Pandemic Performance Panorama Results

       The Pandemic Performance Panorama was definitely not your typical performance show. The class list was just a list of prompts. The showers, myself included, then needed to take the concept, interpret it in any way we saw it, and then we were judged on the creativity of our idea and the execution of it. Since the class list was entirely open to interpretation Jennifer chose to have 3 separate judges for a variety of results. The results came in separate posts. 

     I entered a few random show photos that seemed to fit into the class themes but I am going to share the ones I took specifically for the show. First up was Bad Performance. I took that one very literally. I put together a trail entry with as many things wrong as I could put into a single entry. The documentation also said to canter over the poles. The sad thing is I think I have seen actual photos of horses tacked up like this with people trying to ride them. There were 84 entries in Bad Performance. 

Margaret placed it first. Her comment to Jennifer was  (This photo physically made me twitch. Definitely the definition of BAD). It actually sort of hurt me to set this up. 

     The next class was teeny tiny performance. The first thing I thought of was micros, but I don't have tack for any of them. What I do have is a lot of unpainted micros, with a few painted micros. I started thinking about Dr. Suess (not sure how that happened) and I was thinking of the machine in the Sneeches that took the stars off or put them on. Then that idea turned into a horse painting machine. Since I had no time to build something like that I printed it on paper and I taped Hugh Can Do It to the out tube. I meant this entry to be silly and cheesy. And fun fact, Dr. Suess lived in Springfield, MA, which is also where I grew up. There were 71 entries in Teeny Tiny Performance.

      Jennifer gave this entry an honorable mention. Margaret did as well. 

     Here P.R. (who is a tiny foal) is dreaming of being a grown up show horse. Also meant to be cheesy and funny. I laughed a lot while I did these. 

     I didn't have an entry for Vintage Performance so my next class was Outdoor performance. Though when I had the idea for this photo I remembered it as outdoor photo. This would have been a better (and sadder) entry for a class with that name. But this is another entry that sort of made me laugh. There were 103 entries in Outdoor Performance. 

     The next class was Stable Performance, and another that I set up to amuse myself and be silly. I don't own a barn or any cool stable dioramas, so I printed out the most cartoonish barn I could find and set up a good collection of stable props (which I have plenty of) and finally found a use for my piggie blanket. I got to play with a bunch of props, which gave me the idea that I really need to go through all my stuff and get photos. I am not totally sure what I even own anymore. There were 68 entries in Stable Performance. 

    The next class was naked performance. When I first saw the classlist I figured I definitely needed to have a bunch of naked dolls in it. I also wanted to add the black censorship bars because I thought it was funny. And you know what? I was right. This one also made me laugh a lot! Especially the naked judge with his clipboard. I should have given him a hat. There were 69 entries in Naked Performance (get your mind out of the gutter). 

      Jennifer gave this entry and honorable mention and Mindy placed it 4th. Margaret placed it 5th.

     For sparkly performance I originally had the idea of not only pulling out all the sparkly tack but also making a sparkly blanket for a horse or two. Turns out I did not have that kind of time. I did have several pieces of this sparkly fabric and a really sunny day. So I put sparkly tack on the horses and made all the footing sparkly. I posted a video of the fabric blowing in the breeze. There were 53 entries in Sparkly Performance.

     Mindy placed this entry 5th, Margaret placed it 2nd

     

    Up next was mixed scale performance. This idea was cooler in my head. I found that I had issues with the execution of some of my ideas. This one I definitely struggled with. The idea was basically to have a herd of horses in mixed scale. Which I did, just not in a very interesting way. There were 62 entries in Mixed Scale Performance.

     Have you ever lost a prop that you needed to make an entry accurate? For other animal performance I decided to do a trail entry with Bacon, my pig. He's been wearing the pony saddle for a long while, why not let him show? I did not have time to make a pig bridle (I know, I said it a lot, but it is true. I kind of don't have any extra time) so I put him in my new rope halter and tied the very long lead rope into some reins. But I could not find my mail. So I had to take the photo in a way that did not show that the mailbox was empty. The compost pile and firewood in the background are a bit distracting. Bacon is cute and I think this entry could have been a lot cuter. Sooner or later I will set it up again properly. I found the mail as soon as I started putting everything away. Of course, lol. There were 86 entries in Other Animal Performance.

     Jennifer gave Bacon an honorable mention.

