Trying to keep my energy up

I knew this was going to be a difficult week, and it is. I had a long day of shooting on Sunday, a long night of shooting Monday. Then up early for meetings Tuesday morning and then class Tuesday night. Up early for class on Wednesday and all the stress that day entailed when my actress sent me an email at 9am saying she had a fever and wouldn't be able to make it. Though in the end Wednesday went very well. I found a last minute replacement actress who did a fine job, our group presentation in Thesis Prep and the discussion that ensued was really interesting. The shoot for Cinematography went well enough that I got an email from John the next morning saying good job. And there was a potential incoming grad student who was sitting in on that class who I sat and talked with for a while after. She was nice, I hope she comes next year.


Then yesterday I met the boys at 9am on campus to lend my car to the effort of moving all the gear that they needed for 4 days of shooting 2 different projects. I forced a 1 hour break for myself around 3pm to come home and walk the dog. Other than that we pretty much went straight through from 9am to 1am on a couple pieces of pizza, some cookies and soda. (And knowing that I made myself a sandwich while I was home for the dog.)

I got about 4 hours of sleep and then was up for a couple hours to walk the dog and talk to Linda. Then I got another 2-3 hours of sleep and woke up with a raging headache and feeling a bit crampy. Now, I really can't complain, at least not around here, because at least I got some sleep. Zinnia (actress) had to go to work this morning. Chase (actor) had 2 exams today. Aaron (sound) had to teach a class at 10am. So no one really wants to hear that I'm feeling run down. I have 2 kind of big and time consuming things due on Wednesday that I was really hoping to make progress on today since I don't have to be at Jorge's shoot. But I can't seem to get my brain up to speed. I feel like the hamster on the wheel that keeps my brain spinning has taken a Valium or something and is strolling more than running.

Most of the time I don't feel old. Most of the time the boys forget that I'm old. Yesterday one of the actors said he thought I was 28 and I wanted to hug him. Then there's days like today when I wonder how the boys are managing to keep going. I hate to say it but I think I had more energy at 23 than I do now.

We have one more day of shooting for Jorge tomorrow which will probably be long. And at some point we have one more evening of shooting for Aaron, but that shouldn't be long. It's just one scene. From arrival to leaving at the location I bet it'll be 3 hours. He just has to find an evening when all 6 actresses are available at once. And then that's it for shooting for the semester. After that all the work I have to do will only be for my own projects, presentations, exams, whatever. Much more in my control, which in a lot of ways I find much less tiring. At least I hope so.