Soiree

The annual Samaritans soiree was tonight.

It was kind of full of.... finance bros.

I don't like loud crowded-with-strangers events, and I felt out of place at the start.

It's my third one though, so I knew what to expect.

But then one of the other volunteers I am very friendly with (I'm friendly with everyone on the hotline) decided I was going to mingle with her and talk to people.  

She is SO GOOD at the soiree, I was so impressed!

And I ended up having a lot more fun than I thought!

One of the awesome benefits to doing this kind of volunteer work is... the other volunteers. 

There are AMAZING people who come through the hotline, and it does a lot to counterbalance the whole "people suck" experience of life. Because not everyone sucks, and I'm around a lot of those people and it is restorative for faith in humanity. And a lot of them are 20-somethings. 

They're so awesome, truly.

I donated a painting, the wildflowers one from last September.

It brought in $300. Ok, not bad.

It's a $400 value so that's ok.

It's good when paintings can help an important cause.

Trash Dress

Immediately after work, I went down to the boathouse to power wash the dock.

It really needs it.

It's been COLD out, and the water outside wasn't on, plus last week I wasn't sure what was happening with jury duty. Now it is still kind of cold, but the water is on.

This is a cold wet job, so I wore my heavy wool underlayers and rain boots, and I made an awesome dress out of a trash bag.  So I was neither cold nor wet.

I highly recommend the garbage dress with flotation accessory.

Washing the north edge of the dock took about 3 hours.
I LOVE power washing, it's meditative.

Before

After

Escape

For the last 2 weeks, since I got my jury summons, I have had a lot of feelings, and I have been trying to get them out of my system before having to go in and plead my I-REALLY-can't-do-this case.

I went into that courthouse SO angry this morning.

I couldn't shake it.

What an awful feeling to be forced to do something like this, to derail your whole life- against your will.

They told us we would be there 9-5 until May 22.

Oh my god, NO.

After waiting for almost 3 hours, it was my turn to express concerns.

The lady wasn't having it.

Didn't care about work problems it will cause, because work will pay for it.

Didn't care about the list of work stuff I would miss.

Didn't care about the hotline, which jury duty absolutely would conflict with.

Didn't care about a 9-hour crisis response overnight shift that would conflict.

Didn't care about 2 after-work appointments I scheduled in March.

Didn't care about my 20 year work anniversary.

Didn't care about scheduled vacation days.

Didn't care about the vet appt I have for Pebbles early May.

Didn't care about after work social plans I made in March.

I had everything laid out in a word doc.

I was annoying.

I acknowledged I was annoying, but this was truly such a huge problem for me.

I said I can't do all the days, I said these are the days I absolutely HAVE to be out early.

She said no more than 2 days off.

I had to choose the day after my 9 hour overnight shift on the hotline- physically impossible (and unreasonable) for me to do both, and my scheduled vacation day May 22.

That's all she would give me.

I said I can't change these appointments, what do I do?

She just shrugged, that's your problem.

All she wanted to know was if I was staying or coming back in October.

I stayed.

I was so mad, I think I had smoke coming off me.

It's not right.

I do MORE THAN 500 HOURS A YEAR in volunteer community service.

360 of those are on the hotline, and I think my service to society is of much greater benefit on the hotline than it is in Grand Jury. GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!!!

******

They started calling names to go across the street to the main courtroom.

They did not call everyone's name.

They did not call my name.

Other people asked about that, and they said just wait, they will call more people later.

Then they sent us to lunch at 12:40, said come back at 2.

I sat under a tree and read, and tried to just ground and relax.

There were pigeons. I love pigeons.

These 2 are clearly friends, and I shared some of my lunch with them.

I went back at 1:30.

2pm rolled around, nothing.

3pm rolled around, nothing.

Around 3:45 the court people came back and said they have everyone they need, we're done, we'll get a certificate of service that is good for 6 years.

OH MY GOD I ESCAPED!

I do not know if the lady did something, put my name in a different pile or something, and I know it's her job to not care about peoples' lives, and I know she's heard everything....

I think the Universe had my back.

