Category Archives: Roadblocks

The Zone

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The thing about being in the zone is that when you’re in the zone, you can’t be writing about being in the zone.

It’s similar situation with status messages. On Twitter proper, you are asked, “What’s Happening?” As soon as you start typing, you are no longer doing what you’re doing (which was the old question on Twitter), but tweeting instead.

In an effort to achieve as much efficiency as possible, I’ve tried time and time again to write a memoir while living it out, and that’s probably one of the largest roadblocks I’ve ran into.

This is why this post is probably going to be one of the last time I talk about the zone. I’m not here to write a top 10 list of how to stay in the zone, but instead to just bask in the zone myself.

Oh, and by the way, expect more short personal posts. If I can’t be myself on my own freaking blog, then I’ve got issues.

Do.

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All this time, all I had to do was just… do.

No seriously, is there something you want? Do you really want it?

Then go. Grab it.

It’s amazing how many roadblocks are created just by yourself alone. And making weighted lists on those roadblocks are just as equally silly.

The question isn’t how are you wasting your time, but why. And even then, why ask why when you can do.

And it all becomes clear to me, just for a second, to continue on the road to Awesome.

Trying To Capture That One Turnaround Moment

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This is the epitome of the uselessness of “meta”. I hope to never reach this level of useless self-awareness too often from this point on.

What I realized yesterday was that I’ve been waiting… waiting for the one moment when I would immediately jump on a project and not stop until I passed out from the lack of food or sleep.

Of course, it never came. And it never will.

The standards were set to high, and while it might have been partially admirable at the beginning, it was bound to fail.

And it wasn’t enough that I was hoping for something ridiculously impossible: I was meaning to record it for the world to see, to show the world how much better I’ve become as I awoke from my unproductive slumber.

Pfft. This blog post hopes to just satiate that insane ego, such pride…

Quick, To The Point!

This has probably been one of my largest roadblocks. The need to log, fine, that’s just who I am. I need to remember to know that I exist.

But to wait for the moment when I suddenly become awesome? Wow, such foolishness.

Be awesome instead. Awesome isn’t the destination. It’s the journey.

And with this in mind: Here goes everything. Again. And whatever is here will probably go again in the future.

Note to self: Star this post. Then refer to it regularly, add to it, and then keep pushing towards somewhere better.

Roadblock: Other Projects

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A note on JKast and JKFilter, two projects.

JKast, IndieGamerPodcast

Whatever is left of this podcasting business, I’m giving it up. The file will exist somewhere, but not on this server.

I’d love to get back to doing a roundtable discussion on all sorts of random topics I and others find awesome, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen again anytime soon.

It would be nice to be able to talk my way through a blog post to alleviate some wrist and forearm pains, but I’m just so used to reading and writing.

I know it’s been awhile since I posted, but it’s still been sitting there at the back of my brain, slowly tugging away for more attention. This also means… IndieGamerPodcast is on hold as well.

JKFilter

This thing started as an experiment two weeks ago. I basically updated a Chyrp installation with a lot of commentary on feed posts, as well as some interesting links I found on the Internet. I even tied a Twitter account to the fun.

One of the goals of this experiment was to see how I would want to share my links to the world that I found through a feed reader. Another was to find out how to harness the implicit data that was being created by me sharing a certain post on a certain topic.

Needless to say, I’ve decided to put this link sharing business on this blog. Another roadblock blasted through.

Now To Get Cooking

Throwing stuff away feels great. Especially if it’s tracked somewhere.

Slashdot | Interface Zen

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I’ll say it again for the logic-impaired: keyboards aren’t just for CLIs, and mice aren’t just for GUIs. There’s no good reason whatsoever that even in what’s commonly referred to as the GUI world, that you should eschew the keyboard. For many problem domains (xbill and its ilk notably excepted), the keyboard remains the fastest, most efficient, and most powerful input device available, and it would be the height of folly to avoid it.

via Slashdot | Interface Zen.

The problem right now, is that my wrists and forearms, and now my eyes, are killing me. It’s very tough to stay in that zone these days.

