laura_seabrook | Entries tagged with studio

The last two days I've been a bit ill. Tuesday was a bad day to travel on buses, and yesterday while I stayed home, I just didn't feel up to doing Masters stuff. But today I feel much better. So far I've re-arranged the studio so that the workstation faces north. That means I can look out the wind to think (it does help) and I was able to move the printer off the desk and on top of the filling cabinet. It also mean that the dogs now have ramp up to the top of the cabinet, so they won't need to be lifted either way.

We'll see how this sits. I now have my back to the door and to the desk, but so fay I haven't bumped it like I was expecting.

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1493407.html

My Studio PC is playing up again. As usual this happens when I'm working to a deadline! It was built by Kevin a few years back and I suspect it's falling apart. Applications have been freezing and Firefox for the moment has lost it's bookmarks!

Rather than battle this like made, and waste tim trying to fix it - I'll copy the files I need back to the memory stick and move to the RecRoom PC for the duration.

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1474337.html

I had mixed results yesterday I seemed to make half hearted efforts at getting started in the STUDIO. My excuses are that it was a hot and sticky day and that the room the Studio's in is pretty much the hottest in the house during Summer. However excuses won't get stuff done at the end of the day. I had a minor success later that night doing more Return to Second Life pages, but that's not the masters is it (and that was done in the Rec Room)? In fact I procrastinated on stuff all through the day.

Thinking about that, I probably need to do two things:

Have a work-around for hot and sticky days; and
Have WEEKLY GOALS.

Maybe the first would be to do stuff at night or when it starts to get cooler, or to stuff in rooms or areas that are cool (like outside or the lounge). If I defer work in the Studio until later in the day I need to make sure I follow through. This does lead to interesting possibilities, like shopping during the day or trips to the uni (or somewhere air-conditioned).

And with Weekly goals (rather than daily) I would have a clear indication of progress without an excuse to feel guilt on a particular day if stuff doesn't happen the way I expected. That being the case my goal for this week is to create "bridging pages" for the webcomic versions of the graphic novels, which lead directly to the first REAL pages (that is, pages that would appear in the printed version) of the graphic novels. In particular I'm starting with Real Life Trips. There's extra "unseen" work that goes into this - the narrator characters are different for each graphic novel.

But I'll see how this goes. Right now IO'm attempting to recover my mailboxes of the Studio PC. Somehow they've disappeared!

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1339138.html

The new schedule will work like this:

WEEKDAYS
4 Days working on Masters/Work between 9am-4pm
1 day "off" where I go out and do stuff other than "just" food shopping.

WEEKENDS
1 day drawing non-Masters comics and art
1 day housework

I have to have a certain amount of discipline to make this work. I foresee that I might have a different weekday each week for the "off day", but:

If I've already had an off-day that week no more until the next week; and
If I haven't taken an off-day by Friday, that that becomes the off-day (and no staying home either, otherwise I might get into "hermit mode").

A work day will be one whether I go to uni and do stuff there, or stay home and do stuff here. See if I'm going out that really includes catching a 9:05am bus to the university. In practice I find catching a later bus I seem to lose more than just an hour, I lose momentum as well. But if I'm not going out then I still need to start at 9am. If I'm on the bus I'm usually reading something (book or comic) but all the while I'm also thinking about what I'm going to be doing that day. As any writer knows, spending time in the study, even when it looks like you're not doing something, is not wasting time - it's thinking and contemplation (hence jokes about relatives asking the writer to "do something while they're not busy").

So, if I'm "working at home" (that is, working on an important art project) I ought to be IN THE STUDIO most of the time - no shirking off to play games, do social media, or watch TV. With most of that being in other rooms, this ought to be easier to stick to. My uni counsellor suggested that I also do other things that I'd do if I were going to uni - get dressed for going out (as opposed to wearing very casual gear or just a nightshirt), and pack a lunch. Not so sure about that. I know the first week will be the hardest, but I also know that to complete the masters I need to make it work and get stuff done. This is a big step towards that.

Often I'd go shopping or run errands on the way home from uni. I've found doing either on the the way to or before university to be counter productive. How can you get around uni carrying a bunch of shopping? But on the way home is different, and that's why the standard work day ends at 4pm. Most shops are open until 5-6 so it give plenty of time to go shopping. But what happens when I'm at home and not at uni? Well there is a 4:12pm bus from Barnsley that takes me past Edgeworth and Glendale shopping areas. If I need anything I can still get it (and this is another reason to dress as if I'm going out).

For lunch times I could just stream something on the media PC to the Studio PC, and watch it while eating my (packed) lunch. Means I wouldn't be drawn away too much. Or maybe not. Maybe lunch is down the other end in the rec room catching up with social media. If that were the case, then it would be associated with "time out" during the day. Maybe.

