Still Standing

I deserve a really nice cold beer tonight. Or two. Or three. I have finished my 4 week pose and have done so with utmost dignity, but nevertheless with great arduousness. It was incredible to observe as the artists put me onto paper, as if they somehow scanned and uploaded me to their drawing pads. Some drawings were better than other of course, but I saw myself in every single one them. One of the artists is pretty famous, and made it to the front page of reddit with a still-life drawing of a skull and a broken iphone, so I wonder if soon a nude me will be circulating around the screens of the reddit- frequenters of the world some time in the near future (if any of my friends who do frequent reddit happen to be reading this, I'd love to hear from you if you come across anything under r/pics or r/art...humor me!)

Another artist has already sold his drawing of me to a Swedish couple who are just moving into a new house and are in need of something zesty for their walls. I presume that I'll be hanging in their living room and every time they bring out their kanelbullar and coffee fika for passing guests, as every good Swede will and shall do, there will be comments thrown around about the "Hawaiian Girl" in the frame. If they hang me in the living room, that is. I might wind up in the guest bathroom instead and that could be weird (wankers.) At least the artist made some good money off of his hard work. I may have been dying a bit on the stage, but the artists are the ones who've labored for about 50 hours on this piece.

Finishing the pose was bittersweet. I'm really happy that my physical and mental endurance won't be taxed anymore, but I've kind of found a home at that school, and a very nice group of people who I had just been getting to know. I hope to model there for shorter poses in the future, or whatever it is that I can fit into my schedule (because I got a new job!) 

For the last 20 minute increment of today's pose, the students let me pick my own music (because under school rules, only the "Blue Ipod" containing an array of classical and slow-jazzy music can be played, which is nice but it gets so old, and most of the songs are ones that I don't recognize, so I can't sing along in my head or enjoy them as much) and I zoned out to the droning sounds of Carbon Based Lifeforms, and made the pose as beautiful as possible. Oh, how much nicer it is to listen to music that one likes. It was like that the first time I ever modeled; I was reclining for a friend and just picked my favorite station on Pandora and spaced out to some massive attack and other great trip hop tunes... ahh, that's the life. 

Well, I think I'm going to spend the afternoon making mulled wine and then maybe I'll meet up with some friends for a round of ice-skating (if my legs will hold me up) before heading to a pub and drinking that beer! 

* * *

On a completely different note, my hypochondriacal tendencies, which I thought I'd long lost are firing warning signals right and left, regarding chickenpox! I am so paranoid about every single little itch right now that I'm seriously going to lose my head. 

Maybe I should back up a bit. I started working as a nanny for a waldorf family of three children who recently relocated to Stockholm from San Diego. They're adorable but a bit of a handful: A tall-tale-telling seven year old girl, a wonderful but whiney 2.5 year old boy and a teething 9-month-old baby boy. I'm really happy with this job! I think that taking care of kids is something that comes so naturally to me, and I deal with them in a calm way, never screaming or anything, so generally I can get them to listen without too many tears. Firm but kind, just like Marry Poppins. I see through their attempts at manipulating me and know exactly how to find the constructive solutions to their whiny demands or tantrums. Anyway, I found out that half of the daughter's class is out with chickenpox. She's been vaccinated but could still be a carrier, and I've never had them or been vaccinated, so I'm kind of freaking out, because I pick her up from school and definitely could pick them up very easily.

I'm going to say this one time: IF I have chickenpox on my first Christmas in Sweden, I might just break into tears, (because I'm already burdened with the fact that my period is due on Christmas Eve, so inevitably the preceding cheer will be leaded with symptons of PMS; thus an itchy, floor-to-ceiling infectious rash and fever would certainly not lead to an enjoyable holiday... mmm, don't think so... Pox you evil fox, stay away from my socks.. Seriously, that would suck. 

Well, yes. So I'm twitching and panicking at every itch, and praying that my immune system will hold up until tomorrow, when I'm hopefully gonna get myself vaccinated. 

* * *

OH, right! I almost forgot to mention that it's almost the shortest day of the year, the darkest day of winter, and I'm still standing with a smile on my face. I grant myself a tap on the back for that, because I swore I'd never be able to survive a winter again, and here I am, probably halfway through. I know that the cold is still coming, and that's actually much worse than lack of light for me—I think. I'll be grateful for the sun to be coming back a bit later than lunchtime, but it's been cozy and a good challenge to myself. Well, now it's seriously time for the mulled wine, a nap, some ice skating, and then that beer I was talking about. Cheers!