on the prow of an imaginary ship, hair whipping in the wind
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| fake album cover |
I knew it would be tough to get to my desk these past few days. And it has been. And I probably should be napping instead of posting right now (I'm feeling crummy and am actually on antibiotics, as a matter of fact). But dammit, I need to write!
Friday was a good news day. I finished marking on Thursday night, as planned, if a little later than hoped, spent Friday morning double-checking my math, and then delivered the graded portfolios to campus for pick-up, my writing hand still cramped up from all the unfamiliar work. In future, were I to teach again, I might abstain from making detailed comments and suggestions unless such feedback were directly requested by a student. But it's what I had to offer, this time around, and it's done now.
Almost as soon as I'd finished that fairly enormous task, which has occupied a large part of my fall, all of the suppressed anxiety about final revisions for Girl Runner kicked in. I kid you not. The anxiety must have been sitting there just waiting to pop. I literally finished packaging up the portfolios and alphabetizing them (because I am nothing if not needlessly organized), and then texted Kevin with a "Help! What's happening to me?"-style of message.
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| ooh, pretty colours |
He requested that I check CJ's "feelings" handout, which we've all been referring to with a certain amount of seriousness since he brought it home from school. (A funny after-dinner activity last week involved CJ directing me to act out, with facial expressions, a variety of feelings. Bored. Sad. Worried. Frustrated. ("Not angry! I said 'frustrated'!" "But this is my frustrated face!"
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| Pensive; also, Cold (note red nose) |
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| Tired, yet Prepared for a Challenge? |
Oh, and Happy, Excited, and Proud. I counted three positive feelings and a whole lot of not so positive ones, but fair enough. Maybe we humans have a better understanding of the gradations between unhappy emotions, and the happy ones are more mysterious, kind of lumped together into one weird and wonderful and slightly scary experiential glob. I'm noticing as I'm considering this that my happy feelings seem somehow less trustworthy than my unhappy ones. Their transitory nature seems more fragile, more vulnerable to chance (that's what makes them scary, I think). I wonder if by thinking this way (completely unconsciously) I prevent myself from experiencing Happy as fully as I could.
Tangent. Oops.
Anyway. So I went to CJ's feelings sheet, studied it for a moment, and texted Kevin back: Uh oh. It appears that I'm feeling Anxious.
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| I will slay you with my sombreness |
Less than an hour passed before the phone rang. And my feelings went from Anxious to, well, Relieved, but that's not on the feelings sheet. (As AppleApple said, "I don't think all of the things I'm feeling are on there.") The person on the other end of the phone was my US editor, calling with warm and believe-you-me very welcome praise for the newest draft of Girl Runner. Yes, I've still got the final revisions to complete, but I can't wait to get to them, and oh man, was I ever Relieved -- and no, that's not exactly the same as Happy -- to get that call. "But aren't you 'Excited?'" Fooey asked me when she got home from school and I'd reported the good news. And then she said, "Or maybe 'Proud.'" Well, maybe the latter, yes -- why not!
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| Serious writer face, with a hint of scorn? |
Hauling my feelings with me from afternoon into evening, I decided to run a little further than planned while at my daughter's soccer practice. With geeky headlamp in place, I proudly (if slowly) conquered 12km: the furthest I've gone since the concussion. But I woke up Saturday morning feeling a bit queasy and headachy, which could indicate a bit of a regression. Consult feelings sheet: Sad. But by evening, I felt well enough to get dressed up for a party. And take photos! And at the party, I felt well enough to stay out past our (purely self-imposed) curfew (given the early morning soccer game we had to get to). I was having too much fun to be Entirely Responsible. In short, I was Happy.
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| Proud. Take that, reading public |
My creative project for the weekend involved trying to take a self-portrait that could work as an author photo. It was entertaining, but I'm afraid I did not succeed. I'm including here some of the many out-takes.
"That one's pretty," said Kevin, looking through my efforts last night (see photo at bottom of post). "It could work as an author photo."
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| Calm; and possibly already had a drink? |
"But could it work as my author photo?" By which I meant, is this the facial expression I wish to present to the reading public? What feelings am I hoping to conjure up and send out into the world? I'm vain, I'll admit that up front. I'd like to look pretty in my author photo, and preferably not tired and weary. But I'd also like to look not overly serious or somber. Instead, I'd like to look like someone who you'd want to meet for tea, someone you'd trust with your story -- with your feelings. Friendly, approachable, calm, but with spirit and humour. And while I'll admit to being vain, vanity is the last thing I'd like to project.
And on this abrupt note, I must declare: End of post. I'm late to meet the school bus!Labels: Big Thoughts, party, photos, portraits, running, sick, The Girl Runner, writing
