But they make it look so easy...
I suffer from either an overblown ego or an immense lack of common sense.
I can watch others perform a task and more often than not I think to myself, "Hey, I can do that!"... Then I actually try it and am dismayed at my lack of ability.
I recently began taking 'Pottery Classes'... I just finished my second week of 'throwing pots'... Back when the 'Gallery' had its grand opening, there were featured a couple of guys who 'threw' pot after pot. They did so with such grace and agility that I of course said, "COOL, I want to learn to do that... It looked so easy!" Nevermind that these two gentlemen had probably 30 yrs. of experience working with a pottery wheel between them.
I've now 'thrown' a total of 5 pots and you know what?... It's damn hard work! Oh, it's fun... It's relaxing in the odd sort of way that difficult tasks can be... But it's certainly anything but easy! One of the things I'm currently working on is building up a callous on the sides of my hands because the wheel can be quite abrasive as you work the clay.... And as for my 'Pots'... Well, for now they all look like squat little mugs OR as I lovingly refer to them 'Change Pots'. You know what a 'Change Pot is, don't you? It's a place to put all of your loose change when you empty your pockets or purse. In fact, I think it's going to be a 'Change Pot Christmas'... Everyone will be receiving their own little handmade change pot... I bet you're all wishing you were on my Christmas list NOW!
Speaking of things that 'Look Easy'... I ran today. That loosely translates into, I almost died today! I spent portions of my 2 mile walk jogging and frankly all I can think of is that Running is highly over-rated! I did however push myself harder than I have in the last oh, say 25 yrs... The last time I can recall running as much as I did this morning was when I was in Jr. High gym class and had to run track... I was miserable then and I was just as miserable now... Even way back then, when I had a figure I would KILL for today, I did more walking then running.
Today, I decided to set a goal for myself before I began... I would walk the straightaways and jog the cul-de-sacs... There are 6 cul-de-sacs along my route including my street. There are also a lot of hills on the route. My problem seemed to be that once I'd stop running my walking would slow WAY down and I'd have to be mindful to keep up my walking speed. Also when I'd stop running I'm quite certain I sounded quite similar to a woman in labor, deep in the throws of a Lamaze breathing routine, huffing and puffing manicly... I began to wonder if I wasn't asthmatic... At least then I'd have an excuse for all the wheezing.
At one particular point on my run/walk I nearly caved but I kept telling myself, "You are going to DO this!"... I made it, but then had the steepest part of the walk ahead of me... So while I was trying to get my breathing under control from the running, I was also struggling through the heavy breathing I normally have to deal with at the steepest portion of the route. Once I made it to the top of that hill I struggled to get myself under control (this would be one of the other points where I almost died.) As I began heading down the other side of the hill I lost the breeze that was helping to keep me relatively cool. As soon as I lost that breeze I felt like my head was going to spontaneously combust! I imagined my head looked exactly like a giant sun ripened Jersey Tomato and my eyes must have bulged to 3 times their usual proportions.
I was fortunate at one point in the struggle of this entire exercise to come upon a guy with the cutest little puppy... This gave me an excuse to stop, bend over, pet the fluffy little creature and utter a few breathless words to his master... This was towards the end of my run/walk (I should probably refer to it as a walk/run, because there was more walking than running.) I came upon the gentleman during one of the 'walking' portions of my routine. I'm sure he thought me COMPLETELY out of shape to be such a mess from simply walking the neighborhood but since I'm really at the point in my life where I'm only trying to impress myself, I didn't really care what he thought.
I'm hoping by tomorrow morning my selective memory will have erased the more difficult parts of my attempt, so I'll have the fortitude to try it again. Right now, I'm not so sure. Though I'm certainly NO model of physical fitness, I am taking a little bit of pride in at least pushing myself to accomplish what I did, but DAMMIT!... Why does everyone else have to make it look so easy?
I can watch others perform a task and more often than not I think to myself, "Hey, I can do that!"... Then I actually try it and am dismayed at my lack of ability.
I recently began taking 'Pottery Classes'... I just finished my second week of 'throwing pots'... Back when the 'Gallery' had its grand opening, there were featured a couple of guys who 'threw' pot after pot. They did so with such grace and agility that I of course said, "COOL, I want to learn to do that... It looked so easy!" Nevermind that these two gentlemen had probably 30 yrs. of experience working with a pottery wheel between them.
