Thursday, February 29
Mar. 1st, 2024 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Not bad for cold, and clear and sunny.
I dithered over whether or not to go to town to do some pottery. It wasn't "my day" (we generally go on designated class times/days), but it is generally acceptable to go work during open times (not during other's formal class time).
I called the one woman first, who is kind of the de facto ruler of the pottery kingdom to ask if would be okay if I worked during her beginner's class if I were discreet. She said no, because this year we had so many new beginners that there was absolutely no room. She wasn't mean about it, just stating the truth.
I was still upset though, because how on Earth were there so many people in that class that it was over crowded?
There are 24 people in that class, apparently! I know there's no way to express how many people that is for the size of that studio, but people need elbow room to work with clay, and to even expect any interaction with the instructor.
I personally would think that even 15 people would be pushing the limits of that space. My class does kind of come and go so they are staggered, but there are never more than maybe 6 people in that studio during our class time, and even that feels crowded.
Apparently this instructor has some of these people working at a table she sets up in the hallway. Not only is that likely a violation of the fire codes, but how is that okay?
I was a bit worked up about being told that I couldn't work today, since I missed Monday, and I'm sad to say, but I hated the idea that options were being closed to me. That's not anyone else's fault, but it's how I felt.
I did choose to go to town to work a bit before the official start time of the class, which is generally allowed, and if I were quick about it I could still get something done.
I struck up a conversation with a woman from this over crowded class who had come in early to work, because the class itself was so crowded she couldn't focus, and it was just crazy. She said that whenever she wanted to glaze, she could never get access to the glazes or the glazing tables because there were so many people, and she could never talk with the instructor because so many other people were trying to ask questions too.
I asked her if she was new this year, and she said no, she's been in this class for a couple of years. I told her that she didn't have to stay in this class, that she could work on one of the other days, like Monday when I throw, and after 5 there is almost never anyone even there.
She was astonished, because NO ONE TOLD HER SHE COULD WORK ON ANOTHER DAY after she had taken one year of the beginner's class.
The beginner's class is really only supposed to teach new potters how to safely use the studio, and how to do the very basic things like using the glaze, how to do a few things with the clay, and how to clean up after yourself properly to leave the studio in the best condition for the next people.
That's it. That's all it's really for.
This person, and many others likely, thought you had to be "really, really good" to be "allowed" to work in another class independently.
So, what's happening is that the beginners are staying in the beginner class FOREVER, thinking that they aren't allowed to work on their own. That means that each year, more new beginners go into this class, and the old ones don't move on.
That's how you get 24 people thinking they all have to work at the same time.
This is absolute BS, and it's going to need discussion. What we need to do, is establish exactly what a new pottery student needs to know, and to demonstrate competence in, before they can work independently in another class (because no one supervises each other on the other days).
THEN, those students need to move on, making room for actual beginners.
Also, there needs to be some kind of limit to how many new people can take classes, and an ultimate limit for how many people are in a class on other days. I can't think of ANYWHERE that doesn't have a class limit.
Then, it would be fair to have a waiting list for anyone who didn't make the class, so that they can be at the top of the list for the next class.
Well, now I have to get all up in everybody's business and get hated on by everyone, likely.
It's not really my job, but apparently managing the numbers has been NO ONE's job, so now I have to bring it up.
Probably, everyone will ignore me, unless I start talking to the landlords who rent us the space to find out about fire code. That should be fun.
So, since I also didn't get groceries on Monday because of the snow covered roads, we are pretty much out of staples like vegetables and eggs. Today my husband said that he would pick up a few essentials on his way home from work so that I didn't have to stay in town late after pottery.
He did not pick up groceries.
Now we're out of staple food items.
I couldn't be mad at him, because he was just very distracted today, but DAMMIT. Now this likely means some kind of special trip that throws us right off of our carefully greased rails.
This is what happens when I don't stick to the schedule.
Anyhow, we watched an episode of "Succession". I don't know that I love this one. It's rated highly, and my husband said it was really good, but I find myself not really caring about who gets to run the family company. I would take the huge sum of money offered to me and go adopt a thousand cats. I would live out my days gently petting them and napping in the best pile of love that I would never get from running a stupid media company. Those people don't have their priorities straight.
Tajikistan: The history of pretty much all of the "Stans" is going to be ridiculously difficult to decipher or explain. I am going to just aim for a few general references.
In ancient times, the region was populated by the Tajiks, people who were direct descendants of the people of Persia (now Iran).
Even today, the official language is Tajik, instead of Turkish or Russian (second official language).
This region was once part of the Samanid Empire, under the rule of Emirate of Bukhara, then The Mongol Empire, and then the Russian Empire in the 1800's.
This region at the time was very valuable because it produced a lot of cotton, thus a lot of valuable textiles (who would have thought cotton would grow there?).
