2005-08-09, 10:13 AM — on the phones
So. After a ... seven? eight? year hiatus, I'm back on the phones. Not telemarketing... just for one day to help out with an emergency project... but still.
I have strange feelings about phoning people on behalf of businesses. I don't mind it; it's kind of nice, because I can completely divorce myself from whatever reaction I get. It's faceless calling. Part of the reason I don't like the phone is because every call you make (except in this sort of situation) is attached to someone who then has some sort of personal relationship with you because you've made the phonecall.
In this case, once I've hung up, I'm done. I will never have to talk to those people again, and those people will never associate me with the company I'm calling on behalf of. It's a strange kind of freedom. Even if I meet those people on the street, they'll never know that it was me. I like that anonymity. At the same time, I get to talk to people, maybe help them with a problem they're having. That's kind of nice too.
I've always sort of enjoyed talking to people I'll never see again. That's part of what I enjoyed about interpretation, too. Even if I developed a relationship with people, it was superficial; I'd see them every once in a while, we'd chat about stuff, I'd show them some cool bugs, and then they'd leave and I'd go back to talking to people I didn't know. It's just when I start to know people that I get stressed about it.
2005-07-28, 09:39 AM — self-employment: lessons in procrastinating
Ah, working from home: the surefire way to ensure that I will never be able to work effectively again.
The problem has become (as you can tell from the fact that I am writing here rather than reading the oh-so-fascinating book on selling by referral in front of me) that my attention span is dwindling. I have no focus. I would rather be doing anything but working, and therefore find ways to do that. It might be good for my creativity, in that I am coming up with many more ways to procrastinate than I previously thought possible... but it's not good for my employment prospects.
I try to tell myself that if I actually worked at something I enjoyed, this wouldn't be an issue, and that's probably partially true. But I'm not sure. I think that maybe by attaching the word "work" to it, I might end up trying not to do it by default.
Oh well. Bill Cates is beckoning. I'll be back to check for comments in ten minutes.
2005-07-19, 09:00 AM — Half-Blood Prince anyone?
Read Potter on the weekend. Still recovering. Mentally from the shock... oh yes, there are several shocks... and physically from not moving for something like seven hours at a time. My neck kills.
My personal review:
Good. Not as bloated with subplots as its predecessor. Fairly streamlined, even. However, not enough interaction with several of my favourite characters. Or... well, most other characters, really. The first two chapters are very promising, and then most of the rest of the book reads like a big conspiracy theory, and it's a little frustrating, frankly. I -really- missed hearing anything about Harry's school time. It reads a little like J.K.R. forgot that her protagonist was actually at school, and just kept throwing quick reminders in every once in a while. Not nearly enough Quidditch. It also doesn't have the same sense of humour as the other books do. The other books have their serious parts, but they have amusing parts, too; this book wasn't as dark in many ways as some of the others, but there wasn't much to lighten the mood, either.
All of that said... I liked it. It's better than Chamber of Secrets, certainly, and it's better in some ways than Order of the Phoenix, which I think I liked more, when I think about it. It doesn't top Goblet of Fire by any means, and it doesn't come close to Prisoner of Azkaban.
Now, of course, by reading it so quickly after it came out, I have two-plus years to wait for the conclusion, which is going to be a wee bit brutal. The last couple of chapters of this book threw everything I thought I knew out the window.