Keeping Busy

What a busy summer it has been. Somehow, I foolishly believed I'd have more time once the school year ended last Spring. I suppose the reasoning went along the lines of "Hey, if I'm not driving around like a crazy person 70 times a day bringing my girls all over Salt Lake Valley, I'll have lots of time to myself. Sweet!"

Alas, reality was far more bitter. After all the writing I did in May and June to prepare for WIFYR, I moved into my minivan and proceeded to stay there until 5:05am Saturday morning. I'm afraid I lost all use of my fingers. My wife had to pry my hands from the steering wheel. I'm typing this with my nose. Frankly, I blame the children. What with dance class, and out of state feisana, and five county fairs, and one last minute performance in downtown Salt Lake City, I never saw the inside of my apartment.

Now I'm actually looking forward to school beginning again this week. Ah, the irony.

Truthfully, I did accomplish much, but it just wasn't off my list. Even my web design work took a back seat to child rearing. After all the focus on Irish Step Dancing in June and July, I spent the past four weeks choreographing and training my oldest daughter for her county fair performances. I don't regret the time spent, but it did have its toll on my To Do list. My art desk is dusty; my novel a faint memory. I squeeze in design work around the edges, such as the 5½ hours of design work I just completed in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday. I'm just glad that I was able work that in. I spent much of last week ticking and twitching. Then suddenly Friday night the ticking stopped. In those windows of opportunity I work, work, work! Then my family complains that I sleep opposite from them all of them. I wonder when they imagine I will get any personal/professional work done?

As for my internal struggles with disability, I'd say this summer's greatest obstacle was the Chronic Motor Tic Disorder. I managed my Depression, I mostly kept myself focused and attentive, which means aside from reading (see below) my ADHD wasn't an issue, but my ticking was a real pain in the keister. So random. So inconvenient. So disruptive. Nope. Can't say I like it much. C'est la vie.

My family may no longer have to worry about my sleep schedule, however. With so many free diurnal hours on my hands now, I have a massive incentive to flip my schedule around. I can return to a regular blogging schedule again, finish my current design work, and maybe even finish that novel I'm working on before my birthday deadline this Christmas — all within the golden light of that big heating lamp in the sky.

Work during the day when other human beings in my time zone are also awake? Is that normal? I'll let you know.




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