Monday, May 19, 2008

DIARY ENTRY 16

from M. S.
to maketodayhistory@gmail.com
date Fri, May 9, 2008 at 7:21 PM
subject MRS may 6th Diary
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com

hide details 7:21 PM (3 hours ago) [MRS - May 6th Artist Diary.doc]


Reply



Hi Ingrid,



We met at Waterfront the other evening with Ewan, and I promised i'd write something. No alter ego though - just my initials.



So you'll find attached my May 6th diary. Only just realised that it has to be between 600 an 1000 words. mine is probably over. please feel free to edit as it suits you.



I've left out direct references to my name and the names of most of my acquaintences. they'd prefer it that way. Have no idea what you were looking for, but hope this works and is at least marginally interesting.



Best wishes,

May 6th Artist Diary

A day in the life of MRS

1:30am Just put down my palette and paints, rinsed out my brushes. Yellow ochres, Browns and blacks meld as one down my kitchen drain. I’ve spent the last 3 hours painting the sun kissed arm and bare back of a little boy named Omar – A character in a story I’m working on. I feel satisfied with my attempt to capture his youthful determination to pluck a mango from the top of a tree. Capturing the light and shadow of his vertebrae was hard to do. Maybe I’ll work on his face tomorrow.


6:00am Woke up like clockwork to the blue morning sky. Fell asleep on the couch again. Too early. No pressing commitments. Gone back to sleep.


8:00am A blustery wind wakes me up. It knocks my town sets of chimes about like leaves on a coconut tree. The blue sky is now grey. Not my kind of colour or my kind of day. A little inconvenient because I want to take a photo of my painting, as I have been for the past few mornings, to chronicle developments.


8:05am I Call R to borrow her digital camera. No answer. Talk to A.B. who’s back in the land.


8:10am R calls back, she’ll leave the front door open. I only have to walk next door. Peanut, her cat, is here sleeping in my chair. I’ve given him milk and a few pats on the head to distract him from the mother and baby pigeon seeking shelter on my balcony. The wind is too strong for the baby bird to fly.


8:30am I lock the door, leave the cat sleeping inside. Walk up the stairs to R’s apartment. Not intending to stay long. Just get the camera and run. It never turns out that way. I sit on her couch and we old talk while she gets ready for work. I’m having an easy day.


9:15am The cat sleeps through the rumble of my blender as I make my usual breakfast shake. I like to keep it interesting and vary the ingredients somewhat, but it’s always got in 1 banana, a lettuce mix, and rice milk. Today I add ½ a cucumber (peeled), sesame seeds, some ginger beer concentrate. Sometimes I’ll add some coffee, peanut butter, arugula, or sorrel concentrate. Most of my friends think it tastes too green. Works for me though!


9:30-10:30 Chat with my uncle, mother and sister in that order. It’s phone call time. Make an appointment with my accountant; touch base with graphic artist – not a good week for him – computer problems. Unfortunately his problems are my problems. I Make some more appointments, send and receive a couple text messages. Take photos of painting, turn on the computer, check and return emails, let the cat out, start to work in earnest.


11:15am Oh the throne, the heavenly throne! Nothing like it!


11:25am I look out onto the south coast from my balcony. Can’t see the horizon – cloud covers the sea from Oistins to Bay Street. This is all day weather. Not much rain though. Uhmm! Shower is hot. Surprising… solar power not affected by the grey skies.

11:55am Time to water plants, make lunch. Am hungry. Amazing how the day goes by. More phone calls, text messages, I live my life on the phone.


12:00pm A slice of Bajan salt bread. A shot ah Vodka to tide me over. Too early? Put some pre-seasoned blue shark on the stove. I contemplate the beverage. Whoever heard of vodka made in Jamaica? Mauby pocket, can’t buy no Absolut. Does this even taste like vodka? Or really good white rum?


12:30pm Ate shark. Spoke to sis – crisis moment. She’s travelling with my mom on Thursday. Will not be the last time I speak to her over the next couple of days.


1:43pm Somebody burning onions! Called my lawyer. Can’t believe I actually got through. Progress even slow is always good. Shark went down so good had to have a little siesta. Just got back up.


1:50pm Ok. Just went to the stove. Turns out it was me burning onions! My intention was to pickle them in some balsamic vinegar, then put them on the stove to give a head start. Fell asleep. Not good. There’s a lesson in this somewhere. That’s the end of the pot. Might have to change the couch…too comfortable.


2:00pm Called A.D. my sound engineer extraordinaire. Didn’t get through. He’s keeping me back. I can’t do my work until he does his. Neither of us will get paid until we do.


5:04pm A cousin stops by to collect the bed he’d loaned me to accommodate my house guests. Let the cat in. let the cat out. Feeling peckish, I eat a sweet concoction of peanut butter, ice-cream, sorrel syrup and bananas. Have been working on computer since 2:00pm.


6:12pm Just got back in from an emergency drop off of the camera to R. Had to travel all round the flipping world just to get from Clapham to C&W. A trip that should have taken 5 minutes tool half an hour. Didn’t know the C&W main entrance was all dug up. Tried to cut through the no-entry-from-both-ways short cut, but took a swift right back up the gymnasium hiss when I saw the police ticketing a driver in a jeep. Poor fellow. Me, I had to continue all the way up to Fort George and come back down through Upton just to get to the C&W back entrance. Which had it not been for the RBPF would have been just a second away.

What can you do with all this driving and wasting gas but enjoy the view? Bajans trying to get healthy, striding around the track, children and people coming home from school, cars in endless traffic and construction everywhere!

I’ve seen better views.

6:16pm Had to drive all round the flipping world just to get back home too. Thank god for cart tracks! So park the car, chat with my neighbours in Apt 1 and 2, let the cat in and get back to work.


6:20pm So of course my stomach’s hurting. Kinda overdid the peanut butter… still trying to find my sound engineer.


6:30pm Just opened my light and power bill. Surfing the net, looking at the Nat Geo sales, the latest on Hillary and Obama.


7:21pm Watching American Idol top 5 online. Had some soup for dinner.


8:04pm Watched Alanis Morissette on Yahoo music Live sets. A new experience for me. Listened to Univited, So Unsexy, and You Learn. Talented girl. Graphic Artist is back in business!


8:24pm Photoshopping the shots of my paining. Getting tired.


9:51pm Drinking a pot of coffee to stay awake. Have to pick up friend from the airport. Miami. Rested for about ½ hour.


10:28pm Sitting outside the arrivals waiting on Suzy. Coffee or no coffee, still sleepy. Atmosphere feels muted. Will use this time to write tomorrow’s things to do list.

Midnight Just got in from dropping off my friend - after a cup of peppermint tea and a slice of Mammie’s pound cake. Trying to decide whether I should go to bed or stay up and paint Omar’s face. Who knows… only tomorrow will tell…

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NOTICE OF THE PROJECT

MAKE TODAY HISTORY

This project by the artist Ingrid Persaud aims to record an ordinary day, Tuesday May 6 2008, in the life of people in Barbados.
If you are in Barbados on May 6 all you do is keep a diary of your day, between 600 -1000 words, and email it to her.

It will function as a time capsule capturing for history what people did on that very normal day – what they wore, what they ate, where they went, what transport they used – just the stuff of a normal day. It is not about recording extraordinary events.

The records will ultimately be available online for all to share. Keep a record of the day and send to:

maketodayhistory@gmail.com

You can email it anytime between 6 and 9 May 2008.

Please tell your family, colleagues and friends.