Someone reminded me this past weekend that I had not updated my blog in what seemed like forever (a month and a half to be exact). While I could make a million excuses as to why I have been mostly absent from the blogopshere recently, the truth is as simple as this: my day job has been demanding a lot more of me. What used to be ‘blogging time’ after work is now ‘collect mental stability time’. To boot, that time is happening about two to three hours later in the evening.
Put more in perspective, I went from a work situation of six years where I did about 10 hours of paid overtime a year. In my job of the past six months, I’ve done about 70 hours of unpaid overtime. I’d be a liar if I said this wasn’t a hard adjustment, as I think it would be for anyone. It’s disconcerting at times to know that your extra work really has no surface value. Really, outside of the naive hope that it will help when reviews come around, it has no value at all. But such is the sacrifice when going from an hourly to a salaried position.
Throw in a longer commute time that includes an unreliable subway which often causes me to miss my connecting train, and a daily routine that has been stifling in terms of creativity, and you can understand my low blog appearance rate. So it goes. For now.
As most of you know, I am a persistent person so I know this shall pass… but I guess I just wanted you to hear me say it. I’m building up mental gasoline in the hopes that my desk chair will burst into flames and turbo-boost-eject me through the ceiling. At least, that’s the hope. Cross your fingers.
DJRadiohead Says:
November 28th, 2006 at 6:29 pmVisit DJRadiohead
That would be a very difficult adjustment to make. I am fortunate in that overtime is usually optional for me and has almost always been paid. I have chosen to work a lot of it because I like spending money.
I know what you mean about “collecting mental stability time.” For me, that usually means mindless TV or a little mindless video game- just something to allow the overheated engines to cool. I wish I could find a way to decompress more efficiently so I would spend more time working the creative pursuits.
Mark Sahm Says:
November 28th, 2006 at 10:38 pmVisit Mark Sahm
The irony is that we do mindless things to relax after work, when the true mindless activity is working a tedious job.
Yes, this is the point where Captain Freedom throws the digital matte version of me into a spiked wall… :o)
DJRadiohead Says:
November 30th, 2006 at 12:39 pmVisit DJRadiohead
I know! I feel much more compelled to create right now than I will when I get home (oops, did I just say that?).
I have started laying the groundwork for Ep 16 (and BCRadio will be resuming now that I am back in my own apartment). I have also taken another stab at remixing. There are parts of what I have that I like and parts I still hate. It is a work in progress, to be sure.
Mark Sahm Says:
November 30th, 2006 at 10:09 pmVisit Mark Sahm
Anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering… but remixing leads to composition, so keep at it and good things will come.
DJRadiohead Says:
December 1st, 2006 at 3:08 pmVisit DJRadiohead
And DJRadiohead trying to remix leads to the Dark Side.
I almost sent you an e-mail yesterday that would have looked something like this:
“Dear Mark,
This whole remix thing… how do you do it?”
I thought it was riotously funny until I realized I was only half joking. Anyroad, I spent a few minutes yesterday fucking around with it. I am getting closer to the point where I think I might foist it off on the listening public but I am pretty unsure of myself with it. We’ll see.