Cry Me A River

Tonight my lack of sleep and the stress of my current work situation finally got the best of me. It was a little like when Liz Lemon yells at her staff after being up all night and then starts crying out of exhaustion. Except I didn't yell at my staff. But I did, in spite of every tactic I tried to keep it in, start crying out of exhaustion. And that made me so angry because I refuse to cry over a job. But cry I did, and poor Anthony, my new ponytail-clad friend at the Kinko's counter, got the brunt of it. He's fantastic, and this post will be an open letter to him ... just in case he ever googles "Anthony ... Kinko's ... ponytail."

Anthony, thank you for trying to help me format a ten-year results analysis spreadsheet onto an 18x24 poster. We both thought the readability/functionality was a long shot, and we were right. But I had to be able to tell my team I gave it my best shot. And after an hour of both of us manipulating the spreadsheet, I think it's safe to say we did our best. And it will be just fine on our standard 11x17 sheets at the office ... which is why I'm pretty sure I started to tear up around 7:30 tonight ... and then again at 8:45 ... because the errand itself was ridiculous, and I knew my work day was far from over. I'm sorry if I was impatient. You did a great job. -LC

P.S. How do you get your ponytail to look so bouncy? It's glorious.

I hate getting worked up about work because I feel like it's such wasted energy. And it's a blessing to even have a job, and I'm reminded of that every day. Usually it's easier to keep things in perspective. Tonight it just felt like there was no end in sight, but that kind of thinking will drive you crazy. For the most part I've been able to keep the work in perspective, or at least I've really tried to, but this week has just been tricky. By Friday afternoon so much of the stress will be gone because the big January push will be over. And there will be a nice week or two of calm before the next push. 

For now I can go to bed calm and relaxed. I've jogged away the anxiety about tomorrow's meeting, I've had my Sleepy Time tea, I've watched my 30 Rock episodes, and I've had a mini Amos Lee music marathon. (Thank you to Ale for getting me hooked on "Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight.")

So goodnight to you all. The next post will be a tribute to Jon Hamm. Get ready.