Ha! and also Double Ha!, too!

I know you people. You read my World Lichtenbergianism Day post and smirked knowingly, didn’t you? “Oh,” you said smugly, “he’s not really going to start and finish a totally new project when he has ::mumbling incoherently:: to complete, is he?”

Oh, ye of little faith, as Bilbo Baggins or someone once said.

Behold!

The problem was a stack of framed things sitting at the head of the stairs here in my study. I don’t remember why that stack of framed things was even created at the head of the stairs here in my study, but my project was to get rid of that stack by hanging as many of those framed things as I could, right there at the head of the stairs.

First things first: Measure each framed thing and scribble that data down.

This next step you may skip (but stay alert for what you will need to do instead): I opened a document in Pixelmator Pro with the dimensions of the wallspace in actual inches, not pixels. Then I drew rectangles for the six framed things and began arranging them. (If I had been determined to drag this out, I could have used the photos of the framed items below to fill in the pink rectangles, but I’ve found it best to streamline the process.)

not seen: the rectangles of the framed things that didn’t fit and so were hidden in pixelmator pro

By making each thing a separate object, I could move them all around, hide one or another to compare layouts, etc. I ended up with just the four you see in the diagram. (One of the other two items will join the show posters in the stairwell; the other, a photo of Laurel and Hardy, will go to that clown in Beijing.)

Here are the four framed things:

Grayson's early computer lab work

Grayson, age 6, explaining what I did for a living.

A close-up of Grayson’s text:

where my dad works. by grayson
lyles my dad works at east cowEta
school.Libran the end.

Atlanta

a photograph of the night-time Atlanta skyline by my brother-in-law Daniel Henninger

NCTC

A plaque thanking me for my years of service/support for the Newnan Community Theatre Company

3 Old Men

A photograph of the first burn that 3 Old Men attended, Alchemy 2014, with the original “spider web” labyrinth, i.e., with the neon rope instead of fabric walls

Three of these framed things represent some of my biggest accomplishments/satisfactions in life: My son, my theatre, my burn camp.

So, having decided that these four things will fill the space, it was time to do the thing.

ALERT: If you skipped the electronic layout step above, then this is where you will begin.

ALERT #2: Everybody, to see the process that gets you to the next photograph, start here and continue here. (Don’t worry, it’s not that complicated, and it is a sanity-preserver.)

And so, after doing the steps in the links above, my wall looked like this:

Following my own instructions, I hammered in whichever nail/brad/hook each piece required, and presto:

The Pirates of Penzance poster (signed by the cast) is now in the stairwell, and where the stack of framed things once was, I now have a little space for more of my over-size books.

And that, my dear students and acolytes, is how one celebrates World Lichtenbergianism Day through TASK AVOIDANCE.