It's all a bunch of projects!

Following up on my kickoff note for this blog, I'm in the middle of an average day. I've got the wide open freedom of nothing I have to do, so I live my life in a series of projects that fight each other for my attention. It's a bloodbath.

'How is that possible?' you might ask. No, I am not a rich person (though compared to most of the world, perhaps you and I both are - Ack! I'll leave political perspectives out for now, but just wait, baby, there's a lot coming on that front!)

I have worked for many years and lived a good quality of living, while taking a pass on the stereotypical 'life plan' (ie living an automaton's existance of marriage, house, car, babies, retirement and death). Truth is the 'life plan' that most people fall for out there is no plan at all, but following a script handed to us by society. For me, that rejection means that I'm in a stable, long term relationship, have a decent roof over my head, and savings enough to go on doing squat if I wanted to for years to come. More on that stuff later on.

Now the downside - I've got a personality that allows me to sit still for about 2 minutes. I can't do lie-on-a-beach vacations. Doing nothing for me is a very busy endeavour. The closest I can get is doing nothing constructive. Even that means flitting between eleven different projects none of which get completed, but that's as close to idle time as I can get.

I think things through fairly well. I'm pragmatic and realistic. This blog, for example is going to give me a means to vent the proverbial spleen on many different subjects that I've avoided in other blogs. Watch for the project numbers for updates on the multi-faceted mess that is my life. I've thought it through carefully. I know that it will likely go on breifly then flare out and sit here until about 2011 when I'll look back and rememeber that I didn't keep it up. But then again, knowing that most people go through that process may help me to persevere.

And I'll number all the on-going things I'm engaged on, and not bother with the whims that show up. Sometimes new whims might become a project, but I actively avoid letting that happen where I can. (Another of my societal peeves is that average people seem to actually have no interests, goals or pastimes - a good topic for a future rant) This will be interesting to see how many other things pop up, and whether I be efficient at keeping my new projects to a minimum.

So, thought I, let's number them in order of appearance. The numbers are by no means an indicator of priority or origination. The numbers may perhaps indicate something about where they rank on my worry-list, but that would take some sort of analysis to say for certain.

Right now, for instance, I am ostensibly employed as a consultant (Proj1). I have a bunch of experience (measured in way-beyond-single-digit years) in management, technology business, consumer electronics, software, science and marketing. I've successfully engaged several clients, and have successfully delivered their contracted goals. That's good, huh? But currently it's summer and I'm between contracts, and not in a big push to sign up more and occupy the nice-weather days.

I think I'm leaning more towards finding a full-time job again (Proj2). I enjoy being part of an organization. I've worked in huge multi-nationals and tiny start-ups. I think I like the latter better, thought the resources of the former are certainly nice.

So, as I waste a bit of my passing afternoon, I want to wrap this up to get onto the other project that is occupying my mind today - the completion of an expanded front walk-way (Proj3).

I just recently finished adding an expanded back paving-stone patio, and this is an attempt to do a bit more landscaping. Let's say that Proj3 is the whole, ongoing, landscaping hell that is my life. I've currently got lots of facets of that project burning a whole in my head. The walkway, a side patio, a pond/berm/waterfall monstrosity and various maintenance things like hedges and grass. I live to eliminate grass from my life, but that's just another one of those things that seems to be a life-long goal. So much for Proj3.

I'll endeavour to maybe make a running tally on the identified projects at some point. Uh oh, sounds almost like another project. Hell, each project could easily turn into a bunch of subprojects. Hopefully this is where my pragmatism will save my ass.

Ugh - Life's all a bunch of projects! I'll enlighten you, dear reader, when spare moments are to be had, to let you know how it's going. Perhaps a few pictures to further my project descriptions here and there.

So, off to the shop to buy some stone!