Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Two more days, that's all. I'm not really feeling irritated, or worried, or much of anything, to be honest, and I think that jives with how I truly feel about the Day Job, how I've felt about it for a long while. I never subscribed to the whole 'we're one big family' thing in the first place, to be honest. I can usually suss out that sort of connection early on in a job, and I never felt it there. Sure, I got along just fine with nearly everyone I directly worked with for the most part (there are a few related-but-not-on-my-team associates who irritated me, I'll be honest), but I kept a certain distance on purpose. I didn't know how long I was going to last there, or when I was going to get off my ass and move on. It had nothing to do with them, I just didn't want to get too close. One of my coworkers opined on Friday that they weren't able to give me a send-off party, but I said I didn't want one anyway.

[To be honest, the only job I can think of where I truly connected with my coworkers was Yankee Candle, and I had some pretty cool friends there, a few of whom I'm sort of still in touch with, even though it's been fifteen years since I left.]

So what am I doing come Wednesday? A good question indeed. I've been sleeping pretty well over the last few weeks (knock on wood) so it's not as if I'm going to immediately start sleeping in. Nor do I want to end up screwing around on the internets and wasting all my time. If anything, I'll be waking up roughly about the same time I always do, and putting in a full day of various projects, exercise, job searching, and writing. I'll take it easy and relish the time I have off, but I'm going to try not to waste all that time being lazy and doing nothing.

--Exercise. I've always complained about how sedentary I've been over the years, so if I can start some kind of habit where I move around every now and again, that will be good. Doing some stretches, going for a walk around the neighborhood.

--Not getting lost in my own head. This is a big thing, because when I'm not keeping my mind active and/or busy, It tends to go off on emotional tangents. I'll lock onto some anxiety or concern and start playing it out in full 3-D action, even if logic and reality would have it go otherwise. I've been quite good with this over the last five or so years, but it helps not to let myself slide back into that sort of habit without me noticing.

--Being creative about my job searches. Sure, I can go through the usual front desk job listings and the AP/AR positions and office management and all that, but let's remember: I'm starting with a tabula rasa here. Why not get creative? Look for companies and non-profits related to the arts. Look for openings at colleges. 

--And this is a BIG one: remember all those moments of This is something I'd like to do if I only had time? WELL. Now's the time. I've got a handful of creative outlets that have been on the "when I have time" list for far too long. Let's try some of them out. One never knows if I might actually have some bankable talent with them!  (More on this in a future post...)

--Writing! Of COURSE I will be spending a lot of time writing, but I need to be judicious about it. I can spend an hour or two writing some blog posts and journals and whatnot, but mostly it'll be the Long Game planing I'll be working on. Working on the Diwa & Kaffi submission, planning my next projects, looking for possible freelance on the side for pocket money, that sort of thing.

...and maybe somewhere in there, I can relax and just...be. If just for a while, anyway.