Thud, thud, thud, thud........

That continuous thudding noise is my head rhythmically hitting against my desk.

I find it strangely calming and it has the knock on effect of silencing all the mayhem that's going on inside it.

 

My head that is.

Those of you who have been following this blog from the very beginning (you know who you are and far be it from me to suggest that you should all get out more......) will know that I am a martyr to tangential ideas.

I will merrily set off on one course of action, and often, even after a very short time, I will change direction.  Sometimes not even on the same lateral plane. 

I put it down to having a creative brain.  

Not creative as in being able to draw a cow and have it look like a cow. Or knowing what things look good together.

No.

My creativity is more of the 'let's see what happens if I do THIS!' sort. I like to have a problem and work out how to solve it by unusual means.

Of course this type of creativity often leads me down inescapable cul-de-sacs, but I've always been one for taking the scenic route rather than the boring old A to B.

So.

Yesterday I was dipping my toe into the new software, trying to see what it could do.  However it's unfamiliar interface was off-putting so I resigned myself to making a start with the phone-book sized manual, which runs to a mere 1000 pages or so.  I can barely hold it up let along read it.

I dutifully started at the beginning to familiarise myself with the basic functions, menus etc, but after 30 minutes I began to lose all feeling in my lower legs (I was reading in bed, with the book propped up on my knees), not to mention the will to live.

Now.  

The same people who have been reading this blog for some time, will also be aware that I am an avid proponent of serendipity (an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident).

Perhaps serendipity is somehow hard-wired into my type of creative brain. In any case my whole life is peppered with examples of it, and when push comes to shove, I can usually rely on serendipity to come to my aid.

So.  Last night in bed.  Huge, heavy tome resting on my legs, increasingly despairing at the thought of having to learn EVERYTHING from scratch and feeling more and more despondent with each turn of the page, I began to idly flick through the chapters, trying to balance out the weight as well as hoping to come across something I could actually understand. 

Now, Small Dog is not keen on anyone reading in bed.  When she was a very small puppy, she used to put both her paws on top of the book being read and stare meaningfully at the reader over the top of it.  Attempts to ignore her small furry head were inevitably doomed to failure, especially as they usually led to her dropping 'sock' over the top of the book.

She is only marginally better disposed to bedtime reading these days, and will attempt to lie on my chest so that I have to balance my book in any number of uncomfortable positions so as not to 'sturb her.

Needless to say, I had no desire to hold up the massive tome last night in order to allow her space on my lap, so we hit on a compromise whereby she lay by my side with her top half on my chest, while I balanced the book against my knees.  In so doing, it fell open at a random page and I morosely glanced over it.

Complete and absolute serendipity!

It wasn't a chapter I'd even have considered reading, as I didn't think I'd need to know about that particular function of the software.  However, after a few pages, an IDEA was forming in my head which kept me awake long after I lay down to sleep.

It's tangential and different and I don't know if I'll be able to do it, but if I can, and it works......

Well then the world will be my lobster and no mistake.