In Which the Artist Reveals That Her Priorities Might Be a Tad Screwed Up, and Also, More Than You Want to Know About Her Digestion

So, my true love, who loves me more than anyone ever has except maybe, arguably, one or two of my already deceased cats, bought me this fabulous present.  He bought me two classes in jewelry making at the DeCordova, two!  One of them was two months long, meeting once a week for three hours, and it ends tomorrow morning; the other was just four classes, also meeting just once a week for three hours.  He spent a tidy packet on this endeavor, including class materials.  And then our lives proceeded to get in the way of my actually being able to go to them half the time.

I'm supposed to be in class tonight, in the fourth of the four-class series.  I missed the third class in this series because my true love accidentally took the car to work and didn't realize it until he was too far away to come back, but it didn't matter because I was being hammered by my personal biology anyway and probably couldn't have gotten much out of going.  So you'd think that tonight I would make an extra hard effort to get there, especially since I actually like this class better than the other one, as it has netted me more practical skills that I can actually use in the future, at home, without flame.  However, right as I was leaving the house, the quarter-pound of delicious organic prunes I ate today decided to remind me of their existence all at once.  This meant I would be late.  What with one thing and another, tricking the cat into eating something good for him, trying to clean up the living room in prep for my true love coming home from a weekend in D.C. tonight, etc., suddenly I was very late, rudely late.  So I decided to blow off class, stay home, do laundry, and crochet.

I hope the instructor does not take it personally.  I sort of felt like forces were combining to prevent my attending.  Still, I feel bad that I didn't say "thank you" or "good-bye."  I hope that I can get a chance to try to take another class from her, even though I freakin' hate school and hate having this huge block of time pre-carved out of my week.

But I will not think about any of that right now.  It is out of my hands until February, at the earliest, and I accept that.

Instead, learning from the divine Yarn Harlot, I will just sit here and look at the wool.  The wool is soothing.

And hey, at least I found time to blog.

Comments

[Bipolarlawyercook]

Bummer. I occasionally teach a class, and I LOVE getting notes from students that they've learned something. Maybe shoot the instructor an email or a note saying you were sorry to miss the class and thanks?

[Sara]

Yes, I'm going to try to obtain her e-mail somewhere, because she really did help me an enormous amount -- and in only two sessions! It's like she unlocked my metal muse just by teaching me two riveting techniques. (And by riveting, I really mean riveting, not just interesting.)

Of course, I also told her that in class, repeatedly, but while I know that's nice, I also know it's not the same as actually showing up. Gah.

[alphabitch]

It's amazing how life can get in the way of having a life sometimes. Working half time, as I am now, I wonder how I ever managed to work twice this much. Who has the time???

[Sara]

No, it's true. And then I remember that when I was significantly more busy, I didn't really manage it very well at all, which is why I slowed down.

Still, right now I essentially have three jobs (housekeeper/cook, artist/photographer/crafter, and writer), and I was in school until about two hours ago, and we have this new (used) adorable sick cat.

And for dog's sake, I'm a blogger! Cheeses! How am I even doing this well?

Oh, my sainted coffeepot!

[alphabitch]

"housekeeper/cook, artist/photographer/crafter, and writer"

I think that's what I want to be when I grow up!

[Sara]

Once upon a time I was doing all that and also had a day job. In fact, most of my life I did all or most of that and had a day job. (The housekeeping part? Not so much.) And yes, it was too much. Having a loving patron is not something I take for granted.

For the record, I completely suck at the housekeeper part.

[Michelle]

Hey I have the same job, more or less, only with puppies instead of a new (used) cat! And I translate some things too. Whee.

I *completely* understand hating that chunk carved out of the week. That's actually a big reason why I decided not to teach this semester. And I haven't regretted it for one moment. Guess I just like doing things when I like doing them too much.

Spoiled? Whatever.

[Sara]

Another complication is that my true love is in school nearly full time as well as working a full-time job. He is home a lot. When he is home, I am pretty much not working; I am running errands, tending him, tending the cat, etc., because I do not have enough time to myself to go deep inside myself to make stuff. So he's home four days a week, I have class two days a week on top of everything else I'm trying to do, and that leaves me with just about 14 hours a week in which to conduct my business, which is based on creativity, which comes from the place in me that I can only get to with hours and hours of quiet mostly morning time spent by myself after enough sleep.

Esteemed correspondent Leslee wrote a really good post recently about being a sensitive person and what it takes to be able to do creative work. I don't think of myself as all that sensitive, but what she said resonated with me. Having my week cut up in this crazy jigsaw fashion, having my time spoken for in so very many different ways all at once, having all these interruptions and distractions and directions and voices all going at once when I should be sitting still and being quiet for long periods of time so I can make things is messing me up big time. Still, Alison is brilliant and there's a lot I would like to learn from her. So can I manage another twelve hours out of my life?

I really want to. This semester was insane, though, and clearly beyond my capacity. I can't do it like this again.