Chasing Expiry Dates

I had a busy day out and about yesterday, which means today I am mostly inside doing what needs to be done before the end of the month. Back when I was in high school and university, I always left studying for exams until the last minute.  I'd spend the last few days before the exam and especially the night before cramming as much information as I could into my head.  I don't necessarily recommend this technique, it might have been less stressful to have started to prepare earlier, but luckily for me, it almost always worked.  I only ever failed one course and that was Statistics in 2nd year university, and really, can you blame me? It was horribly boring, a whole bunch of graphs about supply and demand - ugh - and I never really got it.  I just eventually got through it, after repeating the course in summer school and even then, I only took it because it was required.  I'm still wondering why it was necessary.

As it happens, 25 to 30 years later, I still often wait until the last minute when there is a deadline or expiry date involved, even if it is doing something I enjoy.  For example, I got a coupon for a free movie rental about mid-December.  The coupon was good until the end of January and I carried it around in my purse so I'd have it when I needed it.  Here it is January 30th and I finally went to the video store and grabbed that movie today (The Social Network, can't wait to watch it tonight, I love, love, love Aaron Sorkin's writing - he's the man who brought us The West Wing, a creative genius, IMHO).

I am also cramming myself full of information as the clock runs down on an online art journaling course that started on October 1st and which ends tomorrow.  The class is called 21 Secrets and it's a group of 21 artists teaching classes on various topics.  Lots of instructional videos, handouts to print out, artwork to admire. Again, you'd think four months would be enough time to get through 21 little classes but somehow, time has passed (granted, I did lose a fair bit of time going to physio after my accident but still...) and here I am, the day before it ends, watching videos from various instructors, trying to get through all the sessions.  All the while, resisting the urge to go and play with the various techniques I am learning, because I don't have time just yet, must...keep...watching...videos!!  Not to worry, I'm almost done and then I can play.

I did take some time to get outside and enjoy this very cold but sunny day briefly, especially since we've had mostly grey days for the past few weeks.  The ratio seems to have been about 5 grey days to 2 sunny ones for the past 3 weeks but I could be wrong.  It might have been 6:1.  No wonder people get that seasonal disorder this time of year from lack of sunlight. Geez.

But even looking out my window is delightful on a bright, sunny day like today.  Look how wonderful the shadows and footprints in the snow looked this morning:

My brain kind of feels like these pictures right now. Lots of new tracks running back and forth.  I can't wait to get started DOING things with what I've learned from these courses, to start walking some of those trails and pathways through my brain and see what happens.