Work first, play later
They finally delivered my shed kit yesterday. Its in the backyard right now, singing its siren song, tempting me to stop what Im doing and come out and play. Unfortunately,…
They finally delivered my shed kit yesterday. Its in the backyard right now, singing its siren song, tempting me to stop what Im doing and come out and play. Unfortunately, I cant.
Ive been looking forward to making this shed for a long time, and looking forward to enjoying the extra room that moving garage junk out of my garage will offer, which will in turn allow me to properly plan my shop layout for the first time since I established the shop more than four years ago. Further, building the shed will be a framing project, something I havent done in a long time, and Im excited about that. And in inspecting the kit I was pleased to note that it is a kit only in the sense that its bundled with everything you need; that is, nothing in it is prefabbed, meaning that I get to do everything myself. I am so completely jazzed that I can barely sit still.
But for now I can only look plaintively out my office window at that enticing stack of bundled building materials, as my rear end is glued to the chair before my computer where Im finishing a bunch of WORK stuff that must be done first before I can do PLAY stuff.
Isnt that frustrating? You have projects to do, art to create, sawdust to make, and tools to use but you have to do things, like work, first. Sure, I could rush out and play, leaving all my work stuff till late Sunday night. Sort of the grown-up equivalent of doing a math assignment in homeroom on the day its due.
But, no, Ill force myself to do the adult, responsible thing. Besides, with the work done and out of the way, my play time will be all the more enjoyable.
Till next time,
A.J.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
