This morning I decided that I am going to do my first ever themed, narrative journal. The title is 'The Gypsy and the Mystic' and it is the story of a love affair that I don't know the end of yet. The story will be told through images and very, very few words. I am excited about this.
I have a dream that when I finally settle down and decide to become a homeowner again, I will have a gypsy wagon, or vardo, in the backyard to use as my art/writing studio.
Of course mine would be adorned with lots of eyes!
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The amazing thing about these modern vardos is that you can buy a kit to build one that you can fold up and haul behind your vehicle. See the trailer hitch?
If you are interested in the history of Gypsies, this is the best site I have found so far. Now I want to go to Poland and see the Gypsy museum (it has an outdoor exhibit of a Gypsy camp!)
My sister and I have discussed, more than a few times, how we relate to many aspects of Gypsy culture in the way that are parents raised us and the traveling that we did. We literally did pull a little trailer behind us and lived out of it often enough.
I like this quote:
"Gypsies are known to steal chickens and to cheat when selling cars, but they have never organized a war, never persecuted others, never manufactured bombs, never perpetuated industrial pollution."
Of course, we didn't steal chickens. My parents were of the 60's: tax evasion and welfare fraud was their thing.
Today has been great. I slept in for a change, got some belongings sorted, went to the library, knocked out some laundry, started the course proposals for September and took lots and lots of notes on various projects, current and future. I love living in such a cool, stable environment. I'm already falling back into the work pattern that I like: The days I spend brainstorming, planning and researching, and the days that I actually get down and dirty and make it happen, in a perfect ebb and flow.
Speaking of planning, I stayed up late planning my immediate future regarding the housing crisis in my life. I have a plan. I am still flushing it out, but I'm feeling really good about it. Whenever I am in my planning mode, I think of something my high school Geography teacher had taped to the front of his desk, which seemed to be the place I like to zone out the most. I am totally kicking myself for not paying attention in that class now that I am older and want to go to places like Poland, or at least be able to find it on a map and daydream about it. Anyway, the sign read: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Wait, let me put it to you how the sign really read:
IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN,
YOU PLAN TO FAIL!
God, it still gives me chills!
Oh, Mr. Wilsey, with your big scary grin and coordinating track suits, if you gave me nothing else(certainly not the ability to find Poland on a map), you gave me that. What a gem. *sigh*
Anyway. My plan is largely dependent on me getting a job that I am going to apply for tomorrow. A job for which, on the resume Wit-Knee and I worked on today, included my 2 1/2 years as a "Phone Entertainer" as part of my job history. It actually made sense to reveal my dirty little job secret in this case. I never thought the day would come! All that experience and nothing to show for it until now, when I am hoping on job at a call center. A call center. Ugh. But hey, I have a couple of years of "phone experience", so that should get my foot in the door, right? I wasn't kidding around when I said this artist is tired of starving.
Journal entry from last night.
