mercury in retrograde

The many different variables involved in the production of a line of clothing could definitely make your head spin. I often tell my interns to always expect the unexpected... be prepared for the worst, and know that everything will go wrong at some point. This is just a general rule of the industry. I am not coming at this from a very negative place- although it can be incredibly frustrating. It is just the way it is- when you are depending on so many things working in tandem like a clock, it can be difficult when one cog doesn't turn just so. It can leave you in a tight spot. If UPS is late, because of weather, or if there is an unseasonable cold front in the small village in India where your handloom fabric is coming from and the people are unable to finish your cloth on time, or one of your main sewers becomes ill and is unable to work, or your car finally decides to poop out, there really is very little you can do. It can be really intense if all of those things happen during one production season. But you have to just roll with it... cause what else can you do?
We actually have no control over anything, and sometimes we forget.
fall 2010 photo shoot is on Thursday, then next week school starts at SAIC and After School Matters (my two teaching gigs). Next monday is my birthday. I turn 29. I survey my little shop, my wholesale collection (in all its' tumultuous glory), and the classes I teach. I wonder how next year at this time is going to look....
I don't know if it is different for anyone else- I talk to my lovely pantheon of talented designer friends, artists, and colleagues- and everyone is in the same boat. We are all connected.
But, by golly, there is some craziness occurring in the stars or a retrograde happening or something, cause I cannot catch a break. February, I am counting on you to turn the beginning of 2010 around.