Last weekend I saw friend and artist Natalie Cooper at the open studios at The Paxton Centre after treating myself to lunch at the Chatsworth Bakehouse, and mooched about afterwards seeing more art, before walking back via Sydenham Wells Park to see the sunset.
Sunday was the Forest Hill Stanza, which had both familiar and new faces and managed to put me in a good mood. Aside from this, I submitted work to different places and spent my last free Monday picking up my new NHS smart card from central London, working through emails and applying for various things. I’ve started to use Trello to organise things I need to do, which has been helping a little bit with overwhelm when it feels like there’s too much to do, though I can still become frustrated when it feels like something is taking a long time.
I started back at uni on Tuesday, which felt very strange without half the year group. It was quite intense, especially after it appeared that our protest piece (protesting the Transformation Project) had been tampered with over the summer. The ‘Safeguard MA Art Psychotherapy’ part had been taken down, so the words we used had been effectively co-opted by the SLT. So, a few of us took to dismantling this.
I had started to feel unwell this week, which always seems to happen just as I’m getting into a good new exercise routine. I rested as much as possible on Wednesday, before having an interview for a tutoring agency (successful) and work on Thursday. I also felt my energy was restored enough to see Gaffa Tape Sandy, supported by About Bunny and really big really clever, who were both great too. Everything was busy again on Friday, with lesson planning and work.
I’m concerned whether I’ll get much support from Universal Credit, seeing as I’m a part-time student (albeit ineligible for student loans) and I am getting just enough income to almost cover my rent (but I need so much more in order to save for my tuition fees!) So, I will have to use savings meant for a buying a house (hilarious) to pay for my rent this month, and of course I’ve just found out about all these grant application I could have done but have likely missed the boat now. Someone donated £100 to my crowd funder, which is extremely generous! Now, if I could get 30 people to do that or 300 people to donate £10, then I’d be okay!
Watching: Girls 5ever, The Simpsons, This Time Next Year (film), Joker (film)
Reading: Suffering Insanity by R.D. Hinshelwood, The Complete Short Stories by Saki, In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (audiobook)
Podcasts: What Now? with Trevor Noah, The Louis Theroux Podcast
Music: Gaffa Tape Sandy, About Bunny, really big really clever, The Last Dinner Party, SNAYX
Again, if you’re able to share or donate to my crowdfund as I train to become an Art Psychotherapist, or buy some books, please do!
Poet on page and stage. Creator of She Grrrowls. Facilitator. Writer. 