Stress and Ways to Alleviate It
Aug. 27th, 2009 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreThis has been an amazingly hectic week and it isn't over yet.
Monday afternoon, I had a meeting on the new project I've been enthusiastic about. I'm still enthusiastic about it, but I'm starting to have concerns about how somebody else might derail things.
All day Tuesday was spent making briefing charts for a meeting tomorrow. (We had to do it then so we could sit in on the meetings yesterday and today.) All I will say is that I need to be spared from passionate people. If we say something is not within the bailiwick of the study we were asked to do, that is not a personal attack. And it is not a statement one way or another about its importance.
After dealing with another day of people screaming at one another yesterday, I recuperated a little by going to see the Alexandria Kleztet at the Kennedy Center. (This was a free Millennium Stage concert. Have I mentioned recently how much I love it that there is a free performance there every single night of the year?) I had not seen them live before, though I'd heard a couple of their CDs. They played a mix of older and new material, including traditional songs and original contributions. In general, I think they're at their best on the faster, livelier material. The freilach they concluded with, for example, was very energetic.
I blew off this morning's meetings in hopes of trying to get caught up on a few other things. One of those was non-work, as my mother had sent me three emails more or less demanding that I get her a ticket to see Jersey Boys for next weekend. (Why she couldn't have said anything about this to me when I talked to her on the phone over the weekend is beyond me.) There were no front center orchestra seats available, so I called to ask if she'd prefer rear orchestra or side - and she said she had decided that she probably wasn't up to it anyway. This is better from my standpoint since it means I can take the train into the city (vs. the car service she would use) and be on my own schedule, but I know she will inevitably kvetch about my abandoning her.
The afternoon meeting featured less yelling, but plenty of other annoyances. I am really not looking forward to our briefing tomorrow. I went out to dinner with a colleague afterwards, who is even more stressed than I am (partly for legitimate reasons). She wanted to pick my brains on travel related things and we both thought it was a good idea to take advantage of restaurant week. The first couple of places I wanted to try were booked up, so we made our reservation at Indebleu. My appetizer was the tuna tartare spring rolls, which were delicious, with a zippy curry sauce. For the main course, I got bass pad thai, which I thought was slightly overcooked. But the mushroom and ginger and peanut stuff the fish was served over was wonderful. The "creamsicle" for dessert (orange mousse, honey mascarpone ice cream, and diced mangos in syrup around the edge of the plate was the right finishing touch - nice and light and summery. The service was also quite good. I could see taking Robert there.
And further proof that I am really stressed. I have completely forgotten the PIN for my ATM card. I thought I had it written down somewhere at home and I can't find that either.
Monday afternoon, I had a meeting on the new project I've been enthusiastic about. I'm still enthusiastic about it, but I'm starting to have concerns about how somebody else might derail things.
All day Tuesday was spent making briefing charts for a meeting tomorrow. (We had to do it then so we could sit in on the meetings yesterday and today.) All I will say is that I need to be spared from passionate people. If we say something is not within the bailiwick of the study we were asked to do, that is not a personal attack. And it is not a statement one way or another about its importance.
After dealing with another day of people screaming at one another yesterday, I recuperated a little by going to see the Alexandria Kleztet at the Kennedy Center. (This was a free Millennium Stage concert. Have I mentioned recently how much I love it that there is a free performance there every single night of the year?) I had not seen them live before, though I'd heard a couple of their CDs. They played a mix of older and new material, including traditional songs and original contributions. In general, I think they're at their best on the faster, livelier material. The freilach they concluded with, for example, was very energetic.
I blew off this morning's meetings in hopes of trying to get caught up on a few other things. One of those was non-work, as my mother had sent me three emails more or less demanding that I get her a ticket to see Jersey Boys for next weekend. (Why she couldn't have said anything about this to me when I talked to her on the phone over the weekend is beyond me.) There were no front center orchestra seats available, so I called to ask if she'd prefer rear orchestra or side - and she said she had decided that she probably wasn't up to it anyway. This is better from my standpoint since it means I can take the train into the city (vs. the car service she would use) and be on my own schedule, but I know she will inevitably kvetch about my abandoning her.
The afternoon meeting featured less yelling, but plenty of other annoyances. I am really not looking forward to our briefing tomorrow. I went out to dinner with a colleague afterwards, who is even more stressed than I am (partly for legitimate reasons). She wanted to pick my brains on travel related things and we both thought it was a good idea to take advantage of restaurant week. The first couple of places I wanted to try were booked up, so we made our reservation at Indebleu. My appetizer was the tuna tartare spring rolls, which were delicious, with a zippy curry sauce. For the main course, I got bass pad thai, which I thought was slightly overcooked. But the mushroom and ginger and peanut stuff the fish was served over was wonderful. The "creamsicle" for dessert (orange mousse, honey mascarpone ice cream, and diced mangos in syrup around the edge of the plate was the right finishing touch - nice and light and summery. The service was also quite good. I could see taking Robert there.
And further proof that I am really stressed. I have completely forgotten the PIN for my ATM card. I thought I had it written down somewhere at home and I can't find that either.
