My Other Job(s)

Well, these days, this is one. With all the balls I have in the air, I’ve come to revel in marking time by posting here. Amidst many long term projects, it gives me hope that I can actually finish something. I don’t think I’m alone in this, students in my classes often remark how much they enjoy getting to see a project through to completion.

Lately, I’ve noticed how truly incapable I am of “multitasking”. I love deep focus and have started using single tasks to mark the day in my calendar. PLASTER…TURN…GET MATERIALS… So many of the things I love to do take my full concentration. Once I let multiple tasks or descriptions creep into the plan for the day, I’m basically set up to fail. I can kick ass on the single task and then I usually have time for all the life stuff that demands my attention. Sometimes the day’s description is “errands” and I will knock out a bunch of small things, but every task seems to dim the possibility of deep focus. If anything, I need to start with the concentration and move on from there, but even the knowledge that I have errands to run can creep in and poison my focus. I’m pretty sure this is common battle, or perhaps I should have been diagnosed long ago.

I’ve especially noticed this on the house project. Once I start on it, I need to keep going for a few days, otherwise it hardly seems worth it. Often, changing gears is more energy consuming than the task itself.

When I need to pump myself up for a transition to the house job, I look back at the pictures from when it started. As with all house projects, it’s doubled in time, expense and exertion from my original estimate, but I am happy with the results. Here are some pics I revisit when I need a boost.

I wish I could have saved that beautiful split lathe, but I have some great photos

All that’s left on the first floor is trim and cabinetry

The project is a matter of weeks from completion, which is good because I need to pull a mortgage.

The window on the left was added, which makes the room feel wide open

the patch job speaks volumes

I pushed out the wall and a raised the ceiling in the upstairs bedrooms, the ceilings were barely over 6 ft high.

all plastered up

Here’s one I often turn to as a reminder of how far this place has come.

But it’s so intense that it makes me want to lay down for a while. Luckily, today the calendar says “Turn” and that I can do.