Fiddling With Clay

For teambuilding, the department made clay mugs at Clay Street.

My team went for the theme of 'technology'. I groaned. How to make those things?! At previous (real) pottery sessions, at least I can claim that misshappen jug as an intentional piece of wobbly art. But a mug requires precision and well, symmetry. I don't have that sort of patience.

After I threw a fit and got over the earlier part of the day where there was a slide in a presentation that read "Department Retreat cum Teambuilding", the boss decided to crush my ego and wow us with his clay kneading skills. He made an iPhone thingy, used a satay stick to cut out an Apple logo and stuck it to the front. It looked so presentable, almost polished.

Mmine remained more or less like a lump of clay. I was trying to make an iPod. But halfway through, I gave up shaping and decided to do an iNano instead. But I couldn't be bothered to even google for the image and randomly made up something. It didn't even resemble a vague image of a Nano! Fail. I didn't even care to smooth out the edges. Mine was more like a crude pen-holder. It probably would have so many cracks that it can't hold water. It's the ugliest thing ever. Eiooow. The other members of the team made much better stuff.

We made the choice of going to the studio for teambuilding instead of asking them to come to the office. Sure, the experience was kinda fun. But it was damn hot lor. Situated in a quaint, old, unrefurbished shophouse, the entre studio isn't air-conditioned. There wasn't even a breeze coming through. So the fans simply circulated hot air around to prevent us from suffocating. My choice of dri-fit garb for the day which required 'casual wear' was perfect for the sweltering afternoon.

Since I couldn't really sit still to work on my ugly piece, I was done in an hour. Went around to disturb the colleagues, shuffled next door to get cold drinks, strolled around the vicinity of the studio and stared up at the headquarters of Workers' Party nearby. Towards the end of the session, we picked out the colors for our pieces. The good people at the studio said they'd fill out the colors and fire them. The pieces would come back to us in a month or so. UGGGGH. I'm quite happy not to get it back, ever.