and every word is nonsense but i understand

I'm v. glad that today is over. Today was my third pre-eight-am work start in a row, and given that I have an 8:30 meeting tomorrow, I really need to go to bed. But today went well -- the culmination of my bright/shiny (dull/tarnished) project was this morning, and my piece of it was a smashing success. I had to organize, introduce, and lead an exercise (in the mental sense, obviously, since no one would select me to lead calisthenics) with 200 somewhat senior people in my organization across six offices. It necessitated getting in around 7am so that I could print and staple 75 copies of something for the people sitting in my room, but I managed to be articulate, concise, and just witty enough without shocking the people who didn't know me well enough to understand my incredibly sarcastic sense of humor. The only time I almost lost my composure was when Alan, my former director, told me to stand up -- a reference to my shortness, since I was standing up but wasn't totally clearing the podium as well as most people, despite my heels. But that was entertaining rather than upsetting, so it was all good.

Anyway, it went v. well, and so the rest of the day was just a nice haze from the depleted adrenaline rush. After work, I had dinner with Dave (my manager, visiting from Ann Arbor for the week), then managed to make it home without falling asleep on the drive. Yesterday was similarly exhausting -- all day planning for the exercise today on top of doing my real job, plus showing up at seven a.m. for a meeting with some India managers who didn't bother to tell us that they had an office holiday and wouldn't come to the meeting, plus an evening 'margaritas and pie' gathering with my management team, plus another couple of hours prepping for the exercise after I got home from dinner last night. Bleh.

But, it's only a week until I go home for Christmas! And the weekend promises to be fun -- lots of holiday activities, with hopefully a bit of time to finish my shopping. But the only way I can make it home for Christmas is if I make it through the next week, so I should go to bed!