birth (see below diagram) so hopefully I won't have to worry about the baby being breach (which can lead to c-section) or "sunny side up" (which leads to "back labor" - a much more painful labor experience caused by the baby's head pushing on the mom's lower back.)
Deep breath... soon I'll have a cute little baby and I'll have my body back - woo hoo!
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