Day 52: observe movement

#52 Go to a cafe or taqueria and observe movement for 1 hour

At Borderlands, a.k.a. the cafe around the corner, a.k.a. the sci-fi cafe, a.k.a. my favorite cafe, a.k.a. the nerdiest cafe in San Francisco, from approximately 6:25-7:18pm, the following movements occurred:

Youngish guy pulls his hair up into a ponytail

Older guy digs into the front pocket of his sagging jeans. He turns away from the counter to walk away, then turns back and says something to the barrista

Young woman working at the cafe walks briskly and efficiently across the room to clear dishes from a table. Her narrow hips swish very slightly.

A guy carries something long and heavy in a custom bag. He has a bounce in his step, but his upper body is a little slumped and his chin is tilted slightly up.

Two women shift their things on the table top minutely to indicate making room as another woman approaches

Man opens door, quickly backs up and closes it again. Then, satisfied, re-opens the door and enters. Inside, he leans casually against the counter on one elbow. Later, two elbows on the counter and right knee popped.

Cafe worker guy crooks his elbow and points with inflated chest

Man sidesteps to sit in archair

Guy comes out of bathroom and subtly checks fly/belt

Owner makes 2 tentative thumbs ups

Cafe worker makes arm waving gestures as he recounts his failure to explain something properly

Owner takes a swooping step on his left foot to answer a question after he has started to leave

Guy sitting reading pulls at his sideburn with a thumb and 2 fingers

Counter leaning guy returns to counter, not leaning, but rubbing his lower back under his belt line, inside pants, pulling his shirt up a little in back in the process

Ponytail guy, seated, leans forward to scratch his ankle, and drops his head for a moment

Guy browses magazines, hands in pockets up to the knuckles and one foot in front with just heel touching the ground

Cafe worker guy moves mugs from a higher shelf to a lower shelf, 2 by 2.

Woman pulls scarf up over her face briefly, while listening

Man makes slight shoulder shimmy and repeated palms up gesture while talking

Woman walks with her arms by her sides, hands slightly flexed at the wrist

Day 51: Meditate

#51 Meditate or sit and be simple/still for 30 minutes

I've had an on-again-off-again meditation practice for the last seven or so years. More off than on at some points, as I have a tendency to abandon it in the times when things get busy or difficult and when I probably need it the most. At the beginning of this year, on the suggestion of a Zen priest, I decided to take daily choice out of the equation. For the month of January, I am sitting 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Short, but regular. Seems to be working. I'll reassess in February.

So this was bonus meditation time. 30 more minutes of letting my mind wander away and then fetching it back again. I heard recently someone compare the ego to a very enthusiastic puppy. You don't want to kill the puppy, but you also don't want it running the show.

I'm enjoying the spaciousness built into the last few prompts, this chance to catch my breath.

Day 50: celebrate

#50 Celebrate 50 by cooking and eating with a friend or several. Make it a holiday.

Halfway! I celebrated by making soup and salad and enjoying it (along with a bottle of wine) with a beautiful and talented friend. Happy holiday!

Day 49: Revisit or burn

#49 Revisit all material if you are saving any of it. Or burn something.

Probably should have gone with burning.

I'm not saving any of the material in my body, but gosh, there is all of this documentation. I started from the beginning and so far have read and watched through day 15. That took awhile. The overall impression is that it is A LOT OF STUFF. For the most part I view all that stuff more kindly with a little distance. And I see why R, when she did her 100 days, started to wonder what was going to happen with all of the stuff. Where was it leading? Christy suggested the possibility of giving the whole pile to another artist to do with as they please. That has a certain appeal.

Day 49 was actually yesterday, but I'm going to extend it and continue to look back through stuff today. And I'm going to light a candle on my alter. Maybe I'll even burn something.

Day 46-48: three days of rabbit holes, third day

#48 (third day of rabbit holes)

UPDATE 1/18/14: Computer more or less fixed! Hooray! In celebration, I watched all of the footage of me tiptoeing around the studio. That was such a surprisingly fun task. Here are some of the moments I like:



Original Post:

My computer died. A nice young man at the Apple store tells me it's just the video card. It should be back by the weekend. For now, this means no video documentation is going to be posted.

Day 48 was a couple of days ago. I had an hour of studio time and flared up neck injury. I decided to play with the funny tiptoe walk that Parker did for about 15 seconds in our second improvisation on day 42. I walked around on my tiptoes for about 45 minutes, which ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would. It felt a little silly. I felt freed from trying to be interesting - I'm just walking around on tiptoe after all - and yet, I felt a little theatrical at the same time. Strange characters started to emerge.

Video to come. I promise to edit it down from the full 45 minutes.

Day 46-48: three days of rabbit holes, second day

#47 (second day of rabbit holes)

Rabbit hole based on bed making in #41 "Repeat while cleaning".



I am choosing not to be embarrassed about the silliness of this. PLAY IS SERIOUS!

Day 46-48: three days of rabbit holes, first day

#46 - first of three days of rabbit holes

There is that definition of insanity as doing the same thing and expecting a different result. But on the flip side of that coin, you can't do the same thing and expect to have the same experience. I repeated the inkblot painting exercise (my apologies to Bruce Conner). What I had experienced the first time - a pleasantly engaged and open state, perhaps - this time was laced with frustration with my materials and distraction. I was experimenting with working on printed paper. I repurposed a page of "In Dance", which fittingly enough, was an interview with Christy about her piece This is the Girl. The folds that were already in the paper made the folding to copy ink over difficult, and the images I had scattered around the table from the paper were distracting). The process was still fairly enjoyable overall, and I like the product well enough. But this was a reminder about the way that expectations can diminish in the moment experience.

Distractions and frustrations and expectations aside, here's the thought I came away with:
The inkblot process marries choice and chance
The product of the inkblot process is a sort of a repository of moments