April 14, 2008

Finally!

Both last weekend and this one I was rested and refreshed by the time Monday rolled around. Each time I vowed to have a good attitude in the midst of the hellaciousness at work. Last week it all lasted until 2 am Monday night when I finished my first day. This week it might actually last through most of the week.

We brought up a guy from our LA office to be my dedicated production artist. It's been awkward using my fellow designers as production people; they are used to owning projects and being creative. So they redesign stuff and it takes two or three rounds to just do it like I told them. This guy specifically said today, "I just want to be your wrist. Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it." Phew!! He looks like a deer in the headlights if I say, "Lay out the logos in alphabetical order" but if I say, "here are these mockups at 10 percent, make them work for printing and upload them to Detroit", he looks happy.

This morning, I actually sent an apology letter to my client, "Dear ____, I owe you an apology. I ended up working over 70 hours last week and by Tuesday/Wednesday, I was overtired and therefore oversensitive and reactive. I'm sorry if you experienced any of the fallout from that." Was I really sorry? No. However, she's a game-player and since I called her on her bullshit, she became very unresponsive to my questions or files that needed approval. Since the apology? She's giving me what I need. Stupid head games!

Wait, positive attitude...My client loves me and I love her. We're coming toward the finish line and it will ALL work out. Of course it will be SO ugly, but hey, what's the loss of three weeks of my marriage in comparison with producing a show we can all be ashamed of? Don't worry, I'll post some pictures when it's up so you can appreciate the wonderfulness of it all.

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I called Mom K on Sunday afternoon. She was SO happy to hear from me. Through the language barrier, I gave her a very simplified version of the last few weeks. I told her that all of a sudden, I understand why Jrex used to act the way he would on his days off. As a resident, his weeks were capped at 80 hours of work, and that was considered humane! On his days off, I was ready for us to go out and have adventures, and he just wanted to lie around the house and watch TV. It drove me crazy. Well, these last few weeks I just want to lie around and read a book.

She laughed at me, "Maybe God knew you just need to understand Jrex more?! I understand. In Korea, used to be the husband worked six days a week. All week the wife think on the weekend she go out and not have to cook. Have fun. The husband think all week about being home and having good, home-cook food. Now you same!"

So, there you have it, I'm going through all this so I understand my husband better!

7 comments:

Mama Nabi said...

Haha.. that's a good attitude! So it's over...? Or almost?

Snickollet said...

Oh, gosh. I guess you just have to laugh, right?

Anonymous said...

Wow.. head games. that really sucks! Man, I can't imagine working more than 40 hours a week. maybe if i was single with no kid. he he. can't wait to see the pics!

Anonymous said...

glad you are nearing the end of the big floaty plus signs. sounds demoralizing in the extreme. and hope you get to do a lot of lying-around-reading in the very near future!!!

scarp said...

On the flip side, after my Grandmother died, my Papa lamented that he didn`t understand better her need over all those years to get out when all he wanted was to crash at home after work trips or long work weeks. Understanding our spouses and their needs is a big part marriage, huh?

Glad to hear the end is in sight on this crazy project!

Beloved said...

Wow, those are some crazy, nasty work hours. I really can't do that. I would be very, very miserable. I have to be at school today for 13 hours or so (because of a science fair tonight), and I'm already exhausted just thinking about it.

Love what your MIL said. She's so right.

Anonymous said...

lol, thats brilliant!!! what a lesson to learn and i am having so much fun reading your blog my boy is also a gd currently moving jobs and we have riddent that rollercoaster of 24/72 hour full out work etc it was horrible!! We will go back into that soon...
thankyou for such an honest blog i love the fact that you can be so honest and open with us im really learning a lot by reading your blog so thank you so much for that. if i get the courage i may write about it later this week...