Sending Out an SOS
2004-02-02,

Unbearably freaking unbusy. I�m just about three-fourths through this Monday workday, and time had now dragged to a screeching halt.

I woke up this morning (can�t believe what I saw- a hundred million bottles washed up on the shore) and had one of those mornings where everything takes a lot longer than you think it should. I swear it somehow took me ten minutes to shave this morning- this from someone who has a beard, thus, not even much to shave. It was as if I were in some sort of time bubble that ran just a tad slower than the rest of the universe. So I figured the day would go by quickly.

Not so much.

Well, at first it did. The first hour of work went by like lightning, even though I wasn�t really at all busy. Second hour, nearly the same. By the time 10am rolled around, I felt like I was once again in synch with the universe as I comprehend it (maybe it had something to do with the caffeine intake, I dunno). Then 1030am hit, and it was if I�d landed myself into a pool of molasses. And it hasn�t gotten any better since.

Thus I feel like I�m completely wasting my mental energies. I�m �on the go� but the world around me isn�t. I even tried working on my little work-related point-tallying* pet project, but realized that it was futile because number-processing was already in place and it was more a matter of adapting the Excel work I�ve done to it. A problem, since I don�t have any access to it. Something to be rectified in the near future, I hope. I have to make my mark around here somehow. Granted, I�ve only been here for a month and a half, but still.

Meanwhile, I�m not usually one for Water Cooler talk, but what I�ve heard about this weekend�s sports/advertisement/entertainment (Adversportainment? Sportadvertainment? Entersportisement?) debacle really irks me. A blatant attempt to drum up attention by �accidental� partial nudity? Please. I was completely shocked to hear this next morning that Miss Jackson (if you�re nasty) has a new single out! It was �leaked�, much like her breast, to the public and the record company is now rushing it out to beat the bootleggers. It�s enough to make me want to toss the TV out the window, and I didn�t even watch it.

And what�s worse is all of these commercials that I�ve been hearing from the press are vulgar and on the verge of hyper-violent or just plain ol� tasteless. This, from a TV network that refused to show a PETA ad because it �lacked taste�. More like it lacked beer company pocket money or lacked government blessing. Lump that In with their refusal to aira MoveOn.org ad, and nausea bubbles. So what CBS is telling us is, sex and violence and farting are great, but an opinion on our current political situation isn�t. What the fuck is going on here? How long are the masses going to let things like this happen? Where is the outrage? Why is there no national boycott of CBS? Are people really that in need of Survivor?

Hail Fucking Caesar.

-- End Transmission --

* File under �things you don�t really need to know�: my workplace assigns point values for various tasks in our department, and we keep a running total of our work which is averaged weekly and compared to each individual�s totals vs. average. It�s to keep track of a CSR�s productivity and departmental work distribution. I made an Excel-based �point calculator� that keeps an active total of work done and automatically figures point values and totals daily and weekly. I figure that it could be used to plug in to the main tallying system for ease of charting work. I have to hound management about it, though, or our management will forget about the idea. There, aren�t you glad you read this?