Need a New Job?
Yesterday I was having a conversation with someone about something completely unrelated when the discussion turned to ice carving (like it inevitably does when you’re out in the professional world, speaking of things).
First of all, silly me, I had no idea that ice carving was a real thing that people learned as a trade, and actually based whole businesses around. I’d seen ice sculptures before, like at weddings and work events, but I guess I never really wondered where they came from, sort of like how you never see baby pigeons. Not that I’m comparing the world of ice carving with flying, disease-infested airborne rat vermin, but you get the point. It kind of weirds me out when I discover a whole segment of the universe that never even occurred to me, so I thought I’d investigate a little.
Anyhoo, did you know that ice carving is an actual Olympic Sport? Yeah, it is. It’s also a course at the University of Akron’s Hospitality Management Program, AND they have their own association, and an event called ICEFEST. And it involves chainsaws, so you know my clumsy ass isn’t getting anywhere near a block of ice, even as a hobby. CHAINSAWS, dude! That is hard core. Also, how anti-climatic must it be to put all that energy into a sculpture of a swan or something, just to have it slowly melting the whole time your event is going on? That’s got to be the rough equivalent of slaving over a Thanksgiving dinner for a zillion hours, then having your family come and demolish it in 45 chaotic minutes, right?
Okay, now think about that as you look at this website, where seriously, these people made Rodin’s The Thinker out of a 4,000 pound ice block. If I made that, I’d be like “um, we’re just going to keep the thermostat set at 23 degrees from now on, because I don’t want my The Thinker to melt.” I mean, I don’t even like cutting stuff I’ve written, because you know why? That’s what I have to show for precious moments of my life, even if it’s total crap and the book would be better without it. You know what I’m saying? I wouldn’t want Ice Jaws or Ice The Thinker or Ice Barney Rubble to melt away into oblivion right after I’d finished carving it, which is probably why I don’t know about this profession or have it as a hobby.
Right now, I think you should go over to the website of the National Ice Carving Association (again, who knew?) and check out all the crazy stuff they make out of blocks of ice. It really was illustrative to me this afternoon, and hey, if you’re looking for a new hobby, maybe this is it. Let me know how it goes.