Letting Go

Last night's sleep was a series of nightmares that flip-flopped from show horrors to personal horrors.  Each time I woke up, Natasha would spring up from a crouch for IMMEDIATE SCRATCHES!  Around 3:00 AM, I resorted to something I haven't had to do in years - I flipped around and slept with my head at the foot of the bed.  Oddly, that trick always alleviates a restless night.

From there the day spiraled into a series of unexpected challenges:

• A snow storm is predicted for tomorrow night through Thursday, so Jesse and I had to come up with contingency plans (including how we can contact the entire cast, orchestra, and crew in case the storm continues into our big dress rehearsal day on Friday).  
• I discovered that yet another tool left behind by the previous teacher was left behind broken, so work on the set building was halted until I can get to the hardware store to buy another.
• The hardware store changed their hours and was closed when I got there after rehearsal.  My new plan is to stop by on the way to school.  It will make me a little late, but luckily I have planning first period.
• Midterms start tomorrow and grades are due by Friday, which brings me to the real cherry on the cake...
• The internet went down during 2nd period today.  That stopped a lot of my musical projects, since I needed the internet for references.  I also had to scrap my lesson plans for 4th period and rewrite them on the spot to accommodate for no network access.  But best of all,
• A few office aides came by during 4th period to say they were there to copy my midterms for me.  They'd been sent to go to all the teachers and offer to do that because they're not expecting the internet to be up tomorrow either.  I explained that since A) all of my documents are stored on the school's network drive (which isn't accessible without internet) and B) my printer is connected via network (which isn't accessible without internet) so I couldn't even make a hard copy if I wanted to.  The aides shrugged and said, "Yeah, a lot of teachers are saying the same thing."
• So tomorrow I'm supposed to administer tests that I do not have and cannot have in paper form even if I stayed up all night recreating them because I have no way to print them.

I'm not sure what the administration is expecting all of us to do about this - they haven't said anything, but I am feeling rather zen about the whole thing (or, more accurately, rather Thai Buddhist about the whole thing, since that's where more of my training lies).  Part of that may be that my stress bucket is at capacity.  There's only so much I can worry about, you know?  And while I could stay up late tonight to recreate a lesser version of my Humanities midterm as a "Name This Art Piece" slideshow that they then transcribe on their own pieces of paper...

No.  If the internet's working in time tomorrow, great.  I'll administer my midterm.  If it's not, that's okay too.  I'll figure something out.  For now, I'm taking a sleeping pill and going to bed.  I think that's the most important thing I can do right now.