The Missing Weekend
Back at home I always had weekends. No matter what school I was studying in, no matter how stressed I got, I always had weekends that recharged and re-energized me. The weeks were hellish, but at least the weekends were restful.
Ever since May 20 2006, those weekends have disappeared.
It's an odd feeling. Whenever I go back to school on mondays, I don't feel rested at all. I don't feel recharged. I don't feel... well... I don't feel bad about it really.
I look at it as being in one constant state of working with only brief moments of respite spread throughout. Now I understand the old advertising maxim: Work hard, play hard. I am a string strecthed taut by script studies and pitch creation. Every so often I'll have a film viewing or night at the pub to pluck that string, but it never unravels.
I work even on weekends. I have a rule that I don't work on Saturdays, but that ain't quite true. Even if I don't actively work on a project, I still read my scripts and think about my pitches. On sundays back home, I used to play soccer with my buds and dinner after. Now, it's Sunday afternoon battles wrestling with Final Draft 7 in the VFS writing lab.
And yet...
I love it.
I am always tired but it is a good tired. It is a tiredness born from productivity and meaning, not from mindless repetitive acts that mean nothing.
I look forward to those moments (usually on Saturdays) when I can relax either by myself or with my friends... but oddly enough I also look forward to each and every day of my studies at VFS with equal intensity.
I finally feel that I am doing something worthwhile with my talents.
p.s. I dunno if any of the above made sense... I just spent about an hour working on something and my mind is mush.
Ever since May 20 2006, those weekends have disappeared.
It's an odd feeling. Whenever I go back to school on mondays, I don't feel rested at all. I don't feel recharged. I don't feel... well... I don't feel bad about it really.
I look at it as being in one constant state of working with only brief moments of respite spread throughout. Now I understand the old advertising maxim: Work hard, play hard. I am a string strecthed taut by script studies and pitch creation. Every so often I'll have a film viewing or night at the pub to pluck that string, but it never unravels.
I work even on weekends. I have a rule that I don't work on Saturdays, but that ain't quite true. Even if I don't actively work on a project, I still read my scripts and think about my pitches. On sundays back home, I used to play soccer with my buds and dinner after. Now, it's Sunday afternoon battles wrestling with Final Draft 7 in the VFS writing lab.
And yet...
I love it.
I am always tired but it is a good tired. It is a tiredness born from productivity and meaning, not from mindless repetitive acts that mean nothing.
I look forward to those moments (usually on Saturdays) when I can relax either by myself or with my friends... but oddly enough I also look forward to each and every day of my studies at VFS with equal intensity.
I finally feel that I am doing something worthwhile with my talents.
p.s. I dunno if any of the above made sense... I just spent about an hour working on something and my mind is mush.
posted by Thomas at 10:46 AM
2 Comments:
Yes, Gino, you make a lot of sense. Wait 'til you graduate to the real world...But, hey, it's always a good sign when you don't mind being tired and stressed out when doing your work -- yes, even if it takes your weekends away. That only means you're enjoying what you're doing!
And yes, we work hard and play hard (sometimes harder) in the ad world.
Talk about foresight. Justin and I have been whining about this and you were feeling it about a year ago.
The day they give you independence is the day they try to take away the weekends. ("they" being "the man"/"big fat lady in the sky")
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