I had my eyes tested after 5 years and was happy to hear there's no change but today I chose new frames, with glass ... 100euros. No more trying to slip the glass back into the thin wire frame when it pops out.
2 books from the secondhand bookshop - Bruce Chatwin and Julia Cameron - and I'm done.
It was delicious but to the next 'job' ... organising 3 nights in Rome, interviewing and creating a photo essay of a community there. There's a fabulous Belgian poet to talk with here and another Belgian, a traveler with stunning tales from a lifetime of wandering.
4 other interviews to be written up.
And a pile of packages needing posted, some promised months ago, others from recent work done.
Oh and I ordered a 40x60cm print of the hongi image for the wall.The best news ... well my Belgian's not really broken.
The x-ray came back today.
No cracks in his kneecap, just a week resting while he heals.
I'm really admire you Di: from an in-process migrant you became a self-employed success story.
ReplyDeleteAnd you did it on your own (well, I'm convinced you obviously had Gert's moral support), proving that given half a chance, many migrants are more than willing to invest their unique personal qualities in this tiny kingdom by the sea.
Your new challenges sound ever so exciting.
Glad to hear Gert's knee is OK - I know all about parts that are broken ;-)
Nooooooooo, you can't admire me yet, I'm still not doing 'steady income'. I have lots of ideas and a few irons in the fire but the proof is in whether everything takes off.
ReplyDeleteThen we'll have to have another big party to celebrate ... we'll revisit this in a year.
Gert's been very patient, supporting and assisting me in things. I'm not sure how far I could have gone without him being patient while I waited for things to build up and grow.
Your tiny kingdom by the sea has been good for me ... sure, it drives me crazy sometimes (as in this 5 week, 2 nights per week integration course) but mostly ... alles goed, fellow insomniac :)
I'm glad Gert is okay ... hmmm .... something kinda symbolic about it all. Congratulations on all your work offers and the lovely work you are doing.
ReplyDeleteThanks chiefbiscuit ... but not too many congratulations most of my work plans are self-generated and unpaid.
ReplyDeleteI'm a volunteer at the integration centre here in Antwerp and won't be paid for the photography I'm doing on the cultural guidebook to the city. It's fine, it takes me in and amongst some of the 165 different cultures that make up the city.
The trip to Rome is for the new website. I'll get comped by the hotel I'm writing about and fly Ryan Air = incredibly, unimaginably cheap flights from Belgium.
And etc ... most of my 'work' is volunteer, motivated by curiousity and etc.
The new website is hungry for content, hence the Belgian travelers, the poet, Rome and etc.
It seems 'artists' still struggle in the 21st century eh wot ;) One day I'll get my hair cut and coloured by a professional again ... now THAT will be a great day!
Artists still struggle? Really? They don't eat cake and bon and bons and live lives of ease and pleasure?
ReplyDeleteDamn. I knew something was wrong, and I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Must run. Feel an urge coming on to cut off my ear.
I was thinking, the hairdresser thing ... it's more about being in a position to go as often as need be. I feel like an alcholic confessing when I write 'it's been more than 3 years since my last cut and colour at a hairdressing salon ... but there's always so much else that's important. I really did need those two books ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope the lopping off of the ear wasn't too painful, or better still, that you were distracted by an idea for some art.