Sunday Morning Thoughts – April 7, 2024

What a rush!

I have so many thoughts it’s insane. Let’s get a question out of the way first. I’ve been asked why I’m looking for a new job. Well, last year I negotiated a fixed term contract that is up in August. So, before deciding if I might consider staying on, I want to see what else is out there. Make more sense now?

Also, we’re gonna talk about sex today. I’ll mark the paragraph for those of you not comfortable with the topic. Feel free to skip ahead. Then there’s me writing my book. Friends who react to a crazy idea with “if anybody can do it, you can” and an actual artist telling me I have natural talent when they saw my version of van Gogh’s Café Terrace at night. Made my day.

Let’s start with that. A couple of months ago I had this urge to pick up a paint brush and just start painting. Of course, it was at night and no shops were open – or only grocery stores which don’t sell paint, brushes, a canvas or whatever else I would have needed.

Seed planted.

When we were talking team event at work I randomly searched for “painting events Zurich” and actually found an art studio that offers courses or let’s you work there using whatever materials you need. I couldn’t book the course that would have taught me how to paint a cow because I had a late meeting that day, but if that comes around again – that’s totally me.

What they do at Paintevents is that they pick a painter/a style/a technique and a painting, and they teach you how to do it. My class was called “Paint like van Gogh: Café Terrace at Night”. I was a bit doubtful. I mean, I’d never really painted. Not since school. And it started slow – very slow. We were shown six steps of how the painting was made. We worked on the background etc. then step seven was all the rest. We were sitting there going – oh, right, so we just fill in all the details on our own. Sure … none of us believed that we could. And there wasn’t that much time left either.

Here are the six steps. The first one was just to paint the whole thing yellow, then wait for the paint to dry and outline the sky, then do the dark bits, then came the patio area of the café – we penciled that in, then the tabletops, then doors/windows, the building on the top left and the stars. I just looked at the timestamps of my pictures and this took us two hours. A lot of waiting for the paint to dry and trying to be precise as to the outlines of things – trying to.

Quick aside, do any of you who paint ever switch to your left hand when your right one is tired (or the other way round if you’re left-handed)? I thought that was the obvious thing to do, but everybody else was like “you did what?”. We were talking about how our arms and hands were not used to painting like that. So, I said “well, just switch hands”. How is that not a thing?

Back to the painting. My instructor was totally obsessed with my tables being too round. Perspective and such. I tried to make them more oval but failed. Anyway, at the end I was the only participant who already had guests at her café. So, I said “it must be the round tables”. Still laughing.

Anyway, since it was a three-hour class, we had like 50 minutes left to do the rest of the painting. There was some mixing of paint involved to get green and some random techniques that diluted the paint a bit and a new brush was suddenly on my table. It was acrylic paint if anybody was wondering.

Here’s the end result. I’m super happy with it.

Do you need any more proof as to how harmful it is to give our kids labels? I was “the smart one” and that was that. It stopped me from pursuing any creative hobbies. That and being told that my sketches were no good. And yes, my IQ places me in the 99.4^th percentile, but how does that matter? How is “being smart” suddenly the only thing I’m allowed to do? Ridiculous. We need to do better for our kids. Seriously!

I did enjoy art class at school but didn’t like how restrictive it was. I mean we were once asked to paint a scene outside and there were trees. I got bored and just painted everything in a complementary color scheme. The leaves on my trees were not light green but pink – if I remember correctly. I probably didn’t use the exact complementary color scheme, but close enough. Everybody thought it was weird. That was the last time I held a paint brush of any kind. It was 31 or 32 years ago.

All that built-up creative energy was released yesterday. And what a ride that was. I got a bit bored at the beginning when we were creating the background of the painting. But when the instructor told us to just go for it – boy did I! Two hours for the guided bit and then 50 mins letting it all flow. I’m super impressed with what my brain and hands did.  

And then they wanted to give me a bag to take my painting on the train. You kidding me? I’m totally showing this off and putting it on my social media and sharing it with everybody in my contacts and I’ll be writing about it too. I so needed that.

