sabine: (Please)
I sometimes have the audacity to call myself a "potter". I've been doing it on and off for a couple of years now, and have gotten to the point where I can usually make whatever form I want. Some still elude me. But that's not the point.

The point is that [livejournal.com profile] ursulav wrote an amazing essay about what she has learned from years of ceramic, art, and writing experience. If you practice any of those three, go read the piece now. You will nod, smile, and then look around for a plate to smash. I have some bowls that will do the trick nicely.
sabine: (Cute)
Yes, I'm a little hooked on Today in Science History. How could you tell?

Famous Birthdays
Alfred Binet
Born 8 July 1857 (died 18 Oct 1911)

Sir Arthur Evans (evil bastard, may he rot in hell)
Born 8 July 1851 (died 1941)

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Born 8 July 1838; died 8 Mar 1917

Famous Events
Ice cream sundae, in 1881

~~~~~

I'm going to skip out of work early and go throw. Mmm...playing in mud...
sabine: (Dance)
I can only work on this black/goldwork project of doom for so long before my eyes join the evil thread and cause massive mistakes that need to be picked apart later. Celtic knotwork is diabolical. This is gonna look very spiffy when it's done. These two things are directly related.

Speaking of "spiffy when done", I've finished making [livejournal.com profile] lilith13's set of garb. She's gonna be very pretty. That is, she'll look very nice if I actually let her have the suede cranberry bodice. I'm tempted to hide it and say that the dust bunnies ate it. It turned out splendidly, even though the boning was a nightmare. It's not just that it looks pretty, no, it actually fits me. Granted, I can't so much use my ribs in breathing, but that's not important in the big scheme of things.

Or, I could just make my own bodice out of any of the pretty fabrics I've lovingly rescued from the upholstery remnants table at the fabric store. It's a dangerous place, truly.

My craft gears are in overdrive lately. It hasn't helped that I wasn't able to get into the Craftshop to throw for a month, and now that they're open, I'm out of money until payday on Friday. No, really, I'm out of money. I had been planning on throwing this afternoon, but when I checked the bank balance, I had to be responsible and choose meds over clay. I don't like being an adult sometimes.

Speaking of psychology, as of four o'clock this afternoon, I am officially no longer an open file on any therapist's desk. For the first time in nearly three years, I'm in neither a group nor individual counseling. When I honestly assess where I am now and compare that to six, twelve, 18, 36, or 60 months ago, I'm amazed at how far I've come.

Because of all of these things, I'd like to celebrate. All Madisonians are hereby invited to the first Concert on the Square. It's going to be this Wednesday, and the music begins at 7 pm. I'll be bringing (at minimum) a picnic blanket, a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, and some plastic cutlery. I think [livejournal.com profile] exlibris11235 has dibs on cookies, while [livejournal.com profile] jrug is looking at a good-sized jug of water and some fruit. I'm all about pretending to be sophisticated while maintaining a grad student sense of humor.

Cut me some slack: I won't be able to use that excuse for long.

So. Anyway. This Wednesday, if you feel like braving the heat and potential thunderstorms, come down to the square. I think most of y'all have my cell phone, but drop me an email if you don't. It's time for pretty music, weird people, and general fun!
sabine: (please)
This is disturbingly funny. Kind of WTF? but kinda cool.
Random rambling, cut to be kind to friends lists )
I'm going to go back to drinking my yummy chai and watching the bad guys get caught by science! Have a pleasant evening, y'all.

Friday

Sep. 24th, 2004 12:13 pm
sabine: (dancing gir)
Finally, a real update. Yeah, I know.

The season premiers of CSI, :Miami, and :New York were all splendid. I'm such an addict of that show. And now I have an extra hour of the dead body goodness each week. Joy!

I played racquetball last night with [livejournal.com profile] jrug. This was our first contest in about a year or so. I didn't embarrass myself too terribly. 9-15, 6-15, 16-14. My right arm is threatening to fall off later today due to the game, but that was expected. It was nice seeing how good throwing has been for my racquetball game. How so? Stronger arms. Go me. *grin*

One week from today a large chunk of my family will be descending upon Madison. This means I have a week to get my apartment into a condition that won't result in Mom tsk-ing me. I'd really like to avoid that. So, cleaning will be a priority next week. I need to figure out how to make room for the furniture they're bringing me, too. Stepdad wants to get rid of an old kitchen table and cabinet, so I'll get a real table instead of the folding one. Yay!

Work continues to be frustrating. I don't know why nothing wants to work anymore. I was doing so well and now I've hit that brick wall of failure again. I understand that science runs in cycles (including the TCA cycle, [livejournal.com profile] bexdragon), but I'm ready to get useful data again.

I stopped by Bruno's the other afternoon to pick up some of the good crack. I have this cookie recipe, you see...chocolate peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and p.b. cups. They're serious crack. Yum.

