GJ Willis' Art Notes

Today for the first time I ever I watched Excalibur. It’s a netflix movie that has been hanging around the house since June. I added it to my list during my King Arthur obsession of early summer. Overall, I liked the movie a lot. It was surprising to see Patrick Stewart, Liam Nissan and Gabriel Byrne in tiny supporting roles whilst the stars of the movie went on to have dead end careers except for Helen Mirren.

On Friday I went back to Walmart to pick up my new glasses. The new glasses I have have a bronze colored frame to them. I feel out of place wearing them. I can’t explain it they make me feel tiny. I’m not exactly tall to begin with I’m 5’3 but these glasses make the world I see seem large and me tiny. I also feel kind of dizzy when I put them on like I’m going to pass out. I suppose I’ll get used to them..... eventually. I don’t know maybe the prescriptions too strong.

Also on my second return to the Walmart optometry center I realize that my descriptions were a bit off on the Krist Novoselic-like person. In fact I’m not even sure if he looks like Krist Novoselic anymore.

Anyway, when I arrived on Friday there were more people than usual working in the optometry center. Usually when I go there it’s just this one black guy working there. I imagine he’s a receptionist/assistant/whatever. He kind of reminds me of a much older Michael from Good Times. Well, today he wasn’t there instead there was this big white guy there that I’ve never seen before. Also there was this blonde haired girl and the Krist Novoselic-like guy. The big guy was the one who gave me my glasses. I can’t think of a celebrity look a like for the big guy or the blonde, they both seemed kind of generic looking.

Today, I’m wearing a denim dress with red flip flops.

As expected the last day of the week on the start of a holiday weekend the bus was late complete with a substitute driver. The driver looked very pubescent. It was as if she had gotten her driver’s license yesterday. Also she had the heat turned on in the bus. Oddly, no one complained or even seemed to notice. I guess they were all praying that the kid wouldn’t get into an accident.

Also, yesterday Arnold wore a long sleeved beige shirt along with pants that looked like they could have been jeans. I’m not sure if they were or were not. I didn’t feel it would have been right for me to have spent the day staring at his pants trying to determine if they were denim or his usual blue cotton Docker style slacks. I’m not sure if I’ve written this before but in addition to him rarely donning long sleeve shirts I can not recall ever seeming him in jeans.

Today, I’m wearing a purple top with a lavender crocheted neckline with blue jeans and my Muppet-like beige tennis shoes. I like to think of the shoes as my Muppet shoes because these are the kind of shoes I can imagine a Muppet wearing if you saw their feet.

Top CD’s This Week

Below is a list of the cd’s I’ve listened to the most this week. It’s not in any particular order. As you can probably see this week I’ve been very apathetic as usual about new music.

Blondie-Best of Blondie
Grosse Point Blank Soundtrack
Time Life Modern Rock Collection Mid 90’s
Time/Life Modern Rock Collection C2R
Harry Nilsson-Greatest Hits
Time/Life Ultimate 70’s Collection 1976

Today the bus and light rail were both on time today. So far this week the MTA has been excellent at getting me to work on time. I’m not sure if school has started yet for the city school system. However, in previous years I’ve noticed that when it starts up the MTA service begins to get bad. If school has already started then they’ve done an excellent job no delays what so ever.

Yesterday, after spending several days working on my play and little else I finally started painting again. I’m really happy with how this latest batch of paintings is shaping up.

This evening The Damnwells are playing for free at Mount Vernon Park. I think I may go out to see them. I really like that one song they play on the radio, Kiss Catastrophe off of their Bastards of the Beat cd. They will be playing along with Ben Arnold. The song that they play a lot on the radio of his is called Zig Zag off of his Calico cd. I really like that song. Anyway, I figure I might as well get out to a WTMD concert since I believe this may be the last one of the season for First Thursdays. The first Thursdays in a month in my hometown is when all the art galleries change their displays and invite patrons to visit. I hear it’s a very festive time of the month for local galleries.

In local galleries news I’m sadenned to hear that the Angelfall Studios in Remington will be closing. I’ve never been there before but in previous years they have displayed the posters I did for the Sowebo festival. The main reason I’ve never been to the gallery is that I have no idea where Remington is or how to get there.

Today, I’m wearing a brown short sleeved Henley shirt with blue jeans and the black Walmart shoes.

Today, we got our sometimes usual male bus driver. Needless, to say the bus and light rail were both on time.

It seems that the Republican National Convention has started. I feel reluctant to get a Bush/Cheney sticker to put up in my cubicle. I think I’ll keep my cubicle a liberal version of Fox News’, Fair and Balanced slogan. So thus, my John Kerry sticker, shall remain up with no competition from Bush/Cheney throughout the New York Republican convention. However, if anyone is willing to donate a Bush/Cheney sticker I will put it up in my cubicle.

Recently, at work we learned that the two senior positions in our department will be downgraded to just one. Instead of being called Senior Tech the new position will be entitled Lead Tech.

