Audrey's Work Blog
Lessons from a Duck
April 16, 2005
I made my way to the park during lunch today. Although it is located in the middle of two heavy intersections, there is a small waterfall fountain that blocks the sound of traffic. I enjoy sitting here during the warmer days as a quick escape from the mad rush of a workday.
Today, a duck was swimming around in the small fountain. Just as I began to wonder if the duck was bored (from paddling to and fro in a fountain no bigger than the size of a large desk), a lady approached me and told me that the duck must have been hurt because she had been there all day. There were never any ducks in the fountain.
But the duck didn't look hurt; in fact she looked very content scratching her feathered wing with her sharp beak. I wanted to jump into the fountain and chase her around but I thought that unwise. What would they think if I went back to work soaked?
Maybe if I was ten years younger, I would have done exactly that -- not because I wanted to catch the duck but because it was something I could do.
This raises the question: does age make us boring or are we just smarter?
Dreams
April 9, 2005
When I approached the final semester of school, I thought to myself, "My life will begin now." Work would be my escape, a place I would go to everyday and I would look forward to the hours.
But lately, I feel that all my creativity, and the excitement for life that comes with it, hides behind some area in brain. I try to look for it, but it doesn't want to be found.
Is the girl I used to be slipping away? As summer approaches I feel the need to reinvent myself -- well, not so much reinvent, but perhaps find those things that give me hope, love and faith.
I need to start with my dreams. Without dreams, I have no sense of creativity. I know last night that I dreamt of something wonderful, something worth putting down on paper, but the workday has stifled much of that memory.
I'm sitting here trying to remember my dream, but I'm plain out of luck -- I can't remember any details, only that I should have written it down as soon as I was conscious enough to grab paper and pen. Tomorrow, I will pick up a dream journal at the nearest store.
Restless
April 2, 2005
Sometimes jobs don't turn out to be what you expect. They can much more fantastic than you anticipated, but they can also be much more mundane. Although I'm grateful to have work right now, I don't feel that my skills are being used to their full potential. Sure, I'm being kept busy with weekend trade shows and a tremendous amount of e-mails daily, but busy doesn't always mean enjoyable.
My friends have told me that it's better to have a job than to be jobless when you're in transition. Is that true? Although I have the incentive to go out and look for something that is better suited for my skill-set, I have to admit that the comfort zone of having a job is slowing down what would otherwise be an intensive job search.
Achieving a certain level of comfort is necessary in any job, but getting to the point where you feel flat-out bored means you have to move on. Perhaps it's too early to tell, but it never hurts to keep my eyes open for any interesting job opportunities.