Studio is still going well, at least. I've finished a wedding gift for a friend. I tried to make matching mugs. They look...similar. I don't so much have the control to make anything identical. It's enough for me that I'm consistent. Speaking of which, I'm going to have to figure out how to carve claws. Hm, sculpture not being my strong point, this could get entertaining...

I've had about 60% more coffee this morning than I usually do. I'm pretty hyper. Group meeting this afternoon's gonna be fun. We're meeting to discuss what data we can send as "supplementary" for our NIH grant. It gets reviewed on Oct 22, we have until next Friday to send more data. *crosses fingers* We really need this funding.

Ok, enough randomness. Meeting, lunch, feed cells, studio, post office-type place, interstate. I've got a spiffy afternoon ahead of me. It's time I got to it!

bleah

Sep. 17th, 2004 01:29 pm
sabine: (shoulder)
I look down at my coffee-stained self and I'm thinking that throwing will definitely be fun today. I'm pretty hyped up on my good buddy caffeine, so that always helps my productivity in studio.

Yes, I know it's only the middle of September and I've been cursing the Christmas displays in the stores for a couple of weeks now, but I really do have to start making my Christmas gifts this early in advance. Example: Let's say I want to give my mother a mug for Christmas. I need to throw the cylinder (wait a day), trim a foot and add a handle (wait a day), put it on the greenware shelf to be fired (wait until the staff does a firing), glaze it and put on the glaze shelf (wait until the staff does a firing), bring it home. As you can see, it'll take me at least 4 visits to the Craftshop to make a single mug. I try to go at least twice a week, so it's not that long, but when I get my stuff fired depends largely on when the staff there decide to fire it. It's frustrating when I go in and things that I put out to be fired 2 weeks ago haven't gone into the kiln yet.

*sigh* I kinda wish I'd signed up to take the Intermediate class again. There are things that I have a lot of trouble doing - narrow forms, large forms, lids, plates, things that curve in, consistency in size - that I'm not really sure that I'm progressing on my own. I can tell that I'm improving. For that, I just have to pick up something from yesterday, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years ago and I can easily tell the difference in quality.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this hobby. At some point, my friends and family are probably going to get sick of me giving them bowls, mugs, etc for every occasion. I've only ever sold one piece, and I felt bad for asking for money for it. For the record, she commissioned me, she offered to pay me, and when I asked for the minimum material cost, she tripled it.

Ah, well. It's a relaxing hobby. It keeps me grounded and centered (puns totally intended). Hm, the studio's open now...if I hurry up and finish my work, I might be able to sneak away early. Yay!
sabine: (sure)
Go see Hero! It's an absolutely gorgeous film. I'm not entirely sure what it was about, but it was a pleasure to watch. Yes, it's over the top, but it's well worth seeing.

If you get a chance, watch Firefly. Why I didn't watch it when it was on TV, I'll never know. It's a hell of a show. [livejournal.com profile] jrug has been nice enough to lend me the discs as he gets done with them. He's also my hook-up for info on the movie that's in production. I know not the details. Go bother him.

Last night at Walmart, I really wanted to make my displeasure with my cashier known. However, in order to not be a sucky customer, I kept my smile fixed on my face and acted all understanding and such. In my head (as opposed to out of my head) I was thinking, "I need to get a spork and a holster. After I sharpen the spork, I'll be able to pull it out at moments such as these and *stabstabstabstab* and I'll feel better."


Today's email gave me some rather entertaining advice:
Your fortune for today...
Whoever said life isn't fair was cheating.

Scorpio
Everyone will be in the mood to take care of business now -- everyone but you. You'll want to immerse yourself in sensory pleasures. Fortunately, it won't be too hard for you to persuade someone to become your equally hedonistic companion.

And, when you get to start out a day by pointing and laughing at your coworkers, you know things will probably go well. My Asshat Coworker (AC) and Cool Coworker (CC) have gotten roped into TAing Boss's course. I had the misfortune of being in the same position last year. Last year, the other TA and I rebelled and said that we were too lazy to want to write or grade problem sets, so those got dropped from the syllabus. AC and CC decided that they wanted to do those. They also thing that they'll have plenty of time for their own classes and labwork. *shaking head* Fools. They shall learn the error of their ways.

I'm gonna go throw some more. Mmm...clay addiction being slowly satisfied... I've only got two more commission pieces on my list. Anyone have requests? *grin*
sabine: (please)
They brought back our vending machines!! Yay! Can you comprehend how traumatic it is to be working in a building full of caffeine- and chocolate-deprived scientists? *shudder* It was getting kinda scary over the last few days.

