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WORKLIFE PAGES
...being some chronicals related to what I do for money in this world...

...   1   ...   2   ...   3   ...   4   ...   5   ...   6   ... ok, so this is the fourth page along this path, continued from the third worklife page, which is continued from the second worklife page, which is continued from the first worklife page, which is an extention of my Keep In Touch page, all part of my attempt to keep in touch with you... figured that out without me, huh?...

well, just think... you didn't have to J

but you can still go there if you want to read the original introduction and the previous week's installments of the rambles about work... and life... and whatever comes to mind... in order even... bring popcorn... and nodoze? LOL...

in case this is your first visit to these worklife pages, it's turned into a weekly letter to friends and anybody who cares to keep in touch or know (for whatever reasons) more about me... it also sorta keeps track of how many hours I work each week (though some work hours slip through the count each week for various reasons) so I can look back someday and wonder how this body survived...

anyway, I am still looking for a friends offline here in this area... just not as much as before cuz I intend to be out of this area relatively soon... tic... tic... tic... yup, I'm getting out... stepping out, even... gonna be on the road again... me and my song refs, strolling down the avenue... I wonder where I'm going (taking my time but I'm gonna get there... ever miss the schoolyard?)...

I'll probably wander around a month or few... dunno where... any suggestions?... anyway, that's why I work so much these days... and nights... so I can add to the get-the-heck-outta-here fund as much as possible as quickly as possible... gotta work so hard so much pant pant (wiping brow)... I'm the only contributer, after all... (mournful whimper)... very lonely, being the only one, ya know?... sigh (scuse my giggles, but the child in me is so unsneaky sometimes LAM)...

s'ok, seriously (wait a minute {child responds to being teased}... I'll seriously accept any contributions to the get-the-heck-outta-here fund... and the start-a-new-life fund ain't too proud to accept help either... so there)... and more serious, if anybody has any serious suggestions about where might be a healthy, happy place to live... like maybe with open minds, brave hearts, and enlightened consciousness?... peace, wisdom, freedom, intelligence, passion, beauty, life?... or maybe you know something about the job market in your area... dreamers?... I'd really appreciate any info you send... anonymous info is welcome too...

still deeper seriousness now... to you guys who keep reading and writing to me during this irreverently isolationist (and selfish, don't forget selfish) and ok, selfish phase I'm going through - once again I want to thank you for caring as you do... without you, I'd probably be living only in the blues...

I updated my main "Keep In Touch" Pages (finally... put up last month's update that sat in a folder and a new one too... sorta)... the life I lead continues as it is... the journal is still getting some of my own weird brand of attention... and now that I'm closer to relocating, your thoughts and responses mean even more than before... stop by and make sure you're in my address book mailing list so I can re-connect when I finally settle down somewhere again... when I finally do get back to email, you'll hear from me... hope you want to :)

so thanks for reading and now, on to worklife... just click on the "week ending" links just below to read the what I had to share that week - or (I keep hoping, huh?) if you simply must read everything because you want to know everything because you are blessed and cursed with insatiable curiosity like me, just keep scrolling down the page (and write me, dang it! LAM) J


week ending August 1st... 55+ hours
week ending August 8th... 50+ hours
week ending August 15th... 66+ hours
week ending August 23rd... 73+ hours
week ending August 30th... 102+ hours
week ending September 5th... 94+ hours
week ending September 12th... 79+ hours
week ending September 19th... 104+ hours
week ending September 26th... 108+ hours
week ending October 3rd... + hours



week ending August 1st... 55+ hours

it appears that the proverbial wall has been reached... that is, the finance department, for what it's worth, did a review of productivity and all that management stuff and they found the company way over budget... and of course the traditional (mandatory?... like do they teach it in basic business classes? LOL) chicken-without-head dance began... in their human attempt to correct matters, they naturally sought scapegoats and my having more overtime hours than anyone else, well... I didn't have to paint a target on my back...

so it may be that the weeks of averaging over 60 hours are gone... just a month or two too soon for me, alas... I suppose I should finally face the fact that I've had to do some fancy footwork just to get paid for any overtime at all the last few weeks... and they've shorted me more than 20 hours in the past two months (that's in addition to the hours I don't put in for pay for)... so the relocation nest egg shall not be as big as I'd hoped... on the positive side, the reduction in potential income does make prospect of leaving the job all the easier as there was nothing about the job that says stay except the overtime money...

