in search of....
Something to focus the mind:
I have come to the conclusion that I need a project. Something to focus my brain. I have been toying with this idea since before reading The Julie/Julia Project. I have since decided that I need to do something like that. I have considered using my marathon training as my project, but have discarded that idea. My brain says it should be something else. Besides, I've already finished one marathon. I *know* I can do that, even with very little training. I've been thinking the project needs to be something with multiple stages/steps to it. So a single large or complex knitting project, like the Peacock Shawl wouldn't quite work. (Will have to come up with alternate motivation to get that project started.) I don't know if preparing a fleece, then spinning the yarn and finally knitting a sweater would work or not. That might take too long for me to ever finish. Whatever project I do choose, it has to be something I actually finish. I'm going to get over my hangup at ever starting or finishing something because it won't be perfect. Time to just get it done. As James Thurber once said, "Don't get it right, just get it written."
Perhaps something more cerebral. I've considered reading all the NY Times Best Seller books for a year. I've thought about reading the 100 best novels of the 20th Century as listed by Random House. I've even considered writing an essay a day for a year. Pick a list of concepts or ideas and have at it. It's funny that I used to hate writing, yet in the past ten years I've really gotten to like it. I think I've even managed to become reasonably good at it. I suppose that brings me to one of the "big" projects I want to get done before I die--write a novel and get it published. I probably ought to just start on that instead of waiting for whatever the "right" time will be. Like I need to just write up the knitting patterns I'm keeping in my head. Perhaps on my next slow day at work or on a nice weekend off.
In the meantime, I feel the urge to write an essay about summer and why I like this time of year so much. It's not quite summer but spring is definitely showing her age. The reason I like it so much? Potential. Tune in tomorrow (hopefully) for a more verbose explanation.
Today's Accomplishments:
Surprisingly productive. I got up early, finished writing/reviewing lecture material for the EMT class I taught today. Taught for seven hours. Wrote up EMT practice scenarios at work. Asked questions of people I didn't really know at work to get the equipment I needed. I was going to avoid doing that, but went ahead and did it anyway. I don't know why I'm intimidated there, but I am. Today I took baby steps toward getting past that. After teaching, I mowed Mitch's lawn and my own. I guess that qualifies as working out for today. Then I cooked dinner (Amy's cheese enchiladas), washed a sink full of dishes, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned off the dining room table of the boxes Mitch left and put away my laundry. I was going to spend the evening working on job applications, but decided that I would instead take the evening off for me and have been watching Finding Forrester and teasing apart one of the fleeces I bought last year. (I'm hoping to get this one combed and ready to spin this year. I think it wants to be a sweater.)
So, not a bad day. We'll see how work goes tomorrow. I probably should head to bed soon. I've been really tired the past couple of days, even though I've been getting more sleep than usual. Besides, the Lady is about to kick some more butt in The Black Company book I've been reading. I wouldn't want to miss any of that.
Update from the Pacific Time Zone:
The internet connection goes live today, so I'll be getting e-mail again. Well, technically I've been getting e-mail. I just haven't been getting it from Mitch. :o) He's got a lot of catching up to do. Being somewhat chatty and prone to boredom, I've been sending him lots of mail anyway. I figure it won't get moldy in his inbox and he'll need something to do while he avoids unpacking boxes anyway. It sounds like the first two days at the new job have gone swimmingly. He's got his magic decoder ring now and everything. We've been joking about how he'll shortly start working on projects he won't necessarily be able to tell me anything about. So the conversation will go something like "I did this really cool thing at work today and it wasn't going to work at first, but we got it figured out and now it's really spiffy." I told him he needs to create a blog about his job. "Today I started work on the ____________ Project with _____ and ____. Had lunch with _______ and we talked about the __________ Project that s/he is working on. They are having trouble getting the __________ to interface properly with the ______, but the technicians at _______ have been reconfiguring the __________ and that seems to have resolved the ________ issue." Wouldn't that be amusing? I'm sure someone would yell about it. Wait until I just mail him my grocery list and a Feynmann incident ensues.
