A Miller High Life

Sunday was filled with the outdoors and relaxation.  I spent time with a friend and we ran through Prospect Park.  Neither of us had ran all year so just a little pain in the legs the next day, or two.  After we parted ways I'm not sure what I did.  Perhaps I cleaned my room.  Sometimes my rest days are only a haze.

***

When night started to fall I thought about a painting I started a while ago, before classes started.  I bought two beers at the bodega.  Coney Island pilsner and a Miller High Life or the "Champagne of Beers" spoken from one of my best friends from high school.  He's Swedish.  I drank the Coney while I danced and then when I tired out I turned to the painting sitting on my laptop stand on the coffee table beside my bed.

I've always liked impressionism, how the contrast between colors gave way to an image.  It was otherworldly.  To have something lo-res but detailed at the same time. I patted a few brush strokes on the background.  Halfway through I cracked open the Miller.  It was refreshing. Some argue that light beer doesn't taste good but I think this is the perfect moment for one.  End of the night and cozy under the hue of a lamp fixture that took me weeks to find the right bulb to emulate that feeling of intimacy and accuracy.

My eyes started to sink and I decided to cap my progress for the night.  Another time, when the moment is right, I'll pick it back up again and add another swatch.  I sat by the end of my bed, legs up on the mattress and head on the floor.  As I stared at my ceiling I felt at peace.  There is a Japanese fan pinned up above my bed.  I bought it seven years ago during the sweltering heat of Tokyo summer.  I was inspired by a business man on the train.  He fanned himself until the A/C alone was enough. He snapped the fan closed and placed it the front pocket of his blazer.  The entire motion without a second thought.  I thought that subtlety was beautiful and effortless.  I wanted to be able to do that.  So, I went out to find my own.  Not one with noisy patterns.  One with a black bamboo handle. A deep blue accordion with a subtle stripes of white on the creases of the fan.  A single red stripe accented the white.

Then, I took out my phone:

I saw an idea for a concept.  My final project.  I decided to sleep on the idea.

***

The next day I had work off.  I slept in.  It was unusual to go straight to school after I woke up. I've been so used to my routine of work then school that I didn't really know what to do.  There were no classes on Monday and even if I had so much time to do my other work, I couldn't get the concept I thought of last night out of my head.  I told people on the floor about my weekend and naturally I said. "I have an idea for my final project."  I tried articulating it, but it's only very clear in my head.  In reality it's a lot of hand motions and talk about I need to start buying parts now.

I started ordering a few parts that I knew I would need.  And I could use them for other projects too.  The materials to build the installation will come later once I find a concrete concept.  I'm debating whether to make it 360 degrees or a horizontal piece, with cascading fans, almost like waves.  It'll come to me once I start to piece it little by little.  Where I will derive my input is also something i've been pondering about.  Should it be musical?  A direct input from an analog instrument to create even more of a performance?  Or universal, so anyone who approaches can interact and make it feel personal to them.  Both?  These are questions I will keep in mind as the weeks go by.

It's all a work in progress.