It should be interesting over the next few weeks watching Mellissa and Richard vie for the position. Of the two Richard has held the position the longest. Mellissa was made a senior a couple of years ago when they split our department. They have long since rejoined us back into one group. Thus they can no longer economically justify two Senior Tech positions for one group.

There are pros and cons to Mellissa and Richard. The only con that Mellissa has is that she has two young children thus she may be out a lot during the year to cover unexpected family emergencies. The only con that Richard has is that he dangerously close to retirement age. The two positives that apply to both of them is that they are reliable and very experienced in the positions they hold. Also did I mention that Richard is African American and Mellissa is white? I would hate to be the one who has to chose between the two.

It should be noted that who ever loses the position will not be booted out of the company. However, their paycheck will be downgraded to that of a lowly run of the mill tech like yours truly.

Today, I’m wearing my favorite v-neck short sleeved purple top. I like it because it’s a stretchy cotton and lycra blend. I’m wearing it with my jeans and new $3 black tennis shoes from Walmart. I think I may go back to Walmart next paycheck and pick more $3 tennis shoes.

The bus and light rail were both on time this morning.

Yesterday, I mailed off the script. I hope my play is selected to be performed at Harford Community College next year. Today HCC tomorrow Towson University! Yes, I know dare to dream!

Today, I’m wearing what I like to call my Muppet shirt. It’s a bright pink, yellow, orange, and olive striped shirt. I like to call it my Muppet shirt because it’s the type of shirt that a Muppet might wear. I’m wearing the short sleeved Muppet shirt with blue jeans and new $3 beige tennis shoes from Walmart.

I’m juror number #648 out of 650 potential jurors. I thought it would be doubtful that I would be called to serve on an actual jury. At most I’ll be forced to watch crappy movies all day. It turns out the two movies they showed were Radio and Meet the Parents. It seems like every time I serve jury duty they show Meet the Parents.

Anyway, I was surprised when I got called at 3:45 to serve on a jury. I was shocked because jury service ends at 4:30. I felt that there was no way in hell that we would be selected and hear a case in 45 minutes. Heck, less than 45 minutes if you account for the time it took for us to leave the building and walk over to the other court house, take the elevators and find the courtroom.

As luck would have it the judge felt the same way to. After they took role and the judge spoke to the lawyers they decided to dismiss us all and start with a new pool of potential jurors tomorrow. Thank you God/Goddess! I’m glad that I missed out on that trial because it was a murder trial. The judge dismissed us at 4:15, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.

In case you’re wondering what I did to keep myself busy while serving jury duty without my much beloved walkman (radios are banned in the courthouse). I bought my new bag along with me. I loaded it with art supplies. I didn’t bring the Alphasmart even though they do allow for laptops in the jury room, which is odd because they don’t allow for radio’s. Anyway, basically, I spent the day sketching people. No one yelled at me for drawing them. All in all I don’t think they much noticed or cared. Maybe, if I’m up to it I’ll post the sketches I made on Monday.

Interesting Jurors: There was this woman who wore a face mask. Why? I don’t know? She definitely freaked me out. Maybe it was a clever attempt at coming up with a ploy not to be selected to serve on a jury, if so, it was good. I felt uncomfortable sitting around her. I’m sure she would make anyone who’s case she sat on feel very apprehensive about her. Was she physically sick or mentally insane? It was kind of hard to tell. However, I never heard her cough once.

Most interesting sight during my lunch break was this black senior citizen sitting at a table in front of Au Bon Pain. He was neatly dressed in a blue pinstriped long sleeved shirt with a tie and blue slacks. He wore a Panama hat and had gray hair and beard with a guitar slung across his back. He was sitting across from this man at another table and they were talking about God. It was a very surreal scene. How many times do you see a well dressed senior citizen with a guitar talking about God with a business man?

Also there was this guy standing in front of Au Bon Pain I thought for a while that maybe he was a security guard for the store. Then I thought that was silly. Who ever heard of security guard for a bakery place? I started to sketch him then he walked away after standing stationary at the door of the store for a good 10-15 minutes. I have no idea what his story was. However, he seemed suspicious of something...

Today, I wore a cream colored brown/red/blue print broomstick skirt along with an ecru colored crocheted top. Along with this ensemble I wore my new $3.00 black tennis shoes that I bought Friday from Walmart.

I am deeply distressed and depressed. It turns out I have jury duty tomorrow. I was hoping I would not have to do it. I had number 648! This I felt was a high enough number that I would not be called in. Oh, well......

The only other bad thing is that my cordless phone has gone haywire. All the lights on the phone keep blinking and I get no dial tone. I think it might be the batteries. I recall my father asking me once, “When was the last time you changed the batteries?” I hadn’t changed the batteries since I bought the phone five-six years ago. So I guess next paycheck I’ll buy batteries for the phone or a new phone depending on which is cheaper.

Right, now I’m wearing a white night shirt with a blue flower design on it. My slippers are blue.