Artist Date

Rule number one of artist's dates is you don't talk about artist dates. Actually, rule number one is that you must go on them by yourself. I was tempted to swing by Jane's place and drag her off to the beach with me last night. I was, after all, in her home burb of Williamstown, and she had, in that telepathic way that friends can have, called me when I was getting ready to walk out the door. And she loves the beach. But I had to stand my ground. This was a date with myself, after all, and if I broke it ... well, you'd be in a pretty shitty place if you cancelled a date with yourself, huh. What are you gonna say? Oh, sorry, but I'm busy tonight. Yeah, well I know you're not, you lying bitch. Sorry, but you just don't really do it for me? I don't think the chemistry was there? Hehe. Actually, I guess in a way we cancel out on ourselves all the time. But this time I didn't want to, even if it was a relatively unimportant visit to the beach.

I know from experience these little dates are empowering things. Something to do with naming and framing a certain set amount of time for the creative inside you gives a sense of power, of hope, of purpose. I felt anticipation as I drove there. When I got to the beach, the sun was going down and the peeps were out enjoying their hot Thursday evening. Even the grouchy gelati van man didn't get me too irritated for long (I don't think asking if you have any hot dogs when the words "Hot Dogs" are emblazoned on the side of your van should elicit a grunt, but then I guess I'm not suffering job dissatisfaction in a very hot, tiny van). What was irritating were the flies and the bugs. Mein Gott, those things were buzzing into my equilibrium and I wished I'd remembered to pack the bloody Aerogard. I swallowed a bug. I don't think they're going to catch on anytime soon. They taste kinda bittery/savoury, but a good pizza topping they do not make.

I was gonna read poetry at the beach and I did read a little bit, but God was doing interesting drawings in the sky, and I felt dreamy and meditative so I just sat there and chilled a bit and watched that. Noice. It was enlivening to go and just sit somewhere without anything else to do, and just look, and observe. It really was quite purdy. I watched a man snorkelling in the water (I wonder if he found anything of interest at all). I enjoyed listening to a group of kids speak sassy to their dad (or step dad, or Mum's boyfriend, or whatever he was). People watching is a great pastime.

It's good going on a date with yourself because you don't have to worry about who pays (I went Dutch), and you know that if you put the hard word on yourself later on that everything will turn out fine. (A sad day when you suffer performance anxiety with yourself, hehe). And as it turned out, I stopped in at Jane's on the way home and had a cuppa and we sat out on the balcony and chatted for over 2 hours, so I was too tired when I got home for any shennanigans. But that's alright, cause so was I :)

I'm gonna see myself again. I have a good feeling about this one ... :)

Yeah, yeah, I know - I wore that joke so thin you can see thru it. But I amused myself.

I liked it too :)