Those About to Foment,

The novelty of the new job wore off quite quickly. I know that it is possible to enjoy work, I did so throughout a year that I spent at another company and I did so just a few weeks ago, but only for a few days. My background actually suits my employer very well but they don’t utilise it and I find this frustrating. I was asked to pick up a project that had been sidelined and I had found something quite interesting, but before I could properly analyse or develop my discovery, I was re-deployed.

Nevertheless, I am learning. I am learning how to act when I am promoted. This may simply be a lesson in psychology. I have always have leadership qualities. I led for a short while the other day when I was asked to teach a colleague a test method that I had become the expert on. He tried being awkward but took the lesson. I did not lead when I was asked to rearrange the furniture in my new manager’s office and it was he who knocked over the glass vase.

There’s still hope as long as I am writing. What I am writing is written all over my face. Hope is important. I’ve seen a few examples of what can happen recently. They range from depression to settling to escaping.

The depression worries me, it happened to a friend who has struggled to find a job and move on. His problems have had a considerable effect on me. From a selfish point of view, I draw parallels between him and me to try to understand his problems but also to guard against them. I went to visit him recently and found him in good spirits but I realise these problems take time to overcome.

I can’t afford to settle, I need change. I was glad to see a colleague announce that he is moving on, although I was a little envious. ‘And the one he sent away was the only one who stayed’ could still happen. I was inspired by two lines from the song Time Trading by The Jeffrey Lewis and Peter Stampfel Folk Show:

You gotta do something that you can get nicer at, you gotta do something that you can get wiser at, you gotta do something that you can get better at.

You gotta do something that you can get smarter at, you gotta do something that you might just be a starter at, you gotta do something that you can get better at.

I think it would be a great idea to launch a radio show aimed at sending people to sleep. The best radio sends me to sleep. My brain must finally succumb to the notion that everything is okay and rest. Of course, no station wants its listeners to go to bed, but everyone must sleep so the target demographic is huge. Someone told me that humans can only live for 1 week without sleep, such a station would be saving lives.