Work Life: The Scoop

A significant amount of the busy-busy in my life now takes place at work. There is the teaching side (have I mentioned I love my students and my job?) that happens in my classroom and there are the other aspects that take place at my desk.

After initially hating my digs--and being super p*ssed that people were touching/taking my stuff, I love my little corner. It's not the quietest, most uninterrupted place, but most days it is hella fun. If I really need to get a lot done without interruption, I can always work from home on my laptop (related: I think peri-menopousal women should be allowed to count the hours between 4 and 6 a.m as part of their workday--we could work from the couch for a couple of hours since we're up anyway and then leave work two hours earlier. Anybody with me on this?). The work always gets done.

As with any domicile, it's the people within it that make it a home. In this particular abode, it's my co-workers who make my home-away-from-home a place I love to spend time. I ought to count how many times a day we laugh uproariously, but that seems to lack spontaneity and maybe just estimating "a lot" is a better way to go.

We laugh a lot.

We laugh enough to sometimes attract attention.

We laugh enough that sometimes people knock on our imaginary door and ask to come in and laugh with us. 

I work with three very smart, funny, sometimes quirky women. We like each other and we support each other--we are a real team. Come to think of it, there's something to like about everybody I work with.

So that's good.

I also have students and in general they are pretty cool people. I now have a happy hour club of students I stay in touch with. Just today one of my friends ('cause they're not students anymore) came by and talked to the class about her great job at Kaiser and how she got it. Paying it forward.

Also? In a two-week period, six of my students got jobs. I work hard to make that happen (along with our Career Services Advisor) and it feels damn good when it does.

I would have to say the worst thing about my job is all the potlucks--I'm a baker, so I'm baking a lot and that means I'm taste-testing a lot. I have an end-of-mod potluck every month with my class, and it's always somebody's birthday or going-away. On the other hand, life is to be lived and a brownie now and then is called for. 

That's the dispatch from the front this week. I've definitely resigned myself to posting less often--I'm going to shoot for Time Warp Tuesday and one other post. I'm not going to feel bad if I miss the one other. I'm actually trying to work on some longer form writing--perhaps, as Mary Matron did, going into a pre-50 self-reflective period. Magpie Musing turned me on to an article about women and menopause that was interesting; I am not a fan of Sandra Tsing Loh--I find her whiny and self-centered--but I think she's hit on a lot of truths with this piece. 

 

 

Comments

[unmitigated me]

I JUST asked my internist about the 4am thing. If she had just said, "Yeah, menopause sucks," it would have been better than the lengthy critique of my habits. Good to know it's not just me!

[Cassi]

Thanks for linking to that article. I actually have read The Wisdom of Menopause, and I bought it at the recommendation of my mom (who was past it at that point, but somehow came across it). I thank Northrup for giving me the courage to say "I don't want to cook dinners every night, find your own dinner," years ago. Unfortunately, I am that 50-yr old with a 12 year old daughter, and it is hellishly tiring. It would be much easier if she were 18 and moving on :-)

[Jenrantsraves]

I don't wake up between 4-6am yet, but I do wake up with my shirt drenched in sweat occasionally. Being a woman is SO much fun, huh?

[Smalltown Me]

My wakeup time is usually 1-3! 4-6 is my prime sleep time. My sleep is all messed up now as I am out of town providing respite care for my dad while his wife has a weekend break.

Aren't congenial coworkers a blessing? I have been so lucky with that. I still get together with a group of them and it's been 12 years since we worked together.

[suburbancorrespondent]

THANK YOU! You and Magpie, of course - that's an excellent, honest article. As one woman who has found herself suddenly disinterested by all that she found inspiring and motivating over the past 20 years, I find it a relief to realize that this may just be normal and I only have to regroup.

The problem with menopause is that you have teens at the same time; so it is almost impossible to figure out which (the teens or the menopause) is creating your bad mood and sense of disorientation at any particular moment.

[Karen (formerly kcinnova)]

There are not only teens at my house but also a full-time retired husband. The good thing about his being retired is that he has picked up the slack on preparing meals. The bad thing about his being retired is that he is around all the time. My teens are introverted boys, which is both good and bad... no drama but also no sympathy.
Perimenopausal life has shown me that everything is in flux. I really related to this portion of the article (minus the OCD):

"Fertility’s amped-up reproductive hormones helped Aunt Carol 30 years ago to begin her mysterious automatic weekly ritual of roasting lamb just so and laying out 12 settings of silverware with an OCD-like attention to detail while cheerfully washing and folding and ironing the family laundry. No normal person would do that—look at the rest of the family: they are reading the paper and lazing about like rational, sensible people. And now that Aunt Carol’s hormonal cloud is finally wearing off, it’s not a tragedy, or an abnormality, or her going crazy—it just means she can rejoin the rest of the human race: she can be the same selfish, non-nurturing, non-bonding type of person everyone else is. (And so what if get-well casseroles won’t get baked, PTAs will collapse, and in-laws will go for decades without being sent a single greeting card? Paging Aunt Carol! The old Aunt Carol!)"

As I wrote on Cassi's blog about this, what I'm not sure of is how I feel about that reclamation of self. I keep seeing it as selfishness and being self-centered but perhaps I'm living in two seasons at once?

[lanes]

So glad that you have a close team of awesome peeps at work. That just makes life so much easier!

And, yes, sometimes a person just needs to enjoy a brownie (or a cupcake or some other delicious treat!)

[gary rith]

I like sandra tsing Loh in a lot of ways too, she is bitingly funny :)

[Green Girl in Wisconsin]

Brava! I love how you've transitioned your life. And it doesn't surprise me at all that your spot is a party zone;)

[basket asics]

One may fall in love with many people during the lifetime. When you finally get your own happiness, you will understand the previous sadness is kind of treasure, which makes you better to hold and cherishthe people you love.

[Busy Bee Suz]

Your work like sounds just perfect.....but the potlucks would be dangerous. :)
4am? Check. I hate it. I should start calling you, but then again, your 4 am isn't the same time as mine. LOL!!!! I enjoyed the article.

[chaussures vans]

Groot artikel. Bedankt voor het delen van informatie met ons, deze blog is heel interessant, dank u, Geniet van het bekijken van mijn website.

[michael kors soldes]

Hej tie! Ĉu vi scias se ili faras neniun plugins por protekti kontraŭ la hackers? Mi kinda paranoja pri perdi ĉiu kiun mi laboris malmola. Ajna konsiloj? Hey there! Ĉu vi scias se ili faras neniun plugins por protekti kontraŭ la hackers? Mi kinda paranoja pri perdi ĉiu kiun mi laboris malmola. Ajna konsiloj?