Back in the Saddle

It was kind of scary to be honest.  After losing so much important data on my external hard drive, I was nervous to scrap a photo, write an essay, or even try to come to terms with what I had lost.

On Friday, I purchased Photoshop Elements for my Mac.  Now, for years now, I have been very happy with the not very user friendly program, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and have pretty much taught myself how to use it by reading.  See, books are _very_ important when it comes to information!  I can't even count the number of things I've taught myself from a book...but I digress.  The only problem I had with GIMP, was the number of Adobe Photoshop geared products, that don't work in GIMP.  I took advantage of my educational discount (which is by far, one of the best reasons to work at a university) and bit the bullet.

After trying to install the darn program on Friday afternoon, I was about to give up, when all my perseverance finally paid off (read, stubbornness...)and I was able to load it, after practically scrubbing my internal hard drive clean.  Oh the joy of computer maintenance.  I have to say, I did it myself, without asking my in house expert to do it for me! (Wow, I really am a closet computer geek....love all things digital!)

I found myself trying to do things in PSE that I could quickly and easily do in the GIMP.  What I thought should happen, didn't.  It really made me pause and think about how long it took me to learn the basic nuances of the first program I used.  It took months of playing and reading and plain old experimentation to do what I wanted to do. Why was I expecting the same results of a new, more user friendly program, in one night?  It just doesn't happen that way.  Although the basics of the program were similar, function keys didn't work the same, opening files caused a thirty minute delay by reading the help guide and let's not start on the problems I had saving a file.

All in all, I learned that I need a great deal of patience with myself.  Not that I didn't already know that, because just imagine my issues with writing down a short story or essay, and realizing that it's okay to re-write and edit.....I need a valium just to think about it.

Change is good, and although I won't use PSE for all my image manipulation needs, I can use it for what it was intended for.  In a couple of months, I'll look back and wonder what all my stress and headaches were for, because I'll have mastered what I need to.  Will writing ever be that way???  I won't get my hopes up.
*Thanks to ME for the image! :)*