To make matters even worse, I’ve been using Time Out to make sure that physical pains don’t get worse. This only adds to the problem of getting into the zone, and staying there.

In any case, an eye-opening piece of the usability of keyboards and mice.

Transparency ^ Extreme, With A Side Of Meta

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Transparency. It’s an issue. Or at least, I’ve made it an issue enough to write on it. And it’s not just transparency, but the record-keeping that is associated with staying transparent.

And while writing and rewriting this post, I realized that I had once again fooled myself into thinking that talking about myself was actually useful.

It’s simple really: One extreme is to be as painfully as open as possible. The other is to shut up, and bottle it all up within. Does this really need another blog post?

It’s taken me a while to have this level of understanding of myself, and I’m sure I’ll keep learning as I go along. But seriously, these kinds of posts need to end.

Quick, To The Point!

Be open and honest, but don’t place importance on achieving openness for the sake of it, all the while sacrificing valuable time and effort. That should be reserved for creating something awesome instead.

Applications On Projects

I stand firmly on the view that ideas are almost worthless compared to implementation (this is a statement that’s a broad generalization… definitely much more to be said on this topic). But ideas are so easy to come by, and talking and writing is really easy. Or at least, I tend to talk and write about them at an elementary level, and so it may just seem easy.

This is also where transparency becomes a roadblock. To stay transparent, I try to write and talk about my ideas. From there, I just keep throwing new ideas, mixing and matching feature sets across projects.

Staying transparent has become a project all on its own. An idea without implementation.

And this must end.

Where Am I?

I don’t know how I got here. I think it’s about time I got fed up with my own lack of focus.

Here we go yet again.

Eye Fatigue

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I’m not 100% certain when the pain in my eyes started, but I’m fairly certain it started after I went out on my own with HanMeta. Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours and hours on end probably doesn’t make the pain go away.

I’d be lying if I said that my eyes weren’t getting better, but they’re not getting better fast enough. Here’s a list of things I’ve been doing to sidestep this roadblock, to make sure I don’t go blind while working on my projects.

  • Exercise: Just do it. Seriously, there are benefits aplenty by exercising. Running is good, running outside is even better, since you get all that fresh air to your eyeballs… if you don’t have leg pains like I do.

  • 20/20/20 rule: I’ve seen this all over the place, but I use it more as a set of loose guidelines to follow. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away from 20 seconds. I’m doing it right now as I’m typing this sentence. Also, as you do it, you could also stretch your wrists for double the fun. Tools like AntiRSI really help in this endeavor. (I think Caffeine.app messes around with AntiRSI.app… I should look into this.)

  • Blink: Just blink. More.

  • Decrease of Media Consumption via the Screen: This includes movies, “TV” shows that I watch via the Internet, and video games. I’ve gone back to being lo-fi, visiting libraries and reading some of my books I haven’t finished.

  • IM? Twitter? Email? Feeds?: Almost anything that requires me to read anything on my computer has begun to annoy my eyes. To tell you the truth, this physical roadblock might provoke me to finish up a project faster than if I had no physical pain at all.

  • Ergonomics: Blah blah blah. Glare? Get rid of it. Small text, especially on a 17″ screen with 1920×1200 resolution? Make it bigger or get a larger external display. Lots of information general Ergonomics on the Interwebs to read, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

This entire list boils down to me trying to be more effective with my time on the computer. Heck, more effective with my time on this planet. From time to time, all the mystery pain I’ve been having puts things into perspective; that so much of my time has gone to waste and that there is only so little time left.

So, seriously, Eyes. Suck it up, and be awesome instead.

New Category: Roadblocks

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Starting today, I will write about the roadblocks that are standing in the way of being awesome instead.

I hope that by bringing out these fears and face them in this public setting I will realize a couple of things, including:

  • What is actually standing in the way?

    • Okay, what part of me is it this time?
    • Is it really a roadblock, or am I just making it up?

  • Is it just me?

    • How commonly do other people struggle in the same way as I do?

  • How will I solve it?

    • Can this solution help others?

I’m hoping that I’ll keep this category grounded with actual examples. Let me know how I’m doing when I post on the subject.