Friday, September 8, 2017

Big Ideas

I found this nifty book (at Walgreens, of all places):

From C. R. Gibson; measures 7 1/4 x 10 1/4.
I don't see it on their website, may be a Walgreens thing only.

It's a journal of sorts, where you can note down your ideas, keep them organized. I had been looking for something like this for ages, something like a calendar, but undated, not quite a journal... basically this thing is exactly what I wanted. It's a place to put all my projects, and give myself a sort of deadline (where possible) for completion.

It seems to be helping? I've only noted 7 Ideas so far, but it's motivated me to seriously work on 3 of them. Maybe having them on paper instead of just in my head makes them more real. These are things that are not appropriate for a "to-do" list, things I can't accomplish in even a single weekend -- long-term projects that will take time to complete.

One of the things I wanted to work on was a ton of unframed art I'd picked up from conventions and other places. And the longer it stays out of a frame, the better the chance it will get damaged. I didn't even know much I really had until I gathered it all in one place! (It was a ton.) But once I had it gathered up, I could measure everything and make a list of frame/mat sizes I needed, and hit Goodwill. Lucky for me, Michael's was having a BOGO sale on frames, too, and I was able to get some bigger and odd sizes from them and nearly finish that project in a single week. There's a few more things left to go, but I managed to get so much framed and hung on the walls, and this was part of the catalyst that did it.

Some of the projects need to be done before other things can be done. I really need to make risers for my action figures (so the ones in the middle and back are visible), before I unbox any more, and before I can drill holes to add the "fence" in the center shelves. Making those probably won't take a lot of time, but it is an expense (lumber), plus the PITA of pulling out the table saw to cut everything to the right size. And I have to measure the shelves to make sure I know what size I need to make them. (Which I should go do, since I'm thinking about it...)

I'm trying to be realistic about my timelines for completion on all of the things I've written down. I have a lot of interruptions and I can't just dedicate huge blocks of time to things, because my life (and my brain) won't let me. But the next time I'm itching for something to do because I'm stuck somewhere else, I can grab this book and pick something that needs to be done. It's nice because it means that my jumping bean thoughts can easily pick up the threads of another project if I need to set another one down. It's not the most efficient way to get something done, but the only one enforcing the deadlines is me. (And having them written down with a time frame helps me stick to those, too.)

What I really need is Calvin's Duplicator box, so I can work on several things at once, but you know how that turned out for him...