Monday, October 10

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

We had a brief shower, but it wasn't snow, so good news.

My husband and I cleaned the pony/goat pen, dumped it on the compost pile, and then pulled a few beets for him to take to work.

He took tons of the new carrots with him, since he likes them fresh in his lunch for work.

I used the little vacuum we just got again, and even though I vacuumed two days ago, it filled the cup in minutes. It never fails to amaze me how much crap is stuck to that one area rug. Mostly cat hair.

I went to pottery, and I didn't have any other errands to run before I went, so I was able to get there earlier than usual.

The other two ladies that I see often came (none of us had pressing Thanksgiving commitments, or had already done them).

I wasn't very happy with my throwing results today, nor the last couple of classes. Either my personal expectations have gone up, or I can't throw for shit right now.

One of the ladies stayed later, and we got talking. Not sure if I really understand her views on things, as she even seems to contradict herself many times.

She will first comment that our pottery group does need to find ways to help people improve their skills and get instruction, but even though she has all kinds of skills, and even had some formal training, she says it "is not her job to teach people how to do pottery". Frankly, it was a bit harsh. She more or less stated that she paid good money to learn what she knows, why should she give any of her time to teach these people who are apparently "too unmotivated to educate themselves". Yikes.

Then she spoke at length with the other lady about her own daughter's long, extensive mental illness and how serious it was, how REAL it is (people are always saying half of it is in her head, but it isn't!) and how little support there is for people with her issues.

Later on, she said that "everyone these days says they are so stressed! Stress didn't even exist as an idea fifty years ago! People didn't feel stress like they say they do now! Social media just tells them they are stressed, so everyone just mopes around and talks about how stressed they are."

To some degree, I get what she is saying. Stress wasn't commonly used as a way to describe life situations that were difficult to deal with. It is a fairly new, general term for everything from health problems to time management. I understand how new words can shape our perception, and if we PERCEIVE ourselves as stressed, it can become a mind set.

That said, don't we also have all kinds of songs, poems, novels, and personal stories, tales from the bible, and so on that describe great sorrow, tragedy, worry, fear, pain, suffering, heart break, regret,over work, money troubles, hunger? We might not have used the word "stress" the way we do now, but I'm pretty sure people were experiencing many of the same states of mind. We just have a different way of framing them.

Here is an interesting article on the topic of stress: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.539799/full

I got to the point where I didn't really understand how she could have such opposing ideas, and say all of them in the same evening.

Not an easy night, conversation-wise.

I managed to clean up in time to make it to the grocery store. Thankfully getting groceries was uncomplicated. I am always thankful for being able to get groceries.

I DID forget to get cash for the contractor's wife. We are supposed to pay cash for her work, as he doesn't want to claim her income. Sigh. Like I really want the inconvenience of pulling out tons of cash. Oh well. Supposedly we are getting a good deal on her labor, but I'm never sure how much her presence moves the project along. It's not like I'm there watching to see how much work she is doing.

It makes sense to have a less skilled helper around to do things like clean up or run to town for more materials, etc. I will have to take their word for it that it is helping to have her there.

Today I learned that the Roman Emperor (Valentinian III) was on good terms with Attila the Hun until his sister(Honoria) sent Attila her engagement ring and asked for help to escape betrothal to a senator. Attila took this as a marriage proposal and demanded half the western empire as dowry. When the Emperor refused, Attila invaded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila#In_the_west

Comments

[sherlockishere]

You read such interesting things! I enjoyed both articles. Now I'm afraid I don't remember that much about the time of Attila and should go review a good history text!

[gottawonder]

I don't necessarily read the entire Wiki page about the facts I post, but I do often kind of skim through them. I am hoping that sooner or later, those little factoids start to make connections with each other (and they often do later) that help me understand the world just a little bit better.

I really do think the concept about "stress" being a new way to relate to life situations is interesting, and I wonder if it HAS made people feel differently than people earlier than 1950. I'm sure they just called it something else, like exhaustion.

[ratunderpaper]

They may not have had "the words to say it", but I can guarantee that the conditions of stress, angst, anguish, sturm und drang, tension et cetera have always been in existence.

I think I've gathered about six vacuum cups full of dust and hair in the last few days. how long has it been there?

[gottawonder]

That was my thought too, is that though having the word "stress" has given us a new way to feel all of those emotions, I'm sure that it's not like people were magically just happier before that word was invented, as this woman seems to have been suggesting.

I have only vacuumed twice since I got our little vacuum a few days ago, but the cup filled both times, and almost entirely from the one area rug. That rug at one endis right in front of the room where the cat litter is, and where they get fed, and under the computer chair at the other end. It sees a lot of traffic.

[ratunderpaper]

Things sounded rather crunchy during the first vacuuming. Must have been crumbs of dog biscuit and dried chicken.

I'm going to do the main floor later today. We had people for Thanksgiving-Friendsgiving. Who knows what was tracked in? Here comes Virgo with a vacuum cleaner!

[gottawonder]

With five cats and an often outdoors in the manure dog, our main floor is pretty gross.

The litter that we use is part of the problem, because it is compressed wood shavings. I choose to use it because it is easy to dispose of (dump it in the bush to decompose naturally) as opposed to the clay based litter (haul fifty pound trash cans to the dump and have to dump them by hand at the transfer station because we are rural).

The litter tracks EVERYWHERE, in spite of me having those anti-track mats all around the box, and that rug which you would think would catch most of it.

All over the main floor are drifts of hair mixed with this sawdust, and I can sweep and vacuum multiple times a week and get tons of this gritty fuzz every time.

I am used to it, but I don't like how it must look to the rare folk who visit.

Right now they don't have access to the upstairs, which is mainly storage, and I don't feel that they ever need to go up there. I am thinking the same for the basement.

[lantairvlea]

Typically when all your art feels like crap it is because your eye has advanced beyond your skill and a jump in abilities is near as your body figures out how to create what the eye perceives.

I don't understand the hoarding of knowledge. Yes I worked my butt off for my skills, but if I can help someone else bypass some of the mistakes I made and get there faster, why not? I may not invest hours into instructing them (that's my job), but five minutes to alleviate someone else's frustration with a task isn't doing me any harm and teaching helps solidify the skillset.

[gottawonder]

Yes, I have experienced the change my perception of art, then seen improvements in my painting. I've seen it with my riding too, or at least in the perception (haha!).

It's a funny thing, isn't it? You never see anything the same way again, once you start...seeing. I've talked enough with my husband, and we've gone to enough art galleries together, that I know his eye has evolved too, and I bet it's not something he ever thought he would have as a skill.

He's even gotten to the point where he will comment on how bad the riding is in movies. We'll both be insufferable to others.

I am with you all the way on helping other people develop. Why not be that ray of sunshine that holds the key to someone's next stage of achievement? This is one of the few ways that we can make the world a better place. Sharing what we know.

[lantairvlea]

Chris and I also comment about horses in movies. The carriages and harnesses are now of particular interest!

Hopefully you can shake off your art funk soon if you haven't already.