Monday 23 July 2007

Pic of the day: I tend to agree with Konata from Lucky Star: "Studying, manual labor and me just don't mix." And yet they are all part of my actual job at different times. Further proof that God has a sense of humor?

Work

A couple days ago I had a memorable dream in which I was found to have bought computer stuff to the workplace that was actually for my own use. There was high drama and the police got reluctantly involved (still in my dream, OK?) Only at the end it turned out that the opposite was the case: I had bought the stuff with my own credit card but had it delivered to the office so I could use the computers for some work project before taking them home.

Obviously this was just a dream, but it was disturbingly realistic. Very few people know what I actually do at work, except when they need me. I do mix my private equipment and the job too, having a couple of my machines working for the office but also checking some websites at work each day.

But nothing of this will continue into the new year. Our office will close down, much of the work move to other cities. Among the work that will disappear here is mine. I may possibly get computer support work in Skien, in Eastern Norway, but it will be telephone support rather than hands-on as it is here. Unfortunately I have a very tense relationship with telephones. Even though I actually have two of them, I call perhaps five minutes a year, probably not that much every year. I overcame my dislike of them a bit more back when I phoned my best friend, but it would still be months. Also, because I don't speak at home and mostly listen at work, my voice simply does not handle speaking more than a few minutes at a time, perhaps half an hour a day if I spread it out. Any job that begins with "telephone" is a one-way train to disability pension.

Not that I have anything against disability pension, mind you. More time for writing. And research show that people on disability pension are more likely than the working people to describe their health as "good" or "very good". I bet my health would improve greatly too if I did not need to get up until lunch.

Unfortunately my religion takes a dim view on not working when one can, so until I'm actually physically disabled, I'll probably find something to do. There is some very different work (for the same employer) that will appear here in town; I am not qualified for that, but I could probably learn it easily if allowed to. It's not like I am a normal human, after all. There is a reason people over 50 are not allowed back into the workforce if they are outside even for a moment. But that reason does not apply to me. (Not that I am actually 50, but I'll be after re-education, if any.)

Anyway, I find it hard to worry. This is Norway, after all: A beggar here is better off than many a worker in America. I doubt I could starve to death if I wanted to, which I don't.

Intriguingly, this all happens now that I no longer hate my workplace the way I used to when the journal was new. Perhaps that's why it happens. God sees that I have learned my lesson, time for another. Not saying that this whole restructuring happens because of me, obviously. It is a synchronicity, but this is how God works, planning thinngs so far in advance that seemingly unrelated events fall into each other seamlessly. Any good writer will do that, but it makes sense that God would be better at it than I am. Contrary to the belief of some of my friends, I'm the one made in God's image and not the other way around! ^^