Weather the storm

I've touched upon how hard the last few months have been, with so much bearing down on me and not enough arms to hold them all up. Picking and choosing priorities has been tough, as I usually end up trying to please everyone. But I've gotten better at it, and really organized myself. Unfortunately, I find myself sitting here with a budding cold that's left me with even less energy and focus then normal. The stress, it seems, has finally penetrated my defenses, and left me with a dizzying headache, a cough that could wake the dead, and a voice scratchier then Barry White during allergy season. I can partly thank my post-surgery vocal cord paralysis for that, coupled with a sore throat and a constant clearing of the throat. This has lead me to stay away from the animation building in fear of passing this lovely gift on to anyone else.

But back to work related topics - Every day this weekend, I've managed to crank out a pretty large chunk of work, but the beginning of the next day I'm presented with the still mounting workload that needs doing, crushing any semblance of a good mood I might have been lucky enough to receive that day. For example, Friday (when the cold hit) I managed to get a fair amount done with clean-up on my friend short film, coming steps closer to completing that scene. Saturday, I spent almost all day (a short soccer game aside) doing a 12 source bibliography, a brief abstract of the paper, and a sentenced outline for the final draft to come. I wanted to make the outline pretty in depth, so as to make the actual writing of the paper fairly simple (keep in mind I'd done NO research on my topic, Alberto Giacometti, prior to the bibliography or outline). Afterward, with the little time I had left in the day, I attempted to catch up on some portfolio work which was due last week. Sunday was home to most of that, and other work that had missed deadline, including an in depth paper of 20 prospective companies and a general outline for a flat book that is due (fully printed) by Thursday. Afterward, it was on to creating the groundwork for a website in Flash with a limited knowledge of action script. I dove in headfirst, and found myself regularly surfacing for air as the illness took its tole on me.

Finally, not any more then an hour ago, I'd managed to piece something together to resembled what I'd envisioned. But as I turn to head to bed, I look at the still seemingly impossible workload before me. I'd not touched my friend film in 2 days. I have a flat book due Thursday that I've not even touched, and 3 pages of finished pencils due on the same day. I've also got to find time to jump through the paperwork hoops to get the classes I need for the summer, as well as attend to some Flash files for work.

Just talking with family and friends, I've concluded that I am indeed just in a sad place right now. There is a lot of negative energy around me, and this cold seems to be amplifying it. At a time where graduation is supposed to bring some type of joy or excitement for something new, I find myself sulking and dragging my behind towards just piles and piles of never ending work.

But the kind words of my father and mother help to put things in perspective.

"This, too, will pass."

Whether I want it to or ask it to, this will eventually come to an end, and a new chapter will start. Will it be on the foot I'd hoped for? Ya never know, but like life, you can bet it's not gonna be exact.