Last week was lovely, focused, hopeful. This week has been one of important intentions gone awry, fractured concentration, and far too many interruptions. Yesterday in particular was difficult because one of my kids amped up into an anxiety state on Wednesday afternoon and thus needed lots of interactive support all day on Thursday. This was not conducive to creative focus. Which means that I hit this morning with far less done than I wanted.
Add in the Schlock Mercenary site move, which was necessary because of aging architecture and behind-the-scenes support issues. Predictably, a site as complex and non-standard as the Schlock site doesn’t work entirely smoothly out of the gate. This was expected. As was the deluge of email from people who have excellent suggestions for fixes, provide useful technical details about problems, have feature requests, or object to changes that we’ve made. I’m not able to answer it all, though I’m reading it all and making sure relevant info is communicated. I simply don’t have time to explain all of the design and architecture decisions that went into the site our designer made. Also, sadly, experience has taught me that even if I did explain the decisions, all that would accomplish would be to arm people who want to convince me that the decisions were wrong and we should do it differently. Or put it back the way it was. I know change is hard, particularly if it lands in a place that has been a comfort zone. So mostly I listen and sympathize quietly to the people who email with their emotions about the new site design. Though sometimes I confess I’m too tired for much sympathy, particularly if the person is nasty about how they express their feelings.
Today I don’t get many work hours. I’m going to spend most of the day driving to fetch Kiki home for her spring break. I’m very much looking forward to having her here. I’ll get back just in time for our weekly Planet Mercenary meeting. Then my evening will be spent at a junior high concert. The rehearsal for this event was part of the whole anxiety meltdown yesterday. Which means I have some anxiety about how the concert will go. I’ve already done the scene where I sit in an audience and watch my child have an anxiety attack on stage mid-performance. I don’t really want a repeat.
There were good things this week. A pair of birthdays went smoothly. A kid passed a major test, only two more to go, and they are in his areas of competence. I got to visit with a friend and laugh with her through a Galavant marathon. When I checked my PO Box I discovered several kind letters that people had sent to me during the February Month of Letters. (Note to self: check the PO box more often.)
I intended this to be a week of creative focus. It turned out differently. Time for me to take a deep breath and move forward.
Just to counter-balance the complaints – I have zero complaints about the web site. In fact, I think it looks awesome and it works great!
Also, you’re an awesome mom. Being a parent can be a real challenge, but luckily, there are good moments, too. Here’s hoping you get way more of the good ones than the challenges in the upcoming weeks. 🙂