      My last entry was 2020 performance. I had a really excellent idea for this photo. My translation of that concept to a photo fell very flat. I had the idea to have someone quarantined in their house, surrounded by snacks and horse books (and wrapped in a comfy quilt). There would be a pile of packages outside the house. A couple of people had to be in masks, someone had to be selling toilet paper and disinfecting wipes at extravagant prices. I had all that, and murder hornets on the news. But this was surprisingly hard to photograph. My "house" was a couple of pictures printed out and set up in a way that you could see "into" the house. But (again) I didn't have time to create a 1:9 scale dollhouse to do this in the way I envisioned it. I also did not have enough space of my tiny table to set everything up so it was easy to see things. I was a bit bummed. But I did manage to put all of those concepts into a photo. The guy on the horse has a bag of money hanging off his shoulder. The other doll is chasing him down with a handful of money, trying to buy his toilet paper and bottled water. It's all in there, even if it is not super visually pleasing. There were 66 entries in 2020 Performance. 

     Somehow, Jennifer gave it an honorable mention and Mindy gave it 7th place (so...an honorable mention since I believe the show placed to 6th). Maybe some of my concepts got through. 

      I did not expect to do particularly well at this show. I didn't have the time I would have liked to really properly make the props to put the entries together well. I also am kind of a sucky photographer. which I already knew, lol. The winners of the classes absolutely deserved their wins. The photos were amazing, as well as the creative concepts. Congratulations to all the winners AND the entrants. This was a tough show and it was fun to think of new things. Thank you Jennifer for holding an amazing show. I got to laugh a lot. 2020 has not brought too many things to laugh about so all of them are appreciated. 

Online Show Results and Tack Room Cleaning

      I have been enjoying the online shows quite a lot. Yesterday, while waiting for the results from Pandemic Performance Panorama, I decided it was time to clean out my tack room again. It gets to be a huge jumbled mess whenever I show. Live show or Online show, I usually end up throwing all the tack in the tack room when I am done. 

       I won this awesome tack set from Cardshark Online show and I have not yet found it a proper place in the tack room. Bethany Shaw made it and I need to get it on a horse. And get another saddle stand.

      While I had everything out I decided it was time to take a photo of all of my Danielle Hart bridles together. I love them. And I sort of feel like I need more of them. Not sure what color(s) though. 

        I also got all of my Braymere tack together in a photo. I currently have 5 English saddles, 6 English bridles, a working western bridle, a vaulting set, and English breastplate and several nameplate halters. I also have regrets. I have sold at least one other English set Jennifer made, as well as a western set and my side saddle set. Times were hard when those sales happened. But I do wish I could be a black-hole collector. 

     I managed to clean the tack room, even though I have too much in it so it doesn't really look all that clean. I still don't own enough saddle racks so Bacon (my pig) lives in the pony saddle for now. At least I got things neatened up again. I should do this for my props tote as well. I have a lot of props. I am not even entirely sure of everything I have at the moment. It might be good to go through everything and take photos. Maybe it will help me think of some new performance ideas. 

     For now I will go back to waiting on some more Online show results, waiting for details of upcoming online shows and making plans for my own online show. More details to come soon!

Not Just Food

      I absolutely love fish and chips. I couldn't eat it much because the grease used to always make me feel kind of sick. I did find one place to get it where it didn't bother me. But no matter what, I would eat it because I loved it. 

      Sadly, fish and chips is not low carb. So many things are not low carb. But we got a deep frier and I decided it was time again to have fish and chips again. A week or so ago I found a good recipe for low carb fried chicken. I used the same breading for the fish, made jicama fries, and made "pickle cream" (what Travis named tarter sauce). 

     It was amazing. I really enjoyed it and we will definitely be making it again. Though I do think that I will make something else into fries next time. 

       I think I have basically decided that I am going to hold an online show. Yesterday I worked for a awhile on a class list and I started thinking of prizes, doing some research and I even played with Google Forms (since I know how to use that now) and made an entry form. I have not 100% committed yet, but I am strongly leaning towards holding an online show. I will decide soon.

      I am looking forward to the livestream of the Pandemic Performance results later on today. That is definitely something I like about on line shows. Some of them have live streams for results, the ones on Facebook you can see the results come in. I have really been enjoying it. I think I may need to offer another showing opportunity. 

A Little Better Every Day

      Every day things get a little bit easier at school. This past week I did more hours than required of training on technology. But I learned a lot of cool things that will likely be very useful to know. I also got some ideas for doll stuff that may be incredibly helpful. I am considering doing my next live sale on YouTube Live. Facebook Live seems to have had issues for people the last couple of times I have either seen a sale or done a sale. Maybe YouTube would be better. They are more properly set up for that sort of thing as far as I know. Plus that would give more people the opportunity to watch. Not everyone uses Facebook. As far as I know everyone can use YouTube. Though you may have to sign in to an account to comment. I am not positive. These are things to research and think about. 

    I did manage to get some answers that I was looking for yesterday. Plus I had a couple of really excellent collaborative chats with colleagues. Now I have a vague plan of how to move forward this year. I may have to totally change the plan once the year actually starts, but I have an idea to play with to get started. That helps.

