Middle of the road

Today is an important day. We're half way there to getting Chris back. He's been gone for 45 days and we have that many to go. I know it's silly but I keep count. It helps me to see actual numbers; evidence of passage of time. Quantifying things helps me a lot. I think many artistic people find it hard to think in numbers but it makes me feel better to see actual hard evidence. :) I plan a lot, but things never, ever turn out the way I plan them. Anyway, those who know me also know that I am an incurable list keeper and numbers cruncher. To balance it out, I put pretty pictures together for a living. Strange mix but it works. Marrying Chris adds a healthy amount of randomness and spontaneity to my life helping me keep a nice balance. Should, I think of this as a test that he has to be away for so long? I suppose so. Doesn't really matter. I am doing all right but I sure could be doing a lot better too.

Now, why I am rambling on today? It's 4:30am and I am waiting for a file to save. Yes, I am doing the night shift (again). Waiting to save a file sounds like something I'd say when trying to save a 5MB file say, 10 years ago... I remember I used to do that and go grab lunch, come back and the thing would still be saving. Anyhow, I have a nice computer seasoned with some extra processing power and memory and such but it still takes 25 minutes to save that file that's over 2GB. I am a very impatient person and it is absolutely killing me. I am working on tradeshow booth graphics and it is my least favorite type of work. Not because of the design itself. But because I am forced to remain calm for days while those files (that design-wise don't look like much) do their thing. I love adding extra layers, and shadows, and visual trinkets which is murder when your image (which is currently trying to get saved on another computer) is 15 feet tall. Needless to say I am starting to question whether I really should add a 20th layer to an already big file. Inevitably I decide yes and the file grows some more. My current record is meager 2.5GB working file. Which, looking over to my other computer, appears to have just finished saving. Better go back to work before the kids wake up...