I worked long hours today and had a great time talking to the people I was helping one on one. It feels so good to be useful and make things easier on folks learning complex software solutions.
I think skippers are cute.
Now my introvert self has kicked in and I’m worn out. Gotta rest up to do it again tomorrow.
Besides, I spent most of my blogging time chatting with a friend. Personal conversations are healthy!
Dainty Sulphur. You know it’s small—these are tiny asters
Also uplifting: there were 58 bird species here today! That’s a tie for the record at Hermits’ Rest. It helped that I was listening so early that I caught the owls hooting.
Good night/morning.
Bonus photo of New Mexico, where Lee went for a visit this week.
I’ve been in the Portland, Oregon area since yesterday morning, here for work meetings at my fine new job. I’ve had a great time so far, and feel like I’ve contributed to some good work with this company.
Fiddlehead in front of a work building.
I’ve had no issues getting my exercise in, because I’ve walked back and forth between buildings many times. Each meeting seems to be in a different building. It would be fun, except it’s as hot as Texas! It will cool off, maybe.
The rose city is Portland. I’m in Tualatin.
It’s pretty here but I don’t see myself having much time to see any nature. I’ll keep trying! The work setting is great, too. I’ve learned a lot about the amazing machines this company produces for the semiconductor industry, and I enjoyed seeing the research areas very much.
No interior photos due to secrets and stuff.
Mostly I’m really enjoying meeting my coworkers and the people we are helping. I’ve had a lot of fun chatting and laughing as well as getting lots done. Any hiccups have been worth it. Maybe I’ll get to come back someday.
View from hotel room
I hope to be less tired and more coherent tomorrow! Maybe I’ll be able to describe my days better.
The tarot card of the day was the Child of Water (Page of Cups).
Aww
She reminds me of myself as a child, who ran along the beach in Sarasota, Florida. I found out a coworker now lives there today, so the card evokes my memories. The card just reminds me of myself, the little dreamer. Currently the very tired little dreamer in the Pacific Northwest.
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
I don’t think I’ve ever been great at unplugging, but I’ve muddled through by being very consistent with my meditation practice. That way I get at least 20 minutes of turning my racing thoughts off nearly every day. I’m glad I’m one of the people who can use meditation. I know some folks can’t.
Just relax and go to your happy place, in this case the bird sanctuary I help with.
But I’ve always been “too sensitive” and always felt a lot of empathy for people who are struggling. Combined with a drive to always occupy myself with work, volunteering, and knitting/crochet left me with little downtime and no time to unplug. Heck, I always worked on camping and condo trips. At least I worked with good scenery.
Good scenery is everywhere if you just look. Still I’m glad I live out in the middle of rural Texas.
I didn’t know how to listen to my mind and body and give them a rest when needed. I just made sure I had good anti-anxiety meds and took the right vitamins/supplements to support that busy brain and body. Not altogether healthy, huh?
My mind and body fighting each other, as depicted by Carlton and Penney.
My last trip to Hilton Head in April was the first time I ever really unplugged. I didn’t watch or read the news, I took lots of long walks, and I quit constantly writing in my head (I do that, like I’m my own narrator, which is truly annoying when I realize I’m doing it).
“I’m walking down the road heading to our house, thinking about how thick that giant cane has grown,” says Narrator Suna.
I found out I don’t keel over and the world doesn’t stop if I take a break from making contributions. I don’t always need to be mothering or mentoring. It’s all right just to BE sometimes.
Unplugging gives me time to slow down and notice like a shed grasshopper exoskeleton.
The past few months of not working for pay have helped me relax and taken a lot of pressure to succeed off me. I must confess I had a job interview Thursday and it went very well. I’m a sucker for helping an organization maximize their use of that darned software I’ve supported for so long. But I’ve learned to set firm limits, and even if I do one more consulting thing, its length will be limited.
Oh look, another exoskeleton. (cicada)
I’m sure I’ll need to remember how to unplug when that’s over, if I do okay on the second interview. Hmm, didn’t I ask you readers to talk me out of going back to work recently?
I’ll delay my book report another day, since I happen to have been thinking about my work history a lot today. I was trying to figure out whether I had a career arc or just a series of random ways to make money to live on. Hmm
Rain lilies with insects.
