On your marks, get set… Get set… Get set…

For most of the evening, I’ve been flipping through a book that Justin loaned to me, ages ago: Sams Teach yourself MySQL in 24 hours. Pretty dull, and pretty frustrating, all told. I’m still in the theory stage, with no actual hands-on anything.

I find that work better with examples: telling me how to build something is oftentimes lost on me; I need to do it myself. I need to make my own mistakes before I find my own way.

The difference between primary and unique keys is still eluding me a bit. I keep thinking I understand what each one is, but then I read another example that sends it slightly beyond my grasp. I feel like I should be able to *get* this, and it’s pissing me off that I’m still confused, after reading so much.

I want to run a marathon… but right now, I seem to have a hard time telling the difference between my foot and my fucking shoe.

I think I get Normalization, but I can’t articulate how or why. I feel like I instinctively know what data needs to get separated, and how. I know about avoiding repetition. I understand what the examples are doing in the book, but each example brings up 10 questions that go unanswered… and I end up more confused than informed.

I’ve just been reading, and I’m antsy because I haven’t done anything yet. I’m frustrated because, after all this time, I don’t feel like I’ve made any progress. I think once I make something (ANYTHING), I’ll feel a bit better. At the very least, I’ll feel that all this bullshit up front has been worth something.