Just keep swimming....
Trying to make my way through the haze of events from the past week-and-a-half, and the intense series of events that we're still staring down.
Last week
Friend issue from the CT event - this is still outstanding and hasn't gone anywhere. It's kind of simmering on a back burner for when Tab is ready to deal with it. In the meanwhile, yes, we're seeing people choose sides and it sucks. And no, we don't want any of our friends to do that unless it's something they feel strongly about. Our anger does not have to be amplified or shared by others, nor do we need judgment passed on either us or the other party.
Back down in NJ for work - two weeks in a row of hotels, living out of a suitcase, abnormally long (even for me!) workdays, and a lot of unrest from the office team regarding the management transition. It's been very difficult to help everyone else manage these changes, and present a level of reassurance to others that I don't always feel myself. We'll get through it, and hopefully the office culture will rebound back into more positivity. We're in the business of making lives better, the office should really be a happy and motivated place.
Significant community loss - I didn't know him well, but Joe had always impressed me as an amazing person. We're trying to find a way to fit the services in.
Burlesque Networking - went to an NYC burlesque last week to network (sounds crazy, I know!) and we got another calendar model out of it, which is awesome. She's a total gamer-geek, so it was great. Also some potential new photo/video contacts there, which is always awesome.
Baby shower - unfortunately there was a sit-down meal, so we didn't get to see the presents being opened because we could only be there for two hours. It was incredibly awkward being sat next to women that I "sort of" know, but who were pretty unfriendly and snarky the whole time. Argh. Nothing like feeling socially snubbed after a long and stressful week to get you in the mood to hold a two-day meeting. Oh, wait, that wasn't a good plan?
Plot meeting - we got through it. Not the best meeting we've ever had, a lot of tension from Tab and me was definitely spread to the group, but we have a story that we'll be very proud of telling. A member of the team didn't make the meeting or respond to texts/emails, so there's both confusion and concern about what's going on with that. That also colored the meeting to an extent. Even if it wasn't the best ever, like I said, we have a good story. Just need to work on keeping these more upbeat and positive even when people are hugely disagreeing with each other about the directions we should head.
Upcoming this month
Major work transitions - we're beginning the transition this week from myself to the new manager of 6 of my team members. I'm really excited to see it happen, I spent the last two weeks in NJ to get him trained (which was also adding significantly to my stress last week). President being out also leaves me taking over a couple of his half-finished projects, I'm going to be putting in a sick number of hours for the foreseeable future, while also trying to manage my business. Good times, and at least I get to bill hourly for all of this.
Calendar shoot - Project Manager is feeling really overwhelmed so I need to find a way to take over some more of the coordination for this project. Somehow, it'll happen. We're not where we wanted to be fiscally on the project, but we're looking down a really amazing shoot line-up with lots of volunteers and people involved. Three photog teams and a videographer? Yeah, we're ramping things up significantly from our first shoot.
AnimeNEXT - I haven't done much with this coordination, but it's on my radar for this week to make sure things get done here. We have seven or so team members going to this, and it's both the biggest Con we've done, our first anime variety, and the most performances our team has done (SIX!) in one weekend event. Tab will be leading the team, and it will all be awesome - I'm definitely nervous about having our team spread so thin between two huge events in one weekend.
Mom moves in - My mother is packing her stuff up and driving cross-country on Monday to move in with us. I'm both really excited and really worried about the whole thing. This is supposed to be short-term while she gets established and finds meaningful work here, and hopefully she'll be able to handle the hubbub that seems to be our daily lives. I'm really, truly happy that I'll have her out here, and just concerned about making the transitions work and getting her established in a reasonable amount of time. We all like our privacy, so I want to make sure that she's both welcome and a short-term houseguest.
Crossroads Event - The first event was a behind-the-scenes disaster, but this time around we're doing far better with the prep. I'm expecting the team to rally and get a whole lot of stuff really into the "Extreme Organization" that's one of our company goals this year. Worried a little just because of how busy I am leading up to the event, but primarily excited because it should be great. I need to get back to focusing more on promotions and new player outreach, and will be trying to schedule that into my next month so that we can continue growing our local base. We're still working at a goal of a 70PC event by the end of the season.
Kids Event - the planning and promotions on this are behind schedule, so I've got to add that in. Got a draft of rules in that I need to review, and should be awesome given the stellar folks that put it together. The event itself will be great, it's a matter of getting enough kids there to make it worthwhile. This is supposed to be a springboard into putting together a day-camp for next summer, which is another huge project to start tackling soon... but not right this moment.
I have a weekend off for July 4th... THREE WHOLE DAYS. I will NOT schedule anything productive to do that weekend, no matter how much my client needs something finished or how far behind I am on other projects. I'm going to take Tab away somewhere, as long as I can afford it after the Crossroads event, because DAMN we need to just relax and have a little bit less to think about for a couple days. Maybe up to the finger lakes for hiking and stay at a bed/breakfast or something similar. I don't want to spend a ton of money, I just really want us to get away and not think about business for a couple days. Kind of desperate to do that, actually. So I'll make it so.