I started out planning to work in academia, but realized early on that I liked the teaching part way more than writing academic papers. After a couple of years working with the infant internet I suddenly was a web designer (back when it was EASY—I always like to mention that my first few sites didn’t have color, because everyone still had monochrome monitors. There’s more in my Prairienet post.
Once I got my first job at a software company, I knew what I liked to do, which was teach others about software. I loved writing software manuals and editing the work of others. I figured it out before I was 30, which is pretty good for figuring out what you want to be when you grow up.
Ruellia
The arrival of two children sent me on a detour, but not too far. I kept making websites for people, nonprofits and such, while teaching a different kind of adult as a breastfeeding support volunteer. I met so many lovely people and was able to be at home with my children! That was truly the best part of my work history.
Mud dauber on glass
I ended up getting a real job with the nonprofit and led their online efforts for a while. I got valuable experience working remotely and creating online communities. While that job had a pretty horrible ending as the organization went through one of its periodic implosions, I got to keep my knowledge and friends. After a good deal of therapy, I recovered (plus my spouse left, I did dumb stuff, and blah blah…).
I kept teaching no matter what. There are many people who knit or crochet thanks to me.
It’s fun.
It’s okay, because desperation to support my kids led me to a job writing software training that led me to meet my fine spouse, Lee. The years when we were first together led to a series of software training jobs where I learned to make videos and teach so many people so many things in so many industries from manufacturing to weird mainframe accounting software to telecommunications. It was really fun and challenging.
Portulaca
I got to concentrate on just one thing, project management software, for the past 15 years or so. I even had a “real” non-contract job, where I used every single skill I’d been developing. What a privilege! I loved making training videos, writing help content, designing user communities, and collaborating with smart people!
Now I’m some kind of expert in training this software, and people come looking for me. That feels good, even if I do like this retirement gig. I do enjoy helping organizations do productive work, so I may help out again, just not for four years like I did at my last contract job! That’s because horses and nature are also fun.
I’m worth not working.
So, yeah, my career had an arc. Teaching adults to use software. I’m still doing it for Master Naturalists, after all!
This morning, I did my chores and realized it was a bad day for birding—too windy. So I came inside to work on Master Naturalist projects.
Windblown Engelmann Daisy.
At 12:50 I realized I’d worked as much as I would have for paid employment. That’s always been the way I am. I make up a job if I don’t have one. In college I was always typing something for someone. In grad school I knitted. When I was supposed to be a mother at home I created a web design empire and nonprofit online community for other mothers (with a team).
I needed to chill out and look at birds more, even back then. Red-tailed Hawk.
Now I’m retired, so I either write all day or do social media for my current nonprofit. I fixed up the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary site for those four hours this morning. Time flies when you’re typing, as I discovered in my teens.
Time also flies when you’re identifying native plants. Texas verbena.
I guess I now see how all those older Master Naturalist folks get thousands of volunteer hours: they have time. It keeps me out of trouble and out of the horses’ faces for at least part of the day, too.
They watched me take this photo of the “best” wildflowers this spring. It’s been a bad year.
Probably that’s for the best, since I keep getting stepped on (Mabel in a tizzy over distractions) or walked into fences (Apache learning to move his butt). Tomorrow I have to corral them all again for their annual shots. We will see who steps on whom.
Everything’s going okay on the career wind-down front as well as here at the Hermits’ Rest. However, I experienced something curious today in my final meeting with my coworkers. They expressed surprise that I’d finished a project I’d been working on, and that I was interested in fixing the SharePoint site up and tying up loose ends. I said, “There’s no harm in finishing things up with some professionalism, is there?”
No bull, I meant it. (That IS a bull on the right)
The project lead said she wished she saw more of that in the people that aren’t leaving, and we all laughed. Honestly, it isn’t their fault the expense cuts had to be made, and I know they are not going to have fun integrating what I was doing with the huge project they are trying to work on. Why not be helpful and help them until I can’t help anymore?
Sometimes I do wish I had the option to just fly away. (The feather was replaced where I found it; I know the rules about messing around with migratory bird feathers.)
