What a difference a year makes. A year ago, I couldn't get off the couch, but now I want to do all of the things. I'm following through on doing stuff that I've wanted to do for a long time but didn't have the energy for. Now I have a problem of plenty.
My office is getting crowded. Right now, I have video gear all over the place as I take inventory of what I have, what I need and such, for a project I'm doing (more later). If that weren't enough, I still have the electronic drums set up. I also still have my lights in a case and fog machine in the corner, and I'm not sure where to put those. I have a vintage computer on the floor, and a box of stuff to go with it, that I haven't fired up yet. The Lego Eiffel Tower is sitting on my network cabinet, and the box for it is in another corner. I can barely get to the fridge in the Pac-Man machine. Oh, and I pulled out my old cassette deck, and if I can find my tape stash, I want to show Simon what it was like to make mix tapes back in the day, maybe make a video about it.
I suppose this is what ADHD looks like, as I hop from one thing to the next and back again. The stereotypical hyperfocus drops on one thing or another for awhile, which is good because it results in finishing things. Right now though, I have to focus on the video project, for which there is some preproduction to get on. The drums, I enjoy spending 15 minutes at a time on, and there are even some songs that I would like to try playing along to, but it has fallen down the priority list. If I put the drums away, they'll probably never come back out, and that feels icky.
These are all good problems to have, certainly. I'm eager to get up in the morning because of it all, and I go to bed late for the same reason. (Which might be why I'm tired!) Unfortunately I do seem to apply almost a work-like standard to hobbies, where I must reach certain objectives to validate these endeavors. I sometimes feel like the artist in a room full of paint, a mess everywhere, but not a single completed painting. At that point, are you even an artist? I have to be zen with the chaos, because I'm having fun and I shouldn't make it feel like work. The one exception right now is the video thing, because that does involve other people's time.
One of the things that I've noticed is my head leaps ahead in a lot of things that I'm interested in. That's a doubled edged sword. On one hand, it makes it difficult to do the thing in the moment, and do it well. But sometimes, especially in video stuff, I'm editing in my head as I shoot, which makes it easier to make sure I'm getting what I need. Sometimes I get that while writing code, though it can make it harder to start. Understanding things like this makes me want to lean into those activities.
I have so many activities.
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