It is not the worst thing by any means as I enjoy the opportunity for a challenge and the bump in my paycheck (Thanks for the shiney new iPad, overtime pay!), it does mean in the low moments I feel like weeping for lack of time and energy for creative pursuits. Though it is stress release to type out drafts of blog posts during lunch, energy for editing to publish is scarce. When I get home I usually opt to play free iPad games that take a long time to play and often require minimal cognitive effort. (For anybody interested: Pocket Minions, My Singing Monster, Skylanders, and Tribez)
It unexpected how much I appreciate the opportunity to put my nose to the grindstone on a large corporate project. It reminds me of the rythm of school more than my own projects do. School had a seasonality to it. I would loaf through the first few weeks while I built a routine and marveled at the newness of my supplies and subject matters. After fall break things pick up a head of steam until the critical pitch of finals where you drink so much coffee that your hands vibrate when you type and you giggle nervously at nothing. Once finals are done there is the release of energy and recovery period before it all begins again. My nine-to-five cubical job, which pretty much does the same thing all day, every day, doesn't create the same yearly work cycles in my life. Being busy at school usually fueled a burst of energy in my independent pursuits even if I didn't always have the time and energy to see them through. I find the same thing happening now.
In a month or two my workload will migrate to the desks of others, I will get some good sleep, and I will try to capture some of the corporate momentum for my own purposes. Until then, if anybody has some free and easy iPad games to recommend...I would love to hear them!