I've now 'thrown' a total of 5 pots and you know what?... It's damn hard work! Oh, it's fun... It's relaxing in the odd sort of way that difficult tasks can be... But it's certainly anything but easy! One of the things I'm currently working on is building up a callous on the sides of my hands because the wheel can be quite abrasive as you work the clay.... And as for my 'Pots'... Well, for now they all look like squat little mugs OR as I lovingly refer to them 'Change Pots'. You know what a 'Change Pot is, don't you? It's a place to put all of your loose change when you empty your pockets or purse. In fact, I think it's going to be a 'Change Pot Christmas'... Everyone will be receiving their own little handmade change pot... I bet you're all wishing you were on my Christmas list NOW!
Speaking of things that 'Look Easy'... I ran today. That loosely translates into, I almost died today! I spent portions of my 2 mile walk jogging and frankly all I can think of is that Running is highly over-rated! I did however push myself harder than I have in the last oh, say 25 yrs... The last time I can recall running as much as I did this morning was when I was in Jr. High gym class and had to run track... I was miserable then and I was just as miserable now... Even way back then, when I had a figure I would KILL for today, I did more walking then running.
Today, I decided to set a goal for myself before I began... I would walk the straightaways and jog the cul-de-sacs... There are 6 cul-de-sacs along my route including my street. There are also a lot of hills on the route. My problem seemed to be that once I'd stop running my walking would slow WAY down and I'd have to be mindful to keep up my walking speed. Also when I'd stop running I'm quite certain I sounded quite similar to a woman in labor, deep in the throws of a Lamaze breathing routine, huffing and puffing manicly... I began to wonder if I wasn't asthmatic... At least then I'd have an excuse for all the wheezing.
At one particular point on my run/walk I nearly caved but I kept telling myself, "You are going to DO this!"... I made it, but then had the steepest part of the walk ahead of me... So while I was trying to get my breathing under control from the running, I was also struggling through the heavy breathing I normally have to deal with at the steepest portion of the route. Once I made it to the top of that hill I struggled to get myself under control (this would be one of the other points where I almost died.) As I began heading down the other side of the hill I lost the breeze that was helping to keep me relatively cool. As soon as I lost that breeze I felt like my head was going to spontaneously combust! I imagined my head looked exactly like a giant sun ripened Jersey Tomato and my eyes must have bulged to 3 times their usual proportions.
I was fortunate at one point in the struggle of this entire exercise to come upon a guy with the cutest little puppy... This gave me an excuse to stop, bend over, pet the fluffy little creature and utter a few breathless words to his master... This was towards the end of my run/walk (I should probably refer to it as a walk/run, because there was more walking than running.) I came upon the gentleman during one of the 'walking' portions of my routine. I'm sure he thought me COMPLETELY out of shape to be such a mess from simply walking the neighborhood but since I'm really at the point in my life where I'm only trying to impress myself, I didn't really care what he thought.
I'm hoping by tomorrow morning my selective memory will have erased the more difficult parts of my attempt, so I'll have the fortitude to try it again. Right now, I'm not so sure. Though I'm certainly NO model of physical fitness, I am taking a little bit of pride in at least pushing myself to accomplish what I did, but DAMMIT!... Why does everyone else have to make it look so easy?
posted by EmBee at 10:25 AM
4 Comments:
Ok my love, you have passed me by. I won't be running with you.....ever, and I think I will stick to the Florida flats for walking. But I am proud of you, for your pot throwing and your running. You can't succeed if you don't try, and you are trying many new things these days. You may only be trying to impress yourself, but you are impressing the heck out of me! Remember, you are a GIFTED potter (is that the right word) and I will remind you of that whenever you forget it. Love you, Linda
I'm blushing... And I don't think my head is going to fit through the door... Thanks Linda!
ok, the cherry tomato with 3 inch eyes slayed me. it really did. i'm still proud of ya for pushing yourself. well done!
Cherry tomatoe??? Are you kidding me? My head looked like one of those giant mis-shapen Jersey variety!
Happy to make you chuckle Lime... I consider it a return of favor.
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