New Desk - A Sigh of Relief

I'm composing this blog at the site of my new desk at work. The last two years has seen it's fair share of "work station moves", and I'm thinking this current move will stick as long as I'm in this job.

You see, when I first began working here at the Registrar's Office at UCSD, I began in the most miserable of desk locations. It was right beside the door, in a waiting area, in a HALLWAY, right next to a conference room (where miserable academic faculty would come up to me and ask me to make them copies - I usually stared blankly at them until they left), and the site of frequent office get-togethers (spilled drinks on desk, someone sitting on my computer, cake in my chair, confetti in my hair, etc.) Once I had been sufficiently humbled into submission, a colleague suggested that I buy plants as a sort of barrier since this desk had no walls. I made a vow to never complain about a cubicle again. Anyway, these plants... They served as a sort of barrier between me and the outside world of office-land. It was glorious. My work place was suddenly transformed from a harsh concrete reality of abrasive, obtrusive ugliness into a dream-scape of green, lush countryside. It was a temporary reprieve of sorts, even if most of it was just in my own head.

I should mention the plants would not have been enough to keep me from quitting my job were it not for the promise of that glorious day.... What glorious day? The promise of a new day when the Registrar's Office would be moved into a nice, new building just across the street. After a month or so of glorying in my fauna, we moved that clear, spring day in March of 2007. This particular day, the air outside was crisp, the sun shone clear, and the sound of birds singing was music upon my eardrums in such a way only Tim Burton could dream of.

My object of my hopes, however, would soon fade again in 'light' of another reality. The new desk in the new building, though surrounded by windows and far from any beleaguered, academic soul, was, once again, too much for me too handle as the bright uninhibited San Diego sun shone through untinted, unblinded, unrelenting windows. I was blinded. The long sleepless nights and days of headaches ensued. For two weeks, all I could think about or see was the sun branded, as it were, upon my psyche and more literally upon my retinas.

I would move again, temporarily, to another desk until the blinds were installed. Five weeks later, these were installed and I moved back. I was finally settled... or so I thought. I should digress to note that I experienced almost one year or "workstation settledness" until my former boss, on his way out the door, decided I should be moved to a new, more miserable desk since I "would not have a boss..." "Hmmmm, whose fault is that?" I thought. Nonetheless, I would be the one to receive the punishment. And for the last 6 months, I have. Surrounded by student workers stamping and copying, an unmentioned employee who liked to ask me lots of questions in a high-pitched voice, ten people looking over my shoulder. If the objective was for people to keep an eye on me, my former boss' goal was met. Too bad he's not here to give me the performance appraisal for that misery.

At any rate, I've now endured it heartily for the prize set before me; my new and current workstation. I now have windows (with blinds) once again, no one looking over my shoulder, and even my peace lily to keep me company. Not to mention the fact that I can actually work now without being interrupted constantly. Novel thought, really.

Now, you might ask, what was the purpose of writing this blog? I mean, really, what is the purpose? To you I answer this: It is a bold, hearty assertion of my new-found freedom away from all that which annoyed me before. It is very bold and very free. Free bird. Because I can.