    I also got the chance to do some research to potentially help out a whole bunch of people this year. There are certain departments where it is really important that the kids see the staff members' faces. So they need to wear those masks that have the clear window in the front. The problem is they fog up very quickly and easily and it makes it difficult to see the person's face. So I started looking into how to stop that. I found one solution that has a lot of promise and asked the group that has the most high-needs kids (and already has the masks) if they could try it out this weekend. 

     So school things are slowly getting worked out. I have slowly been able to start helping people out (my favorite part of my job is helping people) and now we have a 3 day weekend. Things are getting better. Slowly.

I have not been highly motivated to work on dolls, but this week I did pick away at this casual western lady. I have other dolls prepped and more clothes sewn, so I might work on another doll or two this weekend. But even with as tired as I have been I managed to finish one this week. That's something. 

    In other news, I may have found a new favorite liquid eyeliner. I have tried a ton of different brands over the years. lower end and higher end ones. My recent favorite was Morphe. It worked just as well as the Urban Decay one that I love, but it was less than half the price. This morning I was looking in a drawer and found an unused Colourpop BFF liquid liner. I have had it for months and never even tried it. So yesterday was the day. I almost didn't notice the magic. Even after wearing it all day, the line was slightly faded, but my wing was still perfect and unsmudged. I have NEVER had a liner work that well! All of them eventually seem to leak off my eye, at least at the outer corner. So I think I need to try this out again and see if it was a fluke or if this BFF eyeliner is going to stay my new BFF. 

     Anyway, this should be a good weekend. I am looking forward to the live broadcast of results for Pandemic Performance show tomorrow. And I think there is a Zoom hangout I want to attend later. The weather should be good too. I am hoping for a nice, relaxing weekend. 

I’m Tired

       I am incredibly tired these days. It has been a long time since I had to get up early every day, though I am not getting up as early as I will need to in another week. I am finding that the hardest part of wearing a mask for a large part of the day is I seem to be holding my jaw in a funny way. Probably to unconsciously push it out just a bit. Or maybe my jaw has been hurting because of the near-constant tension headache I have had for about a week now. Though I have NO idea why I would be tense...

      My goal yesterday was to get just one new answer. I thought it was a nice, small, achievable goal. It would have been if the one answer I really wanted was not one of two specific answers. I DID get a lot of new information. Since Cathy said such great things about it, I went and learned Google Forms. It's pretty fun. And I have seen some neat things you can do with it. There are definitely interesting things about this very drawn out, unusual professional development time. 

     I also took some more walks around the school, following the one-way hallways, to try to figure out the most efficient way to get between my classes. The Monday/Thursday schedule is not bad. I figured out a pretty good way to do that one right away. The Tuesday/Friday scheduled has me stumped. I CAN get between the classes, but it seems like a super inefficient way to do it. I need to keep working on that one. And then practice it so it becomes second nature. 

    On one of my walks I noticed this bulletin board:

     Most specifically, I focused in on this one. Perfectly fitting in with that idea, Angelique printed me out a list of brain break activities. The only thing I have managed so far was to glance at the paper and see that one of the things is to stand up. Got it. It's a tricky time right now. I really want to try to figure out how to be a distance para, but I need 2 pieces of information to really start to figure it out. Even just one of the 2 would be a good start. But I could not find the people I needed today, who may have had the information. And it is entirely possible that at least one of the things I need to know has not been decided yet. I guess I will just keep rolling with it. Eventually the answers I need will exist. 

      In the realm of things that make me happy, I am trying to make sure that anyone I made a mask for has it properly fitted so it is comfortable. We have a lot more opportunities to take them off at the moment (there are A LOT of nearly empty rooms) but when the kids come back they will need to be on for most of the day. Which I feel means they should be comfortable. And if they are also cute that is a bonus. So I have actually spent a lot of time talking about masks and ways we can make them fit better and also be more comfortable. This is never something I thought I would become well versed in, lol.

      I have been coming home very tired all this week. I think most of it has got to be mental exhaustion. I was only actually required to do 12 hours of PD over the first 11 days of school. I think I did 20 hours in the first 5 days. I did spend bits of time talking to the teachers I will be working with, and teachers that I just like, but I have spent a lot of time staring at the Chromebook and learning tricks about all of the different things Google has to offer. There is a lot. And the cool thing is they all work together. The bad part is since I am not a teacher I have very little use for a lot of things. Back to good news, if I know how to do all the tricks I can help the kids with the tech. Someone always has a question on how to do something or add something. Now I know a lot more somethings than I did. 

