staying up late

over the past ten years, i have spent my fair share of time fighting to stay awake as the kiln plugs along, running out to the shop to check it every fifteen minutes. praying for the cone to bend, NOW dammit. i also have to get up often in the middle of the night to turn up a bisque firing. if leif owes me favors (we play cribbage for favors), it is a small slice of heaven to poke him in the shoulder in the wee hours and have him run out for me. sometimes...if he's really out of it, i can convince him to do it even if it's not his turn.

i hate trying to stay awake...it is painful and i'm sure kills brain cells. 2 days ago when i fired my big kiln for the fifth time...i purposefully started as early as possible so not to suffer the late night drama. i shut her down at the blisteringly early time of 10pm and then leif's plane was hours late....we went to bed at 3am...not good. as i was driving to the airport, feeling sorry for myself i was shocked to see so many people who apparently regularly stay up this late as a part of their job. the flight attendants and crew were waiting on the curb for their shuttle, the shuttle drivers (several of them over 65 i'm sure), rent a car folks and the dude at the parking toll booth were all on the job. i now am remembering that my mom used to drive railroad crews and she would get called in the middle of the night to transport people. all i have to do is check a kiln for crying out loud...she had to keep a suburban full of big rr boys between the yellow lines while having terrible night vision.

i'm feeling less sorry for myself now...at least i get to be at home while i'm trying to stay awake and nobody dies if i doze off for a few. as i enter into my second decade of potting though, i am making an effort to get my work down in a somewhat normal time frame and not trying to pull crazy hours before a deadline...i'll keep you posted.