Sunday 11/8/20
On Sundays I reflect.
I did not drink alcohol this week.
Yesterday we received the results we have all been waiting for, even though the current president is contesting those results.
Taking a Fall
I had a strange day for different reasons yesterday. I woke up and spoke to my friend Max on the phone, which I do on many mornings. After our call as I sat at my desk in my room I noticed a spider crawling across the wall. I got a tissue and tried to grab him to take him outside, and he seemed to vanish. The last thing I remember as I tried to locate the spider, was that I began to feel lightheaded and physically unwell before I woke up on the floor. As I regained consciousness I experienced confusion and my head was throbbing. I suspect that I hit my head on either the nightstand next to my bed, or the chair at my desk.
In a panic, and alone at home, I started reaching out to anyone I thought could help me. Max texted me as I tried to figure out what was happening to inform me that he had taken my advice and put on “The Passenger” by Iggy Pop. He said “not a bad song to listen to on repeat” as I had suggested during our phone call that he listen to the song on repeat for a week. If you know me at all you know that I listen to single songs on repeat for long amounts of time. I haven’t heard “The Passenger” in some time but for some reason it was the song I thought of for Max in the moment.
I responded to Max’s message that he was correct but I was listening to “The Lot” radio and it was mellow. My next text read “dude I just blacked out” followed by “I hit my head”. Max was confused and as I tried to explain via text he called me on a FaceTime. During all of the confusion I opened my internet browser on my computer to read that Biden had been announced the winner. I told Max this on the phone. He seemed very concerned about me, and I was in shock. We talked about the time we got pulled over driving to Colorado from Illinois with no weed in the car. We decided we both want to hang out with the K-9 officer who was called to assist the officer who pulled us over sure this would be his big bust. The K-9 officer knew that we didn’t have any drugs the whole time, but he watched for three hours as the first officer unpacked my entire life out of my Camry. I was packed to move to Colorado, to the brim of the small car’s capacity. Max and I had on matching track suits. I asked permission to perform my calisthenics routine on the side of the road, claiming I had to maintain a very strict regiment.
I got a ticket for speeding that day. The officer even allowed me the privilege of repacking everything I owned back into my bags and my car claiming he “didn’t want to mess up my stuff”.
What a gentleman!
“I am the passenger, and I ride and I ride.”
Coming Back to Consciousness
Marta came over to check on me and informed me that the welt on my forehead was not small. She was on her way to work on our friend Scott’s house, but came out of her way to make sure I was ok and had food. She helped me set up on the couch with the news on. I felt lightheaded and confused. She assured me she would come back to check on me after work. I woke up a few hours later on the couch to a text from her fiancé Drew, because Marta had no reception. He assured me that they would check on me and that I could reach out if I needed to.
Max checked in multiple times throughout the day.
I tried to rest, and focus on the election results, and manage work from my phone. Work is non stop for me, but fortunately today’s load was light. I was unable to drive to the post office, so Friday’s orders will go out Monday. I am sorry for the delay.
Still Feeling the Pain
I think I have a broken rib. I felt it right before I blacked out. I have suspected this for a long time, and understand there isn’t really anything to do for a broken rib. I’m now quite sure as prior suspected that this is the cause of my shoulder pain. I have been working through this injury with acupuncture, massage, exercise and posturing exercises. Overall I have been feeling much improvement and relief lately. It might be time to see a doctor.
Other News from the Studio
I blew glass this week. I made a group of Twisty Cups that are mostly gifts. I have never really given birthday, anniversary, or holiday gifts. I have never had any money (and still don’t) to buy gifts, and I have never been able to make the time to make gifts until now. Having a team to help me operate this business has for the first time afforded me the time to be able to make gifts for people I appreciate. I can now say that everyone on my team owns something I made specifically for them, and that is a good feeling for me to be able to express my gratitude to them in that way. I have been writing thank you letters this week to people who have shopped on our website. The holidays are coming up which might be the busiest time of my year. I know if I don’t start doing these things now I will never be able to make gifts for and write cards to all the people who I appreciate. None of this would be possible without my team.
We made the Denver Post this week. They re-published the article from the Vail Daily about the Trashterpiece. Another testament to my team.
