Resolutions

So how am I doing? I haven't had a single nap in about 15 years. So a big F for that one. No homemade icecream, either. Not one spoonful. I HAVE added more art to my life in that I have decided to take a handbuilding clay class at the FIA, which started this past Monday. The class runs from 1-4 in the afternoon and it felt really weird to sneak out of work to do something utterly self indulgent. Also nice was the fact that there were only 3 of us in the class (though 2 more are alleged to be there from now on) so we had the whole room to ourselves. My only experience with clay is with wheel throwing classes which, though interesting, never seemed like art but did seem like a lot of work to fill the house with very heavy bowls of all sizes. I have never attempted handbuilding and am determined to make nothing practical or useful in any way whatsoever. The first project is using coils, which are surprisingly hard to make properly. (You know what it is if you have ever played with Play Dough. You take a glob and roll it on the table until you get a long, even sausage. The tricky part is that it must be a sausage that is perfectly even, smooth and tubular, not wobbly, lumpy or with flat sides.) Addie must be an excellent teacher because my clay rolls were things of beauty. I decided to make something REALLY BIG (of course) and so am attempting a thing that has a 14" roundish base and will have coiled sides that gently curve outward for about 12", and then cut in and close off and curve around. I have in mind something seed pod shaped but that has a flat bottom. (I am worried about that--should I have started with a bowl shape so it would be more like a gourd than something that looks like the top half of a gourd?) I built it up to about 5 inches on Monday and so am giving it a rest while the walls get stronger so I can add more. It's all rather exciting, in a very calm and heavy sort of way.
As to the other resolutions, well, I think I need to get to it. Fortunately, I will be on winter break starting in about 124 minutes, which is when my law class ends today. And, as we all know, winter break is when not only will I get caught up but I will be 6 months ahead of schedule!