No accounting for tastes...

[flexagon]

I just got an especially interesting thank-you letter about my screensaver tutorial... I've decided to take down the details because I'm sick of telling everyone my dumb little ideas that end up amounting to nada. One reason I'm so hesitant with them is that it always surprises me which of the things I do people end up valuing and liking, and which ones I put lots of effort into but nobody else thinks is any good. Even at work, it's the things I consider intuitive and easy that people end up raving about... and vice versa. Does this happen to other people? It kind of annoys me. And makes me feel really stupid to boot. I guess this is kind of an abstract thing to get all P.O.'d over, but I hate feeling like my judgement sucks.

Comments

No raves about my stuff

[hiddenbear.livejournal.com]

The only person who raves about my stuff is my mom, and that counts for zip! From what I have seen, read, and heard of your work, you are pretty great at whatever you try.
As for your little ideas, they'll work out one of these days.
(I liked the details when they were up. :-D )

[webrat.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I never got to see the details. :P Oh well... I think you should aim to please yourself. Foo on everyone else babe. When I started my cfmx blog on my site, I didn't expect anyone to be reading. Kind of like a little archive / don't forget library for myself yanno? Turns out, people do read it and I've been getting feedback, but it takes time.

Sometimes a thanks is worth it. If it were only that cut & dry. Sometimes you get a thanks and then end up getting 20 more questions and then you begin to wonder why you did it. ;) Like the guy I ended up helping yesterday. I got his server up and running via instructions through email and now I'm being bombarded with every little baby question after that. It's like, ok ok ok... time to move along now.

sigh. ;) Anyway, just don't forget to feel good about the things you do and don't worry about everyone else so much.

Thanks ratty... can I call you ratty? :)

[flexagon]

No, I shouldn't call you ratty. Sigh, it's just so irresistable, it was going to happen sometime.

The reason I want other people to like at least one of my ideas sometime is that I'd like to start my own biz (or otherwise start working for myself) and get filthy rich, at some point. Most things, I just do for me, but at SOME point I'll have to sell something to someone or stay in corporate-land forever. My guess right now is that something will indeed make me an independent chicky, but also that I'll have no idea what that something is until it happens. Phooey. It's all right, I like it that people occasionally like my stuff--just wish I could predict it better. :)

As for the "thanks, now can you please explain the universe" people... yeah. I once ended up explaining trigonometry to some poor girl who was trying to write a screensaver. Felt ridiculous, but she asked a question and I knew the answer and so I just had to type it all out... argh...

Re: Thanks ratty... can I call you ratty? :)

[webrat.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can call me ratty. :) I've been called worst. ;)

As for your own biz, believe me, I feel your pain. I so much want to escape corporate land as well (well, at least this job anyway) myself. Takes time. I'm tired of coding 9-10 hours days and then going home and coding another 8 hours. Sure way to burn yourself out. Someday I'll get something off the ground. I'm getting closer to architecting everything to how I want it done, I just just have a little more research to do and training (flash mx).

Great at everything? Clearly you have not heard me sing...

[flexagon]

But thanks. I do still intend to do one of the detail things since it turns out to be easy (the "if you found this helpful, consider pressing this button to PayPal me $3" detail thing). Not exactly a biz plan but it might eventually buy me a frappucino, and frappucinos are yummy, so there you go.

It sounds like you're giving it a good try, and

[flexagon]

from your site, you sound like you might be good enough to support yourself by doing consulting work part-time while you work on your own stuff. I'm sure you've thought of that already though.

Me, I'm waiting to vest at this company, and then probly headed out to somewhere else unless things change. More updates in late 2004. :)

Haven't you learned?

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

People like what you tell them to like. Besides, even if that's not true, your ideas are good, and you can't really judge, as you've discovered, which will be the gems and which will be the flops until you have more experience. Personally I think business is like anything else, you can have a talent for it, but until you dive in and make a ton of mistakes you aren't going to have that intuition.

Agree?

Yes indeedy... I just don't like it...

[flexagon]

The old "keep going and all will become clear, young person" thing! Errrrrgh. Oh well. Thanks to you (and everyone else) for the encouragement. :)