Ups and Downs

What a crazy, hectic week. I didn't want to go to work on Monday and it wasn't for the usual reasons either. My boss was let go and I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Wtf?? Shock, disappointment, confusion, dismay - I felt lost and adrift, suddenly cut off from the rest of the company, and I can't even imagine how he felt. Of course I didn't have much time to dwell on that; I had a company function to help finish planning for Friday and with the loss of one of the speakers, I had what felt like a million and one last-minute changes and other presentations to prepare. I was a frantic farmer trying to herd all the chickens into the coop and as soon as I thought they were all in, there was always one still clucking around outside. How in the world was I going to finish everything on time?

Furthermore, halfway through the week I find out that there may not be internet access at the location. Are you kidding me?! If I can't get internet, half my presentation is out the window! Then a family matter comes up, with it an obligatory commitment, and our organizer can't be at the function to set up, MC and clean up, leaving me to take over. Aaahhhhh! What else can go wrong?!

In the end, I managed to finish all the presentations by sacrificing my regular work (except for a last-minute proposal due Monday morning that required my attention) and I was saved from potential disaster by MW's laptop which gets minimal cellular internet service (dodgy service beats no service at all). Thank God.

Friday finally rolled around - hallelujah! - and I couldn't wait to get it all over with. Weeks of planning, information gathering, organizing and plain hard work coalesced into a successful day-long function. Relief! Now I can get back to that pile of backlogged work come Monday.