"Men should do this"

[320 1-ply cords, 160 2-ply cords.] Apparently it's not just making paper that falls into the male domain. My teacher thinks that jiseung also is best done by men b/c it requires so much strength. I disagree, especially when it comes to hand strength, but I still need work on my cross-legged foot clamp strength. I got blisters after working for 5.5 hours even though my teacher had to take my piece from me constantly b/c I was pulling so hard that the whole thing was turning into a round bottom instead of a flat one. He should have just made me undo it; I would have been fine with that. Instead, I'm going to have a bottom that is constantly fighting me. And guess what this bottom is for? A traditional container that you pee into. Yes, it's lacquered before it's used.

The crazy part of my homework is that I have to cut down, spin, and undo the SAME AMOUNT that I did for today! AGH. Another week of spinning while socializing. So much for trying to do more language study. My papermaking teacher came to our lesson today, and I don't know how he does it. He's a father, a husband, a first son (who just took his mom in for back surgery), a businessman, and a papermaker. I see that wonder why I can't manage a few vocab words and grammar points a day. It's killing me that I can't get my subscription piece done and that I can't even read at the end of the day b/c my eyes hurt so much from working.

I just want to make a little tiny bit of art. Instead, I have to settle for bleeding fingers. I didn't sign up for bloody fingers, but it's bound to happen: my teacher was bleeding all over his and my pieces today. If the master is bleeding, it's bound to happen to the student.