Elayne Riggs' Journal (for Leah)

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Grate Thwart-xpectations

Today marks 14 years to the day that I began blogging. Every year I like to write something that isn't necessarily a blogaround or a Silly Site just to remind myself that I can still write and enjoy doing it. And every year I make a sort of self-vow that I'll blog a little better, or smarter, or more frequently.

But here's the thing, and it's something Robin mentioned to me a few years back. I'm never more personally frustrated than when I have a plan in my head of how, for instance, my day is going to go, and that day takes unexpected turns. I spent ten years at a job where that was a common occurrence, and I was only able to get through my workday by reminding myself what a great learning experience it was that I was never bored, always getting to do new things, yadda yadda. All in all, looking back at that frustrating decade, I'd rather have been bored.

Likewise I'm never bored in my current job. KPMG work doesn't leave me with a lot of down time, as well it shouldn't, but today held lots of surprises. Someone had to borrow my computer as their Skype wasn't working, so I spent my first hour without a laptop but on two different floors. Then I had to head to our lower level twice to check on a print job, then to the 22nd and 23rd floors to check out a conference room, and of course there were the lunchtime errands to Midtown Comics and the subway to renew my MetroCard, and the relatively little time I had at my desk was pretty much spent catching up on stuff I couldn't do while I wasn't. If you know what I mean.

So, thwarted expectations. And I need to keep reminding myself that that's okay. I'm not competing against anyone but myself when I blog. And if this is the best I can do, the most energy I can muster given how my day has gone, that's fine. I know y'all are out there, at least those of you who stuck around and haven't entirely abandoned blogtopia for Facebook and other social media. I know I haven't, I still do the twittering and fbooking and... okay, that's about it, I probably have accounts at Instagram and whatnot but have never used those services. There are only so many hours in the day, and most of mine seem to be taken up with Real Life.

And That's Okay.

I still enjoy writing too much to shut this whole thing down. I'll continue to post daily Silly Sites, occasional blogarounds, and maybe even... no, no promises. That way I won't be thwarted. Thank you again for sticking around these 14 years. On to the next 14!

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