3 in the Morning and the End of the #100DayProject

 Blrg. I feel next to awful.  

I was up at 3:30 this morning for a training that started at 4.  There are many reasons that this isn't a good thing and only one reason that it is ... good, I mean.

Here's the good: The training. At the beginning of the year, I ran into a thing called the Non-Linear Movement Method. It's an embodiment practice that has roots in conscious dance and trauma therapy.  As a professional in the world of trauma AND a dancer who needs to reconnect to her body, it seemed like a good fit. Without thinking too much about it, I registered for the teacher training. We started in March, and over the course of 2 months I have realized that I will probably never try to teach this modality outside long w

orkshops and retreats, and those will likely be few and far between. Still, the information and the training, and the personal practice - TOTALLY WORTH IT.  

Now the bad: 3:30 in the morning is no time to get up. My body knows it. For one thing, I take medication at night, and 5 hours of sleep is just not enough to totally clear it. For another, well, I'm just one of those people that need 8 to 9 hours in order to be ok for the day. Even on a good day, getting up this early leaves me feeling shaky and strung out by 1 or 2. Today is exceptionally iffy because I made a terrible decision and ate 2 Pop-tarts with my coffee at 3:30 in the morning.  This resulted in a blood sugar drop at about 6 and ongoing belly discomfort. I was hiding in my bed until about an hour ago.

All in all... I feel pretty gross.

Wore Willow for the 6-hour training though, and she held up just fine. I put on a pair of Jockey under-shorts that I had never worn before, and we hit the mat. She was good for the sitting and learning portions, and she was just fine in the movement part too.  Yay, Willow!

Today also marks the 100th day of the #100DayProject.  This was my first year participating in the project, and all in all, it was great.  I've done multi-day art challenges before, but I'd always stuck mostly to Zen Tangling.  My inner baby-artist didn't feel confident enough to stretch. Over the past year though, I have really started diving into art, embracing myself as an artist, and finding a lot more confidence. That's allowed me to play - a lot. 

The #100DayProject came along, and I decided to create 100 Artist Trading Cards.  My initial intention didn't include trading, and at the jump, I thought I knew what the approach to the cards would be.  Well, I ended up joining a trading group, and I've traded with people from around the country and the world, AND I've explored techniques that I hadn't planned on trying out and freed myself up to fiddle with techniques I wouldn't have ever even classified as techniques. I will definitely be doing the project again next year.  I can't even imagine where it will take me.

In the midst of the Project, I started creating an illustrated story in a Concertina-style sketchbook. It's been so much fun that I'm already thinking of another. I'm essentially interviewing characters and trying out different techniques to bring them to life. This guy, my 100th card (done at 5 this morning...ugh), is interviewing for the Villain role.  He probably WON'T be getting the part in his current, ballpoint pen and marker costume, but I think there's a good chance that he'll show up in another guise.

RaccooWolf Interview #1

And with that, I'm closing this post.  I'm too tired to say anything else, and I think I need to return to the loo.