I don't know what to do. I flew home to portland three days ago. Today Pop tells me that the Seamester program that is now running aboard the Argo is only half-full and would I like to join for the trans-pacific crossing? Tahiti, Rarotonga, Fiji, Australia. leaving in three days, back home in two months. I know I'm not staff, since I'm not qualified to teach anything. And of course I'm not a paying shipmate- I'm dead weight. Live weight- I'm eating food and taking up space. But this is almost exactly the kind of voyage I was trying to join two years ago that didn't happen. I busted my butt to leave grad school a term early so that I could join this exact ship on a beautiful sailing voyage from Bangkok to France. she stayed in Thailand the whole time. Not that I'm complaining about also being stuck in Thailand, but it did turn out to be kind of a strange trip.
it doesn't seem like much of a debate except that here I am doing just about everything I can to be a professional potter and the last thing I need to be doing is running off to the south pacific! I feel like I'm in such a precarious position, trying to establish myself in this town or get a small teaching job, or at least some kind of income, as a carpenter, if need be. I've been accepted to the Portland Open Studios and I have obligations there, I have work in a gallery downtown, I'm trying to get this kiln up and running (but irony of ironies- I still don't have any burners that were ordered in Taiwan six months ago!) so that I can get some pots out into other galleries... am I being impatient or paranoid that I'm losing a toehold on something that hasn't even happened yet? do you think I'm just insane for seriously considering not taking advantage of this amazing opportunity?