Depends on Where You're Standing

Only moments ago, I launched my poet's website. I am really jazzed by the 3-D effect of the slide show on the first page. I'm really happy with the work. We had done a lot of preliminary design samples and wireframes, but the actual construction of the site happened between Wednesday and today (Saturday).

After the workfest of getting the chamber directory to the printers, I had Tuesday to take a breather, then I jumped in on the website. I haven't been burning on it with quite the intensity of the directory work, and it is a lot more fun to work on a creative project (photos and poetry) where the client really appreciates the creative process.

Now another client is doing a newsletter (and hers are long) that she's sending over tomorrow. She wants it out on the 21st, and that will be no problem at all. Her work is a little more involved, since I have to move the copy from the last newsletter into her articles page (which keeps getting longer), then mount the newsletter on the website, then build a truncated version of it as an HTML e-mail to send out via Mail Chimp.

And then, I have nothing due until the end of the year. This is a good thing, since I can now spend some time focusing on finishing up the transfer of Steve Stuff to me. There are things to get notarized, official certificates to order, transfer forms to return, etc., etc. I still experience a significant amount of emotional drainage when I have to put my mind to death paperwork.

I've foregone the holidays this year, other than visiting Kittie and David on Thanksgiving. To me, these last two weeks of the year are a time to try and regroup and greet the new year with some semblance of cohesion. After all, I told Ray that we'd get together after the first of the year to discuss expanding his website, so there might be more work for me there.

So I feel like I've passed two large objects out of my being and can take a breather. I can even sleep in and not wake up worrying about all the stuff I have to get done today. It's been cold the last few days (for readers in the Midwest and East, this means it doesn't get out of the 50s during the day, and at night we actually get into the 30s), but there's a warming trend starting tomorrow.

Taking care of the house is also something I've neglected for the past few weeks. So is cleaning out Steve's stuff, and the Rescue Mission is sending a truck on Wednesday to pick it up. This means the garage should be cleared out in time for Kittie and David to park there during their visit a week from today. (In Pasadena, it's illegal to park on the street between 2 and 6 a.m. without buying a special $7-a-day permit.)

I'm sure there are duties and obligations I'm shirking that will raise their ugly heads every few days, as I'm still not into a solitary routine yet. When you spend years coordinating your life with another person, it's alien not to have to share everything life and savor that.