A-4: Truth and Consequences

I've made another decision about the labeling system. What should I do when I know I've dropped the ball on my objective, but I haven't missed an entry date? You see, most of yesterday and all of last night (till 2:00 in the morning) was absolutely pathetic. I kissed Shannon goodnight and went to the office to, "work," which turned into watching Beatles interviews on Youtube and getting into a squabble in an online game environment.

The game is called Ikariam, and involves gathering resources and building colonies. Like many on-line games it is always on, and if you don't check in regularly, you could find your town pillaged and your progress set back...etc. It has a vacation mode which I activated this morning. Vacation mode prohibits me from accessing the game for at least two days and should really be called, "I actually have work to do mode."

This morning, I paid dearly for my choices, but also added another piece of evidence to the "Luke knows how to get work done when he want to" file. For the record, the approach I used this morning is pretty straight forward: I made my own tutorial.

Tutorials

The tutorials I've used in the past were step by step instruction for operating 3D software and video editing programs. It begins we me asking the question of how I accomplish something and then finding the instructions that will walk me through it. I can also put together a chair (or probably build a rocket) if I have step by step instructions.


I don't understand why this works for me, but it's almost soothing to free myself from making decisions by having them made in advance. And that's the trick I was able to pull off this morning. I broke everything down into as small pieces as I could manage and made a check list.

As great as this technique is, it has limits. It's quite rigid, and when I get to a point where I need a certain resource or lack clear instruction, I throw an invisible hissy fit. I'm barely aware of it, but I'm sure that subconsciously I'm on the floor kicking my feet and pounding my fists. That's when the conscious part of me leaves the room and follows any desire that's attractive at the moment.

All that to justify my labeling system. I figure that as long as I make it here to unspool my thoughts and experiences in writing, then I'm doing the right thing. I want to break the pattern of abandoning everything when one thing goes wrong and getting to day A-5 might just be a helpful incentive. Not to mention I enjoy hearing from you all. It breaks through some of the isolation.

Thanks for reading.