TGITW

I've been feeling behind the eight ball for a few weeks now with to-do list that just keeps getting longer without anything getting crossed off. Work has been relatively busy, with a slew of small projects on the go meaning I'm constantly having to flit from one thing to another. Then there is the three committees I found myself on, all with big projects looming on the very much not so distant horizon, and the two articles my advisor asked me to write, and two E to J translations...

Wheeeeee!

Then this week happened, and now I'm even more drained and exhausted!

Thankfully the exhaustion is no longer from a bad night's sleep as we replaced our not-even-a-year-old-but-already-sagging-and-ruined Ikea foam mattress with two smaller coil mattresses. But still... What a week!

Monday I stayed home from work with a headache that arrived Sunday night and didn't let up until Monday afternoon - just in time for me to get U's birthday dinner ready. The dinner during which I managed to both break the gift I gave him AND nearly start a house fire. Not a birthday he'll forget in a hurry!

Tues and Wed were emotionally draining as a whole chunk of staff were let go at the end of Feb and saying goodbye to people you've worked with for six years is just horrible especially given they had been fired and were not moving on happily to other things. I'm going to miss them terribly but in addition to the difficult goodbyes is the fact that the whole atmosphere at work has been very stressful because of it and continues to be so as we all try and get used to a new reality.

Tokyo got another (!!!) dump of snow on Wednesday which was beautiful as it was actual real snow that covered everything in a blanket of white. Unfortunately it also delayed and packed trains.

So by Thursday I wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and hide under the covers. But a friend sent me a frantic text message in the morning begging me to help her. We ended up spending the evening translating the lyrics of the famous singer she works for. It was actually fun, but tiring and it took a lot longer than I had expected... Getting me home and in bed a good few hours later than I needed to be.

On Friday I dragged myself out of bed knowing I only had one more day before the weekend.. Just one day... Given the way the week turned out, however, it should be no surprise rhat not only was I over an hour late when my my train line was all but stopped with signal troubles, but I also got a frantic email from the chair of a committee I'm on alerting us that a minor crisis had developed and we need an emergency meeting that night. Which of course was followed by drinks and dinner.

So what did I do today? I stayed home! I started the day with a strong latte and a long-ignored yoga routine, then tidied and did laundry and tackled my to-do list. I didn't get very far I(only skimming the top of a pile of papers unearthed a small mountain of things that need replying to: bills, academic association election vote, Girl Scouts membership renewal...) but it is still only Saturday, I can get through the rest of my list tomorrow, right??

Thank god it's the weekend!