The Magic Twanger

I had another moment of clarity yesterday. That's two in a few short months! Keep em coming.

It went like this: I was in class trying out paste-slip decorating with a pastry bag, like cake decorators use. (More on that later.) My first efforts were a little sloppy, as were all the others, but the first ones more so. It crossed my mind that they appeared to be deteriorated, or weather-worn or...images flicked through my mind of crumbling Corinthian columns; tattered lace dresses with the beads coming off; Miss Havisham's wedding cake. Opulence decayed. Twang!! I heard, or rather felt the deep chord in my brain: my magic twanger. Suddenly it made sense. Why nothing will do but soda firing: I live for the pots that come out with parts of my careful decorating softened and undone by the vapor glaze. Why so many of my photos are images of decay.

Why soaps, the more elaborate the better; because, the moment you use a soap, however fabulous it may be, it immediately begins to dissolve.  Why gardening, even - what is a garden except a monument to the cycle of decay and regrowth?

My Magic Twanger is the Second Law of Thermodynamics! This feels like discovering that your fairy godmother is in fact the goddess Nyx (perhaps not coincidentally born of chaos) or that your Secret Santa actually is Santa. Or, you know, Oprah.

The Law of Entropy doesn't account for all of it, of course: there's still the connection to bright, over-decorated, frivolous things sweets and circuses, which is a huge aspect in itself. Maybe I have more than one magic twanger, or maybe it's just highly nuanced. But still. I have to think some more about this. Entropy.

Things that make you go hmmmm. If you're me.