And though I had slain a thousand foes less one,
The thousandth knife found my liver;
The thousandth enemy said to me,
'Now you shall die,
Now none shall know.'
And the fool, looking down, believed this,
Not seeing, above his shoulders, the naked stars,
Each one remembering.
--John M. Ford, The Final Reflection

The Asylum Director

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"The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn't require any." - Russel Baker

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Stupid Jokes Are Stupid

Some might argue that I have no sense of humor. Indeed, at one point or another, I even considered the possibility myself. But I also find some things funny, which means I do have a sense of humor. Then it came to me. I realized that many of the jokes that people around me laugh at come across as annoying or stupid to me. Which then made me wonder.

Why do I find so many popular jokes stupid?

Mind you, I get why they're supposed to be funny. However, there's a difference between actually finding something funny and knowing why said something is funny. Parody songs, toilet humor, cross-dressing, weird and annoying impersonations of popular children's characters by grown men who have no business doing so, and other things that make people around me laugh just make me groan inwardly and wish they'd shut up. I know why they're supposed to be funny, but I can't, for the life of me, bring myself to laugh.

Is that really so odd?

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Not In My Job Description

Maybe it's the laziness in me, or it could be that I'm just so bored that even this I'm willing to actively dislike, but I simply can't bring myself to like a job where I'm being told to do something that I don't think really falls under my job description. I'm the sort of stubborn fool that firmly believes in the elliptical logic that if you were hired to do one thing, paid to do one thing, and are being told to do something that is not the initial thing, then you've got every right to complain.

Yes, I just made sense. Do not question me.

Anyway, as I said. I don't like being told to do things that I don't believe are in my job description. I'm willing to make leeway for modifications of existing tasks, and even quietly accept additional tasks that are related to my previous tasks, but I draw the line when I'm given something that simply is no longer my job.

For now, I'll bloody do it. I'd just like to openly state that I don't get paid enough to put up with this new shit, and my patience has been strained enough recently by work and other factors, thank you very much. Like I said before, I think I finally need to move on and find new work, or at least take a couple of months off as a vacation - a well-deserved one, some might add. We'll wait and see, won't we?

You don't just assign people (an entire division, no less) a bunch of arbitrary tasks that not only take up half of their working hours to complete, but are also well outside what you hired them for. It's like asking a horse to pull a plow - sure, he can do it, but it isn't the task he's supposed to be doing. Not one of us has spoken up about this, naturally. Jobs at risk, and all that. But the thing is, if none of us do, won't they just eventually pile on more bullshit tasks on us? Things that are more than just arguably outside of our responsibilities, as implied by our titles and job descriptions?

At one point, I guess somebody will buck up and say something. Who knows? I sure as Hell hope it won't be me, but then, doesn't my doing this technically count? Bah.

All I can say for certain is that, somewhere down the line, this needs to end. One way or another.

Me? I will endure, and in enduring, grow stronger. That, and maybe focus my attention on better ways to spend my time. Or job-hunting. Whichever. I need to re-design my black aggro from scratch, anyway.

Random Note:
As of today, whenever I am capable of obtaining adequate paper, I'm starting a little project to help me relax. A piece of Japanese folklore I picked up once said that folding 1,000 paper cranes as an offering to the kami will get a person one wish granted. True, I don't believe in the "wish granting" bit, but I'm not about to deny just how relaxing I find folding paper into cranes to be.

I ought to buy one of those origami books one of these days.

Anyway, I think I'll start if off today. Wonder if I'll ever make it to 1,000?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008