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Y2/D302...Apartment Repairs & In the Office
While I was in the office today, they patched and fixed various holes in the wall and ceiling, also fixed my bathroom door hinge, painted the bathroom radiator, and the window sill in the bedroom and kitchen. It appears they patched and painted in the living room. Can't tell if they finished, also they did patching and painting in the foyer.
Super informed me that they would come back and complete the painting on Friday.
Work is becoming increasingly bureaucratic. What causes bureaucracy? Too many levels of management, fear/paranoia, and micromanagement. It happens in all organizations - usually big ones, that have too many layers of management, and too many divisions.
Example?
In the past, when we received questions from contractors, we'd answer them in an addendum. I'd write it up, get the responses from the project team in writing, not edit them, put the answers, questions, etc together in an addendum - send it to the team for final approval - then send it out to the contractors.
Now? I get the responses put together the addendum/amendment, make sure they are complete sentences, edit them, have them revise them, update the contract and scope if required, attach the updates to the addendum, send that to legal, legal reviews and revises, sends it back, we review and revise, send it back to legal, they make final adjustments, we incorporate them, they are then sent to someone in IT, that person makes adjustments, they send it back, we make adjustments, they are sent to three people she tells us about - they post it.
Me to Manager: So it now takes a month per addendum.
Manager: No, we can't see that on the schedule, but put in two weeks for addendums.
Getting anything done in crazy workplace is becoming rather miraculous.
Got some unexpected compliments today.
The Chief Engineer called me personally to thank me. He said that I was always responsive, always helpful, and he really appreciated how quickly I worked to help them. And was a pleasure to work with.
Also T complimented me on my honesty. She said she appreciated how refreshingly honest I was, and bluntly so. It was funny and refreshing and she loved that about me. Also unique. So many people are fake. I wasn't. This was reassurring considering how worried I was that I'd upset her on Monday with a micro-aggression. Turns out I needn't have worried. We've been working across from each other since 2017, and have kind of bonded over the years, seeing each other through all sorts of things.
As much as I may complain, my work is rewarding. And I do feel valued, for the most part. I like working, but mainly I like being needed and being of use - helping others in some small way.
**
The day was better in part - due to the fact that I did not watch or read the news. I stayed far away from it and the crazy anti-vaxxers. I did tell my niece how to get to the Air Train in Jamaica. This drives me crazy.
Mother: Your brother said the walk to the Air Train in Jamaica is really long.
Me: No, it really isn't.
Mother: Not according to your brother.
Me: That's because he does it wrong, they all do. Instead of taking the elevator at the end of the platform and going up to the second floor - then walking across to the air train, and down to the ticket area. They all go down the steps to the street, walk all the way to the escalators, take the escalators with their luggage (even though there are signs saying not to) to the second floor and all the way to the air train. When all they had to do is get on at the front of the train, jump off, go to the elevator, hop on, go to the next floor, hop off, walk down to the air train building, hang a hard right and follow the signs. 10 minutes, tops. Drives me bonkers.
Mother: Tell your niece all of this.
So I did. She appreciated it.
Wales is better - if it was COVID, it was a mild case. She's no longer coughing and has an unplanned vacation from work. She needs a negative PCR to get back in. My work place is more convoluted about it - they gave us a flow chart that no one understands.
***
At the moment we're supposed to go back en mass to the office in February, but my gut tells me it will be pushed back to March. Omicron is playing havoc with the Awards programming schedule. Everyone is cancelling or pushing things back. Also it's played havoc with movies, besides Spiderman, everyone else is struggling. Apparently people are only willing to put their lives and friends/family lives at risk for a Marvel Superhero who climbs buildings and makes a web.
I'm not judging. I considered it. It's fun. It's action oriented with special effects. And you can't see it any other way.
Plus all-star cast. We have Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, Tobey McGuire, Jamie Fox, William Defoe, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Thomas Hadden, Marisa Tomei, Charlie Cox, Zendaya, Elizabeth Olson, Jon Favreau, Rhys Ifans, JK Simmons...
I mean come on. That's to die for. Particularly if you've seen all the Spiderman films (yes, I have, what of it?)
T: Oh, I forgot, you're a Marvel Girl.
Me: Yep. I also really want to see West Side Story.
T: Oh god, I want to see that movie so very badly.
Me: But we can't.
T: Nope.
Me: Stupid COVID
I'm afraid to go to a movie theater. I've several around, but I'm scared. They aren't like suburban movie houses - they have seats close together, not armchairs, and people don't wear masks - eating popcorn. However in NYC, you have to show proof of vaccination to get in.
It's just I know too many people who are vaccinated who got Omicron.
