efficiency and a parallel universe

The process of working with clay has a certain rhythm; wet, dry, fire, glaze, fire, repeat. At times that rhythm seems painfully slow (maybe that’s just me). Every so often I take an inventory of my list of  ‘need to do’, ‘want to do’, and ‘wish I could do anything but’ tasks in the studio. In general, my every-so-often coincides with the end of the semester. It just seems like I have all sorts of extra time once classes end (it’s an illusion). So, here I am at the end of the semester and my thoughts have turned to time management.

And it begins. After making sure the snooze button was in working order (several times), I went about in a sleepy stupor planning the most efficient use of my day in the studio. These plans always involve some sort of multitasking acrobatics. It all makes sense when you’re almost awake.

Honestly, the only thing I can multitask is laundry. Yep. Sort. Throw a load in the washer. Do something else. Transfer washed clothes to the drier. Do something else. Repeat. Well, it’s not like I’m beating the clothes against a rock with one hand and baking a cake with the other. Since 1910 the washer and drier have been doing most of the work.

In the studio I have difficulty effectively accomplishing more than one thing at a time (in a parallel universe it might happen). On throwing days, I throw. On glazing days, I glaze. I dream about productive days; using every minute to create…not a wasted movement or purpose in my day. In my head it’s quite a glorious thing.

However, my prolific fantasy neglects things like lunch, phone calls, and bathroom breaks. The reality is that life requires a little down time (even Jack Bauer has to eat and pee). Sometimes I need to sit still and maybe just watch the clay dry instead of creating a week overwhelmed with more work than I can attend to.

Today, while this was all running through my head – be more efficient – I got a late start. Life. Had an early lunch (making up for lost time) and headed to the studio. After a few hours of fairly productive work, I remembered I’d left a pound of ground turkey thawing on the kitchen counter…(ugh).

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