hey... I actually started out with work news... wow, will wonders never cease? LAM... well... I did ramble on about life in the intro to this fourth worklife page, so it's not just worklife rambling after all... staying on-topic is boring for me as my mind thinks tangentially and I'd rather set my thinking free than stiffle my creativity... I'll pause now to go and watch the spiders J



week ending August 8th... 50+ hours

the game continues... I negotiated a few more hours than I had thought last week and the same thing might happen this week... I won't know for sure until I see the check cuz it depends on some last minute decisions by managers... if there's a few extra hours floating around, they'll slip some to me... it's the old unspoken back-scratching understanding... the benefit of leaving special services and moving to building services... better management...

still not enough to keep me here though... so where shall I go?... if you like where you live, city or rural or in between, I'd appreciate you telling me about it... you can stay anonymous if you don't want to meet me, that's ok... any info about places from people who actually live in them would be much more helpful than reading books and looking at statistics... so I hope you take a few minutes to help me out and let me know... like housing and apartment rental costs and neighborhoods and the job market and whetever you might want and need to know if you were moving into a new area...

so work is the same... and I'm closer to moving on... and what else is new?... I might have done laundry tonight, but it's raining... so I updated my web pages instead... after being shut out for a week due to some server problems... and I used some more time for writing and corresponding and reading email and mailing lists and newsgroups... and the best news of the week was hearing from an old friend who's been lost (that is, contact info has been lost) for almost twenty years... exciting and it opens a whole galaxy of inspiration I've neglected for some time... so life is the same offline, but improving anyway J



week ending August 15th... 66+ hours

go figure... there was so much work I had to take helpers with me every day this week (the place would definitely go haywire if I started piling up really big overtime again... my overtime puts them about 125% over budget per hour) they aren't gonna like their budgets when this weeks figures are calculated... but then, the organization is not very organized... the payroll clerk was laid off this week... so was the acting vice president or operations manager or whatever title they gave him... last week the quality control and safety officer was fired, the simply position eliminated... the week before the warehouse manager and repair person's position was consumed by downsizing or whatever... I wonder what they are doing (maybe the company is being sold... they did just do an inventory)...

anyway, for me the point is moot... I'll hopefully be gone in less than two months... so much to do (it would be so much more fun with someone to share it all... anybody out there with too much time on your hands and enough savings to just hang out and wander about a bit?... say yes here)...

this body definitely needs a rest (pant, pant)... and some healing time (it has some ouchies)... and this mind needs some space to roam and inspirations to explore... and I'm hoping I get some feedback from you about other places... or maybe you know of some places I can look to find info about other places (websites or books you can recommend)...

and if anybody knows of a job opening in a few months, like maybe December 1st or so... I'd really appreciate any info about jobs you would send... thanks

J

week ending August 23rd... 73+ hours

round and round and round I go... don't know if I'm loving this spin I'm in... not much to dig, if you can my drift... but before I become completely possessed by the ghost of Sammy Davis Jr. and Buddy Love and whomever else might be ressurrected by the song, on to worklife... the same... next story...

again I'm letting a couple of hours each day slide by to maintain a low profile (well, as high a low profile as possible) so I can keep enjoying the golden eggs... the sales rep left this week... I'm not sure if she was fired or laid off or just left, but the parade of people leaving continues... wonder who else will leave before I do... time will tell... so what else is new?...

I think I slept 10 hours this week until today when I actually slept about seven hours... the babbler demanded writing time so gone was the sleep time... you can fnd out if the loss of sleep was worth it by looking around... anyway, that's worklife... I must have used up all the creativity somewhere else...

J

week ending August 30th... 102+ hours

and babbling and thinking and vegging and less sleep than any week since last winter when I was working more than 100 hours a week... all that's missing is a seriously fun game of pool and some intensely wild passionate sexual love... then, of course, there'd be the enhancements of sleep-deprived hallucinations... so anyway, working...

who'da figured they'd let so many hours pile up this week... and I'm being generous doing a few jobs for free... but I'm not giving them 30 hours free and that would be the only way to stay under 70... I'm cooperative, not stupid... we'll see about what hits the fan next week when the numbers get crunched...

