Monday, May 07, 2007

Time Warped

May I suggest a new law of physics? The velocity of 24 hours is relative to the location of the object.

Said object - me - can experience every minute of that 24 hours when I am at work for 8 to 10 hours and things are somewhat quiet. Not that it's torture, per se, because I've lived a torturous job and this ain't it. Nevertheless, no matter how much you love your job, for many of us there is just no place like home. And so that time passes so slowly that I swear it goes backward to gain the momentum it needs to keep marching forward. And then when I get home, it is gone in a flash and I must get to bed if I want to have any energy for the next day.

Or vacation. Vacations have a way of excelerating time as well, unless it's a 2-week vacation, then it actually slows down a bit after the first week passes so you come away like you really got some rest.

Well, I'm pretty tired from my job right now. It's a non-stop pace these days - most days - and that's cool. I like to keep moving but I just needed a Sunday when I didn't have to think of going to work on Monday so I took today off. I did email my job ONCE but I wanted to pass on some information. That's all. But it wasn't even the info I needed so I could have gotten fresh numbers but my co-woker said, "Stop working!" So I did. For them.

Instead I spent the day working for myself because my business needs me. With one job needing to be planned, a quote needing to go out and talking to my partner about another job we want to solicit, I needed a day to tend to these things.

I got up at the usual time because the kids must go on and after watching one get on the bus and dropping the other off, I took my car to the mechanic because the front brakes are whispering to me now but I didn't want them to scream at me later. My business partner picked me up from there to go to a meeting with our manufacturer to discuss lowering production costs. Love my manufacturer. He brought in 2 of his guys to think across all aspects of this big job we will do later in the year and as usual, we left with one more new thing to think about adding to our puzzles and a great way to package the ones we have to do for our client.

We left there to go work on the potential client's quote and my partner then brought me home to call one of our artists and email 2 others about the work we need to do. I emailed another manufacturer for another part of the process and had to have the hard talk with the potential web host who we let go before they got going due to too much miscommunication. Our new one will be awesome since I know him so it was a trade up. I took the briefest of naps, was awakened by a phone call from the fired host to plan a wrap-up meeting and by then it was 2:45 people! Son was going to be home in about an hour from then and I'm sitting there wondering where the heck the time went.

Did someone take a little more than they were supposed to? Do you have a portion of my time in your pocket? I could really use it back. But now, Daughter will be home with Mr. T. soon and the madness will really begin. At least I got to get Son off the bus and walk home with him hand-in-hand, help him with his homework in the daylight thus freeing him to goof off and I was even able to blog a little, because I've been really busy with VWE. There was no rushed feeling so Son could tell me about the baseball team he formed today - The Hersheys - who lost their first game the the Red Hots. "They melted us into melted chocolate!" We could sit and watch Criss Angel on Oprah as he got out of a straight jacket in less than half the time it took Houdini. Son could also read his homework book to me about the human body and ask me what marrow was and I didn't feel annoyed at the question just because I had a million of my own thoughts I had to corale first.

I love my job. But how sweet it would be if the business could get to the place where I can stay home and every day could be controlled chaos. A few people on Oprah today - from the snippets I caught as I fixed Bourbon Chicken and french fries for Son - talked about perserverance and that in the moment when you're ready to give up lies sweet success. I hope this year proves to be that turning point for us. Maybe I can think realistically about the possibility of working for myself for good sooner rather than later. I really want my job to be the last place I work for someone else. I'm determined to make that happen no matter how freaky that seems.

I just have to keep trying.

1 comment:

Looney Mom™ said...

I hear ya! Where does the time go? I do pray that your business will prosper and you will reap the harvest in its due time! You inspire me!