Later I was thinking back on a couple of other jobs that ended before I was ready for them to end. I especially remember my time at the nonprofit organization, when I was trying to hold my team together while a huge rift was occurring among members. Then, in April, I was informed that my job was being eliminated as of June 1. Two months was a long time to be a lame duck employee, but we were doing a lot of online activities to support mothers and babies, and we needed to keep it coordinated. I could have just stopped, walked away, and told the organization to go screw themselves.
I’m too sweet for that.
But, nope, I organized volunteers, worked on a transition, and tried to keep people’s spirits up. It was all for naught, but I felt a responsibility to try. And I got life-long friends out of the deal!
Teamwork mattered to me.
The job I had before this one was similar. I could see that things were changing and that I’d take the brunt of it, so I focused my last six months on getting my team supported and not having to do work they weren’t suited for. Once that was done, I was more than happy to go. I guess I just want to finish things up and support team members, even when there’s no one to support me in my work. What does that say about me? I’m a sap? I care about my coworkers? I’m professional?
I also care about animals. I was happy to see this skinny cow had a healthy calf and is gaining weight.
I don’t know. I think what it really means is that I value people over large corporations and bickering nonprofits. That may be a positive or negative; it just is, I guess!
(PS: someday I’ll tell you about the time I DID just walk out on a job.)
In other news, I’ve been enjoying the new weather station Lee got me for my birthday. It’s much nicer than the previous one and can store data. I’ll still need to get my official rain amounts from the CoCoRaHS gauge, though. That’s the only one that counts in weather official-dom.
It is solar powered
Lee also bought a steel raised bed that he wants to grow “things” in. It’s not going to exactly feed us for the next year, but it will give me a project to watch over during my non-working time…as if I need more projects around here.
Raised bed.
Onward and upward until there’s a need to be professional again.
I’m a technical writer/trainer/instructional designer as my paying job. I also do a lot of editing. This kind of profession has probably been around since there were jobs. Someone has to teach others skills needed in various professions, and someone has to record information accurately.
Someone had to pass along fence building skills on ranches, so birds could poop out seeds and create rows of trees on fence lines. These are Eve’s necklacepods (Styphnolobium affine)
I’m pretty sure there are technical manuals in hieroglyphics. No doubt scribes hand-wrote instructions for doing things correctly. Certainly people have shown others how to perform tasks (weaving, sewing, carpentry, brewing, and such) without need for writing. Maybe they drew pictures. Teachers have always had to be there to pass down necessary skills, whether formally or informally.
No one teaches flowers how to bloom.
So, while I don’t work in the world’s oldest profession, skills like mine have always been needed to pass on traditional skills. Teaching may be the second oldest profession.
Technology has affected what I do like it has any form of teaching. It’s provided new tools to create material and given us options like videos, which any of us can now use (to either teach or confuse, judging from the videos on knitting I’ve seen).
I need a genetics teacher to explain how the white versions of flowers come up.
Of course, what I teach about is software, which wouldn’t be a subject if we didn’t have computers at our fingertips. Sometimes I wish I could teach something more tangible or timeless. Software comes and goes in a flash. No one needs my WordPerfect teaching skills today!
I figure no matter what new technology comes up, I’ll be using it to share knowledge with others. That’s my passion.
Conversely, I’ll also keep wanting to learn. It’s why I enjoy my journey with trying to ride my horses skillfully and care for them appropriately. No matter how old I get, I want to keep moving and learning. Just look at my posture! I hardly recognize myself.
Apache also looks better.
I’m glad to have a job that’s always relevant, no matter how times and technology change. I’m just as glad to have hobbies that have been around a long time but remain relevant, like equestrian skills and crafts!
Temperature blanket through March 24
End of ramble. Here’s another picture of me and Apache, this time looking medieval.
Sure! Why not? This week I’ve really been enjoying my job. Probably kicking the adenovirus out the door helped me concentrate. The lack of headache was also good.
And this buddy hasn’t sprayed in a day or two. That’s good, because he or she lives under the shipping container, right next to the horses.
But I’m positive that a couple of factors made the week good, even though it’s been a long one.
