Wheel-wonderful

I got on my wheel tonight for the first time in a long time. My wheel. The one that's all mine, that stays at my house cuz I own it. Awesome, eh? As I let my creative genius out I just had to marvel at how stinking awesome it was to be up in my cozy loft throwing with my dear heat dish at my side and a fire crackling happily downstairs. I realize though, my "studio" leaves MUCH to be desired. Like some decent lighting, for starters, more shelves, more bats for my wheel (I only have three which means after my third pot I have to turn the wheel off...*sniff*) Lighting, I think, will be first on my list. We have a couple of wall fixtures up there that I've never seen working. They are from the original builders, I'm sure, so it is time they were replaced. I have one silly lamp from college that is really pretty ridiculous and that's about it. Perhaps it's time for a trip to Home Depot this weekend!

Sunday night I woke up with a NASTY bug. But I got up and went to work anyway. There's something about teaching that makes it seem like you just can't afford to take a sick day unless you've planned well in advance for it. I hate just letting my classes flounder with a sub who has no idea what they're doing, knowing that I left my desk a total mess the day prior (No offense to you subs out there. I've done my time in your job and I know it sucks.) So I went to work with the crawling skin, throat on fire, aching ears, feverish, headachey, my-eyes-are-going-to-explode-out-of-my-head yuckiness and tried to put on the strong face. I made it about 20 minutes into my first hour class and knew it was a stupid thing to try. But I was already there so.... The day turned out to be a total waste on multiple levels. On Friday we had a mercury spill in one of the science labs and due to the clean up all of the freshmen had the day off (the spill happened in a classroom in freshman hall). My two afternoon classes are about 70% freshmen. So I had all of 8 or 9 students show. But by that time I was little more than a puddle of misery in my chair so I did something that I never do. I showed a movie that had nothing whatsoever to do with my curriculum. I hate doing that. But the day was a wash instructionally as I couldn't really introduce the next thing when the majority of the class was gone, not that I was physically up for it anyway. By the 3 o'clock bell I stumbled out to my car and by God's sweet grace made it home in one piece whereby I curled up into a pathetic ball on the couch while the tears just dripped from my eyes. It was the kind of physical pain I get when I get strep so I knew there was no chance I was going in on Tuesday. I was distressed because that was supposed to be my evening to finish my master's class paper so I could turn it in to the revision center before sending it in for my grade. It just wasn't going to happen. I got up early Tuesday morning to get to the doc-in-the-box when they opened. As it turns out, thankfully and surprisingly--knowing my record-- it was not strep but the doc thought it was most likely something viral and there was little I could do but wait it out.
Wednesday I truly did not think I could miss (tho the freshmen were STILL out of school, so really, another semi-wasted day). I could have missed it. But I actually felt a little less creepy. I ended up spending some of the day working on my master's paper while students were working so it was semi-productive afterall. I finished my paper Wednesday night and it's currently being revised so I feel AWESOME about that. But now I've got a ton of congestion and a nasty cough that keeps Adrian up at night. The couch doesn't sleep that well and we don't have a spare bed so unfortunately he's just having to deal. If I can't sleep, he can't sleep. That's marriage, right? He's a good sport.

Tomorrow we've got Halloween plans for the first time in oh... ever. Adrian is planning on being Frankenstein (you should see his costume!) and I'm going as a boring vampire. I think I've been more excited about his costume than mine. I'll post pictures for sure. Hopefully this cough lets up a bit and I can have some fun. Happy Halloween!



yes, that is a pumpkin... homegrown and strange, but a pumpkin.



And in case you're wondering, no, we have no normal pictures of us. We just look like this.

Homework is going well...

Clearly.


Fortunately the strep turned into a false alarm and never progressed beyond feeling crappy for a while (which could have been sleep deprivation) and the tell-tale white spot on the back of my throat. Usually, and I can say this as I get it so often, strep progresses quickly on me and starts kicking my butt within a day or two of the dreaded spot. So that was a relief, however...
I knew starting my Master's was going to be a lot of work but after one month with homework always hanging over my head I'm starting to get a little mental. It seems my fuse runs about 3.6 seconds these days. I hate having unfinished work on my shoulders and I'm finding that even beginning the final paper for my first Master's class an exercise of monumental proportions. I haven't written a paper in 5 years. I don't even know how to start a paper anymore. And APA citation? I don't care how many songs you make me sing about it, I'm not going to get it (you had to be there for that one.) I've always suffered from this disease of not really having much to say and having even fewer words with which to say it. Paper writing is painful. Excruciating. Akin to, oh, say cleaning a community cat box after 8 weeks of multiple patrons. Yah, it's about like that. So all week I would come home from work (or acupuncture, more on that in a minute) to a house in a state of national disaster, make dinner and attempt to pull out some of my books for a genuine start on my arts rationale paper and oh look, here's something to distract me and oh look, it's after nine. No homework gets done after nine. I hadn't read a sentence on critical pedagogy or arts modalities all week. On top of which I'm trying to design my integrated arts lesson, which I'm pretty excited about but terrified of actually starting in class. All the while the clock is ticking down to November 3rd, the due date. Oiy.

Acupuncture. Let me give some back story, and I'll try to keep it brief. I was rear-ended when I was 20. My chiropractor believed that was the initial event that led to my current neck pain. For years it has been something that came for a week or two and went for a month or two. But before school let out last spring the pain came on, I assumed due to end of the year stress, but then it never went away. All day long the aching/burning pain between my neck and shoulder made just about everything harder, but it was summer and all I had to worry about was my pottery. Months now it's been hurting and by the start of school I'd dare to say it was worse. Minutes after waking up in the morning I'd have my shoulder hunched up around my ear (I do Quasimodo very well by the way) and it would remain there, burning all day long. The chiropractor didn't fix it, ibuprophen doesn't help it (and I'm not big on drugs anyway) so I'd started considering acupuncture. I've heard so many wonderful things about it I became convinced that this was my salvation. I called around, found a doctor of eastern medicine with 30 years of experience under his belt. Figured if anyone could fix me it'd be him. He's a very sweet man with a passion for people so I felt good in my decision to commit to his recommended 12 sessions of electro-stim acupuncture. If it worked, and I was completely convinced I'd be cured by the 3rd session, it would be well worth the first-born child I promised him. Yesterday I had my 11th session after a particularly excruciating day of pain only to find it still there when I got up off the table. I cried on the way home and arrived in one of the most foul moods I've been in for a very long time. Clearly acupuncture is not my miracle and I'm just about out of places to turn. Being waist-deep in homework, enormously behind on the chinking and oiling project we're doing on the house, neck-deep in dirt, grim and dirty dishes and a brand new beautiful pottery wheel gathering dust makes having this pain go on another minute completely unbearable. Adrian puts up with my moods like a champ (in silence and distance when necessary) but I seriously need to get a grip on things. I'm thinking of scheduling a massage this week. I have a couple of gift certificates I've been needing to use. Perhaps I can find a small miracle there.

So I do apologize for not updating more these days. I'm turning to pottery now as my stress relief so perhaps you'll be seeing some more of my work coming soon. One can only hope.

short update before bed

I just had my second weekend of my first Master's class. It was another greatly rewarding weekend with some of my new favorite people in the world. Unfortunately now that I'm entering crunch time to complete the final project of the course I do believe I'm coming down with strep throat for the third time since March. According to my doc I'm dangerously close to needing my tonsils taken out. Pretty sure I don't have time for that. Anyway, as I'm feeling kind of junky I'm going to bed a little extra early. I'll update more hopefully tomorrow.