the ongoing saga of my job

Stress In Its Various Forms

Had I sat down to blog about eight or nine hours ago, I would have written quite the vitriolic entry about my day job. You might have gotten to read more than you wanted to know about the inner workings of my department, and how far behind we are in our work, and our staffing issues. You might also have learned a little more about the fact that my employer is choosing not to let us know yet which branches and departments are staying and which are going, and how this is making the entire department quite pissed, although we’re still just assuming that we’re toast.

Even though I spent the entire first half of my workday being lethargic and not caring about my job, I kicked a whole lotta ass in the second half, got a shitload of work done, all while zoning out with the iPod, and that improved my mood. The drive home with the window down only added to the upswing.

The next bend in the stress rollercoaster came when I read my e-mail and discovered that a contracting deadline had been moved up from what I had originally been told. My initial plan had been to spend a couple hours working on the project tonight, and a couple hours here and there next week, since the proof didn’t have to be in until April 2nd. Try again — my revised timeline gave the ultimate to-the-printers date of March 27th… which meant that I spent 3½ hours on the project tonight instead of only two, and got the bulk of it done (I think). The director (the person who recruited me for the job) even went as far as to ask my main contact if the two of them should work tomorrow on finishing what I started. We’ll see what they decide.

I feel like I keep dropping the ball in so many different ways with this contracting gig. They keep giving me assignments, though, so either I’m doing better than I think I am, or they *really* need warm bodies. I’m voting for the latter.

Time to ramp things back up. I have a website to finish redesigning, and accompanying flyers and business cards to update, on top of getting my own resume and portfolio in primo condition. I am *so* going to snag myself a better job, and soon. I plan to at least have some prospects lined up, if not interviews and/or job offers, by the time I head out to Japan.

More rock, less talk.

humor

This Will Be Me In 15 Years

Courtesy of Jill Shalvis:

Last night was Back to School night for the High School. It’s set up so that parents can experience the day as their child does. My daughter handed me my schedule. AP Calculus, AP Science, Weight Training, Leadership, and AP English. I looked at the schedule and felt the nerves jump in the pit of my stomach. “I already survived high school, I shouldn’t have to survive it again.”

keep reading…

Totally. Going to be me when I have a kid in high school.

ruminations 9 Comments

Smells Like Spring

I realized just now that the smell of spring reminds me of living off-campus during the summers at BGSU. Particularly, the upstairs apartment/duplex on Troup Street, across from the TV station. The one with the unusually short screen door that Aaron would bash his head on every damn weekend. That was the summer of… 2000, I believe.

Of course, this same spring breeze also reminds me of sitting on the porch swing of my efficiency apartment back in 1999; or laying on the top bunk of a borrowed futon-loft in the room I rented in 1998, at 2am with the window open. Spring, to me, smells like standing alone, feeling grown-up, being responsible, but without feeling the weight that true responsibility carries.

Someday, when different memories are fresh in my mind, maybe spring will smell like something else to me — gardening, or travelling, or having the kids home from school. That’s a long way off, though.

The smell of spring makes me feel alive, like something new and different is around the corner, and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because I prefer warm spring weather over the cold of winter, or because spring means the daylight hours are longer, or because spring meant the end of school for so many of my formative years. Or maybe it’s simply because the greenery finally makes its appearance.

At any rate, this 60-plus-degree weather is fantastic… even though I know it won’t last the week.