Last week
Friend issue from the CT event - this is still outstanding and hasn't gone anywhere. It's kind of simmering on a back burner for when Tab is ready to deal with it. In the meanwhile, yes, we're seeing people choose sides and it sucks. And no, we don't want any of our friends to do that unless it's something they feel strongly about. Our anger does not have to be amplified or shared by others, nor do we need judgment passed on either us or the other party.
Back down in NJ for work - two weeks in a row of hotels, living out of a suitcase, abnormally long (even for me!) workdays, and a lot of unrest from the office team regarding the management transition. It's been very difficult to help everyone else manage these changes, and present a level of reassurance to others that I don't always feel myself. We'll get through it, and hopefully the office culture will rebound back into more positivity. We're in the business of making lives better, the office should really be a happy and motivated place.
Significant community loss - I didn't know him well, but Joe had always impressed me as an amazing person. We're trying to find a way to fit the services in.
Burlesque Networking - went to an NYC burlesque last week to network (sounds crazy, I know!) and we got another calendar model out of it, which is awesome. She's a total gamer-geek, so it was great. Also some potential new photo/video contacts there, which is always awesome.
Baby shower - unfortunately there was a sit-down meal, so we didn't get to see the presents being opened because we could only be there for two hours. It was incredibly awkward being sat next to women that I "sort of" know, but who were pretty unfriendly and snarky the whole time. Argh. Nothing like feeling socially snubbed after a long and stressful week to get you in the mood to hold a two-day meeting. Oh, wait, that wasn't a good plan?
Plot meeting - we got through it. Not the best meeting we've ever had, a lot of tension from Tab and me was definitely spread to the group, but we have a story that we'll be very proud of telling. A member of the team didn't make the meeting or respond to texts/emails, so there's both confusion and concern about what's going on with that. That also colored the meeting to an extent. Even if it wasn't the best ever, like I said, we have a good story. Just need to work on keeping these more upbeat and positive even when people are hugely disagreeing with each other about the directions we should head.
Upcoming this month
Major work transitions - we're beginning the transition this week from myself to the new manager of 6 of my team members. I'm really excited to see it happen, I spent the last two weeks in NJ to get him trained (which was also adding significantly to my stress last week). President being out also leaves me taking over a couple of his half-finished projects, I'm going to be putting in a sick number of hours for the foreseeable future, while also trying to manage my business. Good times, and at least I get to bill hourly for all of this.
Calendar shoot - Project Manager is feeling really overwhelmed so I need to find a way to take over some more of the coordination for this project. Somehow, it'll happen. We're not where we wanted to be fiscally on the project, but we're looking down a really amazing shoot line-up with lots of volunteers and people involved. Three photog teams and a videographer? Yeah, we're ramping things up significantly from our first shoot.
AnimeNEXT - I haven't done much with this coordination, but it's on my radar for this week to make sure things get done here. We have seven or so team members going to this, and it's both the biggest Con we've done, our first anime variety, and the most performances our team has done (SIX!) in one weekend event. Tab will be leading the team, and it will all be awesome - I'm definitely nervous about having our team spread so thin between two huge events in one weekend.
Mom moves in - My mother is packing her stuff up and driving cross-country on Monday to move in with us. I'm both really excited and really worried about the whole thing. This is supposed to be short-term while she gets established and finds meaningful work here, and hopefully she'll be able to handle the hubbub that seems to be our daily lives. I'm really, truly happy that I'll have her out here, and just concerned about making the transitions work and getting her established in a reasonable amount of time. We all like our privacy, so I want to make sure that she's both welcome and a short-term houseguest.
Crossroads Event - The first event was a behind-the-scenes disaster, but this time around we're doing far better with the prep. I'm expecting the team to rally and get a whole lot of stuff really into the "Extreme Organization" that's one of our company goals this year. Worried a little just because of how busy I am leading up to the event, but primarily excited because it should be great. I need to get back to focusing more on promotions and new player outreach, and will be trying to schedule that into my next month so that we can continue growing our local base. We're still working at a goal of a 70PC event by the end of the season.
Kids Event - the planning and promotions on this are behind schedule, so I've got to add that in. Got a draft of rules in that I need to review, and should be awesome given the stellar folks that put it together. The event itself will be great, it's a matter of getting enough kids there to make it worthwhile. This is supposed to be a springboard into putting together a day-camp for next summer, which is another huge project to start tackling soon... but not right this moment.
I have a weekend off for July 4th... THREE WHOLE DAYS. I will NOT schedule anything productive to do that weekend, no matter how much my client needs something finished or how far behind I am on other projects. I'm going to take Tab away somewhere, as long as I can afford it after the Crossroads event, because DAMN we need to just relax and have a little bit less to think about for a couple days. Maybe up to the finger lakes for hiking and stay at a bed/breakfast or something similar. I don't want to spend a ton of money, I just really want us to get away and not think about business for a couple days. Kind of desperate to do that, actually. So I'll make it so.