It's Always Something

I'm sitting in my living room at home looking at the coming storm. The clouds are building to the south, the sky is darkening, and although I've only seen some lightning in the distance, I can hear the thunder now and then. It's actually a very beautiful sight...I really love watching the storms come. Just saw some crazy fisherman head out in his boat. I fully expect to see him back within the hour, drenched and unhappy, but hey, maybe his weather radar is better than mine.

You'd think I'd be in a happy mood. This is the second time I've been home in the last 6 weeks, and I was thrilled to sleep in my own bed again. But, things are not as rosy as I would wish. I had car trouble on the way home last night (electrical problems) and spent nearly an hour on the side of the road waiting for help to arrive. It was dark by the time we left the truck there, with all of my work and homework loaded in it. We'll be headed back in a few minutes in order to get it towed to the shop, and for me to pick up my stuff so I can get back to work, but I'm sure that activity will happen in the midst of the storm.

I can see the rain already on the water between us and the causeway...it will be here soon.

Things are going well, they really are, but I am still a bit overwhelmed. It takes everything I have to get things done for my Big 3 activities.

Here comes my fisherman, racing back to the dock! The rain will definitely hit him before the boat's out of the water (my prediction).

Activity One is school. It takes about 15 hours per week for me to do my homework, and that's only because I'm a really fast reader. It takes another 15-20 hours of work to complete project work; TONS of research, review of others' work, paper writing, process mapping, and so much more.

I won again...the boat is still being trailered and the rain is come down. Poor guy was in the water no more than 20 minutes.

Activity Two is my marketing job. I've worked part-time for this guy for a while now and do a bit of everything for them. At the moment, I'm working on some targeted powerpoint presentations, an inspection checklist for his quality inspector, a bid log that can be accessed from the field, and more. The problem here is, this is my second job, the one that was tiding me over until my BIG contract came through. But they like my work, so they keep giving me more, and I like them, so I keep agreeing to it.

It is raining so hard now. I can't see what the problem is, but the fisherman is really having a hard time getting his boat out of the water. Poor guy...he obviously really wanted to fish today!

Activity Three is my new job, a nice contract for some steady work at a site less than a mile from my apartment. I am working with 10 buildings or so full of labs and work areas. My job is to barcode all of their chemicals, enter them in the chemical inventory database, ensure they have up-to-date MSDS sheets, saved digitally in the database, and put a plan in place to make the process of tracking chemicals as they come and go on the site a permanent one. One little caveat...they expect this process to be fully implemented by the beginning of the year. Yikes!

Hey, I think I see what the fisherman is doing...I think he's waiting to see if the storm will blow over. The boat is on the trailer, but still backed up to the water, and the guy is in his truck. I think he's just waiting. My prediction on this one is that he'll leave within the half hour. This does not seem to be a little shower to me. I think it's here to stay.

So perhaps you can see my problem here. I have lots of work, work that I love, but too little time to do it in. My time is scheduled almost to the minute every day. (Yes...the writing of this note is on my calendar and I've given myself 30 minutes for it.) I rarely answer my phone, I don't chat on Skype unless it's scheduled and has something to do with the Big 3, I don't cook, wash clothes, clean house, go to the movies, or visit with friends. I read so much each week that my readings all seem to cross over on to each other, and I read (audio books) at least one book a week that is of my own choosing and has not been assigned to me. I think I will be okay, but am not always sure of this fact. I depend on Leo to take care of EVERYTHING that I can't do, the unfairness of which is not lost on me...I just can't figure a way out of it.

Oh well, I did NOT mean to go on and on about this, but it does help me, in a way, to put it down "on paper". Being able to articulate it helps me to see more clearly what I'm up against and strategize how to handle it all better. I really did not mean to "vent" on you guys though.

It's a full fledged storm now. The man in the truck and the boat on the trailer are still sitting at the dock, but only because, like me, he must be a bit crazy. There's no way he's going to be able to get back in the water this morning.

My scheduled time is up and now I have to move on to the next thing on my list...creative financing in order to pay for vehicle repairs that I was not counting on. After that comes Business Plan work, then Scenario Building, work on two spreadsheets, and some project management stuff to schedule out how we are going to get the chemical inventory process accomplished in only three months. <sigh>

It is storming now, not letting up at all, as the fisherman and his boat drive away. Yes, I'm really happy to be at home today...what a beautiful storm.