I think that the last two or three months really have been a sort of hibernation. I saw almost no daylight, I was certainly fattened up, and I might as well have been holed up in a cave for the amount of social activity I had.
And now spring is here, and with it really comes an awakening. With the last week or so of freedom, I've re-learned a few things:
- Normal people don't have to change straight into pajamas once they get home (they may choose to, but not because the immediate next step is to dive into bed)
- Normal people have food, other than just cereal and milk. (unless your entire diet always composed of cereal and milk)
- Normal people get to see the sun.
- Normal people have friends!
I think that the days were always the hardest when I rolled onto a new job, because the first couple days would always be the set-up process. Once I had a project or two underway, I was focused and I was fine (except for the occasional whining). I would become engrossed in whatever I was doing, and some days just flew by.
If I didn't have a task that had to be completed that same night, I sometimes was allowed to go home earlier than the rest of my team. I appreciated it, of course--but when I started staying later with the other team members, I felt like I'd become one of the big kids, getting to stay up late.
The hours were generally hardest to handle when I'd had a day or two on the weekend to relax and maybe, maybe do something social. Or, more likely, I got to work from my couch rather than the client's office. But I would start to remember life before January, and then Monday morning would come and I'd get to go back into my audit cave and start anew.
While I definitely was fattened up, I had a reverse hibernation in that sense...I ended up building up my "energy stores" (more widely known as love handles) rather than burning them off. But perhaps by the next time I head into busy-season hibernation, these first ones will be gone.
So here's to spring--and here's to blogging. Maybe I'll post again before another two months roll by!
