I sit at my desk this afternoon eating my lunch in front of my computer, which has become a daily habit for me when I’m in the office. Based on how I “compartmentalize” my day, this is the time I usually set aside to tend to RFGHF and catch up on my comments and other blog reading.
Funny thing, just before I typed this I finally really looked at my keyboard that I use, and discovered that it’s functioned very nicely as my “napkin” for many months now, and it has a nice coating of dried food and other bits of “stuff” I can’t identify. Ah, the perils of multitasking – or, as I’ve been calling it, “working the spinning plates“.
I love that analogy, the man in the middle of the three ring circus, deftly keeping all those plates spinning around so nicely.
I hadn’t thought about it much until recently, when my “plate count” got beyond its usual 3 or 4. By late last week, right before SOBCon, it seemed like it was around 10. As I was driving to Chicago I was wondering if I really could properly focus on my responsibilities at the conference.
To top it off, right after I got to the hotel, I got a phone call from my home security company, telling me the alarm had gone off and the cops were on the way. I frantically called my wife (who was on her way home) and my neighbor to see if I could figure out what was going on.
It was in the midst of that when I heard this little tune in my head – you know, the one they play at the circus while the acts are doing their thing. I was spinning plates, but the good news was I was aware of it.
It also helped that my man Mike Sansone, like the coach he is, kept telling me to keep the glass half full (thanks buddy!).
Turned out, it was a false alarm, and then the conference started………and the circus music suddenly stopped. The plates stopped spinning. I was a Zen master – living and drinking in every single moment.
Saturday was no different.
But alas, the plates have to start spinning again – and they did, first thing Monday morning. Not that it’s a bad thing – I’ve always thrived on the chaos, and I always get a lot of satisfaction of keeping those plates from crashing down.
So I’m back to multitasking, and spilling food on my keyboard – is that last month’s turkey on the escape key?
And the circus song plays on……….but boy, was that a sweet interruption last weekend. Here’s to the next one.
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/sigh
Back to the grind.
I’m fully moved over to http://www.perfectlypetersen.com now. I’m enjoying the freedom to blog non-gaming stuff and keeping Gitr’s Blog devoted to gaming.
Oh yes – the spinning plates! Michael and I can totally relate to that! We have 5 blogs of our, and 5 for clients we currently manage. And you get caught up with one project and we have to run over to one we neglected for a few days, get a few posts in que then the client calls….on and on! – On another note, it was great to meet you Terry! We learned SO MUCH and met SO MANY great people – we plan to spend the next 8 weeks, filtering all that information and links to great sites, out to our audiences. It was truly a great experience for us! MANY THANKS!
Welcome back to the festival. Glad to hear that it was only a false alarm. The man in the middle of the three ring circus has a secret unbeknownst to the rest of us. His plates have a hidden indentation in the center to help keep the plates on the poles. For some of us, our deftness comes from leaving the plate-spinning in the hands of those who know how to hide their secrets best. If we tried spinning the plates we are guaranteed that something will break or someone will get injured. For the uninitiated, plate spinning has catastrophic and tectonic implications. A slight movemeet in tectonic positioning will result in either an earthquake or a tsunami. A friend told me of how he once was eating by his keyboard and ended up creating an additional laundry job for himself (earthquake). While he was doing the laundry his cat knocked over his drink and it spilled on very important school work he was planning to turn in the next day (Tsunami). Plate spinning is thus not easy. It takes a glass-half-full perspective to master the zen of plate spinning.
This post really hit home because (1) the plate-spinner is one of my favorite metaphors; (2) my “k” is sticking because of food chunks that live in the crannies of my keyboard and I can’t find my canned air; and (3) it was hard coming down off the SOBCon high.
In fact, I’ve had these daydreams that we just can’t wait another full year, and that maybe we should do SOBCon-South here in Texas in about six months, and …. oh, shoot. You and Liz and Chris and Lisa and Mike and the whole gang will probably string me up just for mentioning it. LOL
Awesome job, Mr. M.C.! My glass is not just half-full; it’s getting close to the brim.
Thanks Jesse, Derrick, Herman and Connie for stopping by!
Jesse, good move splitting into two blogs – keep writing, you are good at it!
Derrick, I should have given you and Michael some credit for this post, since we were talking about this very thing on Saturday. I guess I just did!
. It was great to meet you both and I really enjoyed our conversations, since we do have that plate spinning in common! I look forward to seeing you next year.
Herman, I just love how you put such an interesting spin on my posts! You just may be right about how Zen and “Half-Fullness” go together. And yes, watch out for those earthquakes.
Connie, nope, we won’t string you up. Heck, I’d have one of these a month if we could pull it off! Keep dreaming and we’ll see what happens.
All the best to all of you!