Last night was my first drawing class. Why oh why did I sign up for what is essentially going to be 30 hours of humiliation? This is the question I was asking myself after class ended last night. I only signed up for the class because it is recommended as part of the ‘web design’ course work. Web designers don’t need to know how to draw – I should have just skipped it! And why are there people who already know how to draw in this class? I mean, it’s a beginner’s class, so I have to assume they’re showing up to feel better about themselves. And we had to sit in a circle and tell everyone what our motivation was for being in the class and I hate talking about stuff like that with complete strangers.

The teacher is really into the concept of “creativity” as part of the class and not just learning to draw. We had to name a creative hero. Next week, we’re supposed to talk about one of our Top 5 most creative moments. Seriously, why?! I know that some people are going to have these awesome creative moments and I’m gonna be like “My peacock Halloween costume was da bomb!” I can’t think of anything better than that. There are times at work when I’ve come up with an awesome workaround to get at the information I want where it’s not available or figuring out how to knit something when the pattern is complete gobbledygook and I think stuff like that is creative, but that does not seem like it will not fly in touchy-feely land. Well, actually, if I talk about it in the precious “art dialogue” fashion, it would probably totally work. I need to learn art dialogue – make any little thing profound by saying it is a commentary on some esoteric concept or social issue. We spent so much time on creativity and almost no time on HOW to draw. Maybe it was just because it was the opening class, but while the teacher directed us on what to draw, he didn’t give any technical pointers on HOW to draw. WTF?! I did not sign up for creativity group therapy.

There are other people in the class who are new to drawing so they are at about the same level as me. When we were drawing, the teacher would walk by and look at stuff and make a point to have a comment of some sort for even the more crude drawings. And yet, he never ever made a comment about anything I was working on. It was weird – does this mean I am the worst in the class? We were tasked to draw something giant and then show it to everyone. He made some insightful artsy comments about every single one except mine. NOTHING. Not even a “throw them a bone” comment that I could tell he was sometimes coming up with for people. I swear to god, someone drew a Michelin Man and it was totally just circles on top of each other with a face that anyone could draw and the teacher was cooing about it endlessly. Don’t get me wrong, my drawings were awful, but I don’t know that they were any more awful than some of the others that he still managed to have something to say about.

I’m complaining about the class a lot, but it was kinda fun when we were actually drawing. I like to draw. The fact that my drawings suck was not fun, but the part where I was just drawing and trying to make it work and think about how to do it was fun. I think it will be a lot more fun, too, if I’m given some tools on what I should be doing. I really hope we learn some technique stuff next week. In the meantime, if you know of a moment where I was “creative” in an art class kinda way, please let me know.

Seriously, no joke, I think the concert I went to last night may have been the best concert I’ve ever seen. It certainly was the best in recent memory. As an indie band, I certainly didn’t expect Peter, Bjorn and John to rock quite that hard. The funny part is we showed up at 10 and the band came on and it was just awful. We spent 20 minutes convinced they were playing new stuff and we were like why wouldn’t you at least work in one hit in the first 5 songs? It was so ridiculous that we finally were like oh, maybe this is the opening band even though doors opened at 8. We looked it up on my phone, and yes, we were watching the opening band. DUH.

So, once the real PBJ got on stage, the show was awesome. What made the show really great is that the songs were better live than on the album. They really built off of the original songs with added arrangements, etc, while still maintaining all that makes the song great. And the main guy, Peter, was high energy, a showman – he was completely covered in sweat by the end. His voice is even better in person, too - so unique, so fun to listen to for some reason, like his voice makes me get a giddy excited feeling. The last song of the night was an epic rocking out version of one of their best songs. I’m no good at describing music or what makes me like it and where it goes off the rails for me, but a lot of times those 10 minute jam songs just get totally boring and it all seems like a bit of band wankery. But then I’ll see a band do it and it totally works. There was a moment halfway in the middle, where they totally paused for a beat or two and the lights went out and you were like oh no is it over and before you could fully finish the thought, they fully exploded again and the whole place went crazy. It was just fucking awesome – I spent the whole show with a big grin on my face.

As far as the crowd went, I did have to stand next to some total tools for a few minutes, but luckily that didn’t last too long. This woman totally shoved her way into the crowd and was trying to stand exactly where I was standing when there was no place for me to move. I was like, “you need to keep moving this is not a spot” and she said “calm down” and I semi-jokingly semi-bitchy was like “dude, you are all up in my grill.” And she kinda chuckled and backed off a bit. Thankfully, after the first 2 songs of dancing with her arms wailing about with no consideration for any other person, she continued her campaign of trying to shove her way into the front and became someone else’s problem.

