Let me just cut to the chase: I’ve had some challenges since my last blog posting. After two fun weekends away at the start of the Campaigns course, I finally faced the unpleasant reality that I was more than a little behind with my writing assignments.

Without the usual Monday night deadlines for this course, I had unintentionally fallen victim to putting off til tomorrow what should have been done today.

Although I had kept up with the postings and assignment research each week, which included a boatload of secondary research as well as primary research in the form of a survey and personal interviews to assess awareness and general thinking about New Orleans’ recovery, I had committed only a modest percentage of the actual work to paper.

Suddenly, the mid-term deadline of June 16 was too close for comfort. (Insert sound of stress meter reaching danger zone!)

So I buckled down at the end of last week, got some sections organized, and promised myself total dedication to the project through the weekend.

Oh, but of course, I didn’t want to cancel out of my Wicked River Run on Saturday morning. Never mind that temperatures and humidity levels were soaring up near 100 in Richmond for the weekend. I wanted that T-shirt!

So I ran the race on what turned out to be one of Richmond’s worst air-quality days of the year (smoke from North Carolina wildfires had settled on top of our city’s heat wave). And, well, that little exertion took some recovery time. I did pop open my laptop midday and work for about three hours.

Oh, but of course, I couldn’t cancel on my co-worker’s party for her son who just graduated high school. True, my husband and I didn’t stay long. But, hey, since we were out, might as well grab some dinner, right?

Back home, I opened my trusty Apple PowerBook and worked about another hour before the day caught up with a vengeance. Plus, I’d gotten some upsetting news that day that was rolling around in my brain and clogging the gray cells.

Sunday was a marathon Campaigns day for this runner. I had a one-hour outing to the health food store to pick up a few things plus lunch. Yet, as the evening rolled round, and I assessed my progress, I began to weigh the merits of taking Monday off as a personal day.

I really don’t like missing work for school. It goes against my personal code. I feel like I’ve failed to perform—I’ve let the balance shift. But in looking at the week’s work calendar, Monday was the only viable day to take and I knew I needed more immersion in New Orleans.

So…Monday became another focused push for Campaigns as I battled a headache. The day paid off, however, and since then I’ve been able to look ahead with confidence that I can finish up the mid-term portion of the project on schedule this weekend. (I’ve been playing catch-up at work, but that was the deal I made myself).

A few truisms for me this week:
1) You can’t do everything all the time. No, you really can’t.
2) Don’t get senioritis or road-trippy the first two weekends of the last IMC course.
3) Family stuff happens at the most inopportune times, so always have a little slack built into your schedule.
4) Never discount the time it takes to do a good job with secondary and primary research. It is the foundation of your project and paves the way for the creative ideas to flow.
5) When your life and schedule get interrupted, take a breath, but then shoulder the pack and keep walking.

P.S.
See you next week after the mid-term mails! Until then, here’s a little YouTube for your entertainment. Don’t let this happen to you!