I’ve learned stuff. I did a workshop by my old company that was on a new topic to me. I had a blast! And today I helped some folks figure out how to support their scrum teams. We were all impressed with ourselves.
I’ve also felt useful. That makes work fun! I helped train people in various software scenarios. It felt good to help. Laughing and supportive comments added to my good feelings.
I had good breaks. Calves make good break buddies.
I was challenged. I was asked to figure some new things out, plus I was asked to contribute ideas for new software features. I’ve missed this from my previous job, so I was probably too excited to make my contributions. On the other hand, I’ve led discussions where I wished people had contributed more. I hope I and the others who had great ideas made the people looking for ideas happy!
I don’t know what makes other people happy at work, but that’s what works for me. Fulfilling work makes life so much better. I’m lucky. Now I’ll try make someone else’s job fun and try to pass it on to others!
This may or may not surprise you, but those of you who actually know me remember that I have worked with tarot cards for many years. I find them very helpful for clarifying my thinking, figuring out trends, and learning about other people. In fact, this blog and our ranch, The Hermits’ Rest, is a nod to the card Lee most identifies with, the Hermit. It’s about seeking the truth, teaching others, and yes, withdrawal from life.
I wish the card I identified with most was romantic and exciting, but I’m afraid it’s the less intense equivalent of the Hermit, 4 of Swords. It’s a card of calm, peace, meditation, and retreat. It used to come up for me nearly every day when I was drawing a card a day. Now that I’m a lot better at self-care, I don’t think it would do that so much.
Enough of the tarot blathering. I haven’t done many readings lately, except a few for others. The one I did for my sister a month or two ago was really something, and I think that’s the last one I did. But, with yesterday being the traditional new year for earth-centered folks, I decided to do my usual Halloween reading to see where I might be headed in the next year. Here’s what came up.
My reading, October 31, 2021
I was so rusty at reading that at first, I was a bit concerned. There are a lot of stern, mean-looking dudes in that spread. Who or what were they and why were they all over my life for the next year? But, as I looked at the other cards and considered the context of my life right now, it began to make sense. I’ll share with you what I saw. Note that my friends who are good this stuff may see something else. Alternative perspectives are welcome.
I tend to use the cards to draw connections my conscious mind hadn’t seen before and to see relationships emerge that I hadn’t realized where there. I’m not predicting the future.
Anyway…
The card that signified the theme of the reading is the 3 of Pentacles. That’s a card about doing high-quality work and getting recognition for it. That evokes my recent job change that is a new part of my life this year. I realize that a lot of the reading may concern work.
Crossing that card is the Wheel of Fortune, which is not a game show, but represents either luck or a life full of significant ups and downs. I’d say that summarizes both my recent past and my present, and the thing that’s made it hard to do my best work–so many other things going on and demanding attention.
Next, I saw the Empress over there to the left, in the past position. She’s a mom and a nurturer. I have, indeed, spent a lot of my time in the past few months to a year trying to make things better for people and expending a lot of energy in that. That’s the past, though.
Sitting high above me is the Hierophant, who signals institutions, bosses, teachers, and such, which used to be the card I hated. When I was in a bad job, he showed up over and over until I left. I think this time it represents the job I just left, because of feeling oppressed by the demands of out-of-touch higher ups but cautions me to be aware of wanting to conform to make a good impression at the new place, too. Hmm. Lots to think about.
Below, at the root of the issue is the particularly unattractive 4 of Pentacles. This represents someone who wants everything to themselves, can’t let go, or as Robin Wood (who created the deck I read with) said, “an emotional black hole.” This is telling me that the other part of my life that weighed me down for the past year or so (one I don’t talk about here) is still lurking down there, thanks to the Empress being so strong and me wanting to help even when it goes against my best interests. Since it’s tied (in my mind) to the Empress card, I think it’s in the past, too.
That’s confirmed by the future card, which is, hip-hip hooray, the World! That card hints that I may well be right that I’ve figured some things out, am in a better place, and come to the end of a cycle intact and with lots and lots of knowledge. Good, good.
