One of our clients has a tradeshow coming up soon, so we’ve got a big push going on at work right now to get their site updated in time. Because there’s a firm deadline and a ton of work to get done before the show, I’ve been working late about every other night for the last two weeks, and this week is promising to be more of the same.

I shouldn’t complain, really, because I love my job, and they do cool things like buy me dinner if I’m working late, and this really doesn’t happen very often. But even given that, and knowing this is an unusual situation, there’s no getting around the fact that working late kinda sucks.

Staying motivated in an empty office after dark is hard. I hate getting home long after Zoe’s gone to bed and not having enough energy to do anything other than watch a little TV and go to bed. Mostly, though, I just hate the feeling of weeks passing by and knowing I haven’t really accomplished anything outside of work.

Still, the firm deadline for the client is just a few days away, and after that things should settle back down to normal. So, just a few more days in the weeds, and I can come up for air and focus on some non-work-related things for awhile.

Edit: On the way home, I decided that this post is a little too “oh, poor me,” and that really wasn’t what I was shooting for. Like I said, I love my job, and I have no problem with staying late now and then to get a project done one time. My intention with this post was really just to admit (to myself more than to anyone else) that even knowing all that, working late this much is really draining, and it’ll be nice when this push is over.