the slowdown

I haven’t been in the studio much since Palo Alto in mid-July. Every once I a while I’ll run in and bust out a round of orders, and then I turn around and run back out again. I’ve had a lot of people visiting from out of town and I don’t want to squeeze their visits in around my studio hours, I’ve been devoting my time to them, and to myself. Right now I’m in Tahoe again with my pal Terrill, who is visiting from Maine.

There’s that little voice, telling you what to do and trying to make you feel guilty for not being better than you are. I’m waiting for that little voice right now telling me I need to get back to work and I have no right to relax so much when Christmas is around the corner, but I just don’t hear it. Maybe it’s because I feel perfectly entitled to take off right now, and I’m not putting up with any lies and bullshit from that little voice.

I helped Terrill with the ACC show in San Francisco over the weekend, helping her sell her beautiful glass, and it seemed terribly slow for a lot of people. Everyone keeps moaning about the economy going into the crapper, for real this time. Whether or not that’s true-- and I don’t bother myself with worrying about it either way—I wonder if an economic slowdown has to be the worst thing in the world. Maybe it will give everyone a lot more time to just be with themselves, friends, family, and pursue other goals in life.

Being completely out of work is stressful, and I know most people can’t enjoy being unemployed. But perhaps being underemployed for a while is not so bad. I know I can get by with less stuff, spending less on useless things. By the way, pottery does not qualify as a useless thing. I hate for people to be suffering if they are being laid off or their paychecks cut. At the same time, with the amount of excess many of us live with, I feel like I might be in the mood to cut a few things right down to the bone.

from here to there

I was thinking the other day about the painful and long process of getting from here to there. Here is where we are right now, and one is usually in the process of trying to get there. Where is there? There is where the idea has come to fruition: the art is made, the money is in the bank, and one is happy. I was actually having a dream about this the other night, and in the dream I was having the fully actualized experience of realizing there is actually here, right now. It was very intense, as dreams can be, and when I woke up I thought how I could be a happier person if I could keep this idea with me. The concept is always there, floating around me. But, I have a tendency to forget about it, and go on to being very upset that I'm not there yet. I know you do too.
Meanwhile, I'm still goofing around, not in the studio much and out of town a lot. So, posting is slow but back-to-school September is almost here, so don't give up on me yet.

yes, i'm brilliant

When I said I was taking a vacation, I meant it. I actually went away without taking my computer with me for four whole days. I did sneak my computer up to Lake Tahoe with me while we were visiting Josie, which made me feel slightly ridiculous. I only got teased a little bit.

First things first. Amy Rehnae nominated me for a Brilliant Blog Award. Thank you Amy! With these blog awards you are supposed to pass them on by nominating others, and in this case seven blogs. I guess as a blog writer I should also be a blog reader, but I'm not. I pop in and read my friend's blogs because that's how I keep up with some of them. Every once in a while I'll follow a link a friend sent and find something hilarious. And when Project Runway is on and I'm waiting for the water to boil for my endless cups of coffee, I'll read these guys. I know I probably will not be sent to Blog Internment Camp for not following the rules of this award, but I definitely want to acknowledge it, because I really love writing this blog, and it makes me very happy to know people actually read it.

Back to my vacation now...