During Soviet rule, there was a lot of conflict between Russia and the Jaddists, a group of Islamic reformers who were pro-modernization. They were a threat to the mainly Christian Russians.
Russia (thus Tajikistan) fought with the Allies during WW I. Of course, Tajikistan suffered through all of the horrors of Stalin, collectivism, people being pushed from their own farms and forced to work on collective farms and industries, and so forth, and there were great famines in 1918.
Tajik people were conscripted for WW II, and fought against Germany, Japan, and Finland.
Things were pretty awful in Tajikistan after WW II, with not much of anything good happening at all. It was like the modern world forgot them. Not much money, no food, not much of anything else either. So, of course they rose up for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union, and declared independence in 1991.
Then there's just been more civil war, more fighting, more death. No peace for these folks.
Mainly within the borders, the government is trying to quell religious extremism (Islamic) because of the issues in neighboring Afghanistan in many small ways, like banning excessive facial hair and forbidding Islamic dress.
The country is VERY LOW on the Democratic Index, and it does have an elected president, but if this tells you anything, he has been in power for something like thirty years. The country is effectively a dictatorship.
"In October 2020, President Emomali Rahmon was re-elected for another seven-year term with 90% of the vote, following a largely ceremonial election.[91]"
Tajikistan is land-locked, has lots of tall mountains, and is also very rich in water that originates in these mountains. They have an enormous untapped potential for hydroelectric energy.
"The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and the glaciers in Tajikistan's mountains are the source of runoff for the Aral Sea. There are over 900 rivers in Tajikistan longer than 10 kilometres."
This is a poor country. As of 2019, about 30% of it's economy came from the money that people sent home to their families when they left to work somewhere else.
Their main exports are aluminum and cotton, and the country relies heavily on relief efforts, emergency humanitarian aid, and development grants.
About half of the population lives on less than $1.25 U.S. per day.
The Anzob tunnel is kind of famous for it being absolutely terrifying. It was built to connect parts of the country that were very remote due to the mountains, and it allows people to travel more freely. It is also poorly built, poorly maintained, and is known as the "Tunnel of Death".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzob_Tunnel
A video of this tunnel: https://youtu.be/sqcfMX6KqtY?si=K4j4QvZCtd2HtU13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajikistan
Not bad for cold, and clear and sunny.
I dithered over whether or not to go to town to do some pottery. It wasn't "my day" (we generally go on designated class times/days), but it is generally acceptable to go work during open times (not during other's formal class time).
I called the one woman first, who is kind of the de facto ruler of the pottery kingdom to ask if would be okay if I worked during her beginner's class if I were discreet. She said no, because this year we had so many new beginners that there was absolutely no room. She wasn't mean about it, just stating the truth.
I was still upset though, because how on Earth were there so many people in that class that it was over crowded?
There are 24 people in that class, apparently! I know there's no way to express how many people that is for the size of that studio, but people need elbow room to work with clay, and to even expect any interaction with the instructor.
I personally would think that even 15 people would be pushing the limits of that space. My class does kind of come and go so they are staggered, but there are never more than maybe 6 people in that studio during our class time, and even that feels crowded.
Apparently this instructor has some of these people working at a table she sets up in the hallway. Not only is that likely a violation of the fire codes, but how is that okay?
I was a bit worked up about being told that I couldn't work today, since I missed Monday, and I'm sad to say, but I hated the idea that options were being closed to me. That's not anyone else's fault, but it's how I felt.
I did choose to go to town to work a bit before the official start time of the class, which is generally allowed, and if I were quick about it I could still get something done.
I struck up a conversation with a woman from this over crowded class who had come in early to work, because the class itself was so crowded she couldn't focus, and it was just crazy. She said that whenever she wanted to glaze, she could never get access to the glazes or the glazing tables because there were so many people, and she could never talk with the instructor because so many other people were trying to ask questions too.
I asked her if she was new this year, and she said no, she's been in this class for a couple of years. I told her that she didn't have to stay in this class, that she could work on one of the other days, like Monday when I throw, and after 5 there is almost never anyone even there.
She was astonished, because NO ONE TOLD HER SHE COULD WORK ON ANOTHER DAY after she had taken one year of the beginner's class.
The beginner's class is really only supposed to teach new potters how to safely use the studio, and how to do the very basic things like using the glaze, how to do a few things with the clay, and how to clean up after yourself properly to leave the studio in the best condition for the next people.
That's it. That's all it's really for.
This person, and many others likely, thought you had to be "really, really good" to be "allowed" to work in another class independently.
So, what's happening is that the beginners are staying in the beginner class FOREVER, thinking that they aren't allowed to work on their own. That means that each year, more new beginners go into this class, and the old ones don't move on.
That's how you get 24 people thinking they all have to work at the same time.
