Sunday 8/29/21
On Sundays I reflect.
I drank alcohol last night for the first time in a long time. We were celebrating.
On May 1 of 2017 my friends Seth and Michelle loaned me the money to build my studio. Today, roughly 8 months ahead of schedule my debt is paid off. I have never felt more relieved.
We drank out of three cups last night that combined are worth more than my entire inventory 5 years ago when I was living in Seth and Michelle’s basement. Back then I told Seth and Michelle among many other people that cups would reach this value. Most people laughed at me. I remember when Seth took me to a meet up for entrepreneurs here in the valley and I showed everyone a SALT shot glass that was worth around $500 at the time. I don’t know how to explain the reactions that I got, but it isn’t much different than when I tell people that cups are selling for as much as $10,000 these days. I think the word is shock.
Today that very SALT shot glass, the first piece I ever obtained from SALT still sits on my shelf in my personal collection. Now it is joined by another half dozen pieces created by SALT in my personal collection along with so many other incredible pieces I have been able to hold on to over the years. I look at that piece and I remember all the people that I told what I was going to build, and all the people who helped me to build it.
I’ve been listening to one Beatles album every morning when I wake up, in chronological order. Today is Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Is it the most iconic album cover of all time? My favorite Beatles song has been Please Mister Postman since college when I took a semester long course on the band with world renowned scholar Glenn Gass. Please Mister Postman is a cover by The Marvelettes though until I looked it up just now I thought it was originally the Shirelles. Regardless, my favorite song actually written by the Beatles is A Day In The Life. That song is on today’s album.
On many mornings I talk with my friend Max before beginning my day. Max has xm radio in his car, and can’t remember the last time he listened to a channel that wasn’t the Beatles. Lately we have been chatting a lot about the band. It’s been refreshing to explore them again, a decade after studying them in an academic setting. I remember when I was a kid my friend’s mom got me The Beatles 1 CD. It must have been around the time it was released in 2000 so I was probably 10. I listened to it a lot growing up.
The day I borrowed that money back in 2017 was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. For the last four years I’ve had tunnel vision. I’ve been so obsessed with paying that debt, that I have worked every day including my “days off” which don’t really exist. I still have so much work to do bringing my vision to life, but for the first time I feel like I can have a work/life balance. Good timing with ski season right around the corner!
I’m also making more time to blow glass. There are things that I want to make that keep getting put off by other work on my plate. Recently my friends OLDGREED and Wigged Out Art have been coming up to the studio on Tuesdays, and now that the Hot Summer Nights free Tuesday night concert series in Vail is done we are bringing back Taco Tuesday at the studio. Hopefully Matty B and Bard will make it up from Leadville to finish some collaborations we have in the works. The weather up here has been cooling off making it much more pleasant to turn the torch on in the hot studio. Anyone else is welcome to come by Tuesday for tacos, and feel free to bring an art project to work on.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude for everything that I have built and to everyone who has helped along the way. There are way too many people to list. As a small thank you everything on the website will be 20% all day today. I will be hanging out on Instagram live streaming when I get to the studio today offering other Sunday Specials as well.
As always, thanks for tuning in!
BB
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