If a thing is worth doing ....

So I don't think the new Alarming Kitty device will be ready for New Years. Which is a shame, but we can always use the old one. The biggest downside is that without a deadline, I might get distracted by the Million Other Projects and not finish it. But it's been a learning experience, in interesting ways.

I used to be deathly afraid of failure. In all sorts of ways. It may sound odd, but I'm quite the perfectionist. I used to get very frustrated if the things I made didn't match the perfect vision in my brain. And that makes it very hard to gain skills, because you tend to give up at the first hurdle. I've never, for example, been very good with tools, because I've never practiced enough with them, because I make one half-arsed attempt, fail, and quit. Or at least, I used to. Because one of the things I've learnt recently, apparently, is that it's OK to fail. Several times. In fact, it's ok to be shit at something all your life, but that doesn't have to stop you doing it, if you enjoy it.

So today I cut out and filed down the final pieces for the Hello Kitty device. And gave them the first coat of primer (yes, primer. No, I probably don't need it. Hush.). And that's a step in and of itself - of all the things I'm crap at, spray painting has always been the worst.


And you know, they look pretty good! Not completely even, but nothing the second coat won't fix, and at some point during it I started to get a feel for it - I started out too gentle, and managed to correct that. So I feel pretty good.

But then it occurred to me that I should probably have marked and drilled the rivet holes first :) And in the past, that would have been the cue for my self-esteem to plummet, and the project to go back on the shelf. Only an idiot would forget to mark and drill the holes first, right?

But now, I know two things. Firstly, no, actually, people who do this a lot still make mistakes like that. And secondly - and most importatnly - it doesn't matter. In the absolute worst case, I have to sand the primer right back. That's an annoying half hour, but it's no huge deal. More realistically, I drill the holes now, carefully, and the second coat of primer takes care of any scuffing. I might have to add a third coat!! So. It's lessons like this that are important. Not being put off something because I won't get it right the first time (unless, of course, it involves high voltages or flammable substances ;)

So. The Alarming Kitty device will live - maybe not for New Years, but soon, yes, soon. And then I start on the next project, knowing that I won't, at the very least, make the mistakes I made on the Alarming Kitty device, and that I'm only getting stronger and better.

Which reminds me - drwally - we need to catch up, real soon.

sol.
.