mini peoples
Random Observation/Comment #236: I can write a whole article about how facebook status updates are a competition of being witty or clever while telling people what you’re doing. I won’t, but I definitely can.
The daily grind has already somewhat settled. From the job perspective, I am strategically making myself more and more useful and indispensable in my group by prying and solidifying parts in less mature projects. I constantly talk with coworkers around me to get a better idea of what they do so I could compare the boringness of our daily routine and perhaps choose the lesser of two evils in the long run. I deliberately spend time just walking around to give my wrists and my eyes a rest from that damn Outlook page.
Coffee in the morning is mandatory. By 3PM, I desperately need a nap, so I drink my second cup of coffee to stop myself from dosing off at my desk. “Oh, look; another meeting to take place in 15 minutes, I guess I will read a techcrunch article until then.” “A conference call with London where I have no idea what they’re talking about and their weekly support updates don’t affect me – I wonder what techmeme has to say.” “That was such a satisfyingly well written email. Wait, let me add it to my to-do list and then immediately check it off to relive the feeling of being productive.”
Anyway, I can’t be stuck doing the work of someone else’s brain-child. I’d always want to feed my own side projects and feel, not only the rush of giving it life, but the rush of seeing it grow. The only way I see myself completing this work is by making this project my own and giving it my own little personal flair. I think that’s the way it should be – not some business analyst telling a code-monkey to pump out these specific features.
I don’t want to see these brilliant people become box checkers or task crosser-outers. I want to see them smile from their managers telling them that they’ll use their ideas for the next release, or have them excited to improve the program instead of just getting the work done. It makes me sad to see their routine, and then scared at the thought that I could become one of them. I don’t want to be infected… Are they already part of the living dead? What is the point of living if you’re just a sheep? – A sheep at work pleasing your boss and then a sheep at home pleasing your partner. It’s seeing lives like these that made me consider living in the mountains.
It’s not that I don’t like this job – I’m just used to a lot more excitement and pizzazz. Based on my track-record of hiking around the world, I guess I’m not a person you would expect to sit at my desk and work on one project. In fact, I think most people want me to write about the torture and agony of not having the choice to leave class and take a train to Prague on a whim (Yeah, life was good). But the truth is, if I compare anything to those 6 months, I would be rightfully depressed and living in the past. Fortunately, for me, those memories are just there to make me smile that they happened, and not sad that they’re not happening now. The adventure is not looking back; it’s always been moving forward with time – and with that mentality, I do not hit my head on my keyboard and build monuments on my desk with office supplies (only when I can’t find bugs).
~See Lemons in a Daily Grind