This is absolute BS, and it's going to need discussion. What we need to do, is establish exactly what a new pottery student needs to know, and to demonstrate competence in, before they can work independently in another class (because no one supervises each other on the other days).
THEN, those students need to move on, making room for actual beginners.
Also, there needs to be some kind of limit to how many new people can take classes, and an ultimate limit for how many people are in a class on other days. I can't think of ANYWHERE that doesn't have a class limit.
Then, it would be fair to have a waiting list for anyone who didn't make the class, so that they can be at the top of the list for the next class.
Well, now I have to get all up in everybody's business and get hated on by everyone, likely.
It's not really my job, but apparently managing the numbers has been NO ONE's job, so now I have to bring it up.
Probably, everyone will ignore me, unless I start talking to the landlords who rent us the space to find out about fire code. That should be fun.
So, since I also didn't get groceries on Monday because of the snow covered roads, we are pretty much out of staples like vegetables and eggs. Today my husband said that he would pick up a few essentials on his way home from work so that I didn't have to stay in town late after pottery.
He did not pick up groceries.
Now we're out of staple food items.
I couldn't be mad at him, because he was just very distracted today, but DAMMIT. Now this likely means some kind of special trip that throws us right off of our carefully greased rails.
This is what happens when I don't stick to the schedule.
Anyhow, we watched an episode of "Succession". I don't know that I love this one. It's rated highly, and my husband said it was really good, but I find myself not really caring about who gets to run the family company. I would take the huge sum of money offered to me and go adopt a thousand cats. I would live out my days gently petting them and napping in the best pile of love that I would never get from running a stupid media company. Those people don't have their priorities straight.
Tajikistan: The history of pretty much all of the "Stans" is going to be ridiculously difficult to decipher or explain. I am going to just aim for a few general references.
In ancient times, the region was populated by the Tajiks, people who were direct descendants of the people of Persia (now Iran).
Even today, the official language is Tajik, instead of Turkish or Russian (second official language).
This region was once part of the Samanid Empire, under the rule of Emirate of Bukhara, then The Mongol Empire, and then the Russian Empire in the 1800's.
This region at the time was very valuable because it produced a lot of cotton, thus a lot of valuable textiles (who would have thought cotton would grow there?).
During Soviet rule, there was a lot of conflict between Russia and the Jaddists, a group of Islamic reformers who were pro-modernization. They were a threat to the mainly Christian Russians.
Russia (thus Tajikistan) fought with the Allies during WW I. Of course, Tajikistan suffered through all of the horrors of Stalin, collectivism, people being pushed from their own farms and forced to work on collective farms and industries, and so forth, and there were great famines in 1918.
Tajik people were conscripted for WW II, and fought against Germany, Japan, and Finland.
Things were pretty awful in Tajikistan after WW II, with not much of anything good happening at all. It was like the modern world forgot them. Not much money, no food, not much of anything else either. So, of course they rose up for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union, and declared independence in 1991.
Then there's just been more civil war, more fighting, more death. No peace for these folks.
Mainly within the borders, the government is trying to quell religious extremism (Islamic) because of the issues in neighboring Afghanistan in many small ways, like banning excessive facial hair and forbidding Islamic dress.
The country is VERY LOW on the Democratic Index, and it does have an elected president, but if this tells you anything, he has been in power for something like thirty years. The country is effectively a dictatorship.
"In October 2020, President Emomali Rahmon was re-elected for another seven-year term with 90% of the vote, following a largely ceremonial election.[91]"
Tajikistan is land-locked, has lots of tall mountains, and is also very rich in water that originates in these mountains. They have an enormous untapped potential for hydroelectric energy.
"The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and the glaciers in Tajikistan's mountains are the source of runoff for the Aral Sea. There are over 900 rivers in Tajikistan longer than 10 kilometres."
This is a poor country. As of 2019, about 30% of it's economy came from the money that people sent home to their families when they left to work somewhere else.
Their main exports are aluminum and cotton, and the country relies heavily on relief efforts, emergency humanitarian aid, and development grants.
About half of the population lives on less than $1.25 U.S. per day.
The Anzob tunnel is kind of famous for it being absolutely terrifying. It was built to connect parts of the country that were very remote due to the mountains, and it allows people to travel more freely. It is also poorly built, poorly maintained, and is known as the "Tunnel of Death".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzob_Tunnel
A video of this tunnel: https://youtu.be/sqcfMX6KqtY?si=K4j4QvZCtd2HtU13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajikistan
no subject
Date: 2024-03-02 06:58 am (UTC)They are staples here, too, especially the chopped or shredded vegetable mixes that roast up nicely with olive oil, cheese and spice.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-02 08:36 am (UTC)Vegetables are a pretty big part of our meal plan, so being out of those is weird. That said, we're fine.
He did remember to pick up a few things today, and that should do until I make a proper trip again on Monday.
I just remind myself that not having some staples is a bit of a First World problem.