So, I may have to just stream them - damn it. And they are going to be hard to find. Sony and 20th Century Fox aren't being nice about the streaming. Sony has an exclusive first distribution deal with Starz, then it goes to Disney in 2023 (I need to see it before then, so I can see Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness), because it's Sony and Marvel. As co-worker put it - who streams Starz? We can't stream everything. 20th Century has an agreement with HBO Max (so safe there - this is West Side Story), then Disney +.
God, I love my Disney Plus. The gift that keeps on giving.
**
Apartment smells of new paint. Which is okay. I guess. At least I still have my keen sense of smell, even though there are times I could do without it.
**
Almost finished with my father's book Beach Walk. It's an odd book to read - since it is a seasoned romance from a male perspective, my father's, about two married people in unfulfilling twenty-year marriages, re-connecting with each other. There's no sex in the book. Just a kind of suggestion of it in a flashback.
He tried it as a play, but threw it out, because it didn't work.
Reading it now, knowing what I know about my father, and his Alzheimer's, is kind of indescribably surreal. He's never cheated on my mother, but she told me some things about his past prior to meeting her - and I recognize them in the book. He changes a lot, so it's not him, but I think he played with a what if scenario in his head here - which is what most writers, worth their scruff, tend to do. We play out what if scenarios - whether they be characters others have created, real people, ourselves, or made up characters. It's harmless - and educational making up these scenarios, a safe way of trying things out before we actually do them or living a fantasy, without hurting anyone. It's also a way of problem solving or working out psychological issues, therapy if you like.
And I think, sometimes, that we are all drawn to writing or stories that play out some issue, problem, emotional confusion, craving that we can't quite resolve or figure out ourselves. So we read someone else's story to get the hang of it. It's the best type of sharing actually - sharing one's story in the hopes that it will help someone else in some small way - either help them work out an emotional issue, or a psychological one that they can't quite find the words to explain - but this story or piece of writing did perfectly. When I find that - it's like a weight lifting from my shoulders, and I feel connected, and validated, and somehow seen. Guided even. That everything has meaning. Someone else solved the riddle in my head or untied my emotional knot or quagmire, and I'm so thankful for it.
And thing of it is? This magical thing is often found in the most unlikely of spots - such as a comic book, a soap opera, a romance novel, a blog post, a tweet, a sci-fi novel, an episode of Doctor Who, etc. It's rarely found in the places one might expect.
I taped Around the World in 80 Days, All Creatures Great & Small S2 Episode 1, and Vienna Affair (I think) on PBS, also there's a new Superman & Lois this week.
**
Random Photo of the Night...
Super informed me that they would come back and complete the painting on Friday.
Work is becoming increasingly bureaucratic. What causes bureaucracy? Too many levels of management, fear/paranoia, and micromanagement. It happens in all organizations - usually big ones, that have too many layers of management, and too many divisions.
Example?
In the past, when we received questions from contractors, we'd answer them in an addendum. I'd write it up, get the responses from the project team in writing, not edit them, put the answers, questions, etc together in an addendum - send it to the team for final approval - then send it out to the contractors.
Now? I get the responses put together the addendum/amendment, make sure they are complete sentences, edit them, have them revise them, update the contract and scope if required, attach the updates to the addendum, send that to legal, legal reviews and revises, sends it back, we review and revise, send it back to legal, they make final adjustments, we incorporate them, they are then sent to someone in IT, that person makes adjustments, they send it back, we make adjustments, they are sent to three people she tells us about - they post it.
Me to Manager: So it now takes a month per addendum.
Manager: No, we can't see that on the schedule, but put in two weeks for addendums.
Getting anything done in crazy workplace is becoming rather miraculous.
Got some unexpected compliments today.
The Chief Engineer called me personally to thank me. He said that I was always responsive, always helpful, and he really appreciated how quickly I worked to help them. And was a pleasure to work with.
Also T complimented me on my honesty. She said she appreciated how refreshingly honest I was, and bluntly so. It was funny and refreshing and she loved that about me. Also unique. So many people are fake. I wasn't. This was reassurring considering how worried I was that I'd upset her on Monday with a micro-aggression. Turns out I needn't have worried. We've been working across from each other since 2017, and have kind of bonded over the years, seeing each other through all sorts of things.
As much as I may complain, my work is rewarding. And I do feel valued, for the most part. I like working, but mainly I like being needed and being of use - helping others in some small way.
**
The day was better in part - due to the fact that I did not watch or read the news. I stayed far away from it and the crazy anti-vaxxers. I did tell my niece how to get to the Air Train in Jamaica. This drives me crazy.
Mother: Your brother said the walk to the Air Train in Jamaica is really long.
Me: No, it really isn't.
Mother: Not according to your brother.
