August 30, 2005

My Lessons -- Listen Up Jon and Lilly!

Time to reevaluate.

Secrets my boss told me: "This job is bad for my health." "This company keeps telling people they're innovative. But they're NOT INNOVATIVE! They're afraid of innovation! Why? Because they are afraid of failure. You can't be innovative without the potential to fail. They try something risky, it fails, and they get fired."

1 You can only work for people that you like. 2 If you have a choice, never have a job. 3 Some people are toxic. Avoid them. 4 The good is the enemy of the great ... 7 How you live changes your brain. 8 Doubt is better than certainty. 9 Aging doesn't matter. 10 Tell the truth.

Jean's lessons for the kids:
A Commuting fuckin stinks, physically and ethically. Don't do it if you don't have to.
B If you're like me and you don't have to, don't ever take a job just for the money. It's LAME.
C Don't listen to people who tell you you're running out of time. You AREN'T.
D Don't take advice from people who are unhappy or mean. It didn't work for them. It won't work for you.
E Don't take other people's bullshit, especially if they try to sell it to you.
F Don't feel obligated to "turn the other cheek" if someone is a jerk. Get in their face and teach them a lesson.
G But don't ever be mean to young kids. They are the only innnocent beings in this world.

------

Sympathies to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Paris fires.

4 comments:

Miss J said...

thanks squeek. i should really try to put away all that liquor ... i know its getting kinda crazy, though, because i've been having dreams where i'm doing stuff with my coworkers at work for the past few nights.

i like eating at home in front of the stove this week. it feels really warm.

do you want to see 'a constant gardener'?

bruce said...

talk to strangers, no doubt!

i dig commutes, if it's by subway or bus. it's my comfort zone. feeling alone in a big thick crowd.

i don't agree with working only for people you like. i'm not talking about professionalism either, i'm wondering about comfort zones, and sticking to just the things that we know are true, and how maybe poking at the things you don't know, don't like, may break open surprising things.

Miss J said...

interesting point, bruce. i definitely agree commuting is cool -- if you aren't doing the driving. (with $3.00 a gallon at the pumps, it just gets more unthrilling)

the way i interpreted "work with people you like," was more like "work with people who more or less share your values." i agree it's a real learning experience working with people you wouldn't by choice become friends with. on the other hand, i think when you and your coworkers share similar values, it ignites something in you, and the work produced can become richer, the experience more profound.

Anonymous said...

just scrolling through your blog on an october thursday morning..

egads! i like eating (standing up) in my house's big industrial kitchen (if it isn't dirtay...).. there's a radio and stereo on the shelf perched above the counter near the stove... and the island-counter makes a nice small table for gatherings.. you just have to make sure you don't hit your head on any of the pans that are hanging above. it beats the adjacent dining room, with its cafeteria-style lighting and lack of curtains, and its size, and its grayness.

still, i'm getting burnt out from still being a student and still living in this house. however snotty or smarmy (love that word!) this sounds, it feels weird to need to shed skin when your friends and classmates seem to still cling to their skins. i could use a big brother around here! (not the authoritarian kind, though)

it sucks being a humanities major here. or at least a major that involves lots of, lots of word-honing. i definitely wish i could design my own study-load- music, computer design software, foreign films- without anyone questioning its significance. i think i also like to romanticize kids in the architecture department- studio life looks so fun!!! gush, gush, gush..

"don't listen to people who tell you you're running out of time." ok!