And then we try something new....

Recently, I've had some highs and lows. A lot of people have come into my life to help me out with stuff, and I've been doing a lot of talking. A bit of a emotional rollercoaster really. I've also sold a lot of stuff that just didn't do it for me anymore. Changes. Lot's of changes. (and if there is one thing people with Autism don't like it's changes....). Pretty scary for me.

But sometimes, change flows naturally without me kicking and screaming every inch of the way. Lastnight was one of those moments.

I was having a chat with fellow Aspie Delta Dog, about how we deal with basic day to day stuff, how the hobby fits in, etc, and at one moment he showed a pic of his desk. Look orderly enough, so I showed him a pic of mine.

Chaos in all its glory

Yeah.....a tad different, innit? A messy workplace is supposed to show that you are a intelligent person, but I feel I have been overdoing it a bit. Well, a lot really. Thing is, I really dislike clutter (bet that surprises you) and I want a clean, clear desk, with stuff I grab from the cabinet, work and paint it, and then put it back in the box at the end of the day, give the desk a sweep and feel good about it. My Aspie demands me almost to see things in Black and White. It is either perfect, or it is shit. It is either clean, or chaos and disorder (though to be frank, when I look at that desk I know all the projects on it, what state they are in and what plans I have for it. You just see a ton of junk).

A little bit of clutter I can handle, I do the same in the rest of the house all of the time, recycle stuff, wipe the table after dinner, go to the store everyday for groceries (and cause I need the excercise), and everything falls into my routine day to day pattern (another Aspie/Autism thing). My hobby, having no set goal most of the time, is a bit vague to say the least. I don't paint every day, I don't build every day, I have no set pattern and tend to do things/projects on the fly, which is great in a creative manner but hell on the wallet and planning. Keeping my focus on something for days, let alone weeks or months, takes a ton of effort, even if it is really interesting, and some items get put aside for weeks or months (or years) before I can get the interest back into my life.

Delta Dog then decided to tell me his rules, what works for him. It may or may not work for me too, but there is only one way to find out. So here goes (in my own words).

• A way for an Aspie to clean a messy desk/tabletop is to clear one section of it and see how it annoys you to have a clear, clean space in amongst the chaos. In ttheory, it will spread like an oil slick. Why? No clutter I love. A bit of clutter feels like something I can handle and a total mess freezes me up, but the line between little and total chaos is really, really thin. I only look at the bigger picture and what a monumental task it is to get everything cleared and cleaned (which I think normal people have issues with too :D ) cause I simply have no routine in doing it. (recently, Kim put me in charge for cleaning the kitchen and after some hick ups it has become routine and I no longer think about what I need to do, I just clear and wash the dishes, clean the stove and the rest of the kitchen and then I have free time for the rest of the evening, not before. The caveat is that if for some reason I don't go through that routine, the chain can be broken and I have to learn it again, Fortunately though much quicker then before, but still. Sad, but I can't do much about how my brain works.)

So, while chatting to Delta Dog, with a podcast in the background, I drew a imaginary line in between both tables, and drew another one alongside the compressor on the left desk. I cleared everything in that area in about 10 minutes, either by throwing it in the bin, putting it in the right boxes or on the sorting table behind me. Right, could this really be so easy? I drew another imaginary line on the right desk halfway between the edge and my keyboard. And repeated the same thing in another 10 minutes! Yup, it is behaving like an oil slick :)

Now, take a break, take it easy and don't spoil the moment. It is pretty easy for me to go in balls deep with everything I got, but that would be exactly what I should not do! (which I know all too well, when I was still single I had 6 months of clutter stacking up and then 1 or more weekends of frantik clearing, binning and cleaning to get everything perfect again. Well, my kind of perfection anyway.)

Less then half an hour in.

 Well, it was still early, only around 22:00 hours or so (for me that is early) so decided to draw another line right alongside my printer and take it slowly. There was no need to finish it tonight, I should be happy with reaching 2 goals in one night. So I binned more stuff, removed all of the paperwork and updated our mutual online calendar with all of the details from what I could get from the papers. So, time for lesson 2.

How I ended saturday night.

• Lesson 2 is in one way much simpler, but also much harder for me to stick to. You want projects to build and work on? You can have 5. No more. They have to fit inside a shoebox. If your project takes up more space you can put it in 2 boxes, but the grand total must be 5.

Ouch. Yes, I can get rid of projects I'm no longer interested in, but the goal here is to finish one project, empty the box, then put in a new project if you find one.  A project may expand or wane, but it has to fit in the box. Right, I can work with that. It is also based on my own honesty. I and only I can keep a check on things. Fair enough.

So, 5 projects ey? Well, number 1 is simple, the TNT project. But with the recently ordered MDF stuff it will be a 2 box project as I don't see how I can fit everything in that I want to do now. Box 2 will be the 3mm Stalingrad/Berlin project. Box 3 will fit a large collection of 15mm, 20mm and 28mm containers and finally, box 4 is reserved for the various 3mm aircraft that I'm working on or need to paint for me and Modhails bash-up.

1. TNT
2. 3mm Stalingrad
3. Containers
4. 3mm aircraft

I spent part of the Sunday thinking about what I did on Saturday, cleared the rest of the desk right up to the printer, grabbed and labelled the boxes (see above) for my current projects and when it came to the evening decided it was in my best interest to dust off my cleared desk, get some junk off the floor and recycle the waste bin. Not the job that I had in mind, but creating space is creating space :)

And thus my weekend ends, with a 90% clear and clean PC desk, a motivational meme and a solid plan for the rest of the week. I like where this is heading :)