Anyway - if all concerts were like this one, I would like going to concerts a lot more.

I know there are some people who don’t think about this kind of thing and just do whatever, but I often agonize about when/where I should greet people. Whenever I think about this topic, I’m reminded of high school. You most definitely did not say hi to everyone. There were strict boundaries on this – you could only say hi to some people. There were a few different categories that greetings fell into – people you don’t know and therefore don’t acknowledge, people you know but who don’t know you (popular kids, secret crush), the people you deliberately do not say hi to (guy who likes you but you don’t like him), your friends that you always say hi to, and then the acquaintances you say hi to. I seriously remember “saying hi” as being a friendship classification. As in: “Do you know Lisa?” “Yeah, we say hi.” Which basically meant that you know of each other but you’re not really close. Oh and then there were the awkward not-sure people who sometimes you greet and sometimes you don’t and you wonder if they are going to and should you? Like your freshmen year lab partner when you’re a junior. You shared some times, but now you’re in the honors track and they run with the kids who have babies and smoke joints behind Aloha Billiards on the weekends. Should you say hi? I mean, maybe they don’t even remember you. But then again, if you don’t say hi, they might think you are snobby. For me, anyway, the hallways were totally fraught with complex social underpinnings.

Once I actually left school and went into the workplace, at first I did not understand the protocol there. Like who should I say hi to? That one was pretty easy to figure out after a little while.  I decided that you must always at least acknowledge people when passing them at work. It is not acceptable to do nothing. I tend to go with the smile for people I don’t really know, and “hi” for people I do. The only exception to this rule is occasionally in the bathroom. You do not need to acknowledge coworkers at the sinks.  

So I have the work thing figured out, but I am still up in the air when it comes to the neighborhood. I always greet my immediate neighbors on both sides - I actually have conversations with our townhouse neighbors and always say hi (though not much else) to the bottle tree neighbors. But beyond that, I really have no idea. When I’m walking the dog, and I pass someone on the street, am I supposed to say hi? Sometimes, I really don’t want to. Like the person seems sketchy and I definitely don’t want to engage. So I don’t make eye contact. But is that rude? I don’t know because sometimes I will try to do the acknowledgement of the stranger and it seems like they are kinda pissed that I am staring at them. If I see someone else with a dog, I almost always acknowledge them, though, because it’s like we’re in the same club. And in the fancy neighborhood across MLK, I recognize that there is a culture of greeting so I say hi and people say hi to me. But in my immediate neighborhood, it’s different. Obviously, part of this is due to the diverse population. Maybe you’re not supposed to admit to stuff like this, but I feel intimidated at times and so it feels easier to just avoid speaking to anyone. This is not to say that I never greet people of other races in my neighborhood because there are some people that seem friendly and it’s cool and we have conversations and pleasantries. I guess I just feel uncomfortable forcing the issue. If someone gives off an unfriendly vibe, I don’t want to say hi. I guess it still feels like high school – if you go out on a limb and say hi to a new person and it’s an unwanted hi, you are totally a loser.  

Perhaps it is really not as complicated as I make it in my head. Maybe I should just say hi to everyone across the board, but that is never going to happen. I seriously will not say hi to someone who is obviously high on drugs or who is mean-mugging or who just sets off my something’s-off-here alarm. It's taxing not to have an across the board policy and to evaluate each encounter to make a decision.  But I guess because of my personality, I'm probably gonna keep doing that.

Do you have a crafty hobby? If so, looking up others’ work in that area on Flickr is kinda fun. It’s like reading a really good book in the respect that you feel at once inspired but also slightly forlorn knowing that you’ll never be able to make anything that good. I recently spent some time on Flickr looking at other peoples’ knitted work and was reminded of why I started knitting in the first place - because I hoped to be able to make stuff this nice!

1. Her sweaters are so pretty and professional looking! Her delicate camisoles look impossibly perfect. I wonder how long she’s been knitting? How much time does she spend knitting to have had so many projects in her 2007 set alone? I’m almost inspired to make something wearable again. But then I remember the Cosby sweater. Sigh. Ok, admittedly, it was my first project and the yarn was a horrible choice. Maybe I'd do better now?? I want to be her knitting apprentice and learn how to make not ugly sweaters!

2. I love the stuff these women make. Oh, especially the little critters. The squid, the hedgehog, I’m swooning from the cuteness. 

3. I can’t tell if this woman is making any of this stuff, or if it’s just photos of projects she’s seen elsewhere, but she has a great eye. I love the vintage stuff, the modern stuff, all of it.

I told myself I was taking a break from knitting for awhile, but now I see all these pretty things and I’m drawn back in…