Done is better than perfect

I made this desktop banner to remind me to get on with doing things. 

I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I tend to not 'finish' many projects. I do this at home and at work. That means I've started many a great idea over the years and spent hours and hours working on the project, only to not complete it. This is a problem, as I don't get the recognition or fruits of all that work.

I just can't help myself. I have a constant need to improve material. I've been teaching for over 20 years now and, despite teaching similar classes each year, I'm always expanding material. I barely ever teach a lesson the same way twice. I do like to develop habits in the classroom, so we have our routines. For example, all my students know how to set-up equipment and put it away properly at the end of lessons. The skills I'm teaching are the same every year. But the content has to be updated- both for my sanity and to keep the kiddies engaged. 

The funny thing in teaching teenagers who have wide access to materials every day, is that music that is just a year old, is considered really 'old' to them. This didn't occur 20 years ago. Students didn't have access (via the internet) to such a rapid pace of change in music, therefore I could reuse the same pieces for a few years. Nowadays, anything I drag out that's just a few years old and seems relatively new to me, may have actually been in the charts when they were in early primary school. Therefore, it appears to be from their childhood! Thankfully, most contemporary popular music is built on the same foundations as popular music was from 20 years ago. And- quite often, I can drag out an oldie because it's just been released as a new hit by another artist.

My biggest problem, however, comes in my home. I'm a perfectionist in organising and cleaning. I'm no ten-minute cleaner! I can't handle doing a quick clean of the bathroom and accepting that this is okay. So I end up spending a couple of hours on the one area and make it really, really clean. This then means that I don't have time to clean a bigger area. 

I have, gradually, had to come to accept that a quickie clean is adequate. It's better that I get a lot of area in reasonable shape than to waste time on little things that are barely noticeable to most people. 

Thus my motto for the past year has been 'done is better than perfect.' I'm slowly coming to terms with this and putting it into practise.

Annual blog entry

Once again, an entire year has passed and I'd completely forgotten that I ever had a blog! Surely an annual entry doesn't really class as a blog, does it? Nevermind... at least I now know it's here and I can use it.

I've written on so many other blogs and in forums in the past year. I've also started a blog within a forum for a particular subject. Only thing is, that blog is so slow to upload text and images. Thus, I think I'll move on over here and see how it goes.

Let me take this opportunity to post some of the digital art I've done in the past year. I'm more than happy for anyone who stops by to use my work, save it, print it out, share it. Just one thing: don't claim it as your own or try to sell it.

So here's my first set: my Christmas cards from the end of 2011.

Traditionally I've made my cards by hand, a-la-scrapbooking style, but this was my first foray into digital designing. I've been printing off the inners for my cards for years so it was about time I did something for the outer.

I started by trying to make just ONE design but my anal retentive side of the brain took over and I ended up making ten. Er, correction, I made about 15. But I'm only happy with ten of them.  Once I had designed these, I printed them out on glossy medium-weight card and then 'scrapped' them onto some of my laborious collection of pre-folded cardstock.

The design above was the one I ended up using for 2011. Since Christmas is during the summer months in Australia, this seemed to fit the best. Plus I loved those colours. I have no idea if I'll use one of the other designs this year, or if I'll be inspired (and have the time) to create something new.

I hope you like these. If you want to use them, click on the image for the original size to pop up, then right click and save the picture.

I'm extremely thankful to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for all her wonderful images I've been collecting and experimenting with in the past few years.

I've also collected quite a few freebies (and some paid content) from Design House Digital. All of the content from DHD that I've used is NOT premium content, therefore I have no right to sell these items. That means that you, also, do not have a right to sell these items.

There are quite a few other places around the web where I've collected vintage images or used online tools to create my own 'paper' designs.

I do not intentionally steal anyone else's work. If you see something that belongs to you (ie is still in copyright) please let me know. If not, feel free to use these digital creations for your personal pleasure.

Geez Louise...

I'd forgotten I had this blog here. Oops!

I thought it was abandonned enough that I would never need to come back to it. So if I ignored it for long enough, it would just go away. How silly.

I sort of want to delete the previous posts altogether but they represent me at that time and serve as a reminder. I don't really think they're for anyone else to read. Not anymore, anyway. I don't think I'm writing now for anyone else to read. It's just a bit of 'me' time.

So much changes in a year, doesn't it? I feel like I've become quite a different person in that time. I've gone from a social, highly interactive person who needs to have other people around me, to a hermit who barely needs contact with the outside world. Not to say that I'm not sociable, lively or engaging when I am with others. And I do plenty of interracting online. I've cut out 'chatting' online so much with some old friends though. The difference is, I don't feel the need to be with people, I don't have that pull anymore. I'm quite happy in myself and on my own. I've just had two weeks off work (holidays) and only went out once (socially) in that time. I've seen family once or twice too. And I did a grocery shop once. But that's it. I didn't walk out the door for any other reason.

It's quite a change for me. No internet dating sites, no large social gatherings with new or old friends. I just meet up with small groups of friends for dinner, maybe a movie or a show about once a month.

I guess this didn't all happen by accident. My lower back went from some mild pain a year and a half ago, to excrutiating pain about 12 months ago. I didn't see it coming. This started to limit my ability to go out. I'd only go if I knew I could get a parking spot reasonably nearby and if I knew I wouldn't have to stand or walk for more than 3-5 minutes. Added to this, my last romance ended in early Feb 2010 and I just couldn't muster the energy to go through that again. I thought I was just taking some time off from dating but here I am, 14 months later, still disinterested in the concept.

For a totally random change of heart, my belief in God has totally done a 180. I'd been a strong believer for many, many years and had even worked in ministry for a few years. Now I simply don't share those beliefs. So I don't go to church and I don't see church people much anymore. I'm still in contact with some but if I decide to go to church (eg at Christmas) it's only for their sake, not mine. Having felt totally abandonned by God after years of 'faithfulness', I started to see the world through different coloured glasses. Science and logic totally won me over. I'm quite happy in my attitude, though I know it pains many of my friends. That's the only part I'm really disappointed about.

So having all this time to myself (apart from ridiculous hours spent working) I set some goals for myself this year. I decided to do a bit on an 'audit' on myself. Fitness had become a completely dirty word, unable to walk for any decent length of time. I couldn't even wash up dishes in one go. I tried various remedies and had some tests. Finally I found a physiotherapist who teaches pilates. I now go once a week and, after 4 months, am finally started to see some results. This has meant I can do some things around my home that had become impossible (like putting clothes away or cleaning). I'm hoping I can start walking around the block in the next few months- or even 10 minutes at a time would be good.

I started a post-graduate degree in psychology. Twenty-two years after graduating from university, I am back to studying- online, of course. It's going okay but certainly not taking the mere 10 hours a week stated in the recommendations. It's much closer to 20-25 hours per week and I'm not doing all the parts listed! I tend to take my books/laptop to a local club and work for 6-8 hours at a time. I need to do some of it at home, but I work better out of the home. Besides, I can get drinks, food and table service when I'm out. And I'm very good at blocking out other noise and distractions when I'm out. At home, it's way too easy to get side-tracked with reading blogs, etc.

Anyways, that's where I'm at currently. It might be good to come back and reflect on this again... in a few months!