PixelFish (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pixelfish) wrote,@ 2008-08-28 08:06:00 |
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In Which A Crisis of Niggling Proportions is Not Quite Averted But It All Turns Out Okay Anyway
Yesterday was a slightly rough day at work. I don't know why, but it felt like pulling teeth to extract any creativity for my projects. My mind was sludgy, I was looking at spec docs and my brain was yielding up nada. I had to call my producer guy twice to get clarification on a project and then explain to him with the time constraints I was working under that it was probably a bad idea to send me sifting through stock photos. (Sounds easy, I know, but it's not. We don't have any stock discs for starters, and trying to find photos from the stock sites that will fit a very tiny, very horizontal format when much of the world prefers people portraits in vertical...meh. You've got to wiggle the person, the device, and enough of their body into the picture so the context for their actions makes sense, and even while I was grabbing art for comping purposes only, I was still having a crazy time of it. Plus I've got to organise my files today so that whomever patches in between the time I leave and the time I take up contracting, or takes over period, can at least figure out roughly where things are.)
Plus I had an anxiety attack and had to take a 15 minute anxiety bathroom break, wherein I meditate in the bathroom stall until calmness returns. (Good thing there's only like two other women in this building, total.) After returning to my desk, I clamped my headphones on and played Helios until I felt semi-relaxed and FINALLY then did my brain unkink the hose of creativity. Hopefully when I get in, there will be word as to whether or not that project was approved and then I can cut it up for the dev team.
What with work running me ragged all day, I was really looking forward to the dinner plans we had with Travis, Kelli, Ian, and one of John's old work compatriots from the Legend days, Paul. So I cheerfully cut out around 5.35 to go pick John up from the South Acton train station. Normally I drop him off at what is apparently the West Concord Train Station because it's actually on the path of our commute and I knew where it was but South Acton is actually closer and when we were discussing it that morning, John noted that if he left for Porter Square at 4.30, he could be at South Acton. John, in the meantime, ended up buying the ticket for West Concord, because when he got to Porter the ticket kiosk kept saying to go to South Acton you had to buy a ticket ON the train, while signs everywhere said if you didn't have the ticket by the time you boarded, you would be charged a surcharge. Sent into a tailspin any Auditor would sympathise with, if Auditors were capable of sympathy, John ended up purchasing a ticket for West Concord, reasoning that it was our normal station anyway. When I called him from the South Acton train station, he told me to just skibble back to the normal stop. But they take away the ticket on the train, and soon he had West Concord and South Acton mixed up in his head, and he kept waiting for the stop for West Acton. Which doesn't exist. So he got off at Littleton, one stop after South Acton, but yet another stop I had never been to. And in the meantime, I had gone from South Acton to West Concord, so I had to go back to my office, which turned out to be locked, and plead and beg with a guy from ANOTHER office to use his Google Maps so I could find the Littleton Station, which was several miles up the 2 near the 495. And then Google Maps fucked up and told me to go left prematurely, which I did, since that was reinforced by the sign saying "Littleton Town Center <-" but really I should have gone right. I drove for half a mile and then asked a friendly liquor store attendant where I could find the train station. His directions were accurate but slightly incomplete and I circled around for an extra minute or two before I finally located John. And then we skibbled down to Sudbury, nearly an hour late for our dinner appointment. (John called the restaurant and got them to relay the news to Travis and Kelli somehow.) Thus concluded my driving tour of the MBTA Acton-Fitchburg line.
Travis, Kelli, and Ian had meanwhile held off ordering with their amazing will-power, and it helped slightly that our fourth dinner companion had also arrived slightly late, although not as late as us. So it all turned out okay, and we got to have a nice dinner with our friends after all. I was terribly worried that we would miss them altogether. Anyway, once the food and chips arrived and once I'd settled down a little from my adventure with the MBTA, I was able to relax and de-stress and have a nice time. We ended up talking with Paul in the parking lot for probably an extra half hour or so, since John hadn't seen him in forever, and eventually we headed home. All in all, a somewhat stressy day ended on a high note.