So, what happens next? Well, the card on the bottom of the stack on the right is the 8 of Cups. When I saw that, I said to myself, “Ain’t that the truth?” This card shows someone turning away from all the “stuff” in the past, ready to step forward into whatever is next, without all that emotional baggage (cups are emotions). Right, right! That’s what I want to be doing. Thank you, random tarot cards, for confirming that.
Here’s where more of the “people” cards show up. They always make me think about whether they represent people in my life or traits. With the King of Pentacles in the position of my friends and family, it becomes clear. This is a kind guy who has money, and I would like that to represent the people in my household, who also work in our business. They know what they are doing and will be with me all the way.
Next is the card that represents my hopes and fears/dreams. I chose fears here because it’s the King of Swords. This is a scary guy, to me, often a military man or stern ruler. He’s smart, but not very emotional. You may laugh at me, but I thought of the Governor of Texas, who keeps passing laws that upset me and make me fear for the safety of women, children, immigrants, and other people without much power. Now why is THAT GUY in my reading??? I think I’m more worried that politics is going to mess with my happy 2022 than I let myself realize consciously.
Moving on to the end, things do get better, judging from the cheerful 6 of Cups at the top. It looks like if I do the stuff the other cards are hinting at, like working hard, giving up on nurturing people who don’t want to be nurtured, and learn from the crazy past year or two, I can have the kind of life I’d want, a simple one full of happiness and family. I would not turn that down!
There’s a card to the side. I drew it to see something more long term. It’s the Knight of Swords. That’s my estranged son, the cuttingly intellectual one who is always in my dreams telling me how I failed as a mother and human being. Maybe some resolution to that issue will come in the next year.
My cards, a leaf, pinecones, and a magpie feather.
Well, if you ever wondered how people can read cards, that was an example of one way. It is NOT the only way. I use a lot of intuition. Some people are more literal. Others have different interpretations of cards, based on their own experiences. These things are flexible and can be what you would like them to be. Nothing to be scared of here, just time to ponder possibilities.
Yep, it’s Labor Day here in the good ole USA, where we honor the working people who contribute so much, by giving them a day of rest. Well, we honor SOME of them, anyway. I have the day off at my “white-collar” full-time managerial position in a software company, where I get 3 weeks of vacation and insurance, plus a 401K retirement plan.
That’s today, all right. Photo by @jopanuwatd via Twenty20.
It was NOT always the case, and I will not forget it. Here’s what I said 11 years ago, before I got the job I’m in now:
I love the concept of Labor Day. But today, please remember us contract workers, folks for whom today is a forced day off, with no pay. That does not feel like a reward for our hard work. Independent contractors get no benefits, pay high self-employment taxes, and have no holiday or vacation pay. I have not had a vacation since 2006, except when laid off/between contracts. I am very grateful to have work, though.
Suna on Facebook, September 7, 2009
What that doesn’t tell you is that I hadn’t had a paid vacation in…ever. The work I did from 1995-2006 was a mix of volunteer work, contract work, and stipends for a nonprofit. (Poor pitiful me, not really; I managed to live just fine.)
Every year I make it a point to remind folks who are having parties, cooking out, boating, or relaxing in groups smaller than ten (my peeps) that not everyone has the luxury of time off. My younger son is out there delivering YOUR pizzas (if he can get into your gated community). The folks at Hearts, Homes and Hands are taking care of our clients, whose needs do not stop for holidays. Grocery and convenience stores are open to sell you beer and brats. Retailers are open for Labor Day Sales Extravaganzas.
Enjoy your sausage. Photo by @antonettescott via Twenty20.
So, not everyone gets a paid day of fun for Labor Day. Minimum-wage workers are out there earning their minimum wage, at jobs where their hours are kept just below what would legally require benefits (like paid time off). Contract workers, like me in my previous life, sit at home, hoping that the pay shortage won’t make it hard to pay rent or utility bills.
“That hippie Suna, she crazy with all that fair this and that!” Photo by @debb_a via Twenty20, not of anyone I know.
Sigh. I think something that would actually make America great would be to pay hard, honest workers a livable wage, with time off for holidays (or comp time if they choose to work holidays), and heck, maybe even parental leave when they have babies. Then I’d celebrate Labor Day with a happy heart.
The Hermits' Rest 