Creating nothing out of something

I think working for the state has really honed my ability to look like I'm working when I'm not.  For example, yesterday I did about 2 hours worth of work over the course of 8!  When I was working for a non-profit I had my own office, so this was easy enough to do.  Facebook, blogs, the news, whatever I wanted. I was in my own office and no one could tell that I was putzing around instead of working. Hell, two years in a row I did my damn taxes at work.  However, at the state I do not have my own office; quite the contrary, actually. My desk and computer is in the lobby, facing AWAY from the receptionist, so everyone that walks in can see my computer screen.  Needless to say, I'm quite proud of my ability and I'm willing to share it with all (3) of you.

1. Make sure your desk is really messy.  No one will believe you've done a lick of work if your desk looks the same as the custodial staff left it.  I like to make sure I take out some books and open them, preferably with highlighters and pens scattered around.  De-organize some notes.  Unfile your files, which leads me to...

2. File things. Trust me, nothing says "I'm working so hard!" than filing, especially when working as a bureauocrat.  Rachel taught me this one, but if at all possible, take out things that you filed in your one hour of work yesterday, pretend like you need something in them, and refile them (as slowly as possible of course).

3. Make lots of trips to the copy room.  Most of the time I open a Word Document, do something useless like make a schedule for my day, or map out which courses I want to take, delete it, and print off a blank sheet of paper (I wouldn't want to waste paper now!).  In fact, the more you can type and print, the better you are.  If someone walking by sees you have a Word Document open, they won't try to figure out what it is, that'd be rude.  You should always count on other people's consideration when slacking off.

4. Go to the bathroom.  This is easy for me since I drink a travel mug of coffee every morning and then continuously drink ice water to stave off my inevitable headache.  In all honesty, though, its basically the same as number 3.  No one wants you to spend 30 minutes of your day going to the bathroom, so sometimes I'll stop by the copy room and pick up discarded things to bring back. And then pretend to file.

5. Look things up. These days, everyone's looking things up.  Especially because I'm young, new, and an intern, people are pretty much expecting me to not know anything.  Lo, I must Google.  I enjoy a good Wikipedia search, myself.  Their homepage has all sorts of interesting things (again, no one will actually look at what you're searching!).  Or, look for other jobs.  (Not that you would necessarily find another job any less boring, but it's always fun to imagine!)  And finally...

6. Do other people's work. This is really only effective if you're an intern.  I don't know about you, but there's something inherently less boring about doing work that isn't yours, and sometimes I feel so accomplished I'll even do some of my own work afterwards!  Being an intern, this is the most utilized strategy; people are always asking me to proofread something (this is becoming my specialty), or copy something (my favorite!), or file things (jackpot!)

So Godspeed, my lazy worker bees, may you never have to really work another 8 hour day again.

Dullsville

Today I developed a migraine during stage 1 of my day.  On Mondays and Wednesdays I like to break up my day into stages; it makes me feel like I'm in a video game or something.  Stage 1: class or internship; Stage 2: class or internship (whichever the first one wasn't); Stage 3: JCC.  Needless to say, the whole try-to-make-myself-feel-better-by-pretending-I'm-in-Mario only works like 30% of the time.

Anyway, migraine.  It was a light-sensitive one, so between looking at my professor's PowerPoint (which, by the way, THE. WORST. SLIDES. EVER) and doing all my internship work on the computer, by the time I hit Stage 3 I wanted to gouge my brain out.  Do you think these becoming-frequent migraines have to do with 2 cups of coffee a day?  Poor nutrition and exercise? Lack of sleep? The all-consuming panic that I'll never find a library job due to state budget cuts?  I guess we'll never know.

Comfort Eagle

Lately, to distract myself from my Classification Theory readings, I've been thinking about comfort as a concept.  I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with myself of late, though I'm not sure what it means.

For the first time in my life, I really truly genuinely don't care what people think about me.  I want to be thought of as interesting, smart, funny, etc etc because I think of myself that way.  I can just "do me" (as Kanye would say), and hope that I'm coming off as how I want to.  That's not to say I don't sometimes censor myself or act like I'm in a better mood than I am, but thats mostly just for courteousy's sake.  I just like who I am and for the most part, I think that makes the exhausting parts of social interaction mostly emoliated.

And for the visual learners, there's no better way to warm your chilly feet than with a puppy:

Oh hey there

Oh hey there blog!  My life is crazy, really.  Here's a screenshot of my normal week:

In case you can't tell, I work Monday and Wednesday night until 10pm and Friday morning at FIVE AM.  Google Calendar can't even fit it all on one screen; like, "sorry, that can't really be your schedule, we at Google Calendar won't allow it."  Oh but its true, Google, it's so so true.

So while my head is spinning with reading and internship and group project (oh the group projects) responsibilities, I've neglected this little ole blog here.  Every second of my day is spent reading, walking to and from school and internship, waiting for the bus, eating, sleeping, and reading.  If you ever think to yourself, "I wonder what Rebecca is doing right now," I'm probably reading. 

Usefulness of an undergraduate degree: Today I alphabetized subject headings.