two managers are on vacation and one is out due to an accident and three more accounts were lost and a couple of people quit so there's hours and hours and more hours... they're gonna be in trouble if thy don't hire somebody to fill my spot soon, but planning ahead is not what they do best... I'd hire at least one person and have me train them an show them around - learning all the accounts takes weeks... it's still monotonous, but my wallet likes the overtime... and once again, I'm getting duller and duller... almost time to move on...



week ending September 5th... 94+ hours

pant... pant... pant... made an adjustment to last week cuz I miscounted... they actually almost paid me for all of it for a change... anyway, I didn't have time to come back here until now... phew, those 70 hours weeks seem like a vacation now that I remember these busier work weeks...

got me thinking... when I get wherever it is I'm going I hope I find a supervisor as considerate as the two I have now... figures, now that I'm about ready to leave I'm being treated better than ever... respect, even...

but the body needs a break from this pace and I dont want to live here...

but will I find a reasonable income at a job in which I can find reward and positive challenge?... tough to leave steady income...

but I have no kitchen or bathroom or space to bring any of my stuff out of storage here and I miss music and books and toys and other stuff...

will I have that somewhere else?... only if I find a steady income... I've lived at bare minimal level for some time now... I'd like to have more life options... but here?... no, not here...

ok, a bit of relocation anxiety passed through... it would be nice to have a secure job waiting wherever I go... of course it would be nicer to not have to work at all so I could live a more enrished and enlightened life, but since given away several small fortunes along the way so far, I'm back to slaving for survival again... tote that barge, lift that bail... I don't drink much anymore though...

so why am I laughing?... better question, why do I love the challenge so much that I keep sliding back to square one?... well, it's not totally intentional... I think lam... it comes out of trusting someone else with all I've got... that's the point of life for me... sharing unconditional love and trust... not just dreaming about it or reading about it or writing or singing or whatever about it but doing it... there's always hope, ya know?... so I go on believing that one day I'll find the one who actually gives as much as I give and then all that's gone around just might start coming around... for now, I'm back to start...

well, I supposed I'm approaching step two again...

every time I make this climb I'm panting a little more... alas, just another of those unavoidable facts of life... another year older and deeper in debt...

and all I want to do is... oh... that's has nothing to do with worklife...

J

by the way... if you see a J above and not a smiley face, then yu probably don't have the font WingDings on your computer or I messed up the HTML... so please let me know if you don't see the smiles J



week ending September 12th... 79+ hours

there was a holiday this week or it would have been busier... but I am still not resting much... too much to do... and the wheels are turning and the gears are burning and the butters churning... and hay fever finally kicked in big time so breathing is a pain and so sleep is brief and restless... that time of year, me and ragweed pollen still have not found a peace... actually, it's a wake up call I've come to rely on each year... back to nature and the physical world...

as for work... well... did I mention the Operations Manager was fired?... he left a few weeks ago on vacation and never returned... the news finally was shared... and this week, the vice president got the boot and there's a new guy in that chair from the head office... there'd probably be opportunity for me in this company if I stayed here (banish the thought... ummmm... really I should... I think living here has taken at least 20 years off this life, maybe more)...

there's still stupid power trips running through the place since the insecure manager I transferred away from is doing his thing, which is trying to impress the new VP by badmouthing others... he's been reprimanded for it a couple of times, but a reprimand is interpreted by an insecure ego (and paranoid) as reason to undermine someone else... anyway, it's a bad joke from my perspective since I don't look at the company beyond the next few weeks...

 the dang overtime paychecks are attractive to my accountants though...

of course there's more to life than money... unfortunately, so many things in life have a pricetag... hence, worklife... but before I stat remembering all those economic philosophers from sociology (no, I kant do that), I'll just babble off into the sunset... or sunrise... and maybe get a little sleep first...



week ending September 19th... 104+ hours

so much for easing up... but then, this is for the best... and in all seriousness about plans, if only winter wasn't so cold and potentially stormy up here I'd stick around another couple of months and be set for a little vacation to see some friends out west... yeah, I'd love to guys... from L.A. to Seattle, if only it was ten years ago... the practical side of me shows me the old car and costs and potential (probable) maintenance needs and ultimately tells me it's very unwise... the longer I hold out here, the less unwise financially... but then, I could run into winter car problems if I stay here too long... but then, I'm just babbling in circles cuz it's not time to go just yet... soon... LAM...

worklife is as busy as ever... more changes - working with minimal staff and everybody doing two jobs... or more... s'ok by me cuz the overtime is definitely what I needed... that's what this year is about after all... pity I have to do it the hard way... alas, some people are born wealthy and others born beautiful, huh? LOL...

