I believe in karma. I believe that what goes around comes around. And thanks to my deep Catholic roots – even if that plant’s not getting much water lately – I believe in penance. I’ve spent most of the last two days doing it.

My conflicted relationship with my job is becoming an old story around here. But we’ve spent a lot of time together for the last couple of days – 12 hours at the office yesterday and a full 8 today – on a project I was informed about last week, and actually made plans for. Unfortunately, “plans” in this case is probably too specific a term – I had it on my calendar, but it was apparent by yesterday afternoon I’d had no clue how long it was going to take, and I was forced to ask for a last-minute extension (which didn’t turn out the be a problem; the requesters were aware they hadn’t allowed much lead time).

But it’s done now, and a lot of the things I had to do in the process of compiling this report were necessary for another project I need to get done soon, so it was worth it. My work’s actually pretty well laid out – with actual plans – for the next couple of weeks.

I’ve been reminded how much I actually do like my job when I’m engaged in something that really absorbs me and lets me try something new. I’ve also been reminded that I don’t like working under pressure, and don’t do it well; I spent much more time that I would have liked going back and fixing stuff. I’ve been reminded that procrastination is not my friend.

I keep saying “reminded” instead of “learned” because none of this is news to me. But sometimes I find I need to go through an experience like this as a refresher course – it’s kind of like reincarnation. The thing I hope I’ve learned this time is that the writing/blogging during the work day has to go. I’ve been trying to limit it to my lunch breaks, but if I’m on a roll with something, it can be hard to redirect to what I’m getting paid to do, so I’m going to have to break the habit. I can allow myself a quick meme post first thing in the morning. As the day goes on, short breaks to check my feeds and maybe leave a comment or two somewhere aren’t so bad – they’re actually helpful – but I need to enforce some limits. Plus, I’ve made it through the last two days without doing any serious writing, and I’ve obviously lived (and will probably be getting a lot out of my system this weekend!). Besides, if I can stay focused on work during the workday, I might manage to get out of the office on time more often.

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