Project Perfection

I'm almost obsessed with Project Runway and Dancing with the Stars. Although I have the grace and fashion sense of a drunken baboon, I find both shows riveting and inspirational. My strategy as an actor, a singer, an HR professional -- really just about anything I've ever done -- has been to rely on passion over precision. In college, I took three years of ballet just to be able to walk from point A to point B on stage. Every semester I was given an A, but it was truly an A for effort. Where precision is concerned, I require a lot of time for practice; and even then, when the precision is put to the test, I freeze up. It literally took me five years before I could take a typing test with any sort of confidence at all. In fact, typing was the only class I failed in high school. I froze during the tests.

But, precision is becoming very important to me. Last week I read an article in the New York Times about the small shops in Paris that make all of the detailed ornamentation, beading, shoes, hats, etc. for French haute couture. The amount of time that goes into learning how to make gold buttons or beaded lace, and then to become the best in the world is just breathtaking.
Last night I took my second editing test. It was all about punctuation and I wish I felt more confident about the results. I feel like, if I'm getting a masters degree in writing, I should have better command of these things. The only relief from the mental torture I can conceivably give myself is that I am still a student, and there is still time for perfecting this. I have to look at studying commas and hyphens as a musician practicing scales.

And, I think here is where my fascination with these two programs comes in. Dancing with the Stars, first of all, is just great fun. But the stars are working their butts off for basically nothing. With Project Runway, these designers are designing for their lives, and they're being eliminated for lack of precision. I find it all very exciting and relevant to what I'm doing as well.

And for the record, I'm rooting for Drew and Nick.