Exercises in Fultity: Power Play

Office Job by ed7in5 via Creattica.com

Exercises in Futility is the working-out of the story of the last 3, or so, years of my life. A lot has happened: I moved over 300 miles away from my family for a new job that ended horribly, redefined myself as a person, fell in love for the first time (with that person turning out to the "the one"), and learned some hard life lessons that have shown me what is really important in this life. And if I stayed out all night more than I should have and met some fantastic, crazy new friends on my journey there, so be it! Let's listen in, shall we? Continued from Exercises In Futility: Brave New Girl

I got to spend September through November copying sets of Operations and Maintenance Manuals (some over 14 3” binders long) for the Mechanical Engineering Dept. The paper I went through...the horror...the horror! It was menial work, but it was still getting me noticed. I went through mundane task after mundane task, just plugging away at whatever they put in front of me. Truth be told, I actually enjoyed it. It was all order and logic, two  languages I spoke fluently, and I felt useful. The projects I completed were boring, but necessary, and all had gone way too long without doing. I was hard not to get a small Jesus complex of sorts as it became apparent these "little" things habitually fell through the cracks and it was a huge relief to management to have them taken care of. Everyone grew used to seeing my face pop around the corner asking, "Is there anything I can help you with?" I was working hard to make sure anyone with any sway knew I was down for the cause.

Exercises in Futility: Brave New Girl

Office job by ed7in5 via Creattica.com

Exercises in Futility is the working-out of the story of the last 3, or so, years of my life. A lot has happened: I moved over 300 miles away from my family for a new job that ended horribly, redefined myself as a person, fell in love for the first time (with that person turning out to the "the one"), and learned some hard life lessons that have shown me what is really important in this life. And if I stayed out all night, more than I should have, and met some fantastic, crazy new friends on my journey there, so be it! Let's listen in, shall we? Continued from Exercises in Futility: The Backstory 

For three weeks I worked hard and, more importantly, fell in love with Denver. The Mile High City was full of “my kind”. The beginning of my second week there, my brother asked one of his army buddies, Mick Slash,  to show me the city and get me out of my hotel room for a couple of hours. I can still remember how foreign and magical the, now so familiar, metropolis seemed as we merged onto the freeway.

Exercises in Futility: The Backstory

Office Job by ed7in5 via Creattica.com

Exercises in Futility is the working-out of the story of the last 3, or so, years of my life. A lot has happened: I moved over 300 miles away from my family for a new job that ended horribly, redefined myself as a person, fell in love for the first time (with that person turning out to the "the one"), and learned some hard life lessons that have shown me what is really important in this life. And if I stayed out all night, more than I should have, and met some fantastic, crazy new friends on my journey there, so be it! Let's listen in, shall we?

Stagnant, stale, inert, stationary, unmoving; These words oh so accurately described my life just over three years ago. I was 23 years old, living with my parents and working as a temp in Gillette, WY. I was, and still am, unmarried and childless or a “failure” according to this small town of less than 40,000 people where there are more drive through liquor stores then churches but the judgment still flows as freely as the booze. I was living with my parents, along with the younger 2 of my 5 siblings, on 40 acres about 5 miles west of town. I'd fallen into the very familiar role of "second mom"; running my younger sisters around to practices, when my parents couldn't, and volunteering with their high school band. 

I floated through my days and weeks with no direction other than to do it all over again tomorrow. I'd accumulated all the trappings of mid-west success; The latest cell phone, a brand new car, as many trips to Maurice's as I could stomach and cash left over for the boredom trips to Wal-Mart. My parents had raised us all to work hard and do our best and I loved nothing more than fulfilling other people's expectations of me. Naturally my competence (i.e. ability to read and count change) stood out to employers and by 23 I had topped out, for a female in the heavily industrialized economy, attaining my first “corporate” management position at 21. I really had no where to go but out.