On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 15:32:56 -0600, JD wrote
(in message
):

Thanks all. After reading one comment, I realize the main reason I
don't want to go to the shop is because of the filth I'll recognize
when I walk in. Been putting off cleaning that place up for some time
now (almost a year I think). The boat has been parked in the shop
since the barn blew down this past fall, the lawn mower is parked in
there with a flat tire, the table saw has been pushed into a corner,
the wife has stacked flower pots all over my work bench, and I seem to
recall telling her to put her banana trees in there as well so they
wouldn't freeze over winter. OH MAN do I dread going out there.

Guess there is nothing to do but roll the ol sleeves up and start
cleaning. What with finals week ending this week and no classes to
teach until late January, I suppose I won't have any excuse to not
clean the place up. Perhaps once it is clean (cleaner), I'll decided
to start making it dirty again.

JD (Kentucky)


Periods of motivational funk like this seem to follow a cyclic pattern for
me, though I am not quite organized enough to try to plot just what the
pattern is. Nothing seems to go quite smoothly and it is best for me to just
back off and pursue something away from the shop. Then, a few days or weeks
later, things just seem to "click" perfectly, and all my workshop pursuits
flow smoothly. Some inner motivational gyro seems to direct me to the shop
when it is "time" for me to resume my tinkering, and it works for me.

IMO, don't force yourself back into the shop, but try to monitor that muse or
whatever it might be called, and when the time is right to go into your shop,
the clutter will almost sort itself as you apprehend each item.

The discipline you have had to have while pursuing your education has cut a
new channel along the bank in your stream of consciousness. It will take
awhile to get back into your regular flow of things. (been there myself)

Now, after this little metaphorical meander, you may return to your regularly
scheduled programming. Thank you for your indulgence.

tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.