Thursday

Another day, another early morning. I got up at about 8am and joined the others for the standard breakfast fare - granola, yogurt, and fruit. Brandon - the mastermind behind the post-session studio shift - wandered in a little late feeling kinda sick. He handed out our assignments for the day and disappeared into the shadows. We moved clay first, then went on to some individual projects. I cleaned the bathroom in the summer studio, packed up some slip, and picked up some wood. After another phenomenal lunch and a little frisbee, I got to work outdoors on the lawn for a while. Incidentally, I was asked three separate times to drive the Ass-Licker somewhere to do something or other, and three separate times I had to explain that I don't have a license and that I don't drive. Everyone was pretty cool with that.
Brandon reappeared around 2:30 and let us off the hook for the rest of the afternoon. Hooray!!

Everyone else seemed mostly interested in taking a nap, but I was pretty stoked about spending some time with my bike. My chain had been grinding pretty bad since I picked up some sand from a beach I visited in Portland, and it was definitely time for an all around tune-up, since I hadn't really done a proper one since leaving Edmonton (more than 4000km ago!!!). I took off my entire drive train (cranks, chain wheel, chain, cassette, rear derailleur) and soaked and scrubbed the parts really well. I'm not sure my bike has ever had such a treatment before. I think it would sparkle if it were silver. Monica, Jeff and Steve eventually joined me and brought me a couple bike to have a look at. Monica has a sweet little matte black single speed that was pretty well maintained. We took off her chain and soaked it, and she did a really great job of scrubbing the grime off her sprockets. Steve's bike is a nice Cannondale mountain bike that will need a bit more attention. Unfortunately, our little workshop was called on account of darkness so I will have to finish his up tomorrow.

In the meantime, most of the crowd headed down to the studio to spend the night working. I contemplated joining them just for the sake of getting my hands dirty, but I'm a little more concerned about a job I found posted at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. The deadline for applications is September 1st, so I don't have much time to get a package together and send it all the way across the ocean. One of the downsides of being nomadic is that even menial tasks can become monumental. Take my current problem: I have to figure out where my student evaluations are, find a way to print 30 pages of application and teaching dossier, find a post office in rural Maine that can deliver this shit to Dublin in eight days, and do it all from the comfort of the couch in the common room of the studio. At least it's going to be easier than trying to do it from my tent.