Well it all started on a work night out.  Not a particularly interesting work night out, but quite a nice social gathering.  They were cross-questioning me about trapeze.  I was saying it was the best hobby ever and they should try it.  There were lots of jokes about sequins and leotards.  Hmph.

Anyway the following week I did some investigations and called their bluff.  If we could get ten to fifteen people to sign up, we could have a “corporate trapeze” team-building event.  And ten people signed up right away!  It didn’t include all the blustering noisy people who’d been in the pub that night, but a good cross-section of fun people who were up for trying something new.

And they did me proud.  They paid their deposits, they turned up on time, the ALL managed to get on a trapeze.  Amazingly, they even did some “doubles” work on the high trapeze.  Who’d have thought it?

I have a new-found respect for my colleagues.  And its given us all something to talk about other than work, which is definitely a Good Thing.

Things to do more of: random social events that are slightly different than just going to the pub

Things to remember: your colleagues are probably more adventurous than you’d think

Today I had a good day at work. If I was writing my CV (resumé) I’d say I’d been doing the following:

- liaising with staff at all levels

- problem solving

- working independently and as part of a team

- fostering good customer relationships

- using excellent verbal and written communication skills

But still, work is work and is kind of dull really. As a nice contrast I met up with a friend who had also just finished a productive but office-bound day, and we went for coffee (well, actually a Tchai latte with some delicious banana and toffee cake) and that’s when life got more colourful.

We discussed:

- aerial routines on trapeze and rope (working alone and as part of a team!)

- James Bond theme tunes versus Mission Impossible

- Bond girl outfits that can be worn while upside down

- Ninja costumes

And we’re not just all talk… within a couple of months, if all goes according to plan, we WILL be upside down in Ninja outfits, or maybe a black and gold number. Safe to say it will be fun, it will be different and it will be a hundred miles away from gazing out of the window while swizzling on a swizzle* chair or discussing what level of change to a system may or may not require change control.

*OK I’ve just realised what’s wrong with that sentence. Its a swivel chair, isn’t it? But I like the idea of swizzling better than swivelling so I think I’ll just leave it like that. Just because I can.

Work night out last week, and we went bowling.  And to my surprise, I found that bowling is fun.  Probably helped by the fact that I got a couple of strikes.  Not that I’m competitive or anything… oh and did I mention that our team won the quiz AND the bowling.  What a team.  We got medals and everything.  And everyone got a pair of Rudolf antlers and a Santa hat, which definitely added a certain something to the atmosphere of celebration.

[and so far I've resisted the urge to say anything about staff yelling for a strike because that would be a bad pun and therefore a Bad Thing and completely against the spirit of this blog]

[oops, couldn't resist, sorry!]

I haven’t played netball since I was 12.  I think I used to enjoy it, but I had no idea the rules were so complicated!

A group from work got together to take part in a netball challenge, and asked me along at the last minute.  I happily signed up to playing “centre”, blissfully unaware that my job would involve sprinting up and down the entire court while other team members were confined to one or two sections.  But at least there was no pressure to score, only two members of each team are allowed to do that.

We played against 4 other teams, and lost every game.  But on some games, had some really good sequences of passes and made a good effort at retaining our dignity.

Nice moments:

- one of our craziest subs yelling “come on, the hobbits!”

- oranges.  Didn’t think I’d appreciate them, but quarters of orange after the second game were a life-saver.

- major adrelanin high after a very high-speed game

- good feeling of teamwork

- lunch.  Mmm lunch has never tasted so good

- rediscovered a team game that I would seriously consider playing again.

Failed to get out of bed on time this morning. My first memory of the day is wondering why my alarm clock, which usually does a “snooze” of about 10 minutes, was going off much more frequently. I wondered if maybe the alarm clock had taken on a personality of its own and was picking on me, but didn’t really think of it in terms of a wake-up call.

I have flexitime at work, which means I can arrive anytime between 8am and 9:30am as long as I do enough hours in the week. I woke at 9:30.

So I failed to get out of bed, I failed to get to work on time. I succeeded in phoning my manager and telling him I’d be late, and he took this in good humour (hmph). I failed to make sandwiches so had to go to the shop at lunchtime.

I wanted a brown roll with cheese salad in it, but didn’t fancy the tomatoes that were on display.  Conversation in the shop was as follows.

Me: a brown roll with cheese salad please, but no tomatoes

Shop person: just lettuce and cucumber?

Me: Yes

Shop person: butter?

Me: Yes please

Shop person: onions or mayonnaise?

Me: No thanks

Easy. The sort of conversation you could have in a teach-yourself-English course. I was pleasantly surprised by how cheap it was, but then as I opened up my roll outside the shop, came my realisation of the next failure. I had failed to say cheese loud enough. So my roll contained butter, lettuce and cucumber. Hmmm. Fair enough if you’re on a very strict diet but not if you’re still very sleepy and looking for something delicious to help you cope with the long afternoon ahead.

“sigh”

Anyway in order to keep the focus on the good things that have happened, here are some minor successes:

• made it through the day without falling asleep (just)
• made it home from work in one piece
• successfully bought some items on the way home
• made myself a wholesome evening meal

One of the reasons I’m doing this random volunteering is that in my current job, I’m feeling a bit bored. I’m not being faced with many new challenges, and not meeting many new people. And I LOVE meeting new people and thrive on challenge.

Today’s volunteering sessions were hard work and involved a lot of standing around, and occasional harassment:

• “if you advertise tablecloths then you must PROVIDE tablecloths!” (Eh? Tablecloths?!?)
• “I don’t care if the room is full, I have to go in!”
• I’m here for conference A but they won’t let me into conference B!

All this has made me aware of the good things about my current job:

- I get paid to be there!

- I have a seat

- I can get coffee anytime I want

- as a general rule, nobody makes bewildering and unexpected demands of me!

- No requirement to wear a cheap white t-shirt with “STAFF” printed on the back

One of my colleagues is leaving. The rest of us are organising a leaving card and present, and for some reason took it into our heads to write her a poem.

Nice to take some time out from the daily grind and to do something collaborative and creative and although the result won’t win any prizes I think it will make our colleague smile.

The world needs more poetry!

[PS if you write a comment on this blog entry, please do so in rhyming couplets!!]

It doesn’t take a lot of time

to write a silly little rhyme!

Today it was sunny as I walked to work, sunny at lunchtime, and sunny with clear blue skies when I left the office.

And to top it all, at around 4:30 today I stumbled across a beautifully simple solution to a problem which we’ve been looking at for MONTHS.  So simple and so effective that I’m going to have to leave it overnight and go back to it in the morning before I believe its real!

Nice man who phoned to tell me about the Shostakovitch tickets phoned again.  This time I’ve won 2 nights bed and breakfast in a classy hotel/apartment in the Merchant City!

There’s something nice about winning things!

I’ve been finding work a bit dull recently.  Had various long-term projects to potter around with, but nothing particularly challenging.  Its been a good chance to chat to colleagues and get to know them better, but on the whole a bit dispiriting to have to spend 7 hours somewhere and not really feel there was much point to being there.

But now I have a job to do!  Something we’d normally estimate 6 weeks for, is now to be done in 2.  I think I’ll get it done on time.  Feels a bit stressful, but its SO good to have something to be getting on with.

And had a perfect guest today.  I’m just back from camping so have no food in the fridge, but still wanted to catch up with my friend who’s normally based in Dublin these days.  So she turned up with microwaveable Indian meals and all I had to do was cook the rice and heat the meals.  Fantastic.  Had a really good chat as well, she’s one of these people that is 100% genuine and willing to give serious thought to difficult issues.