I'll never know for sure, but as I left I said a very happy thank you to that lady, and she was very friendly and I think??? she winked at me.

I was SO relieved, and walked home from court which took about an hour... I feel like my body is holding all the energy from it, still, and I need a little time to shake it off.

The Statue of Liberty Says Hi

This morning I was going to go paint early, then go to the boathouse for more boat repairs. 

Not fiberglass ones though, we weren't doing that today but there definitely were still lingering fumes.

But I couldn't get myself moving.

Just couldn't.

So I decided to paint after boat repairs.

Kedrin joined me.

We had a good time but it got REALLY cold and we were both miserable at the end.

I'm sick of this cold, I'm ready for warm weather and kayak season!

Here is a quick 1 hour-ish painting of the Statue of Liberty, from Battery Park City Esplanade.

8x10 oil

Fiberglass Repair

We have some fiberglass deck boats that need repair, and so does the Hoboken boathouse.

They came over and showed us what to do, and we had a joint boat repair session.

It was interesting and I learned a lot, but I think maybe all I want to know.

The gel coat that goes over the fiberglass is SO toxic.

I think you need a respirator to be working with it, and I find the fumes too overwhelming.

So, I'm glad I learned a bit, but I think it's enough for now.

Disproportionate Resentment

Today I went into the office, and since Kedrin and I are work neighbors, we met to scope out Battery Park and see how bad it is.

Because I want to paint the labyrinth there.

It's bad.

Still.

Battery Park used to be one of the coolest parks in NYC, and now it is all trash construction.

It's awful. The labyrinth I have been wanting to paint since 2024 is still all blocked off.

What an embarrassment.

I'm not sure what's worse: Penn Station or Battery Park, and that's really saying something.

After declaring Battery Park a disaster, Kedrin and I headed up to Trinity Church to see the flowers in the graveyard.

Now all the tourists want to congregate around Alexander Hamilton's grave.

(No one cared about it before the musical came out.)

We met Jack the Historian, and that was a fun encounter.

**********

From what I can tell from poking around the internets, it looks like I am stuck with this burden of Grand Jury. They are not going to care about the life derailment it will cause.

I'm going to prepare and bring a list of my dates and conflicts, which are significant.

My calendar often books 6-8 weeks in advance.

I have a deep simmering resentment about it, I know it's disproportionate to the circumstance but there it is.

Spring Tree

The weather is finally good enough to paint after work.

Here is a painting from Roosevelt Island.,

Kedrin and Zoe joined me to sketch.

8x10 oil

I used those nice Tusc & Pine convenience mixes.

Zoe left early.

Kedrin and I took the tram to Manhattan.

I can take the train home right from Roosevelt Island, but it was better for Kedrin to go to Brooklyn from 59th st.  It was nice out and I haven't been on the tram for a long time so we had a nice time. It was crowded.

Also apparently no one can take the damn tram (or do anything) without making a video of the whole thing. 

Except me and Kedrin.

It was kind of annoying. 

Oil Paint, Fire Sorcery, and Mansion-Cabins

A few boathouse friends and I went camping.

Err, cabining.

We rented a cabin. It's one of those bunkhouse deals where different groups of people might all be staying together. But no one else was there except us, so we had a 7-bedroom 3-bathroom mansion all to ourselves!

I still slept outside.

It was a gear test, and very successful.

It rained the first night and I was warm and dry in my hammock.  Sleeping outside in the rain was very peaceful and cleansing. The second night was much colder, and was at the bottom of my comfortable temp range for my gear but it was still ok. As I suspected, I was fine in anything above freezing.  Temp Sunday morning was 35 when I woke up. I didn't put up my rain tarp, but the wind sleeve worked just fine and that is a good thing to know.

I love my hammock!

******

I painted 2 paintings, both are 6x8 oil

*****

Aimee and I turned into fire sorceresses.

******

We ate so much good food. In true boathouse style, we take our food seriously.

******

We went for a wonderful hike.

Bear poop.

Don't piss off Anthia!

I climbed the fire watch tower.

****

My pack weighed 38.6 lbs.

If not for the hammock and oil paint, I could have fit everything into a regular backpack!