Joined at the job

Ever wonder why your coworkers are so different than you? Often you find some people just seem to have fallen literally out of the sky into your office (or at least I think so). Sometimes it’s good, people coming from all walks of life, but other times it’s like joining limbs from several bodies together and expecting them to be able to not reject each other. I suppose it’s like pro-lifers and pro-choice people to suddenly become buddy buddy, but generally my expectations are not set that high.

But hobbies and interests can be so varied that it’s difficult to gauge what to talk about, at least in my sense of  the world. Also of course, I have a harder time getting to know these people as I work intermittedly at this particular job. Some of the people I only see a few times a month some months, if  at all. Kind of like drinking in a pub where you come somewhat regularly, but yet you aren’t seen as a regular.

Waiting to work

With one of the jobs I work, the waiting to work is often more tiring than the work itself. Well, at least that what my colleagues opine. Sometimes I’m not sure if that is completely true, but certainly workdays that are stretched out are longer. I don’t  know that these ‘long’ days are necessarily more tiring, suppose it depends on what you find to do with the time. Reading and blogging fit in nicely, and so does sometimes talking to your coworkers to get the latest dirt. Some colleagues even enjoy napping to ‘pass’ the time.  I guess it is all about using your time productively, if you can do something useful, it doesn’t seem so tiring.

Nothing like working

 

Yet, it might be a case of having to be in  place when we’d rather be somewhere else.

Winging by

Life recently seems to be on a rapid warp, as ideas come, but finding the time to do them raises its ugly head time and time again. I have to hand it to people who are successful, do they have better assistants, or do they really do things more efficiently.

Just winging it

Shredding ties

A nice retort came back to me when I joked with a coworker about shredding some of his ties. He suggested starting with his ‘company name’ ties first, something I didn’t get at first.

I often feel the same, and wonder why I do work there. The farewell party for a Japanese-American reminded me of why sometimes I think i have been there too long. I arrived early (after a shopping detour) to discover only the staff there, in a world of their own. That world wasn’t interrupted until later when some people popped in, people who had told me earlier they wouldn’t probably be coming.

I made the mistake of talking briefly with an odd couple at work, in the same clique. That and being parked in front of the screen where a rugby match was going on contributed to a feeling of isolation. Though I suppose some of that is my fault, as I drank steadily and the amount of food served under our ‘party plan’ was minimal a best. My wife wondered why I came home and was still so hungary.

Sometimes work just places people together, people who really have no reason for interacting, or very little anyway. So sometimes conversations bounce around that don’t seem to be pointless, but..you have to wonder why are we together at this place of business. Just another point in time, and all those ships keep passing day and night, often with little in common beyond wasting time until the next encounter.

In the waiting zone

Recently, as another semester waits to kick off, I feel more and more like just kicking back and not thinking about much. Sometimes those are the best times when something actually gels in your head. Now, how to best use a blog with my classes…zzzzzz

In the zone

Busy is as busy does

Recently I feel I’m busier and busier, but to what end? Recently someone I know is talking of moving out of Japan to find work, whereas her spouse is being told to stay here as he has work and may find it difficult to find comparable pay in another country. But this woman doesn’t seem to consider about the price of keeping two households. Sounds like a Hollywood marriage in the making.

I keep wondering, how tied to work is our self-esteem? I know for myself it is difficult to imagine if you don’t have money, then shouldn’t you look for work somewhere rather than keep lamenting how every job just doesn’t fit your ideal job list? But what should we do when our dream job doesn’t seem to be available? You’d think one would look for something comparable to do, or just find something else you’d like to do.

I guess I need to remember the last time when I felt depressed because I couldn’t keep the job I wanted. Wait, that day may be coming sooner than I thought! But it is hard to divine what would be the ideal job. For now or at that time or until you know something better? I suppose you could call me a restless American, but how would you know? Of course, probably deep down you might feel it is as good as it gets.

Second winds

Funny, whenever I get to late afternoon on Wednesdays (and Thursdays too) during my uni semesters, I know I’m either going to have a great class or a  belated hurrah as I try to hope for a second wind (though sometimes when I have a longer teaching day, it’s more like a 3rd or 4th wind). You get times when you may have a flimsy lesson plan, some haphazard ideas, and it all comes together brilliantly as you tumble from one activity to the next. Some of the best lessons I have taught have come out this way, half scripted, half spontaneous episodes of free form assaults.

Second wind

Of course, as you have more teaching experience under your belt, you know better when to punt activities that are not going anywhere, or to modify them into something more digestible for the students. But how to call instantaneous audibles at the line where you’re not carrying the whole team as your offensive line or lesson atmosphere falls apart? It’s always a judgement call, and with classes that are at best half involved, that may be as good as it gets, half confused involvement where you feel you’re doing more pulling than leading. But even with these classes, there are times where you get the whole mass moving and motivated, and those are the moments when it is very satisfying to be a teacher.

Just another ‘thinking about work’ day

I sometimes wonder how much of each day is spent thinking about work or tasks than actually doing them. I suppose it might be a form of day dreaming, or the subconscious working. Goal making in your dreams sounds very surreal, but it has the advantage of being unscripted and much more free associating than the usual lists people draft at year’s end or at certain times in their life. Certainly for myself, getting too comfortable or complacent can stop someone from really achieving what they feel they can. But often visualizing what one thinks is possible is the first step toward accomplishment of that task.

As the Nike slogan says ‘Just do it’ can be a mistake in realization. How often do we think of offing someone who is annoying or rude? Well, probably more often than we’d care to admit in many cases. Contemplation in a fast paced world is not always a bad thing, and may lead to bigger returns in the long run. Of course, convincing your boss that you are really working when you seem to be just looking off into space with a memo pad with seemingly unconnected phrases on it may be a herculean task.

Waiting

Well, my current employer in my off uni time is slow, so I have a lot of down time. I am considering what else I can do, besides studying Japanese. I really should keep putting out feelers to try and get some copywriting and/or rewriting work. That and write the book my wife was talking about, an activities guide for Japanese-English teachers.

But, I really wonder what I should be doing, and whether it’s what I should be doing. Isn’t that the way it goes, people doing what they hate, people not knowing what they should be doing, and that small lucky minority that know what they want to do, and feel passionate about doing it. That leap of faith to that category is tough, that and finding what that is (and hoping it’s something that you can make enough money for the lifestyle that you want to have.

Zonked at the wheel

Zonked at the wheel

Sometimes I find the best ideas when I am half baked. I wonder if many other people find it the same way?

Sometimes while working as a teacher, being half asleep makes the day go by quicker, or perhaps it just seems that way.  I get in these auto-pilot modes where things just flow and I follow my lesson plans as well as innovate where necessary. I think this is quite common for a university language teacher where little issues pop up and often you have to decide whether to deal with them. Also, some things you thought would be somewhat of interest turn out to be more exciting (or boring) than you thought they would be.

Getting into that ‘zen’ frame of mind takes time or does it come naturally? Sometimes I’m not sure as a little sleep deprivation can make you feel relaxed, but it can also make it more difficult to concentrate. It’s a fine balance between being aware and be willing to dare and just be flexible enough to not have to always conform to a fixed lesson plan and semester schedule.

This also allows your students time to do things at their pace rather than always thinking about what you want to fit in your planned class time. I often am making  a mess out of my lesson plan books, as things that i thought we’d have time for don’t come off as planned. Sometimes it’s the time needed for directions, other times how students spend time on doing a task (including messing it up, which itself is a learning opportunity), and finally if you allow time for review of the task or not. It all adds up, and making productive use of the 90 minutes or so is a real challenge.