Because I live to some extent in a membrane of creative denial, it only hit me this morning that I have five working days — four and a half now — to do everything I need to do before leaving for New York and then France/Cannes on 4.27. That’s because next week is going to be all Vegas and all Cinemacon, and then a return to LA on Thursday night and the NYC flight departing on Friday morning. So I made a list of everything that needs doing, and it’s too long. I’m not going to be able to get to all this and do the column every day to the tune of six or seven posts.

The result is that my system and my brain are slowing down. Rather than man up and deal with this methodically, I’m a deer in the headlights. I just have to shake it off and get going, but this has happened before. If I have a managable list and a reasonable amount of time, I’m fine. But if the list is too long and the time is too short, I’ll quietly freak and then freeze over. It’s like being hit with a stroke.

LA to Vegas: 4.23 to 4.26. LA to NYC on 4.27, staying until 5.3. And then off to Berlin for a week before Cannes.