Spin Cycle

As I was loading the washer tonight, "spin cycle" suddenly seemed like an appropriate metaphor for my mind's current setting.  So appopriate, in fact, that I've now forgotten how I intended to weave it into this entry.  Nevertheless, here goes:

I need a manager.  Either that or one hell-uv-an app.  I'm teetering on the brink of complete chaos and epic fail.  In 19 -- check that, more like 18 -- days, I'm set to start trial on a monster of a case.  I could literally spend all of my waking hours between now and then preparing for it, and still not be confident I'm fully ready for it.  Meanwhile, below are snapshots of my calendar from the next 5 days.  And it'll be filling up to look like that from here on out through early April. 

In a strange way, I'm excited to meet this challenge.  If I can hang on and keep my head over the next 5 weeks, I may be able to place it firmly in the "great experience" file when all is said and done.  It's just...that's a huge "if" on the front of that previous sentence.  And, let's be honest, headless isn't a flattering look for anyone.

I've been trying of late to make the most of the technology I have at my disposal -- to get myself somewhat organized so that I can keep myself somewhat organized, and not spin utterly out of control with all of this.  But I suspect much of that is really more about avoidance than order.  It's amazing, the things one can find to occupy one's time when the alternative is dragon slaying. 

Regular readers will recall that I took a slightly different approach to my New Year's resolutions this year.  I chose 5 fairly simple concepts to try and follow.  I wrote about them here, printed them out and stuck them on my refrigerator at home and above my computer monitor at the office.  And, surprisingly, it seems to be working.  So far.  In anticipation of the approaching Armageddon, I decided to try a similar approach.  My new mantra is a 3-stepper:

• Simplify
• Focus
• Progress

Printed that out and slapped it up on the wall next to the resolutions.  Simplify.  Focus.  Progress. It's either that, or run away screaming like a ninny.  So, if you happen to see me wandering around in the next few weeks, muttering those three words under my breath, don't be alarmed.  Just...point me in the direction of my iPhone or my laptop.  And maybe say a little prayer that my head doesn't go AWOL.