The Behinder I Get...

Chicago Skyline Barista Mug. "Be My Baby" covered by the Midgetmen sliding into R.E.M.'s "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville". I am terse this morning. Just gave the happy family the bum's rush out the door--Dave having both delivery and pick-up duties for school today as I am CARLESS. Normally I would be chauffeur in his car and drive him to the train station and then drop the Sprout at school on the way home. But today I wait for glass. I sit at my kitchen table looking out at the grey pouring rain and I wait for 1300 lbs of glass: A case and a half of sheet glass and 263 lbs of frit. I have just been down to the garage which is attached to the studio and there is no way in any dimension I am going to get the delivery into there. The only place for it is on the uncovered parking pad. In the aforementioned pouring rain. I have a feeling I am just going to stay terse all day.

Why, one might ask would I be terse? Don't I have a slicker and wellies? Well, no, I don't. I am from Montana. This time of year we get snow. I have snow boots and a down coat--spectacularly useless here in Atlanta. But really why I am terse--here is the shameful confession--I have an appointment with my photographer tomorrow morning to shoot my new 2-D panels for the catalog I do for the BMAC and, guess what, I HAVEN'T MADE THEM YET. The sheer arrogance one might say. Another might question my priorities for writing instead of doing. But I haven't done them because I need the glass on the shipment. I need #2 and #3 Bullseye red cathedral frit for three of them. The photo at right is a gallery shot of one of the pieces I am talking about.

Oh joy of joys (not). The trucking company just called and my shipment came in late so it missed being loaded on the lift gate truck this morning. They want to deliver tomorrow. My little breakdown on the phone convinced the dispatcher this would not be a good idea. They are going to get it out to me today. Somehow. Maybe send an extra man with the driver to get it off the truck. I tried to gently explain to her that, really, all the manpower in the world isn't going to get a full case of Bullseye glass off a delivery truck without a lift gate. She said she knows the shipment weighs 1300 lbs and they will get it off the truck without breaking it down. I console myself with two thoughts: 1) I was never very good at physics and maybe she is right, and 2) she has taken ownership and made it her problem so I am not responsible for the outcome. When it all falls apart later I will tell myself I should have known better, but I will still be ahead: I could be stressed all day knowing it would fail and then have to deal with the failure, or I could be relaxed all day and then have to deal with the failure.

Mood swing: "Stay with Me Tonight" by Jeffrey Osborne just came on. In the midst of despair there is salvation. Some music will just take you no matter what. I put it on continuous loop.