My job isn't really that bad. I like the people here, everyone's friendly, things and people are reasonable, the location's good, I have a nice roomy cubicle, etc., etc. And the pay rocks.

But man, I am so bored a lot of the time.

What I do is pretty easy and is interesting in its own way, but there's only about 3 or so different tasks that I do. I usually do a bunch of one thing at a time (2 out of 3 things work better if you do them in large groups) for awhile, then do something else, etc. Only there really isn't a whole lot of switching you can do when you get bored of doing X Task. You can do Y Task for awhile, but then you've done a whole lot of Y and really need to get back to doing X for awhile. You can do Z even more rarely than that. And all of it is very, very repetitive. It gets old, you know? I used to enjoy how quickly I sped along doing work, but now even that's not fascinating enough to keep me motivated for 8 hours. Honestly, how do employers expect you to stay going along at full bore, 100 percent production for that long or longer? I just don't get it.

It's not that I'm not interested in doing the work, but my attention definitely starts to wander whether I like it or not after awhile, especially as the day goes on and on. The last two to three hours drag on and on. (Yes, I'm writing this while at work again.) It's like "MUST... DO... SOMETHING ... ELSE!" Only, well, there isn't a whole lot else I can do, workwise. This is when I start doing entries or halfassedly surfing the web in between finishing transcripts. I still get a lot of work done, if you can believe that. I have a big pile I finished today, but it was all short stuff and even that started to get old on me.

One of the things I really liked about my old positions at my old work (the ones I held before my last one that got cut) was that I had a lot of different things to do. I could work on one for awhile, go switch to working on another, go switch to working on another, and they weren't all that similar to each other. I think that kind of thing is why I was more frustrated with work as time went on, as I had less stuff to switch around on doing in some respects. I'm getting the feeling now that I REALLY need a job that requires multitasking and a bunch of different things to do in order to stay consistently interested and motivated.

Too bad for me that's not going to be likely for my future employment in the next year, huh?

While looking around today, I found this thread and specifically this post (which I'm quoting because you'll have to scroll down a long way to find it), by mrwarmth: "In 1983 I left the University of Chicago with a M.A. in Ancient Near Eastern Literature and Languages. I think this roundly tops an English degree for absolute irrelevancy in the job market. And I knew that from the first, so I never had any illusions whatsoever about the kind of job I would be able to get. I didn't waste any time looking for jobs I thought I might like, and I avoided like the plague any jobs that involved primarily using language (like publishing or advertising), since I figured they would be packed out already with people like me.

I settled on temping, and, after seven years of the best higher education Alaska State educational grants could buy (which in those days was quite a lot), I only got a job because I could type 90 word per minute. And I was quite grateful. Though I do recall having to beg for the temp job, because I was deemed overqualified because of my degree. They were afraid I would be bored. I distinctly remember saying that my concern at that moment was a roof over my head and food on the table, and that I was quite capable of amusing myself in my spare time."

That's the thing, you see. It doesn't matter about my boredom in the practical scheme of things. This job's one thing- it'll be up in a few months- but anything else I try to find in the next year or so is probably gonna bore me to death. It doesn't matter about my interests or happiness, because the bottom line is, I need money. Especially if I'm gonna keep on affording train tickets every weekend and buying lunch during the day and buying dinner with Hill once a week (I just can't stand to eat my own cooking these days) and buying lunch or dinner for all my friends who are broker than I am (right now) on the weekends and buying the occasional books or clothing items.

Still, it does kinda suck that it doesn't matter. Because I do miss having interesting stories to tell about my day when I get home and things like that the way I used to. I had all kinds of amusing stories about fairly prominent people in town (which obviously I can't tell online) that were fun to share. My mom thinks that I'm leading this fascinating life without her that she has to hear about twice a week, but I really don't have anything new about my life to say about the past three days, or at least that I can tell her about. My weekends are more interesting, but I've got to censor a lot of that information. Hell, I get on the phone with Dave and going over my day takes about 15 seconds: "The most exciting thing I did today was eat a crepe for lunch." He has more interesting stuff to tell, even if most of it seems to be themed towards disaster (a pile of heavy stuff landed on him, attempting to drive the forklift for the first time during work hours didn't go so well, the stuff that went on with his boss, etc.). Plus he sees friends during the week (he went to Resident Evil with Teri, so I don't have to! Yay!), which also makes things interesting. My excitement tonight was going to the grocery store with Hill and then watching Survivor, which I don't think he's all that interested in given that he doesn't watch TV much. Oh well, I guess I somehow manage to think of things to say, given that we're on the phone for hours and all.

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