I have come to the conclusion that I need a project. Something to focus my brain. I have been toying with this idea since before reading The Julie/Julia Project. I have since decided that I need to do something like that. I have considered using my marathon training as my project, but have discarded that idea. My brain says it should be something else. Besides, I've already finished one marathon. I *know* I can do that, even with very little training. I've been thinking the project needs to be something with multiple stages/steps to it. So a single large or complex knitting project, like the Peacock Shawl wouldn't quite work. (Will have to come up with alternate motivation to get that project started.) I don't know if preparing a fleece, then spinning the yarn and finally knitting a sweater would work or not. That might take too long for me to ever finish. Whatever project I do choose, it has to be something I actually finish. I'm going to get over my hangup at ever starting or finishing something because it won't be perfect. Time to just get it done. As James Thurber once said, "Don't get it right, just get it written."
Perhaps something more cerebral. I've considered reading all the NY Times Best Seller books for a year. I've thought about reading the 100 best novels of the 20th Century as listed by Random House. I've even considered writing an essay a day for a year. Pick a list of concepts or ideas and have at it. It's funny that I used to hate writing, yet in the past ten years I've really gotten to like it. I think I've even managed to become reasonably good at it. I suppose that brings me to one of the "big" projects I want to get done before I die--write a novel and get it published. I probably ought to just start on that instead of waiting for whatever the "right" time will be. Like I need to just write up the knitting patterns I'm keeping in my head. Perhaps on my next slow day at work or on a nice weekend off.
In the meantime, I feel the urge to write an essay about summer and why I like this time of year so much. It's not quite summer but spring is definitely showing her age. The reason I like it so much? Potential. Tune in tomorrow (hopefully) for a more verbose explanation.
Today's Accomplishments:
Surprisingly productive. I got up early, finished writing/reviewing lecture material for the EMT class I taught today. Taught for seven hours. Wrote up EMT practice scenarios at work. Asked questions of people I didn't really know at work to get the equipment I needed. I was going to avoid doing that, but went ahead and did it anyway. I don't know why I'm intimidated there, but I am. Today I took baby steps toward getting past that. After teaching, I mowed Mitch's lawn and my own. I guess that qualifies as working out for today. Then I cooked dinner (Amy's cheese enchiladas), washed a sink full of dishes, cleaned the bathroom, cleaned off the dining room table of the boxes Mitch left and put away my laundry. I was going to spend the evening working on job applications, but decided that I would instead take the evening off for me and have been watching Finding Forrester and teasing apart one of the fleeces I bought last year. (I'm hoping to get this one combed and ready to spin this year. I think it wants to be a sweater.)
So, not a bad day. We'll see how work goes tomorrow. I probably should head to bed soon. I've been really tired the past couple of days, even though I've been getting more sleep than usual. Besides, the Lady is about to kick some more butt in The Black Company book I've been reading. I wouldn't want to miss any of that.
Update from the Pacific Time Zone:
The internet connection goes live today, so I'll be getting e-mail again. Well, technically I've been getting e-mail. I just haven't been getting it from Mitch. :o) He's got a lot of catching up to do. Being somewhat chatty and prone to boredom, I've been sending him lots of mail anyway. I figure it won't get moldy in his inbox and he'll need something to do while he avoids unpacking boxes anyway. It sounds like the first two days at the new job have gone swimmingly. He's got his magic decoder ring now and everything. We've been joking about how he'll shortly start working on projects he won't necessarily be able to tell me anything about. So the conversation will go something like "I did this really cool thing at work today and it wasn't going to work at first, but we got it figured out and now it's really spiffy." I told him he needs to create a blog about his job. "Today I started work on the ____________ Project with _____ and ____. Had lunch with _______ and we talked about the __________ Project that s/he is working on. They are having trouble getting the __________ to interface properly with the ______, but the technicians at _______ have been reconfiguring the __________ and that seems to have resolved the ________ issue." Wouldn't that be amusing? I'm sure someone would yell about it. Wait until I just mail him my grocery list and a Feynmann incident ensues.
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