I am moved.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 , 2:22 PM
I write this post from my desk in the cottage. Yes, the move is finally over.
Patrick was an amazing help. I’m deeply in his debt for all the Ikea furniture he moved and assembled. And he was right: everything did fit into the new space. In fact, through some sort of TARDIS effect, I somehow have actually got more storage here.
Cleaning up the previous flat turned out to be a big chore — yet another thing that displaced a lot of time and put me off my schedule. There wasn’t even any real payoff for it: the landlord barely looked at it when he met me there for the inspection (which really just involved me handing him the keys while marvelling at his pinstriped zoot-suit).
I also had lots of help from my friend Julia, who was visiting for the week (I know her from The Strategic Coach, and she’s “obscenely beautiful” according to Liz), as well as from…
Garry.
Yes, he exists! (It seemed like time to catch up on posting here, and a discussion of events would not be complete without acknowledging him.)
Okay, I’ve got to get back to what I was working on. It’s great to have this space with a built-in best mate who happens to own lots of fun toys, but I still have too many things to get done at specific times. A holiday in my new space would be nice.
Ooh: Labour Day!
Doing, doing, doing.
Thursday, August 17, 2006 , 10:22 PM
I’ve had a very busy week. But I’m on top of it. ThisGetting Things Done is popular for a reason.
Normally, I’ve got every project in my life floating about in my head, active, open, demanding attention. This is nicer: I just open a folder for the day and only have to think about or deal with what’s in it. Even though it means being more serious and actually doing what’s on my schedule for the day, there are far fewer things to deal with, and they’re set up in a way that I can actually act on them and have a sense of accomplishment about — well, getting things done.
So, yes, I’ve joined another cult.
But the moving thing? Easy. It’s all broken down into little steps, each of which is set to happen sometime, until it’s all done. Same with the talk I’m giving in October, the zine I’m producing, the website I’m creating, the…
Bunnies and boxes.
Thursday, August 10, 2006 , 3:59 PM
I’m going crazy. I’ve got two flats this month, and I’m trying to get myself moved into the new one, except it’smuch smaller, and I’ve got some big things I can’t move by myself. To make it all worse, I’m miserable at asking anyone for help. In spite of that, it’s coming anyway.
My new flatmate, best mate Patrick, has gone ahead and is assembling my flat-pack furniture because he enjoys doing that and I HATE it. In fact, I loathe all housey stuff. Hate it all. I don’t know why. And here I am facing the necessity to do lots of it, as well as dismantling my press operation to move it to someplace it might not fit.
So I’m like a little bunny in a box whose kill switch is about to go off. (Bunnies’ ability to die at will keeps coming up in conversation lately.)
~
I finally caved: after regularly reading several websites on“lifehacking”, or the science of organisation, planning, and other various tricks to make your life work better, I finally caved and bought the book that everyone on these sites praises: Getting Things Done, by David Allen.
I’m just getting into the meat of it, but the structure-geek in me is looking forward to implementing his system. But why it’s a pressing matter is that I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now, with two big projects at work (a company history for our new client website, and a jillion illustrations for our new team website), along with lots of other press-related projects. But it’s all so big I’ve been finding myself paralysed. (I played a videogame until 6AM the other night, which is a sure sign that I’m overloaded and feel the need to escape.)
Already, the book has helped me see some major flaws in the way I approach projects. For one, my to-do list is mammoth, and floats just behind me like some creature from a Hayao Miyazaki cartoon. But the things on it are often huge, vague, and not things I can act on.
Anyway, I bought some folders today, which would likely make other readers of the book laugh: it’s the first thing everyone does, buy a stack of folders. I guess the idea is to file like crazy and keep everything out of your head so you can just be doing what you’re doing.
I look forward to that, because I’m not there now.
I’m moving!
, 10:40 AM
I just picked up the keys from the letting agent. Patrickand I are going to share this place:
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p>It’s considerably smaller than the Hollywood Sitcom Flat, but that gives me an opportunity to shed some of the stuffthat’s accumulated around me. I like to shed — which is why I’d make a terrible housepet.
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