Today marks one year at my current job. In this time, I’ve learned a lot — and I’ve met a lot of great people. I got to finally set foot in Vermont, where I ate some really good food and got to see green landscapes in summer. (To be fair, we’ve been having as green a summer as we get in Texas.) I finally feel like I have a mentor or two, instead of being tossed into rushing waters and told “SWIM!!!”
It’s been a great year, despite some very busy times.
The Heat of the Forge
I moved to Texas from the Chicago area after my freshman year in high school. Up north, I was put on a vocational track in school. (That’s a nice way of saying, “You get crap grades and we’ve given up on you. Here, let us show you how to fix things in the hope you’ll be employable!”) One of my classes was metal shop. One of the things we did that year was making a chisel from a chunk of steel.
The forge we worked with was small, but it put out a lot of heat. I’m not a fan of heat, but the opportunity to hammer hot steel into something I could use won out. I liked the heat! Years later, I worked with art glass for a short bit and had a similar experience with the crucible. Molten glass is [obviously] hot, but my desire to take a glob of gooey glass and make it something else was like taking a chunk of steel and turning it into a tool.
It’s Worth the Heat
Creating art and tools from material on the cusp of melting is quite a thing
. The effort involved is worth the heat. This past year, there were times when learning new things at work, keeping up with writing, and even starting a podcast felt like standing at the opening of a forge or crucible. The heat has to be experienced to appreciate it. Caution is vital, but fear is the last thing that you should hold in your mind.
Standing Before the Forge
Now that I’m a year into the best job I’ve had, it’s time to make better things. It’s time to slow down and make the documentation I write even better than it already is. It’s time to keep forging ahead on the novel in progress. It’s time to move into the next half of the first year of podcasting. It’s time to maybe even juggle more — get back to playing tennis and running (in the heat).
It’s time to stand before the opening of where all the good things begin and not fear the heat. It’s time to pick up the hammer or tongs and turn raw material into something more…
Excellent entry! I’m so glad to see you posting here again, and I really look forward to more entries like this.
I wish we could get you lessons in front of a forge. Who knows, maybe someday 😉 Until then, you’re right! Time to focus on what we do and make it better!
Blacksmith lessons would definitely be cool, but there’s time. The ultimate would be the week-long knife-making thing. All of it is so cool. Even glass work.
There are times I think, “Man, even though I was put on a track in school against my will,” when I see people who make cool things…I’ve always envied it. For me, it was books, podcasts, and things like that because I never had a place to make much with my hands. Juggling and cooking, though…decent with that! 🙂