Monday, 20 October 2003
recalcitrant re-entry into reality
I’m home. And while I’m really happy to be with my family again, this Monday-morning-going-to-work thing really is not making me feel good about life.
Even the big cup of coffee and Little Feat background music isn’t bringing me out of the funk.
So, in a probably pointless attempt to improve my attitude, here’s a list for myself of reasons to like my job.
I have a big office with a nice view out my window. (That sunset picture was taken during one of the nights when I was working on my AoIR paper…)- I have some great colleagues, including my best friend.
- I finally have a reasonable teaching load.
- I have a lot of fun, smart, talented students whose company I enjoy.
- I have a 17” powerbook and a 23” cinema monitor in my office.
- I have free access to a good gym, which, with the opening of the new fieldhouse in the spring, will be a great gym.
- I have excellent benefits, including good health care, good retirement plan, and full tuition for my kids.
- I’m tenured, which means that my job is pretty safe (not 100% guaranteed, but very close)
Okay. Writing that down was good. I feel slightly less petulant and cranky now. There are no jobs that are completely free of politics and frustration, there’s no place I could be where I wouldn’t occasionally have to pull out the voodoo doll and give it a new name. (Got that from another favorite colleague, who’s on sabbatical this year, so I seldom see him. :/ )
And yes, I know, I’ve got it so much better than so many people. I really do know that, and I really am grateful. I’m just having a bad day. As my father says (all the time, which used to drive me totally crazy when I was a teen), “this too shall pass.”