I've stayed awake more (well, that is I pushed aside even more sleep, whether I am awake is another issue entirely) and added more babbling into the journal and email groups and a few other places... some deeper introspection, but still barely scratching the surface.. worklife is too much the same old thing... I'll have to remember to bring more imagination next week to try to make it more interesting... anybody wanna help?... apply within J




week ending September 26th... 108+ hours

estimating the hours actually, since what I list here is what I put in for pay and I actually work more than this and recently (the benefits of a good person to work under) I'm getting more than I put in for cuz everybody knows I actually work more than I put in for and the guy actually authorizing my payroll is fair and when there's some extra time he shares it even if I didn't put it down and he's even putting in some extra hours to make up for all the weeks I wasn't paid for all the hours I actually worked prior to now... rambling, aren't I?...

  I go back to update the hours when I get the check, for the record and all...

well, I'm sleepy but shot myself full of sugar cuz I'm determined to actually move what needs to be put into storage into storage this morning (in a few hours) on the way to a few jobs that'll carry through to the evening and then I will be happily exhausted when I get back here... then the decision will be which channel to watch (you thought maybe I'd sleep?... someday... maybe I'm just waiting for the right one

(musical interlude...

  "looking for the right one...
when will the right one come along"
~ Art Garfunkel ~
I think?

anyway, love that song but this musical interlude parentheses was just my tongue in cheek irreverence slipping tangential distraction into a serious point so you don't pity me cuz I'm actually pitiless and having a wonderful time playing with myself... well, most of the time... but now back to the sentence in progress)

to sleep with

(find me somebody to love, somebody SOMEBODY somebody somebody ANYBODY FIND ME ... oh, another musical slip, huh?... find me somebody to sleep with?... don't have to think, I know Queen didn't write that... maybe they should've)...

anyway, it will be Sunday night (by the time I get back here... following this?), the only night I actually turn the TV on (when I'm here) to glance at it as opposed to just having background noise for company... obviously I miss music a lot, huh?...

alas, for now I make the best of what I have... and it's the first show of new season for the Simpsons, after all... and shortly thereafter the one and only 25th Anniversary SNL might be in direct opposition to the first X-Files show of the season... talk about torn (but still not yet out of faith, thank you... and some people are more interested in which planets are in opposition or juxtaposition or something like that)... and here I am without a VCR... I think SNL will be the choice, since I missed a lot of X-Files last season cuz I was working so much... ah, the joys of re-runs...

work?... oh yes... it's busier than ever... wouldn't be some sort of plot to keep me around, would it?... jeesh, but all this positive attitude silliness aside, how long can this body keep up these hours?... and life?... why, work, of course...

you out there? J


week ending October 3rd... + hours

just when ya think everything changes, everything changes again... and once again a wall is put up in front of the rampant overtime that's had me re-considering the October relocation... that's actually for the best... getting stuck here when the snows come would not be a good idea... and working myself to death is certainly not a good idea either... and isolating myself socially cuz I'm working so much is yet another not good idea... so... it's actually a good thing if the golden goose stops laying eggs... can they actually stop giving me all the work?... we shall see...

I remember hearing about this wall a few times before... it's cyclical... as the numbers show, work dropped down to 50 hours for a couple of weeks and then exploded again cuz it's so much easier to just let me self-manage and do the work than for someone to organize and delegate and manage the workload... but when the numbers reach the main office in another city nearby, accountants raise red flags and tell the managers something must be done about my overtime, so they try to manage the workload for a few weeks until the red flag goes down... I'd certainly not payout 250% more per hour than an account is budgeted for, but I am not management with this company (I'm the mercenary)...

anyway, so much for the management... if they asked for help I'd probably stop being selfish and help them balance their books and manage their accounts, but I'm just labor and not supposed to know what's going on... alas, the class caste can be amusing, even as it is sad cuz it's doomed to failure...

soon enough this worklife section will close and I think a broader life-oriented keeping in touch section will replace it... kinda like the journal and yet, a more concerted effort at actually communicating a bit of reality with anyone who cares to keep in touch with me... the journal is more ethereal non-directional writing... I look forward to corresponding J

but before this worklife section closes (or at least pauses), here's the

next step along this path

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