boring thoughts on employment and its relation to life
Busy day at work. I don't know if I can ever appreciate an 8-4 schedule. I hope to come upon a windfall fortune and only work part-time jobs. I really like that even when I'm doing mindless gofer tasks it feels like I'm doing something worthwhile. When I stuff envelopes, I'm sending out support group notices to families of kids with Downs Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.
It is also so glaringly obvious that this is a non-profit org. I work in an unimpressive building from which a wallet, a cell phone, and 2 jackets have been stolen (on seperate occasions) in the past 2 months. When I do office work in the Family Resource Center, my office is a small room with 3 desks and 1 computer for 4 people. When I went to get my TB test, instead of going to a normal doctor's office in a hospital like every other time, we were sent to a health clinic where the shot was administered in what appeared to be half office/half storage closet.
I just think it's interesting because, as my first full time job, it could be proposed that this is my first experience in "the real world" of employment. And next year after graduation when people say that you're really in the real world... how can that even mean anything? What is this umbrella category that covers employment experiences with the vast qualitative differences between the offices of professional lawyers with window views from high offices and a low-budget classroom for disabled kids? Yet that doesn't also include the time and effort spend in school?
Other things I've been thinking about: a brief (and paraphrased) section of conversation with Kat, stemming from her worries about grad school and professional success...
Me: I don't know... I wouldn't stress out over it. We're still young, and I have faith that good things will happen in time.
Kat: Well that's because good things do happen to you.
Me: What?
Kat: Well both last summer and this one, you ended up with good and respectable jobs, you know?
And I know it was my original phrasing, but I don't like that idea, so I'd like to restate it. It's not faith that things will happen to me... it's faith in my self and my own abilities. Confidence, if you will. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've also gone out there and made things happen. Despite having no direction and no idea of what I want to do with my life, I have confidence that I'll be able to deal with whatever comes my way in the future; thus, I shouldn't spend much effort stressing out about it.
This reminds me of the reason my mom gave me for not raising us religious despite her upbringing... Her sister always thanks God for all good things in their lives. And mother explained that she doesn't believe in waiting around to be blessed- that she thinks good things happen from hard work and dedication. That we are indeed the movers and shakers of our own lives.
Speaking of mother dear, she's not letting me watch the Daly Show tonight (despite its 2 week vacation and a year of tv deprivation prior to that) because we have a tennis girl boarding with us for the weekend and her brother is in Iraq. My mom thinks the disrespect will upset her, even though the said girl is not even watching TV right now. I'm very bitter, so despite watching it on one of the other available TVs (closer to the girl's room, but apparently more acceptable), I am just going to shower and be moody.
It is also so glaringly obvious that this is a non-profit org. I work in an unimpressive building from which a wallet, a cell phone, and 2 jackets have been stolen (on seperate occasions) in the past 2 months. When I do office work in the Family Resource Center, my office is a small room with 3 desks and 1 computer for 4 people. When I went to get my TB test, instead of going to a normal doctor's office in a hospital like every other time, we were sent to a health clinic where the shot was administered in what appeared to be half office/half storage closet.
I just think it's interesting because, as my first full time job, it could be proposed that this is my first experience in "the real world" of employment. And next year after graduation when people say that you're really in the real world... how can that even mean anything? What is this umbrella category that covers employment experiences with the vast qualitative differences between the offices of professional lawyers with window views from high offices and a low-budget classroom for disabled kids? Yet that doesn't also include the time and effort spend in school?
Other things I've been thinking about: a brief (and paraphrased) section of conversation with Kat, stemming from her worries about grad school and professional success...
Me: I don't know... I wouldn't stress out over it. We're still young, and I have faith that good things will happen in time.
Kat: Well that's because good things do happen to you.
Me: What?
Kat: Well both last summer and this one, you ended up with good and respectable jobs, you know?
And I know it was my original phrasing, but I don't like that idea, so I'd like to restate it. It's not faith that things will happen to me... it's faith in my self and my own abilities. Confidence, if you will. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've also gone out there and made things happen. Despite having no direction and no idea of what I want to do with my life, I have confidence that I'll be able to deal with whatever comes my way in the future; thus, I shouldn't spend much effort stressing out about it.
This reminds me of the reason my mom gave me for not raising us religious despite her upbringing... Her sister always thanks God for all good things in their lives. And mother explained that she doesn't believe in waiting around to be blessed- that she thinks good things happen from hard work and dedication. That we are indeed the movers and shakers of our own lives.
Speaking of mother dear, she's not letting me watch the Daly Show tonight (despite its 2 week vacation and a year of tv deprivation prior to that) because we have a tennis girl boarding with us for the weekend and her brother is in Iraq. My mom thinks the disrespect will upset her, even though the said girl is not even watching TV right now. I'm very bitter, so despite watching it on one of the other available TVs (closer to the girl's room, but apparently more acceptable), I am just going to shower and be moody.