Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:23:04 -0700
I dashed off a paragraph's worth of bullet points to my manager today,
the least formal quarterly report ever requested of anyone. How is Q1
mere days from over? I've gotten almost nothing done these last three
months -- a much-belabored design document mostly shipped; the usual
oncall shifts and tickets and Keeping Things Going ™ -- but
there's no denying it's been a plateau of a quarter. And I know
exactly where the area under the curve of that projected growth went.
There's been the Symphony Chorus,
of course: Weeks in a row leaving work on the absurdly early 5:11
shuttle, a sandwich and glass of wine at Arlequin before three hours
of singing, down in the basement-level Zellerbach C or up in the
chorus balcony of Davies. There's been some seriously seismic shit
happening above my pay grade at work -- long walks on the hill above
Shoreline Amphitheatre with tea and coworkers, trying to make sense of
the situation; one-on-one meetings that require whiskey after; closed
office doors and sadly shaking heads and angrily shaking fists. That
alone cost me an easy few weeks.
But mostly, there's been the simple fact of having a reason to leave
work: A reason who lives a block and a half straight up the hill from
me (I can dash between our houses within SLA), who picks me up in the
air because he's half again my size and can, whom I just took to Chicago to meet Mom and for
whom I flew home early from New
York. Maybe he hasn't actually substantially altered my working
hours. But right now, sitting at my desk, I just seem to care less.
Buds on the trees; magnolias blossoming; English peas already at Bar
Jules at our Valentine's Day dinner over a month ago: It's been an
early spring all around, la la!
I'll refocus soon, I'm sure. But for now, leave me among the cherry
blossoms -- there's always Q2!
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