Returned
So I guess the Autumnal Equinox is as good a time as any to reflect on what it means to be "back at work". My standard line when people ask is that it feels like being rehired for a job I used to have. In my case, WFH also happened to coincide with a couple interesting new initiatives that ended up taking up most of my time so I kind of blew off my regular work. Unfortunately, it was still here, slowly piling up, and I feel torn between trying to clear it out and really, really just wanting to keep working on the new stuff.
I think even stranger is the recurring sensation of remembering an old routine I used to have. I did the same things in the same way so many times--hundreds, in some cases thousands--that I worked out all sorts of odd little sequences for everything from timing my crossing of certain stoplights to how I opened particular doors. It's been so long since I've consciously thought about any of them that it can be quite startling to realise when I'm reprising one. Even weirder, I think, is the nagging knowledge that I used to have a method for something that I just can't recall any more and trying to decide whether I want to put effort into regaining it or try learning a different one.
So far, cons outnumber pros (and are probably more obvious), so for now I'll just focus on the plusses:
I think even stranger is the recurring sensation of remembering an old routine I used to have. I did the same things in the same way so many times--hundreds, in some cases thousands--that I worked out all sorts of odd little sequences for everything from timing my crossing of certain stoplights to how I opened particular doors. It's been so long since I've consciously thought about any of them that it can be quite startling to realise when I'm reprising one. Even weirder, I think, is the nagging knowledge that I used to have a method for something that I just can't recall any more and trying to decide whether I want to put effort into regaining it or try learning a different one.
So far, cons outnumber pros (and are probably more obvious), so for now I'll just focus on the plusses:
- I'm moving around more. I knew I was becoming much too sessile at home but my efforts to do something about it went nowhere. I liked not having to put on pants and leave the house. Now I'm back to hiking to lunch and back and, let me tell you, it was tiring at first. I even had to allow more time to catch the bus in the morning because my stroll to the stop--carefully timed to the half-minute--was taking longer than before.
- People are happy to see me. For the most part, I'm happy to see them too. There are folks I honestly forgot worked here. Partly that's due to the decimation we underwent last year, when more than forty people took buyouts, but mostly it's just a matter of OOS, OOM. I find it most amusing when it's someone I didn't even work with. Today I ordered a pizza at a place where I used to go weekly and when I gave my name, the manager was like, "You're going to get the pesto we use as a finish as a base." A year-and-a-half later, and some guy who's name I never bothered learning remembers my persnickity special request, and not in an annoyed way either.
- Damn, this is a beautiful campus. I had wistful moments over the last year and change where I'd be like, "The witch hazels will be in bloom soon" or "The waves on the lakefill must be incredible today." Now, of course, I can actually go and watch the incredible waves after I get my bespoke pizza with finishing pesto as a base.