Me: That's because he does it wrong, they all do. Instead of taking the elevator at the end of the platform and going up to the second floor - then walking across to the air train, and down to the ticket area. They all go down the steps to the street, walk all the way to the escalators, take the escalators with their luggage (even though there are signs saying not to) to the second floor and all the way to the air train. When all they had to do is get on at the front of the train, jump off, go to the elevator, hop on, go to the next floor, hop off, walk down to the air train building, hang a hard right and follow the signs. 10 minutes, tops. Drives me bonkers.
Mother: Tell your niece all of this.
So I did. She appreciated it.
Wales is better - if it was COVID, it was a mild case. She's no longer coughing and has an unplanned vacation from work. She needs a negative PCR to get back in. My work place is more convoluted about it - they gave us a flow chart that no one understands.
***
At the moment we're supposed to go back en mass to the office in February, but my gut tells me it will be pushed back to March. Omicron is playing havoc with the Awards programming schedule. Everyone is cancelling or pushing things back. Also it's played havoc with movies, besides Spiderman, everyone else is struggling. Apparently people are only willing to put their lives and friends/family lives at risk for a Marvel Superhero who climbs buildings and makes a web.
I'm not judging. I considered it. It's fun. It's action oriented with special effects. And you can't see it any other way.
Plus all-star cast. We have Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, Tobey McGuire, Jamie Fox, William Defoe, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Thomas Hadden, Marisa Tomei, Charlie Cox, Zendaya, Elizabeth Olson, Jon Favreau, Rhys Ifans, JK Simmons...
I mean come on. That's to die for. Particularly if you've seen all the Spiderman films (yes, I have, what of it?)
T: Oh, I forgot, you're a Marvel Girl.
Me: Yep. I also really want to see West Side Story.
T: Oh god, I want to see that movie so very badly.
Me: But we can't.
T: Nope.
Me: Stupid COVID
I'm afraid to go to a movie theater. I've several around, but I'm scared. They aren't like suburban movie houses - they have seats close together, not armchairs, and people don't wear masks - eating popcorn. However in NYC, you have to show proof of vaccination to get in.
It's just I know too many people who are vaccinated who got Omicron.
So, I may have to just stream them - damn it. And they are going to be hard to find. Sony and 20th Century Fox aren't being nice about the streaming. Sony has an exclusive first distribution deal with Starz, then it goes to Disney in 2023 (I need to see it before then, so I can see Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness), because it's Sony and Marvel. As co-worker put it - who streams Starz? We can't stream everything. 20th Century has an agreement with HBO Max (so safe there - this is West Side Story), then Disney +.
God, I love my Disney Plus. The gift that keeps on giving.
**
Apartment smells of new paint. Which is okay. I guess. At least I still have my keen sense of smell, even though there are times I could do without it.
**
Almost finished with my father's book Beach Walk. It's an odd book to read - since it is a seasoned romance from a male perspective, my father's, about two married people in unfulfilling twenty-year marriages, re-connecting with each other. There's no sex in the book. Just a kind of suggestion of it in a flashback.
He tried it as a play, but threw it out, because it didn't work.
Reading it now, knowing what I know about my father, and his Alzheimer's, is kind of indescribably surreal. He's never cheated on my mother, but she told me some things about his past prior to meeting her - and I recognize them in the book. He changes a lot, so it's not him, but I think he played with a what if scenario in his head here - which is what most writers, worth their scruff, tend to do. We play out what if scenarios - whether they be characters others have created, real people, ourselves, or made up characters. It's harmless - and educational making up these scenarios, a safe way of trying things out before we actually do them or living a fantasy, without hurting anyone. It's also a way of problem solving or working out psychological issues, therapy if you like.
And I think, sometimes, that we are all drawn to writing or stories that play out some issue, problem, emotional confusion, craving that we can't quite resolve or figure out ourselves. So we read someone else's story to get the hang of it. It's the best type of sharing actually - sharing one's story in the hopes that it will help someone else in some small way - either help them work out an emotional issue, or a psychological one that they can't quite find the words to explain - but this story or piece of writing did perfectly. When I find that - it's like a weight lifting from my shoulders, and I feel connected, and validated, and somehow seen. Guided even. That everything has meaning. Someone else solved the riddle in my head or untied my emotional knot or quagmire, and I'm so thankful for it.
And thing of it is? This magical thing is often found in the most unlikely of spots - such as a comic book, a soap opera, a romance novel, a blog post, a tweet, a sci-fi novel, an episode of Doctor Who, etc. It's rarely found in the places one might expect.
I taped Around the World in 80 Days, All Creatures Great & Small S2 Episode 1, and Vienna Affair (I think) on PBS, also there's a new Superman & Lois this week.
**
Random Photo of the Night...