I have described working for me as terrible treatment and worse pay. Anyone who has worked for me would attest to that being accurate. I don’t think any of them would say that I treat them poorly (I hope), but I think the amount of work required of all of us is immense and can be overwhelming. As a team we have been developing processes that are helping us to manage everything, and I want to take the time here to share my appreciation for these people.
Marta Litwiller moved out to Bat Country Studios this summer to be my chef and studio assistant. In the months she has spent here in addition to keeping me fed and alive, she has printed all of our shirts with DV logos and has been sandblasting cups with the DV logo. These are skills she learned without any experience and she has being doing a stellar job. She is the reason my studio is as clean as it is, and she has been able to organize all of our packing materials across multiple lofts to assist me with packing and shipping of all orders. Recently she has been learning to use our new Cricut machine to make custom stencils for sandblasting and other projects. She spends hours teaching herself these new skills (because we all know I have no idea how to do anything) and she gets some help from our friends along the way. If you have been through the studio in the last five months you have Marta to thank for keeping the space in order, and if you have enjoyed her cooking we know you’ll be coming back!
Colin “Skinny” Hagan has been my photographer since shortly after Marta started at the studio. I have mentioned before how much time Skinny spends shooting and also editing our images. He works at least seven days a week on our content, and responds to my texts between the hours of 7am to 11pm which I consider to be our “hours” or whatever. Skinny typically receives about half a dozen instructions from me every five minutes, and somehow he has managed to keep up with the madness. You’ll be able to read more about Skinny this week in our Artist Interview.
“Must not sleep. Must warn others.”
I have been listening to more Aesop Rock than anything else lately, and that line continues to resonate with me. Sorry for the interruption.
Taylor Corey has been helping with all of our social media content and management since just over a month ago when Skinny began to prepare to split his time between my studio and his ski rep job. So far she has learned how to use Planoly to schedule our content, she has modeled, she has edited blogs and created emails to announce them. She even became a video producer and has helped create many of our Reel Deal videos which brings me to Matt.
Matt “Giashreddi” Giannetti has been the star of our brand new Reel Deals campaign, sharing his humor with all of you and providing entertainment that I am enjoying more than anything I have put out prior to now. Matt came on board via Skinny to assist with the Trashterpiece as an “experienced resin expert”. I gave him this title when I found out he had used Resin to make small pendants (under three inches). His role has evolved as he has spent more time around the studio and his cup collection has as well!
Rob Retza aka Log Glass has been renting a spot in my studio for over a year now making him my longest tenant. He tolerates the chaos around him, and contributes some of the best priced high quality cups we carry. He has been refining his linework clear tumblers for some time which improve with every new color pattern he creates. A few months ago he began making fumed wrap and rake tumblers which have evolved to include a few different color wrap and rakes and now some of them even have wig wag bottoms. His fumed mugs keep getting better each time he makes one, some of which have opals in the handles now too. It is really amazing to see how much his and other regular artists on the roster have improved their cups in just the last year alone.
And of course I cannot leave out my brother “behind the scenes” Jon, who might be making a live appearance on Black Friday if you all ask him nicely. I am hopeful that he will be able to come to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with me, and then Black Friday with all of you. We are working on some special deals this year whether or not he makes it so mark you calendars to tune into our live stream the day after Thanksgiving!
When the hell did we start talking about Thanksgiving? Is 2020 over yet? This year has been both the fastest and slowest year of my life, simultaneously.
Can you tell I have a concussion?
"Singin' la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la, la la”
No CUPDATE this week but remember;
We need to defund the police,
Systemic Racism is real,
Black Lives Matter,
Prison for profit needs to end immediately,
And the lesser of two evils is not inherently good.
Good riddance to the old asshole, now lets hold the new old asshole accountable.
Enjoy your Sunday,
BB
p.s. I ended up going to urgent care last night to get a professional opinion on my head wound. Big thanks to Rachel Zacher for getting me there and hanging out while the doctor wired me up. Turns out the fall caused a minor concussion, but thankfully everything else is okay, now just need to take it easy for a few days. Friends have stepped up to keep an eye on me and check-in to make sure I'm okay, and I really appreciate all of you for helping.
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