     Anyway, I come home very tired and sometimes have to lay down and close my eyes for a bit of a catnap. And then I struggle to function. I know I need to keep on working on dolls. I don't have time to just stop. So I have been picking away at a batch of them. Monday I cut out some clothes. Tuesday I did laundry so no doll work. Wednesday I finally sewed some clothes. Yesterday I dremeled a bunch of dolls and got started on this casual western lady. She still needs some removable cutting chaps and a head, but I at least am making progress. I am hoping later today I have the energy to get her head and chaps done and enough leftover (energy) to make a start on another doll that is in the works. 

     I feel like my posts have been super boring the last couple of days. But I don't have much of interest to talk about. I have spent a lot of time on Google. Someone else asked (a teacher friend of mine) why I am not a teacher. I think it's lack of time. If I had just a few more hours in the day, or maybe double, I think I could add that in too. 

I Don't Know

       A very important learning tool is admitting when you don't know something. Because there just might be someone around who does have the answer. Or, if you work in a school right now, when things are so unusual, no one has the answer. I have been back to work for 4 days and I have heard, and said, the phrase I don't know, so many times. There is definitely a lot that is still unkown. But here are some positive thoughts and things that I know. 

     Yesterday, Travis used a fairly complete sentence to ask me to change his calendar to September (it was still on August). It was not perfect, but it was very clear what he was asking for. Tuesday he put together enough things to tell me that he wanted to put the blankets back in the closet that had fallen out. He has had a huge explosion of language this summer. It is an incredibly positive thing. 

      I get to see my school friends. That in itself is a good thing. But to see how well everyone works together to problem solve is always wonderful. And I know not everyone works well at new things, team playing and so on. But most everyone is really trying to work together and is willing to be flexible. And we are still all looking out for each other. Always a good thing. 

     Yesterday I ran into Leah, who I worked with my first year at LHS. She was the one (or one of the two) who gave me my Christmas cactus. When I saw her yesterday I told her it was still alive. And that Ethan re-potted it for me recently. I said I would get a recent photo so she could see it. I need to dig up the picture of it from when I got it. I must have one somewhere. It has gotten big. 

      I have not done tons of doll work lately so I don't have tons to talk about. It would most likely be boring to post about what I have been learning about Google Classroom and the related extensions that work with it. My days are full of weirdness and unknowns, plus staring at a computer screen for a large portion of the day, but I can't say they are boring. A bit tiring, but not boring. Soon I will get back into some more interesting doll work. So far the only things I have done this week are cut out and sew some clothes. Maybe tomorrow I can give some updates on something, anything, that I am working on. I guess we will see. 

Questions Without Answers

      I've been back to work for a few days now and there are some things I have learned. Sometimes when you see your friends that you have not seen in awhile you cry a bit. It's involuntary and totally OK (I actually already knew this one). Another thing I learned was that there are not a lot of answers to be had. The state guidelines for reopening keep changing. So the school plans need to change. Parents are still deciding if their kids will come back for the hybrid model (in school 2 days a week, 3 days remote) or be fully remote. I have a lot of questions about the kid I am supposed to work with this year. Every time I get one answer it brings up 5 new ones that answers don't exist for. It's tough. I know that with my job things can change at a moments notice, including my schedule (every year, lol). But it is stressful not having many answers. It sort of helps a bit that no one else knows what's going on either. This uncharted territory is new for everyone. So I go in and I learn things about Google. I am learning tricks for Google Calendar, Google Keep (which I think is like sticky notes for Google and is awesome!) Google Tasks, Google Meet, and I will dive back into Google Classroom. I don't have control over most aspects of class planning. But knowing how the technology works is a big help. We'll all muddle through the next couple of weeks and try to figure things out. Try to find ways to do traditional classes when our classes will now be anything but traditional. We'll all get through it together. And maybe by the time we have come to the end of 1st term we might have a working plan. Maybe. I am not expecting miracles. But I work with a lot of really amazing people and I know, if given enough time to work it all out, we can (and have done) some amazing things. Right now is just very unsettled. 

      In doll news, things are going quite well. I am not feeling stressed about the dolls at all at the moment. I have some really cool/crazy/complex things coming up! This is the finished fantasy doll that I shared about the other day. I really like how she came out. I have some other, much less complex dolls in the work now. I am hoping that I can get at least a few done this week. I need to start prepping for my next live sale. Which will be Black Friday. Which was also my first ever live sale. I have some different ideas for this one, but I think it will be fun. 

       So most of my school days now are spent hearing "I don't know" and staring at the computer. Bits of visiting to see how everyone's summer was, wondering when we will get the answers we need, hearing that we won't really know what is going on until the students come back (partially true) and a whole lot of everyone taking care of each other. That is what we do. We look out for each other and we look out for our students. 

      At the moment no one really knows what is going on. But we'll figure it out. Travis's teacher sent me a social story for him about the new things he will need to do for school. We have already worked on some of them even before we got it. But it's good to have a bit of something. Even if we have very few answers.