Laurie Johns Weblog

Spent my Tips on Oil Sticks!

Alas, the weekend was a success monetarily and also a boost to my confidence. I discovered that I can recover my mistakes by being open and honest…a smile also goes a long way. The funny thing I noticed about the mistakes I made, is that a pretty direct line from them to my own core beliefs could be drawn.  For example I discouraged a guy from ordering a rare hamburger and then neglected to put in the rare directions and he thought I was just “fucking with” him. I had to tell him, honestly, that I’m just not very good at this yet. Another customer inquired about his nachos…nachos I never ordered and nachos he really didn’t need because I knew the size the meal he ordered. I didn’t really mean to make these mistakes, its just hard to have lived this long and to not operate upon the knowledge I’ve acquired. Despite these errors, the tips were good. I spent them on art supplies, taking Ailee  to dinner and treating ourselves to mini golf at Arnold’s Park. I hadn’t been there for years and found the experience actually really charming. We had some wholesome American fun, even played a few games, won prizes that we declined to take and went inside the house of mirrors.

You see, Ailee quit her job this past weekend and I missed her presence terribly at the restaurant. On Friday night, she bought pizza for her wait staff and on Saturday, she was done. So, she too, is now free to move west with Caleb and me, but she has apartments in two cities and lots of loose ends. It’s really hard to watch your own kids struggle, but it’s also really good experience for them to work through it. I suggested that she think “big picture” which I guess is not that easy for a 20 yr old. She gave herself pretty fully to her job and her superiors despite my urgings and in the end, it was all just too much for her. I’m glad she “comes home” when things get rough.

Priming to go

For the past 3 days I have been preparing and priming 12 unstretched canvases to paint on the road. That’s about one painting a week. It will take each one that long to dry anyway, so it’s a good plan. I have not figured out how I will frame or stretch the paintings, but perhaps that will come to me as I paint them. I have already been inspired by the natural wrinkles and imperfections of each unstretched surface, some of the flaws might dictate a lot and that would be cool. I’ve been using a hollowed out coconut as my mixing vessel. I like the way it, too, influenced the process.

 Marty has been home from Korea and staying with us this past week. Caleb keeps feeding her and then telling her, after the fact, just how much saturated fat is contained, for example, in a coconut. He’s really into Japanese pastries which are basically a sweet bean inside a bed of rice flour. They all look different, but taste pretty much the same.

It’s a bit hard to believe that I’ve made it this far in life having never been a “waitress” or the non-gender specific title “server” we now enjoy. I spent my first weekend at the new Bracco on Lake Okoboji serving food and drinks. Some of my thought space was used up wondering how I could get out of it, the rest, devoted to remembering which fancy frozen layered cocktail and bronzed reef fish went where. When the pace was leisurely, I felt okay. When the pace picked up (just as Ailee finished her shift—I felt a bit lost watching her leave), I got flustered and even received 40 cents on a $63 ticket. Monetarily, it wasn’t a successful weekend, however, it was a really great opportunity to gain some experience and to establish a system for living out of my car.

Late Saturday afternoon after finishing my shift, I took a nap in my tent and awoke to rain splashing on my face. I wadded the tent up and threw it in the dumpster and moved my bed to the back of the Subaru—now I need a new tent. My phone ran out of charge on the way up to the lake too and it’s not going to be easy to keep in touch by email, but, I’ll work a regular writing schedule into my day and take some time periodically to keep up this blog. I’ve decided to sacrifice technology to the more tactile arts and to spend my free time drawing and painting—things that I can do out of my car. I don’t want to spend time looking for internet access or resources on the new laptop that I need.

The most satisfying experience was doing my sun salutations (I’m up to 36 now) on the dock facing east at my campsite at 6 AM. It was difficult to count because I wanted to enjoy each and every inhale and exhale. When I closed my eyes, an ever changing, yet cyclic impression of the sun over water was drawn on my retina. It gave me an idea for a series of paintings. Kyle, one of the owners of the restaurant, suggested that we do sun salutations on the deck there at the restaurant. I’d be happy to if people would actually commit to it; otherwise, I’m not willing to work it into the system I am trying to establish. More than anything I know what I don’t want to be a part of my life on the road. I’m looking for something pretty finely tuned—something recherché.