the summer method
Here's what a day looks like for me in the summer.
On a weekday, I:
Wake up around 6:30, but realistically sleep in until 7. I take a shower, get ready for work, and get out of the house by 8, but realistically before 8:30 and I'm fine. Most of this time is taken up by deciding an outfit, as I've discovered much of my summer wardrobe isn't conducive to work attire, given it's my first time spending all of my brightest hours in an air conditioned, professional environment. I love it, just means the usual tanks and shorts don't go!
I get to work at 9, and immediately get a little coffee going for me. Double espresso, hot milk and foam. My work has one of those wonderful coffee machines that does it all. My boss doesn't get in until closer to 10, so I take my morning coffee slow and do some light reorganizing or writing until she comes. She's like me in that she needs a tea to get herself going, so I have a 10 or so minute buffer after she arrives to when she's actually ready to hunker down.
We'll spend the day reorganizing the materials library of our firm, which usually entails going through sections (we recently finished marble and porcelain tiles for an example), I doing the sorting and heavy work, she yays or nays all of our samples, and we pack the nos away to send back to suppliers. A day could also have some supplier meetings or field trips out to see furniture or other firms.
After work around 5-6, I could be doing numerous things, depending on how tightly I've packed my schedule. Some regular spots I've been in are:
- The city zine library most Tuesday and Friday evenings,
- The tea house to hang with friends
- Chinatown for pho
- Straight home for piano, bike rides, and hunkering down for art
Most Fridays and Saturdays so far have been spent out and about, and sundays (like this one) are usually my recovery days.
I've been really trying, for the most part, to keep the same passion and energy I had at school going over the summer. I've got a few concurrent things I'm keeping up with:
I've been writing letters, and am starting to trade out zines! This is a really exciting thing for me, and I'm so happy to get back into the penpal, mail, unconventional friend sphere.
I'm currently learning Etude No. 3 by Chopin, and am desperately trying to iron out the numerous kinks in Ballade No. 1. I refuse to accept the obvious that some segments of that piece are simply beyond my current skill level, and it will take me a long time for the latter half to sound any good. Frustrating!
I've been using leftover samples, like wood panels and metal mesh to make art. There's such joy in finding free art supplies! Some of the wood panels have interesting perforations and shapes to them, which make them much more fun to work with than plain boards. It's been a great way to get myself back in the oil painting sphere as well as try new things like weaving in the mesh.
I've decided that I'll keep up the 'yes' method that I've been doing for the last couple months, in that if I want to do something or am presented with the opportunity to do something, why not do it? I find myself constantly learning new things and doing new things. That's always the goal, methinks.