Today started off like shit. I couldn't sleep last night. I ended up crying myself to sleep because when I'm just lying there all the bad thoughts creep in to my head.
I had to be at work early (I wanted to be in at 10:30 a.m. and before you say, "But GS, that ain't early," let me explain. I usually go in at like 1 at the earliest. So that was early) and I didn't get much sleep. I slept until 10:30! Damn so I hurried up and got ready then went into work.
I got there just in time for the meeting about the package I have to design. These things make me want to bang my head into the wall. The boss wants mock ups by Tuesday. I have tomorrow and Saturday off. As it stands right now, I have maybe half the art I need. So I stress to him that hey guess what, I need the art NOW! He says, "You'll have it asap." Not really reassuring as last time I got it the night before.
Adding to the stress of this package is a couple of factors. 1. It's coming out on a Sunday. Wonderful, except I no longer work Saturdays! This means the package must be done the Thursday before it comes out. 2. We have a special section coming out god knows when but it's this huge monstrous beast that's currently killing the writers and features editor (whom we dearly love). This section gets sooo much worse. Upper management decided to move up the deadline for this section up a week, which left everyone scrambling, and me designing the weeklies, which are stessful because I really don't know what I'm doing. So now on top of this package I have to design, we're also going to get hit with more than 100 stories for the special section (I am not exaggerating!) Sunday and Monday. So somehow I have to copy edit a special section and put together a two page package by Tuesday. Thanks a fucking lot.
So the day got shittier after the meeting because the editor of the weekly I worked on today doesn't know how to communicate. I ask her, "So Story A goes at the top of the page, with Story B going down the left rail. Story C is in the middle with story D to its right and Story E underneath those two?" I'm essentially describing what she'd drawn on the dummy. She says no, "A should be down the rail and B should be at the top." So I switch things around then she calls me and says, "A should be on top and B down the rail, you get that right?"
On top of it all, there is the A section and the B section. She's crammed far too many stories into the A section and not enough in B. I'm stressing because not only do I not really know this product's style, but I have crap to work with. On top of it all the coworker who is my friend and got me the job keeps nagging at me to change 50 million things. There are times I want to yell, "You design the damn thing!"
So the editor and I work it out, but not before I almost have a melt down because haha, I don't know sports and have no clue which story is more important. The deadline is in like two hours and I still have pages to design plus I'm sure I'm needed on the copy desk. I'm shaking and trying oh so hard not to cry. Finally at like 4:15 p.m. I get the pages laid out and can go back and tweak the problem areas, of which there are many. Our deadline is 5 p.m. We didn't get the pages in until almost 6 p.m. Thankfully my supervisor is totally awesome and said, "[The editor] is an idiot."
I try helping with the daily paper but my computer acts up so I shut it down for a break. I then go over and chit chat with Sue and the features editor. Turns out they have four tickets to, "Shipwrecked! The Amazing Story of Louie DeRougeMont as Told by Himself!" They ask me to go. I grab my things and we take off. We had Z Pizza for dinner, bitched about the city editor who pisses us all off then went to the show.
As a brief side note, there was this young man in a blue button up shirt at the restaurant. He walked past me and as he did so he kinda gave me this look like, "How you doing?" It was sweet and strangely made me feel better. And yes, I know I could get any man I want, but it was nice that a random stranger checked me out while I was feeling like crap.
It was utterly amazing. If you have a chance, check it out. It's at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. I was feeling super shitty and exhausted when we got there but about five minutes into the show I was just so happy and whisked away into this man's incredible tale.
Moral of the story is if you have a cranky GangstaSwan on your hands, ship her off to see a play.
I had to be at work early (I wanted to be in at 10:30 a.m. and before you say, "But GS, that ain't early," let me explain. I usually go in at like 1 at the earliest. So that was early) and I didn't get much sleep. I slept until 10:30! Damn so I hurried up and got ready then went into work.
I got there just in time for the meeting about the package I have to design. These things make me want to bang my head into the wall. The boss wants mock ups by Tuesday. I have tomorrow and Saturday off. As it stands right now, I have maybe half the art I need. So I stress to him that hey guess what, I need the art NOW! He says, "You'll have it asap." Not really reassuring as last time I got it the night before.
Adding to the stress of this package is a couple of factors. 1. It's coming out on a Sunday. Wonderful, except I no longer work Saturdays! This means the package must be done the Thursday before it comes out. 2. We have a special section coming out god knows when but it's this huge monstrous beast that's currently killing the writers and features editor (whom we dearly love). This section gets sooo much worse. Upper management decided to move up the deadline for this section up a week, which left everyone scrambling, and me designing the weeklies, which are stessful because I really don't know what I'm doing. So now on top of this package I have to design, we're also going to get hit with more than 100 stories for the special section (I am not exaggerating!) Sunday and Monday. So somehow I have to copy edit a special section and put together a two page package by Tuesday. Thanks a fucking lot.
So the day got shittier after the meeting because the editor of the weekly I worked on today doesn't know how to communicate. I ask her, "So Story A goes at the top of the page, with Story B going down the left rail. Story C is in the middle with story D to its right and Story E underneath those two?" I'm essentially describing what she'd drawn on the dummy. She says no, "A should be down the rail and B should be at the top." So I switch things around then she calls me and says, "A should be on top and B down the rail, you get that right?"
On top of it all, there is the A section and the B section. She's crammed far too many stories into the A section and not enough in B. I'm stressing because not only do I not really know this product's style, but I have crap to work with. On top of it all the coworker who is my friend and got me the job keeps nagging at me to change 50 million things. There are times I want to yell, "You design the damn thing!"
So the editor and I work it out, but not before I almost have a melt down because haha, I don't know sports and have no clue which story is more important. The deadline is in like two hours and I still have pages to design plus I'm sure I'm needed on the copy desk. I'm shaking and trying oh so hard not to cry. Finally at like 4:15 p.m. I get the pages laid out and can go back and tweak the problem areas, of which there are many. Our deadline is 5 p.m. We didn't get the pages in until almost 6 p.m. Thankfully my supervisor is totally awesome and said, "[The editor] is an idiot."
I try helping with the daily paper but my computer acts up so I shut it down for a break. I then go over and chit chat with Sue and the features editor. Turns out they have four tickets to, "Shipwrecked! The Amazing Story of Louie DeRougeMont as Told by Himself!" They ask me to go. I grab my things and we take off. We had Z Pizza for dinner, bitched about the city editor who pisses us all off then went to the show.
As a brief side note, there was this young man in a blue button up shirt at the restaurant. He walked past me and as he did so he kinda gave me this look like, "How you doing?" It was sweet and strangely made me feel better. And yes, I know I could get any man I want, but it was nice that a random stranger checked me out while I was feeling like crap.
It was utterly amazing. If you have a chance, check it out. It's at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. I was feeling super shitty and exhausted when we got there but about five minutes into the show I was just so happy and whisked away into this man's incredible tale.
Moral of the story is if you have a cranky GangstaSwan on your hands, ship her off to see a play.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
fixer:
I hate those situations, I feel for ya
requiem:
Ditto. Except for the rain.