Nine years later... — Sonya Barry

Two more life reboots have happened since the last time I posted here.

Professionally I shifted from Community Management to Project Management and out of big tech entirely. And now I’m not doing that either. Am I retired? Am I intentionally unemployed until I freak out and decide to look for a new job? No clue.

For now, I’m 53 and aside from a blip in the dotcom bust I do not have a full time job for the first time since I was 16. My biggest concern is what to do with myself and how to actually structure my days so I don’t just sit in front of the TV all day.

I’ve been doing pilates with a trainer twice a week for years now, and attempting to swim three mornings a week, but not succeeding regularly because of the whole job thing. So that seems like a good place to start.

The other things I want to do are:

write more
ceramics
garden

These things are more complicated now because while I have plenty of time I also have degenerative osteoarthritis, so figuring out what the balance is to be able to keep doing the things I enjoy while not doing too much and completely destroying my hands (and every other joint in my body.)

My plans for how to fill my time are not off to an auspicious start because I seem to have woken up with a cold this morning, so no gym for me. But I did spend six hours at the ceramics studio yesterday, I glazed my most recent nerikomi experiments. The bowls were offcuts of a bigger thing that didn’t work out as I had hoped. The colors will darken significantly after they are fired. There will also be two small…plates? platters? weirdly shaped dishes in the same pattern but rolled flat. They were the parts of a big slab that I tried to save for weeks that could be salvaged.

Three earthenware nerikomi bowls, two ombre plates.

Next up I want to get back to basics with my handbuilding. My skills are not great, I need to practice joins and I’ve never actually made a mug. (Which is basically the Hello World! of ceramics.)

I’ve been reading a book that suggests making the same basic object using different techniques as a way of mastering some of the basics, so I started with a 7x7 inch slab and coil stoneware box yesterday, and I’ll do a hard slab version next.

Barring unforeseen complications, my next time in the studio will be Wednesday.