Just a little singed around the edges

Why does every major project lead inexorably to a Meltdown Moment? Or is it just me? Maybe everyone else manages to successfully plan massive events without ever reaching that day when everything goes to pieces all at once, and if so, I'd like to know their secret.

For me that day was yesterday. All day long I alternated between putting out fires in some parts of campus while lighting fires under others, just to meet all the important deadlines for planning next week's All Scholars Day. And in between all that firefighting, I was trying to put the finishing touches on the program so I could get it to the printer today, but the computer program I needed to use kept alternately crashing or messing up the formatting, and at one point it decided that every page should be numbered 11. 

I left here last night at the end of my rope, hoping to get some rest and come back ready to fix the problem, but then my overactive mind wouldn't let it go, gnawing incessantly on the same annoying computer glitches past 2:30 a.m. Then my brain woke me up at 4:30 with the solution to the problem and sent me off to campus around 6 so I could execute the cure, which was great but how am I supposed to teach three classes on two hours' sleep? (You do the math. I keep coming up with zeros.)

After I sent the file off to the print shop, I had to shut my office door, turn off the light, and lie down on the floor for a while, and then at lunch I went over to visit a colleague who always gives me a big dose of perspective and makes me laugh. I came back feeling refreshed, ready to tackle whatever arises, and what did I find in my inbox but a message stating that the print shop had a sample copy of the program for my approval--and it is just lovely.

It's kind of amazing that something so wonderful could come out of all those fires, like a phoenix rising from the ashes--and if I still feel a little scorched, I'm sure it'll pass. The good news is that I have now fulfilled my quota of Meltdown Moments for the semester so from this point on, I'm exempt.