It’s a reading room morning.
Opened around me are:
- We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff
- Milk Street: January – February by Christopher Kimball
- Asterix and the Goths by R Goscinny, A. Uderzo
- Destinations of a Lifetime: 225 of the World’s Most Amazing Places by National Geographic
Coffee number two is coming up.
It’s been a long week. So long and so seemingly never ending, that this morning felt like a mid-week day. It’s not. It’s the weekend. That being said … my work laptop opens in about an hour.
I’m still in the zaniness of transferring a website portal. And it’s been a process that has included 33 people and counting. I think that speaks to the level of effort.
Not for not, it is work that must be done. To revive a needed tool. As 238 people wait in the wings for it to be ready. To be used for years.
Cross fingers – I’m aiming for the middle of the month to call it game, set, match.
In the meantime, my quest to seek a more WORK – LIFE balance is not going exactly as I planned. I’m more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa these days. Tilting too far towards the work part.
Some balancing act, right? Eh, I never was good at centering. I can’t help it. I’m all in and dedicated to seeing this project through. Even my dreams won’t let me rest. My phone certainly hasn’t.
It’s becoming epic.
Knock on wood, I am not without humour.
All yesterday I had the banter of Pope Julius II and Michelangelo from the film The Agony and The Ecstasy playing in my head.
If you don’t know it. It’s Rex Harrison as Julius and Charlton Heston has his tormented artist. Up high is Michelangelo, sometimes on his back, day in night out, painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Whilst down below, Pope Julius paces daily in and out of the chamber, yelling up to the heavens:
Pope Julius II: But WHEN will you make it END?!
Only to be told …
Michelangelo: When. I. Am. FINISHED!!
Now, I am by no means comparing myself to the great Michelangelo. Nor my project to the incredible awe inspiring scenes he created in that room.
As an aside: If you ever have a chance to visit the Vatican, I highly recommend the wait it takes to admire the Sistine Chapel. The magnificent blue corridor tunnel walk to the chapel is breathtaking in and of itself. And Michelangelo’s frescoes are an absolute wonder to behold. Go with someone so they can support your back as you stare above. A note of caution, you’ll be rudely dealt with if caught taking photos of the ceiling. No worries, all the best of us do!
Rather, I’m touching upon the how I view my work. I’m a failed painter at heart, who traded in her brushes for code and databases long ago. But I still approach every project as if it were a blank canvas waiting for me to sketch my vision and colour its way. Like when the yellow brick road turns yellow on the screen.
Oh sure, sometimes my easel and beret personna needs to be toned down to blend with policies, workflows and deadlines. But, inside, I’m covered in paint as I suffer for my art.
And that’s why I’ll be back at my desk, on another weekend, tweaking a line here and changing a button there. Because it will only be done when I have finished it.
I jest here – but in my arrogance I do see a bit of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni in myself. Or, at the very least, Heston’s Michelangelo.
After all: I know what it is like to be commissioned to build an overarching solution, one that spans an entire program, under looming timeframes and larger than life leaders …
Commanding a vast structure whose day to day progress depends on two hands and two eyes.
A project so dear, that because I’m the one who started it then I’m the one who will bloody well finish it!
All this under the caveat that: It is ready when I say it is ready. Regardless of who famous down below is shouting up: WHEN WILL IT BE DONE?!
That being said. Between you, me and this post? The answer is: Soon.
Happy Saturday.