Was there ever a more beautiful word than batching?
Batching is the word for automatically altering a group – or batch – of images in Photoshop. The fact that I’m batching means that THE CALENDAR IS FINISHED and I’m doing the last step of making sure all of the images have been converted to CMYK instead of RGB (printed matter needs to be 4/Color – CYMK, but computer images are usually RGB – Red Green Blue)
Ah, I’m getting positively nostalgic for my Pocket Pal – the book of print production that I used to have to carry around for my color Ok’s.
But as of 2:30 today all the dates of the calendar are filled and finished. As soon as I batch all of the images I’ll burn the year onto disks and FedEx this bad boy out to the publisher (and good riddance!) The sound you are hearing is of a gigantic boulder being lifted from my shoulders as I write.
And – I swear this is true – at the moment I finished the sky outside went from stormy grey (thunder – the whole nine yards) to bright and beautiful sunny Spring day. The angels are happy that the calendar is finished, too (too bad I have a knee-jerk reaction against many angels…)
But work is – quite literally – stacked up all around me, so don’t worry about me being bored or anything…
DOGS
I have to re-do an item for Men Who Knit and send a package back to the publisher
SHIPPING
I have BOXES waiting for their trip to the Post Office. Big, heavy boxes. “Honey…”
ROMANCE
Yarns have been arriving and I’m just dreadfully behind in my assigning. I’m thinking, since my editor’s been really, really busy and too stressed to look over my Grand Table Of Designs this is probably alright.
MAGS
I have three projects I need to finish up for a couple of magazines – a hat (milinery!), a skirt (crochet!) and something else that has totally slipped my mind. Eeeeek!
TEACHING
I need to prepare for my classes out in Minnesota. I’m really excited to go out there – I’ve never been before! I’ve had friends from Minnesota, and some folks I know have moved TO Minnesota, but I, myself, have never been.
STRESS, WORK & FINDING MY WAY
And this is why I haven’t been blogging as constantly as I’d like. I promise that now the calendar is soon to be bye-bye I’ll feel much less stressed. Stress is a killer, and not least of all because – at least in my case – stress really EATS time up!
If I can approach something in my own time, in my own way, maybe doing a little bit now, then some later, then some when the spirit moves me, I get an amazing amount of work done. As a matter of fact, I’d hazard a guess that one of the reasons I can be so productive is because I give myself permission to approach my tasks in my own way and in my own time.
When I’m locked into a different way of doing things (a schedule, a different system, etc.) it can sometimes stress me to the point where it takes me longer to get less work done. This sounds like a cop out (let me just do it my way or I’ll take longer…) but I’ve come to see – at least with me – that this is indeed true in my work habits.
My own preferred way to work is to have several tasks going on at once. I like jumping from one thing to another, when I get bored, frustrated or have reached an impasse it’s nice to have a different direction to focus my attention. If I’m stuck on the desert island the-current-odious-project, and have no way to escape for even a brief moment, I get depressed. I try to create fire, perform some self dentistry, make a radio out of two coconuts and a banana peel… But I digress…
So even though the calendar has been – at times – an annoyance, it’s also been a fun and exciting project, and I’m grateful for the chance to be able to do it. It’s also been a benchmark for me – I’ve been able to see exactly how much more exhausted I am this year compared to last (the marathon work sessions at my computer are not possible these days) and I’m hopeful that as summer comes my breathing will get better and better – more air = more energy!
I’ve always said that everyone should teach SOMETHING at least once. It will help you be a better student, and will help you understand your subject better than you ever dreamed! I now add to that, every designer should have to edit a collection of designs at some point. It’s educational, enlightening, and I have more sympathy for editors I’ve worked with than I ever thought possible. All the same, though, I’m glad to be returning to my own moccasins – or in my case, my own hillbilly bare feet!