Day 10 - The Smallest Step

Sometimes it's the smallest steps that are the hardest. Once you've breached that threshold, continuing just comes naturally. Just starting can be the only thing keeping you from your goals. That's why today, I cleaned my room. I setup my keyboard, ready to have at the music making, only to find that I'd lost the keyboard driver software for my computer. So I cleaned, and I cleaned, and I cleaned all day. It wasn't until one hour before this post that I finally found it. The object of my obsession! At last! .. but now I'm pooped. Well, at least now I can START. I didn't let simple obstacles turn me away. Tomorrow, expect some music.

My Go books from Kiseido came today, but they got my order wrong. The one book I was looking most forward to (because it gave me something immediately applicable to try out in my games) was replaced with something entirely different. Instead of Opening Theory Made Easy (by Otake Hideo), I got The Direction of Play (by Takeo Kajiwara). I sent them an e-mail asking for directions to sort the problem out, so we'll see how this pans out. The books I got that I DID order, however, are marvelous, and I also spent a nice deal of time reading the first couple pages of them. I can already tell that they will help me immensely in improving my skill at Go. One book that I forgot to mention in my first post about Go books is Life and Death, (by James Davies) which, just like Tesuji (by the same guy) is a Go problems book, with each chapter dealing with specific types of problems, with instruction to aid with the problems and to help you understand the concepts behind each one.

As for Drawing? Well, I didn't draw! For the first time all month, I didn't draw. But that is okay, I think. I will recover in leaps and bounds. Another step I took today, a small one, but the most important step of all. I purchased Multimedia Fusion 2(MMF2), and The Animator's Survival Kit for a hefty $160.00. The Animator's Survival Kit is a highly regarded book for anyone interested in learning to animate. (something I have wanted/needed to learn for a long long time) MMF2 is a game development program targeted towards those that can't see themselves getting into the coding aspect of game creation, while still being full featured and well capable of producing games of extreme polish and diversity. It has been a purchase I have wanted to make for a very long time, but have been unwilling to do for price and fear reasons. Why spend so much money on something that you will procrastinate into obscurity?

The ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ has given me drive. Confidence. I have begun taking my first steps. Of course, much larger, more difficult steps lie ahead of me. But without the simple act of starting, these steps would forever tower over me, impossible to surpass.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat