Wed. March 19, 2025: Tinkering With Schedules and Systems

image courtesy of Aldren Gamalo via pixabay.com

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Waning Moon

Venus & Mercury Retrograde

Partly cloudy. Frost, but getting into the mid-60’s later today

I simply cannot believe tomorrow is the Spring Equinox. Time is racing by.

I haven’t talked about the death of playwright Athol Fugard on the blog. I was lucky enough to work with him at Manhattan Theatre Club during the same six months in which I was lucky enough to work with Arthur Miller. I adored both of them. Athol talked a lot about his experiences during apartheid – how gathering in groups was forbidden, even in private houses. How plays were part of that forbidden gathering, and performed in people’s living rooms. How plays were written so that props could be tossed in a suitcase in a moment and the performers and audience could scatter when word came the authorities were near.

Sound familiar? Because that’s where we’re headed.

Even though I was the wardrobe girl on his show, Athol loved the fact I was a writer, and invited me to sit in on some of his rehearsals. I learned so much from him. He was a quiet, thoughtful man, a brilliant thinker and artist, and showed how activism can be done through art, but without the kind of spectacle that’s so inherent in the current social media/influencer landscape.

I kept in touch with him on and off over the years, and miss him deeply.

Reading his obituaries, I was also intrigued by what was left out. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Yesterday was a good day. I got a bunch of work done in the morning, although not everything I hoped. I got the laundry folded and put away. I have some serious ironing to do tomorrow. The laundry bin was actually empty for about 15 minutes, until I started sorting out winter things that need to be laundered before they are packed away. I did a bunch of admin (but not enough). I turned around a small coverage. I did some more prep for my meeting with the potential new client. I did the rounds of my elected officials.

We had a fantastic meeting. I really liked talking with the CEO, and the work itself is something I would both love and be very good at. I’m putting together a bid package, which is due on Friday, and I’m trying to research rates. I’m completely flummoxed by what I should charge. There’s plenty of information on the going rates of other team members in this type of work, but not for what I’d be doing, which is a little different than the way it’s been done. I’m hoping to get some guidance from the WGA before the bid package is due.

I worked on the bid package most of the afternoon, with breaks sitting on the porch and reading one of the books for review. It was lovely out. The sun even peeked out for a bit in the afternoon.

I’m trying to hit the right balance of dealing with what’s in front of me, while also keeping an eye on the coming months. Because so much is in flux with my work schedule, and so much is in flux with the world burning down, I’m trying to hit the sweet spot of practicality and flexibility. Where can I put systems in place that support what I do without suffocating it, but can run even if I have to change my schedule for whatever reason? If I schedule too tightly, or too systematically, I resent it and just don’t do the work. I need large blocks of unrestricted time, and then I’m more productive. But if I say I’m going to work on a specific project from 10:15 to 10:40 – I won’t (unless it’s a scheduled meeting). I have learned this about myself. It’s a reaction, no doubt, to the many years in which  my very long days were overscheduled down to the minute. What’s a rational workload, not just overbooking out of fear and then being too exhausted? I’m older; I can’t do the 20-hour days anymore. Elder care also needs more time and attention and energy. And the political chaos has an enormous negative effect on my everyday life. That’s just reality.

Doing work that I enjoy helps. I had a blast working on the bid package yesterday, which allowed me to forget the world burning down for a few hours. I think this is a client with whom I would enjoy long-term work, and we talked about, should I be hired, at least a year’s worth of work.

On today’s agenda: finish off some paperwork that needs to go out today; get that book review written and out (I dropped the ball on that, but I’m still well within deadline); go over the slides for tonight’s class again and then teach the class; work on the bid package; get some work done on contest entries; get in some of my original writing. I need to get back to my first 1K of the day being my own work, not client work. That sets me up in a better frame of mind for the rest of the day. I’ve been pushing my original work back farther in the day, and that’s not a strong choice. I also have to finish prepping for the Equinox tomorrow. I can’t believe it’s already here.

Have a good one!