If there was a kingdom for the half-assed¹ I would be the king. Ever since I moved to Oslo, oh, many a year ago, I’ve started many ambitious projects, although never really properly finished but a few.

My “I want to make music”-project is a very good example. I bought an electric guitar, a MIDI keyboard and even Logic Express. That’s a lot of money I could’ve found better use for elsewhere, because learning to play the instruments and use Logic just turned out to be, you guess it, a half-assed effort. I know a few chords on the guitar now, but I’m not impressing anyone. The keyboard sits virtually untouched on my desk and I uninstalled Logic long ago.

The way I see it, I have to three problems. The first is that I’m trying to bite off a lot more than I can chew, being too ambitious and having a way to wide scope in what I’m doing. The second is that I expect results too quickly. And the third is that I just don’t have the time to do everything.

A man needs a hobby, and while I still enjoy playing computer games and junk, I want to use more time doing something other people can enjoy as well. I’ve been talking about writing a novel, but that was more of a creative excuse to buy a netbook - buying one was a very good decision, by the way, I love it. I’ve also been considering writing an application for the Android platform, and I have three good ideas for applications that other Android users might find handy. I even have a book about programming for Android somewhere, but just can’t seem to get started. To top it all off, I earlier this week began coding a science fiction real time strategy game that I’ve laid out nicely in my head, but I struggle to get properly started with that as well.

All this said, there are - thankfully - personal projects and goals that I feel I’ve handled well. Take the photography thing, for instance. Even though I’m not using the camera much, I feel I do a decent job when I point and click. It’s also the work out thing, I’ve been to the gym regularly for almost a year now, except for smaller breaks because of my messed up shoulder and too much overtime at work. This is me patting myself on the shoulder.

So to get something done, I need to do the following: Bite off what I can chew. Realize that it takes a while before actual results surface. Face the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and I have to go to work and be social, too. I have to choose one semi-ambitious project and work with it when I can and feel like it.

I’ve decided to go with none of the above, but rather a redesign of this site. It’s been long since it had a face lift, I’m getting a little tired of the current design and it’s time I introduced some rounded corners these design people have been using for two years. Today I’ve spent a little time browsing the interweb for inspiration and there are a lot of great designs out there. With a little bit of luck, I might manage to finish the redesign before new year’s.

But don’t hold your breath, unless you’re very, very, very, very, very, very good at holding it.