Delay

I am at this moment waiting for a return phone call, a fax and two emails, all related to the same project. And I am apparently incapable of doing any of the other vast amounts of work on my desk until at least the first two occur.

If they go the way I want then the project is done and I can turn my attention to all the other things which have been put off while trying to finish the project. If they don�t go the way I want I will need to spend at least the rest of the day having unpleasant conversations and trying to get everyone to agree.

So I am tense waiting, and incapable of focusing on any other work until I know. Which is why I�m writing this � to give me something else to do without actually shifting my focus.

It is interestingly a slightly more manic version of my inability to do something else if my email is down when I come into the office in the morning. If I don�t have my morning email it�s extremely difficult for me to do anything else until I have it.

I am by no means obsessive over routine or anything like that. Aside from the 45 minutes between getting up and leaving for the office, and the 30 minutes after I get into the office, I really don�t have any routine at all.

And get up, brush teeth, shower, get dressed, put on make-up and head out the door isn�t really something that�s a real routine so much as the necessary order of things needed to be able to actually leave the house in the morning.

But when I get into work I like to drink my diet coke, wade through my email, send the latest Calvin and Hobbes to my friends, and check-out the news and updates on my favourite sites for half an hour or so when I first arrive. It helps me ease into the day. And its not like there�s no work involved � most of those emails are usually work-related. But if, like this morning, my ISP is down or being temperamental then I really can�t cope. Can�t get the day started at all. It just feels unsatisfactory.

I suspect it may be that I�m not properly awake yet. Or not work-awake anyway. I�ve wandered into town catching up on the morning news and current affairs on the radio. And then I need to work my brain up to work, I guess. Some mornings its not a problem because there is something on the fax or email which demands immediate attention � and wakes up my work brain immediately. But most days it prefers a little time. Even if I come in early due to extreme busy-ness it still requires that time.

Thankfully the email was only down for about 25 minutes this morning and in the meantime I had two phone calls.

Oh, and I�ve just received one of those emails I�ve been waiting for and I guess its unpleasant phone calls for me for the rest of the day�.