A couple of months ago a seed was planted. Yesterday it became a fully grown tree.

I’ll be back there! I just need to write a book first. Next event I could technically take part in is on the 27th - Abstract Painting: Field of Flowers (acrylic again).

And then there was this …

On April 2 (yes, five days ago) I had the crazy idea that I could use my upcoming writing holiday to not just write – but to write an actual book. I drew up a quick concept that night and went to sleep very happy. The next day I walked into a bookshop walked around the corner where my book will go and thought to myself “all those books will no longer be needed when I publish mine”. That made me smile and I fully believed it too. I might as well put my brilliant mind to good use and be creative at the same time, right?

And when I told a friend about it on a walk on Friday, she totally believed I could do it. She didn’t call me crazy or put doubts in my mind. She actually said that she believed I could to it. How cool is it to have friends like that? I am enough of a realist to know that I probably won’t finish a full book in a week but that’s not the point, is it?

Some of you will get signed copies (if that’s a thing with ebooks).

Let me tell you a bit more about that walk. We started in Lungern and walked around the lake (Lake Lungern). It has a very distinct color and I absolutely love it. It was the perfect day – perfect company as well. We talked and talked and talked some more. We had a very expensive lunch ($50 each - no extras) at the other side of the lake and then finished our 10k loop going up into the hills a bit. So idyllic. I can totally recommend it.

Also, if you take the train from Lucerne to Interlaken that’s incredibly beautiful. Sit on the right. Trust me. (Going the other way on the left – obviously). It’s the kind of train where part of it is cog rail and the rest isn’t. The train slows down to engaged/disengage the cogs and you can actually feel it. They also have panoramic cars so you can take full advantage of the view. If you look at a map and find Lucerne and Interlaken (literally: between lakes) you can see how many lakes there are in the area. Again – highly recommended!

If you want to check out the videos I created you can find them here and here.

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This is the sex talk part.

When I got home yesterday, I listened to a podcast. I usually choose random topics and the first one that popped up was one on orgasms. Fascinating topic. So, apparently the first time a heterosexual couple has sex together 95% of men have an orgasm and only 45% of women. When it’s two women, it 95% each. There must be a point in there somewhere, but I can’t put my finger on it … although that might help 😉.

And then there’s this fixation on penis and vagina sex, which is – no surprise there - women’s least favorite sexual act (men’s favorite). So much sex education work still to be done! Top tip: look up the clitoris and be surprised by it’s actual size and what it does during sex. This is where the female orgasm lives. Then think about anatomy, penetration, stimulation and you’ll see how that’s not the best way for a woman to orgasm. Have we maybe put the focus on the wrong “thing” – size and such?

I also listened to another podcast that focused a bit more on masturbation and the myths surrounding the topic. What I found interesting here was what was said about orgasms and your pelvic floor. Orgasms are actually a great exercise for your pelvic floor muscles. Right, and why exactly did my gynecologist not mention that? That has to be easier than those weird exercises they have you do to strengthen your pelvic floor. More fun too.

And did you know that men also have a pelvic floor? I was sort of aware of it, but never really thought about it more. What I didn’t know was that your pelvic floor muscles can not only be loose they can also be tense. And that can make certain things painful and just make you feel miserable overall. Who knew?

Happy to share sources if anybody is interested.

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It’s safe to come back now and welcome back.

I’ll have some thoughts next Sunday but probably not extensive ones. Until then why not follow your passion. Think back to what you used to like when you were younger and stopped doing for some reason. It’s so totally worth it.

Another heat record day here in Switzerland today. Temperatures reached 30°C/86°F in some parts yesterday. That used to be the highest temperature we’d expect during summer when I was growing up. I’m having ice cream for breakfast.

Be well and take good care of yourselves.

A quick P.S. – a Dutch friend (the one with the benches for those who know him) was nice enough to find the original painting and put it next to mine. I think I achieved “Paint like van Gogh”, don’t you?