It’s more like me to have an idea that I won’t follow through on than it is for me to see one of them through. There are a number of reasons for this, one being that I have too many ideas. This doesn’t stop me from preparing myself to eventually get to the project and complete it. I have a lot of tools and even more materials for projects that I had the idea for.
(more…)Tag: Personal Projects
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October 11, 2023
Not even a few years ago, if you would’ve asked me to buy a router, I would’ve come back with something to transmit the internet. It’d have multiple antennae and lights that flash green when everything is working the way it should. To set it up, I’d use a computer.
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August 27, 2023
“I have to give this a go,” I keep telling myself. My parents reiterate the same to me when I speak with them. “If I don’t try this, I’ll always wonder what could’ve come of it.” So, I’m doing it. Most of the time, it’s pretty good. Sometimes, I get nervous.
I’m an anxious person, that I know. It’s hard for me to let things go, whether that’s a mistake I made or a new tool that I want. I fixate on what might be or could’ve been instead of what’s all in front of me. I know, truly, that I have everything I could need and more. If moving all that shit over the workshop hasn’t given me any insight into just how much I have…my optometry benefits renew in September.
Diving into this project, that of making and selling handcrafted wooden (mostly) goods, as I’ve done this summer, has been really good for me. It’s given me a focus. My mom keeps reminding me that it’s a passion of mine and it also happens to be something I’m good at. Her gentle encouragement is a result of my complete inability to accept a compliment or praise from my parents. Before now, the closest that I’d gotten to woodworking was holding the flashlight for my dad. Occasionally, I’d swing a hammer — the rusty one.
What’s really been bothering me these last few days is the cost. It’s cost a lot to get this project off the ground. While I do feel like I’m making gains, I’m the one financing all of it. Nothing is selling right now. There is no money coming in.
Yet. This is a tortoise and hare tale.
To be fair, my advertising and marketing strategy is piss poor. I’ve been spending more time trying to get myself in a position to make things. I’ve been making things, too, just not enough. There are a few pens that I need to photograph and post pictures of, though. I don’t read all the emails that I get sent about how to grow your small business. Who’s got the time for that?
It feels like I’m having trouble situating myself. Where, in all of this, do I belong? Squarely in the centre. I’m the bubble in the middle of the mind map, the one that looks like a cloud and has bold letters in it. From this position, you can only see out in front of you, not what’s beside or behind. Everything is drawn out from here and remains connected.
Right now, it’s hard for me to identify the gains that I’ve made. I’m seeing the forest, not the trees. Wood is crucial to the success of this enterprise.
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August 16, 2023
Some days are slower than others. Today, we took a pedal boat around the lagoon at Bowness Park. We were never moving too fast. For an hour, without any gusto, we pedalled.
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July 27, 2023
I rotated my tires today. Six tire changes took place. I kept wishing I had just paid the guy to do it when I went in for an oil change.
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July 25, 2023
I got out of bed around 10:00 this morning. Well, I got out of bed at 7:00 am to feed the girls and then went back to bed. There are very few mornings when Eloise isn’t pestering me to get out of bed to feed them. If nipping at my toes doesn’t work, she’ll start scratching at my bum through the sheets. Genevieve is clever enough to let her sister do the work.
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July 23, 2023
Creativity is a funny thing. We seem to value it very highly in our private lives but dismiss it too easily in our professional ones.
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July 22, 2023
Playing used to mean going outside to ride my bike, play street hockey, shoot hoops in the driveway, or build something with Lego. It made senses to call those activities “playing” because they were fun and carefree. Going to the playground wouldn’t be all that much fun if it were work.
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July 1, 2023
Summer break takes a few days to set in. It’s the cold pool your toes need to test first. Soon enough, you’ll acclimatise and be swimming without reservation.
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June 14, 2023
After a rather busy day at work, I went for a haircut. I got home, kept my shoes on, gave the girls cats a treat, and then went straight to the barbershop about half a block away. When I rocked up, one of the owners was sitting outside. I asked if they were open and he took me inside and sat me down right away.
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May 21, 2023
I was able to get outside today to make a pen. It felt good. I felt out of practice.
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May 11, 2023
Sometimes, progress is imperceptibly slow.
I often think that I’m not getting anywhere with SANA Stationery & Gifts. I won’t have made a pen in a while or done any woodworking. I still won’t have prepared this year’s ledger or taken pictures of pens I’ve made. The website will still be in need of a few updates and I won’t have been active on Instagram.
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