| Saturday, May 27, 2006 |
| The Fire Nips Closer |
You know, it's been said that one should be careful about making declarative statements, like the one that stupidly came out of my keyboard here: "I already know what's coming and it's not pretty."
Talk about out of the mouths of fools and ijits.
Someone should beat me over the head with my keyboard, poke me a billionmajillion times with my own red pen, and throttle me with my hair.
I won't bother to go over the shrinking of my department except to mention that 1 of our 2 freelancers is now also gone (perhaps just for the month of June).
So, I posted about the fact that this upcoming week is going to be very ugly. Little did I know exactly how ugly.
For obvious reasons, I can't go into great detail about my work, so let's label my accounts thusly:
A = newish account
B = oldest account after dying account, D, below
C = middle account
D = dying account
The following is just to give you some background info.
Up to mid-April, my middle account, C, had been by far my largest and busiest account, although all my accounts are large. Without the help of my freelancer and various day staffers, I would have been utterly sunk.
Since March, Account B has been increasingly long, drawn out, and difficult (which has been the case for quite a while, but which was brought home more sharply). Its timeline has also been a match for Account A. Some of this had to do with personnel and client issues, which is par for the course.
Prior to January, the dying account, D, was neck and neck with C for being large and busy. And though this account is going away, there have some 'little' jobs that are surprisingly not so little in terms of the amount of time that have been invested in them.
Account A is in reality an account that was yanked back to life. Due to the nature of the account and client, a massive amount of manhours has been norm for this account as well.
This is the current situation, as of Friday.
- Account A is the one which will be very busy (as in >12-hour days) this upcoming week, and will require weekend work.
- Account B is the one which was busy and matched A's timeline. However, not only does the timing match A but a job which had been quiescent since last autumn has now revived with a vengeance. That job's timing has been ultra-accelerated. From a dead standstill, it now has gone straight to gallop, with everything needing to be shipshape and out to the client this week, the very same day our other deliverables for Account A are due.
In addition, 2 new jobs have opened from B, 1 of which has also been accelerated. I did mention the > 12-hour days for A, right? 1 person on our team was ready to walk out, 1 person was ready to tear her hair out, and 1 person (yours truly) was ready to break down into hysterics.
- Account C is beginning to pick up speed again. Once it does, the Powers That Be help me.
- Account D's account person was out of the office this past week, but we have a very tight deadline with D's various jobs, too.
Okay, so that's the sitch with the day job. On the personal front, I have or will be required to put down a chunk of change for: - My job search (tax deductible, thank goodness, and well worth it if it pans out, which I think it will, no matter what the fortune teller said; have got a retainer in place).
- The Bodies Exhibition (worth it if only because I've been longing to go, and it's my thanks to ETC for agreeing to be a personal reference. In addition, there's a Heartland Brewery across the street, which I'm hoping has that new non-beery drink I mentioned here. Unfortunately, I think it might only be available at the Union Square branch.)
- A new suit (a real downer because I have a whole slew of lovely suits, and I do mean lovely, but which I am unable to fit into because of my desk-chained self and sloth).
- Gifts for the other 5 folks who have agreed to act as personal or work references (well worth it).
- A new pair of glasses (self-evident and for which I've already put a 50% downpayment)
- A professional haircut (since once I start to schedule interviews, I'll actually have to go on them and at least look like Ican do the job).
- A DSL or cable line (dial-up is soooo not cutting it)
The psychiatrist's bills (oh, wait, I have my blog and Tea's Barmy Army. Scratch the psych.)
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posted by Cheshire Cat @ 5/27/2006 05:18:00 pm   |
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| 4 teabag(s) brewed: |
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Good luck Tea. I will send you suitably positive job seeker vibes.
And if you can, get some exercise (even walking helps). It staves off the low feelings such stress creates. Good luck !!
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Thank you very, very kindly, Mummy. I send you the superlative best of luck in your job as well. The corporate environment not only blows but also smells to high stratosphere. Heck, right into space.
Exercise... ack. I used to (lonnnnnnnnng ago) run (unwillingly) and swim (whoo hoo!), but I refuse to run now, and swimming involves a pool, which if I could go in the early hours (eg, 4 or 5 am) I'd be ecstatic but no gym opens so early, not to mention there's none nearby (gyms and pools).
Walking would be great. Used to do a lot of that. Will think on ways to take it up again. The jello look is not very attractive, not that I was ever scrawny. Ha! :-/
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Keep your chin up T. It can't last much longer, surely. I drink quite a lot of smoothies. Fruit and veg are very good for stress. My particular favourite is lots of raspberries and strawberries whizzed up with vanilla yoghurt and apple juice. Yum and very good for you. Good luck with the workload. Hope it all sorts out soon.
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Milles mercis, Fuffster. I, too, love smoothies (oooooh, yummers!).
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Good luck Tea. I will send you suitably positive job seeker vibes.
And if you can, get some exercise (even walking helps). It staves off the low feelings such stress creates. Good luck !!