Lakeside via Heronbank:
The glossy bits are where the lake has frozen over. If you shut one eye and lean way back you can just make out the birds literally walking on water, but Sam has an awesome photo of this on his blog from a few weeks ago.
Today the frost stayed on the grass even after the sun came out. I wore my blue shoes, which was not very practical. As Fela said, "Trouble sleep yanga wake am." and equally apt, "Shakara* Oloje ni."(Shakara oloje ni o!)
They cut into the backs of my feet and my little toe went numb, but looking at my feet with every step I took made me feel really cool. To [mis]quote Blue Ivy's daddy, "I'll show you how to cook up swagger in the winter." But, nothing goes for free, and I had to sacrifice my weekly after-class hangout for the warmth of my room.
The fuzzy image on the right is supposed to show the grass frosted over in patches
In class today I learnt that you can tell a lot about a person from the mistakes they make in their drafts.
The things we omit or gloss over are always more deeply personal than is apparent. It is often fear in the form of insecurity, and being worried about perception. We build larger than life scenes and conjure new worlds to hide these fears in, but then we leave out the things that would actually shield us, because safety - the resolution of our fears - is the one thing we refuse to imagine, to acknowledge, or to work through.
The more guarded a person is, the more emotion they put into the things around them. Do we love pets, things, adventure... because we are scared to love ourselves?
People really worked to step out of their comfort zone in the stories for today, and it reflected positively in the quality of their work. This is something I haven't yet done. I'm scared that if I do I'll burst into tears one day in the middle of class, or solve all my life's problems, and then where would I be? Peter Blegvad says your flaws are the only unique things about you. I couldn't possibly lose that!
I'm up for workshopping next week. I stayed up till five working on my story, but nothing good happens after midnight and I fear my story is going to be absolute shit.
My tutor is funny, eccentric, insightful. You can just tell that she'd like to sit us down individually and probe deep into our lives to fish out all the dirty disgusting stuff, and then help us put it all into a novel.
Today she announced that she writes down funny things that one of my classmates says - to make badges or tee shirts with (he suggested sashes). I write down funny things that she says, for the same heuristic** reason.
Today she said, "Darling I love you I'm going to kill you." It was a slow day. I think they should go into the memorabilia business together.
She ended class by saying how much she enjoyed working with us which made us all go warm and fuzzy inside, even... but I wont name names.
Listen to the music of the late great Fela:
Shakara Oloje
Trouble sleep, Yanga wake am
**I don't really know what this word means. See here.
*Shakara meaning. Yanga is a synonym.
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