Maid Therapy (and a request for assignments!)
 

I want to be the kind of person whose apartment is worthy of an ApartmentTherapy.com nod. Instead, I'm becoming someone Ellen Hovde and Albert Maysle might want to film. Since my father passed away, the one place I allow myself to wallow is at home alone. Sadly, I leave behind evidence: unwashed floors, unwashed dishes, neglected cat pals, etc. I waste away, growing a marsupial fat storage pouch, watching episode after episode of Weeds. At this point, with all my thrown together odds and ends, I'm no candidate for an Interior Decorator of the Year award, but I’d settle for an Honorary Very Clean Apartment Award. The first step in conquering a problem is admitting you have one, so I'm making a public confession to de-scandalize my shame. I've scheduled an appointment with a maid for next Tuesday. If I can't get my **** together, I'll pay someone to help me. Maid therapy!

And from this stepping stone, I hope to reestablish an area in my home for creative endeavors such as drawing, writing, and the like. I've discovered that when you lose someone you love you can lose a thousand little pieces of yourself along the way. My family, Erik, my friends, and my work are the thread that keeps my stuffing from falling out. But at home, where I lack both energy and impulse, I unravel. I entertain by distraction so I don't have to think about missing a man who was both a father and a best friend, a person who took up a lot of space and time in my life.

In my eulogy, I said, “The problem with loving someone who has died is that it feels so unrequited.” What was true the week he died is true now. It’s not enough that I was lucky to have had a father who loved me and was proud of me when what I want is a father who loves me and is proud of me in the present tense. I need to move past this useless want so that I can be happy with the lot I had, which was tremendously special and good. More, I need to recognize that what I had then is part of what makes my life so wonderful now. I had a father who helped me to make wise choices. My regrets are minimal in no small part because of his influence. He was also an artist who nurtured my own work, and I feel like I'm staring into the face of his memory and smirking at it.

My life before my dad died is very similar to the life I have now. It’s like two parallel universes kissing. What’s from this one is the passion I once had for creation. I love my family the same, my boyfriend the same, my job the same, my friends the same, but my lonesome self bores me. I hate being by myself. For a girl who was once fiercely independent, this is very troubling, hurtful, and confusing.

So…I am enlisting help from those who care about me. Send me your marching orders, please. I’m taking requests, looking back at my school days where assignments were handed out, and while completing those assignments new inspiration would emerge and my own would work flourish. Tell me what to draw, tell me what to write, and I’ll select the assignment I want to work on each week with a hope that this will resuscitate my dimmed brain spark. I’ll use social media to share the results, if there’s an interest.

Your pal,
Audra

I would like to read from you, a poem, short story or haiku about a playground full of sand, taken from the POV of the sand...
:cheers:

Write a story about the Venus de Milo and all the people that come to see her from her point of view. And go in-depth about a weathered old man who comes to visit her everyday.

Make a piece with Erik as the subject - but not from your point of view. I mean, no "here's how I feel about him" stuff.

Visual, verbal, whatever medium you wish.


Good luck on the therapy!

A humorous short story that mentions a goldfish, a basketball, and a fine triple-creme brie. They do not have to be central to the story (unless you want to)

Nude self-portraiture for my personal review

A short story about the Maid's experience cleaning your apartment. What she sees, what conclusions she comes to from viewing your belongings.

..and the mortification experienced as she stumbles across (fib)

Write a letter to your father, dated today. Catch him up on you.

Next, write your father's reply as he would have expressed it. Capture his voice.

This is a concept I have for a curated show and I will assign it to you in hopes that you will finish and exhibit along with others.

I would like you to create a Self Portrait "Passport" of places you've been - not physical places necessarily, but places your mind has gone. A page with a stamp for each "location" and some bit and pieces representing this "place". It would be lovely in book form but not required.

Lisa, I am going to work on your suggestion for long term, starting the Wednesday after the maid comes. I will probably need a month to complete this assignment, from that date. Thank you!

I will be making a list of all the suggestions and will let you all know which ones I chose to complete. In addition to L's, I am going to try something completely new, per Susan's suggestion on Twitter, which will coincide with a gift I'll be making for my mother for her birthday.

Already feeling inspired; thanks, all.

If anyone else is up for the "Passport" project, jump right it!

The passport project sounds amazing... hmmm...

I would LOVE to do the passport concept. I'll try...

Do, or do not...

Yep, I'm digging the Passport project, too. What a nifty idea!

Thanks! I wish I had 10 more curating ideas. I have some great opportunities coming my way.

Man, I love that Passport idea - and if we weren't underway on a large/long-term project of our own, I'd totally hop on.

EH, you have your hands full with ideas right now, but Tom and I will collaborate on some good ones for later down the line.

3894, I'm considering doing your assignment, by the way. I miss my Mom and I'd sure like to hear her voice, even if it's from the end of my own pen.

Meanwhile, I need some maid therapy of my own. 55/50 is spilt all over my apartment. ;)

Oh, how I heart the simplicity of this home's interior. It's a lovely less-is-more approach. Inspired by the cardboard "taxidermy" art and the cello nook. I want to learn to play the cello just so I too can have a cello nook. Home improvement projects added to the list!

Take up the tuba: it's more fun!

Totally! It could be a wonderful way to wake up Erik every morning!

No, thanks. Cello or piano or accordion or all three or...nothing. Probably nothing.

Chicks who play accordian ROCK!



(no, this isn't my photo- but that's the lead singer of Stolen Babies)

Looking them up immediately.

Hey: what about Judy Tenuta:

Or Vermilion Lies:

EH: On eBay you can get relatively inexpensive cellos, and even the Suzuki method instruction books. My cello's not the greatest quality (I have to chalk the tuning pegs or they slip), but for something I wasn't sure how much time I'd have to dedicate to (and indeed, my poor cello has been untouched for the last 6 years), it was a good choice to go with the cheaper cello. And the sound is just fine!

I would advise, however, that you have a proper luthier set the bridge (they're usually shipped with the bridge out to prevent damage). I broke two bridges that I'd set myself and vowed that next time I'd get it set properly by a professional.

Just (less than 2 hours ago) saw a band with a cello. You need to play one. You'd be the coolest.

No cello: TUBA!

cello.

Accordian!

A pretty woman with a properly positioned cello is an engaging visual.

Have you ever seen a woman playing a tuba? You might not be so quick to dismiss it if you had!

Cellos can rock, too- Hall of the Mountain King by Apocalyptica.

You'll never be asked to carry a piano somewhere in order to play it.

Go with piano (due to the carrying issue my mom says choosing cello in high school was the stupidest thing she ever did (though I suspect hyperbole since she did have me before graduating high school)).

If EH took up the cello I might faint dead away at the absolute hotness of it all. *fanning face*

BTW if anyone wants to take up acoustic guitar...mine is sitting around. :(

I have a piano in storage.

I have a tuba four

Thought about it from time to time, but then I remind myself that the $50 for a guitar would repair the bridge on my cello, in which case, I could just be playing that again.

For Kevy - Devotchka at Coachella 2008



But who says you can't have it all?


Okay, so it's a bass not a cello...

And a Sousaphone...

I have a tuba Ben-Gay...

aww. thats a shame. thats a beautiful guitar and you were doing pretty well from what I could tell. keep it around.

that future blues-man T-bone Sloan will need it eventually, Im sure.
:snap: :cool: :snap:

Haven't picked up a cello yet but I'm working on a few things, starting with The Lonely Telegram.

Wow. I'm wide-eyed, reading these. The visual presentation is stunning. I hear them aloud in my head in a wistful, echoed monotone. Very, very nice.