If there’s a certain sameness to these late December days around here, it’s probably a necessary monotony. If it’s reflected in these entries, well, that’s my life right now, and I don’t have a lot of leeway to fix it. I’m working longer hours than usual, with no end in sight. In a way, that’s good. It’s better to be too busy than to have nothing to do at all.

There’s no relief just because the holiday rush is over, that’s for sure. In fact, as always, it starts to get more intense now. January has always been my busiest month, and now with two companies to account for instead of just one, I think I’ll be earning that modest bonus I thanked the Boss for today.

The hardest part is just trying to keep it together. I mean, I could easily lose my composure when little things go wrong. That’s my pattern, but with a little extra effort I can overcome it. I do it because I have to. Things need to get done, and there’s no one else to do them.

Should I be complaining? Of course not. Does knowing that stop me? Of course not. I even got to the bank and the grocery store today, in the midst of all the commotion. And the extra cash allowed me to get more or less caught up on my personal bills for the first time in a while. Both my car insurance and car license bills are always due in early January, but for once I’m not sweating those out. That’s worth a lot, even the extra hours at the grindstone.

As always when a major disaster strikes, the numbers, as horrific as they are, don’t have the same kind of personal impact as the stories of individuals, both those who have been lost in the tragedy and those who have survived it. The tsunami in south Asia has devastated families, villages, cities and entire nations, and I sit in my warm, dry house watching it all. I don’t think I’ve watched as much news at one time in about three years.