Yesterday was a slightly rough day at work. I don't know why, but it felt like pulling teeth to extract any creativity for my projects. My mind was sludgy, I was looking at spec docs and my brain was yielding up nada. I had to call my producer guy twice to get clarification on a project and then explain to him with the time constraints I was working under that it was probably a bad idea to send me sifting through stock photos. (Sounds easy, I know, but it's not. We don't have any stock discs for starters, and trying to find photos from the stock sites that will fit a very tiny, very horizontal format when much of the world prefers people portraits in vertical...meh. You've got to wiggle the person, the device, and enough of their body into the picture so the context for their actions makes sense, and even while I was grabbing art for comping purposes only, I was still having a crazy time of it. Plus I've got to organise my files today so that whomever patches in between the time I leave and the time I take up contracting, or takes over period, can at least figure out roughly where things are.)
Plus I had an anxiety attack and had to take a 15 minute anxiety bathroom break, wherein I meditate in the bathroom stall until calmness returns. (Good thing there's only like two other women in this building, total.) After returning to my desk, I clamped my headphones on and played Helios until I felt semi-relaxed and FINALLY then did my brain unkink the hose of creativity. Hopefully when I get in, there will be word as to whether or not that project was approved and then I can cut it up for the dev team.
What with work running me ragged all day, I was really looking forward to the dinner plans we had with Travis, Kelli, Ian, and one of John's old work compatriots from the Legend days, Paul. So I cheerfully cut out around 5.35 to go pick John up from the South Acton train station. Normally I drop him off at what is apparently the West Concord Train Station because it's actually on the path of our commute and I knew where it was but South Acton is actually closer and when we were discussing it that morning, John noted that if he left for Porter Square at 4.30, he could be at South Acton. John, in the meantime, ended up buying the ticket for West Concord, because when he got to Porter the ticket kiosk kept saying to go to South Acton you had to buy a ticket ON the train, while signs everywhere said if you didn't have the ticket by the time you boarded, you would be charged a surcharge. Sent into a tailspin any Auditor would sympathise with, if Auditors were capable of sympathy, John ended up purchasing a ticket for West Concord, reasoning that it was our normal station anyway. When I called him from the South Acton train station, he told me to just skibble back to the normal stop. But they take away the ticket on the train, and soon he had West Concord and South Acton mixed up in his head, and he kept waiting for the stop for West Acton. Which doesn't exist. So he got off at Littleton, one stop after South Acton, but yet another stop I had never been to. And in the meantime, I had gone from South Acton to West Concord, so I had to go back to my office, which turned out to be locked, and plead and beg with a guy from ANOTHER office to use his Google Maps so I could find the Littleton Station, which was several miles up the 2 near the 495. And then Google Maps fucked up and told me to go left prematurely, which I did, since that was reinforced by the sign saying "Littleton Town Center <-" but really I should have gone right. I drove for half a mile and then asked a friendly liquor store attendant where I could find the train station. His directions were accurate but slightly incomplete and I circled around for an extra minute or two before I finally located John. And then we skibbled down to Sudbury, nearly an hour late for our dinner appointment. (John called the restaurant and got them to relay the news to Travis and Kelli somehow.) Thus concluded my driving tour of the MBTA Acton-Fitchburg line.
Travis, Kelli, and Ian had meanwhile held off ordering with their amazing will-power, and it helped slightly that our fourth dinner companion had also arrived slightly late, although not as late as us. So it all turned out okay, and we got to have a nice dinner with our friends after all. I was terribly worried that we would miss them altogether. Anyway, once the food and chips arrived and once I'd settled down a little from my adventure with the MBTA, I was able to relax and de-stress and have a nice time. We ended up talking with Paul in the parking lot for probably an extra half hour or so, since John hadn't seen him in forever, and eventually we headed home. All in all, a somewhat stressy day ended on a high note.
