I’m going to write a bit more off the cuff than I normally do. Blogging can be that flexible medium that serves multiple purposes like a personal journal mixed with public social posting. For today, instead of discussing some minor everyday rhetoric and attempting to make some grand life lesson out of it, I’m going to just take a step back.
Besides my immediate boss leaving, arguably the best one I’ve ever had, there have been many changes to my job within the last few weeks. I’m excited, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve been here before. That’s my general unease as of late.
Currently, I’ve been working on what I call the “Open Projects” project. Whereby, I’m looking at all the projects that have not crossed the finished line. For one reason or another we’re still emailing the client. Some of them have kept us on the relationship hook and hundreds of mismanaged emails keep getting sent out. Seriously, how many times do you “gently remind” someone that they signed a contract because they wanted a product? At some point it’s just spam.
Mild rants aside, the Covid problems facing Academia are harsh. Mix all of that with an unhealthy dose of racism and you get hundreds of academics working to save their own lives plus the lives of their students before the school year even starts. That means delays. Delays mean uncertainty. I don’t sit well with this level of uncertainty. I’ve been waiting to apply to Phd programs for some time now and I’ve already heard of programs shutting down or rolling back.
The positive, I have a job. I get to think about how awesome my co-workers are and what kind of work I’m doing. Last night, Jennifer and I were working side by side at 10 pm. Sure, we had our break, but I’d never be able to have that kind of flexibility anywhere else. It’s what’s allowing me to blog at 8 am this morning. (take a break to continue on my project on projects and publish the post around 10). I’d rather over work a smidge longer in a day than have some of the crazy schedules I’ve once held. I remember a terrible 36 hour shift over a black friday once. That was a brutal time. Plus, every time I publish a post, I feel good about myself. So, there’s that.
While I complain a lot, I know this is the greatest time of my life. Seriously, I didn’t know that I’d have it this good. It’s enough to make you feel guilty.
I’m going to keep this short. I keep telling my new supervisor that I’ll try to have this project done by EOD. One of my biggest struggles is combating with my own wants and expectations against reasonable reality. We learn to persevere or we change the need to persevere.
I don’t know if you’re able to glean anything from this post. I hope you found something to add to your everyday rhetoric repertoire. If anything, thank you for reading. Also, just a random side note, I’ve been spending some time with my images. I’m really liking how they are coming along on here. If you like them too, leave a comment or send me an email. If you see there’s something I could be doing better, I’d love to hear from you as well.