I'm in a bit of a quandry. I came to the conclusion this morning that I don't really need four coffee mugs at work. I think that I must keep the mug with the structure of caffeine on my desk. I'm having trouble deciding if the "WTF?" or the "Heaven doesn't want me and Hell's afraid I'll take over" mug is more appropriate for work. Any opinions?

Woo-hoo! I get to go throw tomorrow!! Must remember to bring bag of clay and tools to campus. With any luck, I'll be able to get totally muddy and covered with slip for most of the afternoon. *happy sigh* It's been almost a month since I've been able to make anything, so cut me some slack already. sheesh.
sabine: (Pirate Jen)
work ranting )


Ren Faire stories )


coffee and art )

*stretch, popping back and neck*

I feel better now. Maybe my motivation fairy has come back to encourage me to work with the Hammer of Prelim Anxiety. Or something like that.

yay!

Jul. 10th, 2004 09:45 am
sabine: (Gaiman - cool but weird)
I get to go to the Art Fair on the Square, thence to throwing. I shall update when I actually have something to say, as opposed to now, when the only things I've seen are my email and my coffeepot. *grin*


Daily Fortune
Happy events will take place shortly in your home. (really!? yay!)

Quotes of the Moment
A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for.
-- W. C. Fields

You must not think me necessarily foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you necessarily wise because you are grave.
-- Sydney Smith

braindead

Jul. 6th, 2004 03:14 pm
sabine: (Grad school)
My brains are trying to ooze out my ears. Why? Well, lab meeting went for 2.5 hours today. Normally this would just be annoying; today it was exhausting. I was giving the presentation that my committee will rip to shreds in 10 days. Granted, the comments that I got were constructive and I'll do better in front of my committee for them, but damn does it make for a long morning.

Hm...maybe throwing will bring back the equilibrium I need to keep studying and strategizing later this evening. Or I could make more jewelry tonight. That'd be fun. *sigh* But I'm still at work now. Bah, humbug.

This is truly terrifying. All of the responsibilities granted me as a cleric of the Almighty Darwin command that I do something about the existence of this book. Under normal circumstances, I'm the person most violently opposed to censorship. In this case, I'll make an exception. *sharpens spork*

Scorpio
It's a great day for romance with your heightened sense of imagination and fun. Plan an intimate rendezvous or a quiet candlelit dinner for two. If neither is in the game plan for today, then use your sense of imagination to bring your dreams to life. Reality and fantasy may seem interchangeable today, although reality may be more fun than you could have possibly imagined. So, I'm supposed to somehow romance my imagination - not entirely sure how that works, but okay. I'm supposed to plan something - do I get to participate, too, or just plan? I'm supposed to make my dreams into my reality, but reality may be more fun? But if my dreams are real, and reality is less real, but more fun, but dreams are real and so more fun, and *brain implodes*

Quotes of the Moment
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
-- Albert Einstein

My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity.
-- George Bernard Shaw, "Answers to Nine Questions"

I am determined that my children shall be brought up in their father's religion, if they can find out what it is.
-- Charles Lamb

rowr

Jul. 2nd, 2004 06:18 pm
sabine: (Handbasket)
Yay! Get to go to a DCI competetion in not very long. Ah, fun music and good times with friends. I'm just hoping that the sun doesn't decide to strike me down quite as thoroughly as it has in the past. That's why I have aloe with lidocaine living in my fridge. Yes, I know that someday I'll be diagnosed with skin cancer, due to the plethora of sunburns I accumulated before I understood that bathing in sunscreen is an important part of my "beauty" ritual.

I'm officially tired of studying for my prelim. I'm only about 8% done with the list of articles that I've assigned myself to analyze and memorize the salient points. I know that if I had to do it today, I'd probably pass with no problem, but I can't seem to get it through my head that I don't really have to stress out and put this much pressure on myself. *sigh*

So, in order to relieve some of this stress, I went over to the Craftshop for "clay therapy". I love playing in the mud. I started seriously throwing in my last year in undergrad. I'd done handbuilding and coiling in ceramics classes before, but I truly fell in love with throwing. I've taken some classes, and have been trying to get several hours of practice in each week. I'm currently making mugs and goblets - they're a bit more complicated to make, but they're awfully fun to give away. I've done some commission work and enjoyed it, but I tend to give more pieces away than I sell. It's hard for me to take money for my "babies", but I'm getting better at it. My stuff tends to be...sturdy. The teapot behind the cut's the second one I've made (yay! it lived through all the steps!), and it's a pretty good example of my normal output. *grin*

teapot )

I'm currently taking orders for Christmas gifts...we can discuss prices later. *evil grin*

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