So that's the idea, and I'll be starting this come Monday. The rest of this week is about catching up with stuff that's been ignored over the last 8 days.

Current Mood: contemplative
Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1327467.html

I will be starting the use the STUDIO properly on Monday.

The last week and a bit has been all about setting up the Studio and rec rooms. I moved furniture around and then PCs and last week I went out and bought something that needed to be brought home on a trolley every day: Monitor (OK, I carried that one); flat-pack computer desk; PC Tower; and Lawn mower. Friday was spent hooking things up, and Saturday to Monday about decisions and installing things and finally moving and re-storing things. Feel a bit worn out, even though this is a good thing.

I've also realised that having a separate studio IS going to work. Why? Because of the way I've divided things up, it will be blatantly clear whether I'm working or just piss farting around. Before, when everything was set up on one computer, that was less obvious, because I'd say to myself "ah, I'll work later but play now". But now, if I'm not in the room I know I'm not focussed on the task at hand. Another thing I've done is set up power-boards with switches for all three PCs. The initial reason for this was thunderstorms. Having a switch on the board means that I don't have to turn everything off at the power point (and there may be other things hooked up along the way).

The media PC in the lounge stays on most of the time. The other two hower will stay off when I'm not using them, unless there's some process or reason to have them on (like rendering a video or DVD build, which might take a couple of hours) when I'm not here. So in addition to powering them down, I'll also be turning them and their peripheries OFF via the powerboad. Hopefully this will save me some power.

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1327104.html

Got everything organised and (more or less) running.

The new study (now called the "Rec Room"):

The New Studio:

Detail showing computer and drawing stations. I like having the light on the left.

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1326714.html

Of course now that I have the lawn mower (for less than I expected) I can stay home tomorrow. I can certainly use a rest after being out four days this week. My right leg and foot ache. But this means that I can spend time putting the new PC together and sorting out both rooms. And if the weather's good, assemble the mower and um, mow!

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1325778.html

Am delaying installing anything on the new PC until Friday/Saturday. Need to think through the tri-boot I have in mind, which would have Win 7 (mostly for Adobe apps); SUSE Linux, and Ubuntu Linux on it. Anyone there who knows what they're doing with stuff like this is welcome to give advice. Not an issue over space - I have a 1TB and 2TB drive available.

I ended up getting a different desk yesterday, despite it being double the price of the other one. However it lots of shelves and a space for the tower (even though my current pc was 1cm too tall for it). Took an hour to put together but there was a definite sense of achievement doing so.

Not so fiddling around with the PC and monitor. The PC from the study won't hook up with the AOC monitor. This could be a hardware and BIOS problem (for the motherboard) because Kevin hooked up a dual monitor adapter last year. In any case before I pick up the new box today I want to see it boot with one of these monitors attached. Even if it's the BIOS/Hardware list, it'll show me that the monitor works with at least ONE of my PCs. Then I'll use whichever one that does work with it as the Studio PC. If not, well then I have to rethink things (and will get the staff at the shop to figure it out).

Otherwise, assuming that all goes well, I will be picking up the 3rd PC today (the 2nd is the lounge/media PC). Things are very messy right now in both rooms, but it will all get sorted out by next Monday I know.

The room the studio's going in:

The current study:

Crossposts: http://laura-seabrook.livejournal.com/1324283.html

Today I'll be moving furniture and buying a new computer desk.

After looking at what was available yesterday the Kirra desk from Officeworks (shown right) seems the optimum choice. It's the same height as the desk I have in the study and both have a fold out keyboard tray. I've already bought a wireless keyboard for the studio, but just because you can sit in an armchair 4 metres away typing stuff doesn't mean it's the best ergonomics! Plus the tray will be good for graphics tablets.

Now they key here is timing. There are Hunter Valley buses that travel from the CBD and in one tip drop me at t5he end of the street but they leave town only at 3pm and 5pm. That being the case, I'll be shifting furniture around this morning, leaving in the afternoon and making sure I catch one of these home. This desk comes in a flat pack so I'll take my fold up trolley with me.

Going to be busy today, but I love moving furniture!

I'm putting together the studio in the back room (which used to be the boarders computer room). Today I bought an extra wireless keyboard/mouse, and a 23" flatscreen monitor. The monitor's going on the PC I alreadyhave, as that's going in to the studio (I already have everything I need installed on it).

Tomorrow I'm getting an extra computer desk (has a sliding keyboard draw) from Officeworks for $20, and rearranging furniture (the study will get the sewing desk back, and the drawing desk will go to the studio) . K-Mart had some for $10 but the were only 75% as wide. Day after that I will pick up the new box. for about $300.

Good fun getting all this back on the bus. The box for the monitor has hand grips, but I think I might take a trolley for the flat pack and the tower.