quiet days are too few and far between

today has been an unusually quiet day. quiet days here at work are very much too few and far between for my particular tastes. i get way more done when my phone isnt ringing off the hook with people asking me stupid questions. but theres something about quiet days that unnerve me lately as well. i start to get paranoid, wondering what horrible scandalous thing is back building while my phone isnt ringing, and my email inbox isnt filling up. are they saving it all to dump in my lap at 4pm on friday? are they waiting until i'm in the middle of a hairy project before telling me about deadlines since missed? or worse yet, is my email or phone malfunctioning, and i'm not getting the crapload of urgent messages that i should be?

yes... paranoia at its best... i know, i should just enjoy the peace and quiet, and do my best to do everything i can while i can, but thats just not the way things work around here. there is always an emergency. there is always something urgent. there is always something incalculably complex and painful. and when there isnt, well, i start to worry, because there never isnt.

its kind of like when a mom knows that her child is playing way too quietly, and visions of horrible deeds done start flashing through her mind. the "oh what is he doing that hes so quiet?" questions start running through your head, and you start imagining the worst case scenario... hes painted a picture on the bedroom wall with my lipstick... hes pulling all the tape out of his video cassettes... hes discovered how to clog the toilet using nothing but q-tips... yes, just like that.

that terror of things to be found out later is exactly what i'm feeling right now. and its not unjustified either.

the last time i had a truly quiet day, the next day every single person i work for/with showed up with a horrible emergency that they'd been sitting on for at least a week! oh my... was that ever hellish. i have yet to figure out the polite way to say "lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis for me" and have it actually be understood... if anyone has any ideas, let me know!