It's always something.
How clear the words become.
So, on the path to fixing.
Orion and I (photos, previous post) had root beer floats. We discovered that ice chips could be skipped across the water just like stones. He was as thrilled to triple-skip his ice chip across the pool as any boy ever to skip a smooth stone across a Norman Rockwell pond by the train rails, quiet on a Saturday and warmed by the sun.
Oh wait, it was a girl-- and it was me.
Anyway. We had fun.
I'm still good at skipping stones---thanks Dad.
On fixing, it was back to the realization that this is a tough time for lots of people. We're working with a skeleton crew--- lots of hours and lots of hats. It takes a toll, especially the stress.
I'm not very good at stepping off the wheel to recharge. I tend to plow through. A good trait for emergencies and deadlines, but not so good for long-term. I'm learning.
By Tuesday I was a bit better, having rested and watched a movie or two with Aubrey (including Pontypool) and played with Orion. I was ready to get back to work. As I sat with my feet up I played with clay, making little things, including tiny Poppets. By Wednesday afternoon I was in full swing, so much that as I zipped around the corner from studio to house I slipped on the tiles---ceramic, very slippery and quite rigid. Then I enjoyed a lovely demonstration of the laws of physics--- in slow motion, of course--- and jarred my entire body and split my lip, creating a Jackson Pollack-ish painting in red on the floor and giving Spencer, who arrived moments after, some distinguished new grey.
Dammit! Foiled again.
So, okay. I'm still learning some things the hard way.
A couple of days of no sudden moves and pain meds, which tend to make me grumpy. Reading and on-demand movies. I tried working. I read email from a customer with a legitimate shipping complaint and I responded to her pretty much like the soup Nazi.
Add shame to the mix.
The good that came of it is that we all agreed that the artist should leave customer service to the professionals.
Now it's Saturday. I slept late, I chipped away at the looming backlog of photography. I'm still extremely sore, but my lip is pretty much normal sized. I rinse with salt water several times a day. I'm trying not to grouch at the kids. So far, so good. The "fix" holds, oddly. I still find myself able to step away and back, as I did with sun and root beer floats, so that I can forget about the bumps in the road.
What road? All these moments seem to take some other shape. It's so weird, and so human, the way we imagine ourselves on a path, traveling in a specific direction toward the future "up ahead."
I don't know what it is I stumble upon. For today, I'll be content with the stumbling. At least I'm still moving. I'll do my best to bat away any dark moods that try to sneak up on me.
There's root beer in the fridge. I checked.
Hope you have a good weekend.
13 comments:
The new stuff is super cute Lisa.
Lilly is adorable.
I'm in the middle of resolving a "shame" issue of my own and I find that sense of "embarrassment" for lack of a more accurate term is just as intense as it was when I was a teenager. It becomes it's own barrier too. So I sympathize.
As to the mini-poppets it's funny because there has been a discussion here about Poppets and Brains and familial structures. Baby brains are young brains but we sort of think of Poppets as outside age. If there were little Poppets we think they would be the size they were choosing to be. Not necessarily offspring, but they could be choosing to be small to observe and experience what it might be like to be offspring or they might be choosing to be small to play with seeing things from a different view.
Or since Poppets can have whole universes inside maybe small Poppets are growing their universes.
Or they are just interested in SMALL today. It was academic until you made them : ) Now two are on their way to join Poppetropolis so I suppose they will tell me then. The same way Chip and the Brains let me know that all Brains stick together, but some have affinities for others and their relationships to each other and Poppets are multilayered. Still figuring that out too.
Hope the new week is better for you.
WV is Waymaxie - the new brand name for girly time machines.
Re: large, regular and mini Poppets -
Personally, I think that they're all the same size. However, some of them are slightly further away in another dimension, while some are rather closer. It's like perspective - closer objects appear larger, more distant appear smaller - except done at a right angle to all three of our normal, visualizable dimensions.
Tricky poppets.
They are definitely not offspring.
They are definitely for thinking about size (and all that goes with.)
Poppets know that the only thing we can count on (so far) is light.
Poppets know that 'relative' leaves worlds of room for play.
drinne: I've learned (thank you, Poppets) to forgive myself for being a silly human. We all misstep. For me, if I boldly accept my screw up as my own, I can move through it with a bit of grace.
david: well put. Poppets are tricky.
Robert: thank you. Hopefully I can lure us all into a sense of cuteness comfort, then whomp us on the heads with something truly scary. It's a plan, anyway. As David said, Poppets are tricky.
WV is 'freadjus' I'm drawing a blank at the moment, but it's a great word, full of potential for smarter wordsmiths than myself
fishpaste!!
sbrain is me. That's what I get for getting to work late.
Oh my. So sorry about your acrobatics. I hope you're feeling more "normal" soon. Whatever normal is. ;-)
Mini-poppets... hehe. My crew wants to know if they taste like skittles. I said when they quit asking me that question I might consider bringing one to the Satellite for a visit. o-O
I'm hoping that other varieties of Poppets will also begin explorations into the matters of size, perception and relativity, as I'd like to see Mini Red Poppet with colorful company. :)
The little autodidactic brains are wonderful, too. I need more display space...
So sorry about the slip-and-fall, Lisa, but am happy the results were less severe than they might have been.
Word v: diglit. Which is either a slang term for one who appreciates good books (in which case, it's me in spades) or an adjective describing a quality of light that focuses on fingers and toes. (Which means it might not touch Poppets, since we don't know whether they have toes, and their little hands in their mittens give no indication of digitation.)
I'm overthinking this, aren't I?
And I don't have anything to add to my last post, but the word v. is now "perworm", which is just too amusing not to note!
I like the mini-Poppets, particularly if they are indeed reflected Poppets from another dimension. Cool.
Sorry you are battered and bruised. I am good at that sort of thing, too (looks ruefully at large burn on back of hand). The physical world is uncanny sometimes and not to be trusted!
Lisa, sorry to hear about your brush with gravity, and the subsequent bruising, ick. All my bruising has been on the inside this week, ick.
But i had a very good weekend with my folks, helping them with computer issues and helping my dad learn a new gadget that will let him convert his STACKS of old VHS tapes (going back at least 20 years) to DVD. He is happy :-)
On my way home i was turning things over in my mind while i drove, and had some ideas tumble out, so today i will create something. Something for P.O.T. :-D
During Balticon, our GOH Charlie Stross wore a t-shirt that read "I make stuff up." i liked that, i think i want one that just says "i make stuff." Cause it's easy for me to forget that when the ceramic tiles of life send me skidding for a bit, grrrrrrr. i make stuff. i make stuff. And i will today.
Hi Lisa
Sorry to hear you fell, hope you are on the mend. There is something very jarring about falling over. As a child you can take such huge knocks and get up fighting when the older you get the more it freaks you out when you fall.
Sending you lots of love and healing vibes xx
I've tried to tell people that we artists aren't always great salespeople/ customer service people/ people people. And I got bitched at for it. I've tried and failed- I'll stick to the art. I'll hire one of my models on as customer service and sales- she's got talent...
Do you mind if I quote you from this blog, in my blog? I'm having a hard time convincing some people that artists aren't necessarily the best people for communicating with customers. Especially me. I'm as customer friendly as a clam in a freezer.
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