Is This What College Was Like?

No, no - I'm not talking about keg parties and using cafeteria trays as sleds after a good snowfall, I'm talking about something else. It’s been a while since I was in college, but lately it feels like I’ve regressed; I’ve been working until about 2 am-ish lately, getting up at 6:30, and I have to say it – I am too old for this. The thing that’s so annoying is that, the more tired I am, the less efficient I am, therefore I end up working longer to produce the same amount of work. Kind of a self-perpetuating problem, really. But there’s no let-up today, unfortunately. The thing is, I know that I got through most of college averaging four to five hours of sleep per night, maybe. (This doesn’t count dozing off in some [most] classes…) My question is, then, how the hell did I do that? I mean really – how? I can deal with having to go to work and be alert and produce on teeny amounts of sleep every so often, and I do. But to consistently do it…well, I just can’t.

At this point I would like to express my personal admiration for every mother who has gone through weeks and months of sleep deprivation, while still managing to remain a productive member of society (and that’s just about all of them) – very well done.

Looking to my next trip (although our Paris office is dragging their heels booking my ticket – which will, of course, only make things more expensive. At which point they will then probably complain again about the cost of my airfare. Well…these things happen.), I’m trying to think about the things I want to see, things I want to do, and all that. TL has already talked about the team going out to the sea for a weekend, which would be nice, it’s supposed to be beautiful. I also want to explore the old market and am hopeful that one of the girls from the office will show me around. There’s no shortage of things to photograph here, that’s for certain, so I’m looking forward to that as well. The best thing about a digital camera? I don’t end up getting 12 pictures printed of virtually the same thing, and end up thinking “wow – I thought they’d look different…” Now I can tell that I’m being repetitive before I go to the trouble of getting the prints sent to me!

It’s funny to think that Christmas is less than two weeks away – I feel very detached from all of it at the moment. That’s probably because it’s been 75 degrees and sunny every day since I got here, compounded by the fact that Christmas doesn’t exactly feature heavily on the average Yemeni social calendar, so it doesn’t have that omnipresent quality that it does at home. I have a feeling that I may switch to full Christmas geek mode when I get home – listening to Christmas carols, wrapping presents, sending cards, baking cookies, and generally marinating in as much holiday cheer as I can find. (I draw the line, however, at Christmas sweaters, Christmas jewelry, or anything with appliqués.) Be forewarned.

I just heard from Itsy Bitsy (from Hanoi), and the Vietnamese version of our report is still in progress, meaning that it will then need to be translated to English, and then proofread by me. I fear that it will come when I’m in full-tilt Master Plan writing mode. Ah well, I’ll worry about that if/when it happens. But she’s so nice, it was good to hear from her. (That’s the other good thing about all this traveling, I meet interesting people in interesting places. It’s always good to have someone to visit if you want to or need to go back.)

Alright, I’d best turn back to the tasks ahead of me – lots to do and lots to set up before I leave. And I leave tomorrow afternoon – gah!!