Ever have one of those weeks?

I just had back-to-back ones. “Busy” doesn’t even begin to cover it. Luckily most of it was good.

A while back, before I’d heard of Avatar Weekly, I got the idea that Second Life needed a pet fair. I’d just spent several hours going around looking at various pets and trying to find new ones. Trouble was, I spent more time searching and TPing than I did actually checking out the pets, hence the fair idea. My wonderful landlords, Bent Melody and Abella Beck, were enthusiastic about the idea and gladly volunteered The Atrium for shops. They also booked some amazing musical talent for live shows – RoseDrop Rust, Frets Nirvana, Joaquin Gustav and Arimo Teixeira.

I bought a publisher to make a program for the show and enlisted a friend to handle the info-gathering side; I planned on having free info pages about each vendor and also allowing them to buy ads in hopes of offsetting the cost of the publisher. Meanwhile, I worked on getting things set up and searching out more pet creators (there are a TON out there, and I know there are many I still haven’t found). In real life, I do contract work from home and my hours are extremely flexible. Getting this thing planned and going would be a piece of cake. Right?

Well, no.

My friend suffered through a devastating real-life event, and I wasn’t about to bring up something like a pet fair program when she was dealing with so much. Being there for her took a fair chunk of my time as well, though I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Then my number one real-life client, who’d previously said they wouldn’t have anything more until after the new year, called up with a HUGE project that I couldn’t afford to turn down.

My mother’s birthday fell during the pet fair weekend. No problem, I’d thought, as my parents were supposed to go away that day – and then they changed their minds.

And of course, I applied to and was hired by Avatar Weekly. My formerly boundless free time had just taken a vacation.

In the meantime I was trying to stay in contact with all vendors and potential vendors for the show. Some vendors preferred notecards, some preferred IMs, and Second Life being what it is, both methods were occasionally getting lost in the shuffle.

At least some of that was GOOD news. Still, I was stretched pretty thin.

Somehow, though, it all worked out.

My friend will probably be in and out of the hospital for a while, but she’s hanging in there.

The real-life project is going well and will help me buy Christmas presents for the non-avatar people on my list.

My social obligations to my mother are fulfilled until Christmas… or at least until she decides there’s some topic she absolutely MUST talk to me about for hours (I give it until Tuesday afternoon).

Bent and Abella rose to the challenge magnificently, helping all our vendors get set up and making sure our performers had what they needed. The vendors themselves were incredibly understanding, and the show – in its last hours as I write this – has come off without a hitch save for the program, which is going to be released afterwards so I have time to do everyone justice.

As for my job at Avatar Weekly – well, read my articles and see for yourself!

One of the main purposes of the show was to help pet lovers find new creations, and help the creators gain exposure. Zephyr Pennell couldn’t be there in person, but PennyWhistle Cameron of Penny’s Pets’ Dogs and Wildlife brought along some of Zephyr’s horses to display for her. Those included an adorable Shetland pony that I just HAD to have, but the display model wasn’t for sale. A bit of searching led me to the pony at Lone Star Ranch, which led me in turn to Ruby’s Rodeo and Billy’s Barn, and I netted two more great vendors for the fair (and some great Christmas presents for Second Life friends as well).

I’m REALLY tired tonight, but it’s been well worth it. And we’re already planning another pet fair for late spring or early summer.

It’s been a great couple of weeks.