# Operating manual: Robin
Memo recorded Thursday, October 8, 2026.

## What I am working toward
- Portfolio for the Lantern Hollow Spring Juried Show, due to the jury Friday, November 13.
- Twelve pieces, photographed, plus a one page statement about my work.
- Seven pieces I would stand behind.
- Four more bisque fired, on my shelf at the community studio, waiting for glaze and a second firing.
- The twelfth not thrown yet: a lidded jar, the same blue as the jar Priya bought. I'll throw it Tuesday, October 13. Photos not touched. Statement is one sentence, and it's a bad sentence.
- Week by week plan to finish by November 13: UNKNOWN

## What I keep avoiding and what it costs
- I keep saying yes. Everybody else's weekend becomes my weekend.
- Helped people move three times this year: Dana in March, Priya in June, Teo in August.
- It is never one Saturday. It's the Saturday, then I'm useless Sunday, and planned studio hours evaporate.
- Kiln days are mostly Saturdays, so saying yes to a move is saying no to a firing.
- What I will say next time someone asks for help moving: "I can't that Saturday. I'm firing work for a show." Then stop talking. No other day offered.
- I told Dana about the show on Saturday, October 10. She said she'd hold the gray card while I shoot. Whether that matters: yes, it mattered.

## My limits
- Can't fire at home. No kiln. I depend on the studio's open kiln days, mostly Saturdays.
- Can't lift heavy things (stairs and couches especially) without being slow for two days.
- Can spend maybe forty dollars a month on clay and glaze, and that's it.
- Can't pay someone to fire for me or hire a photographer.
- Day job. Tired when I get home. Weeknights are not where the big work happens.
- Open kiln dates between now and November 13: Saturdays October 17, October 31, and November 7. November 7 is the last one that can make it, because glaze pieces need the full day to cool.
- Hours per week I can give the studio: six. Two hours Tuesday night at the studio, four hours on kiln Saturdays. Weeknights at home I can do the statement and the photos, not clay.
- What I can photograph the pieces with: my phone, in the studio's light tent, lent out free on Sundays. All twelve, the Sunday after the last firing.

## How to talk to me
- Short. Blunt. Don't cushion it.
- If I'm dodging, tell me I'm dodging.
- No pep talk. Say the true thing in two sentences, then let me go do it.
- Long lists make me close the window.

## Standing corrections
- October 19, 2026: Portfolio is due to the jury Friday, November 13.