Author Journey (October 14, 2024)
Last week reminded me how ridiculous it is that I’m being forced back to a physical office. We finally achieved a great work-life balance, but that’s being tossed aside to please a bunch of managers who are realising they aren’t needed!
Author Journey (October 14, 2024)
Favourite Moment!
Since I’ve built up a pretty good running streak, I was keen to see what other streaks I could work on. Because I’m watching an episode of anime while I run, that was already on a good streak, so I didn’t have to worry about that. So, the big wins were to focus on reading manga and writing. I’m delighted to say that one of them went really well. The other suffered from three Real-Life Family Events that blew up Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. As a result, building any sort of momentum was hard. So, the real highlight for me was the amount of manga I was able to read.
I have reduced the number of running sessions I do each day which has allowed me to build a schedule that includes reading a book and writing a post. That went really well as I managed to read at least one volume every day. Some days, I even managed to get through two as I find it’s easier to read in the gaps at work (when I’m working from home) and when the kids are around on work days. I’m not sure how that’s going to work once I’m back in the office as I can’t exactly bring my kids with me and taking time off won’t help anyone, because the work will wait until I come back. As you may tell, I’m not overly impressed by the change in direction. Anyhow, the streaks went well.
The Week That Was…
With the reduced running sessions, that meant less anime watched. I also didn’t do any in the evenings as I was focused on trying to get my writing going again. There were a couple of false starts and then the Real-Life Family Events sapped my focus and energy, but there was some progress and given how well I integrated reading manga into the daily schedule, I think I can do the same with writing. I just need to get the ball rolling and then it’ll be easy again.
I finished watching the first season of Hunter x Hunter and had a great time. Now, I have to get together my images and write up a review. After that, I decided to take a brief break from Hunter x Hunter to jump into another show for a little while. I’m revisiting One-Punch Man since I never actually reviewed season one. I have reviewed eleven volumes of the manga so this should tie in nicely. I’m already loving it again after the first couple of episodes. I might go straight into season two before returning to Hunter x Hunter.
I managed to read a volume of manga every single day this week, which was impressive. Not only that, but I’ve also changed my schedule for the next couple of weeks to focus on manga reviews along with a solitary anime review. I’m sure that’ll change as my routine changes with the return to the office, but I wanted to have a bit of a buffer going into that.
I had a couple of writing sessions and while each one went fine, I ended up not feeling it the next time I came back to the document. It didn’t have the energy that I wanted this story to deliver, so I’ve been going over a more exciting way to start things and I think I have it. Now, to see if I can fit it into my schedule.
Anime!
- Dorohedoro (Season One)
- Dorohedoro (OVA) – Bonus Curse or Extra Evil
- Gods’ Game We Play (Season One) – Kami wa Game ni Ueteiru.
Manga!
- Parallel Paradise (Volume 6) – This is Your Reality Now!
- Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess (Volume 5) – The Magic of Punching!
- Kaiju No. 8 (Volume 9) – Harbingers of the Cataclysm!
Goals
| Tasks | Goal | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Anime Watched | 3 Episodes | 13 Episodes |
| Manga Read | 3 Books | 11 Book |
| Posts Scheduled | 7 Posts | 11 Posts |
| Chapters Written | 2 | A bunch of words… |
| Chapters Edited | 2 | N/A |
| Artwork | Cover | N/A |
Aspirations for the week!
Today is a public holiday in Canada – Canadian Thanksgiving which feels like a bit of a slap in the face given that tomorrow, the work-life balance that I have been searching for is about to be upended. The worst part is that I know it’s going to be a massive waste of time. It’s going to impact my ability to maintain the flow of my personal life and my work life is going to be less productive. I’m going to track everything so that I have plenty of ammunition to report on when the annual staff satisfaction surveys appear. I can already tell you that I will not be satisfied. Anyhow, that just makes me all the more determined to get my writing going and work on an escape plan. It’s not as if I need to be an international bestseller or anything like that. Earning enough to cover my existing salary would be plenty. So, I have to get my butt in gear. I need to channel this rage into an action-packed adventure.
Unfortunately, this all means that this week will be full of unknowns. Hopefully, I’ll have a better idea of how this new situation is going to work and how best to make the most of it, since I can’t see it going back unless there is company-wide dissatisfaction. If anything, I think they’ll try to slip even further back towards the old way of working, despite the numerous studies that show how effective it is and how it opens the workplace to more people. Anyway, I’ve got an escape plan to put into action. Thanks for reading!
What is up with managers? My husband is having the same troubles at work. Managers change things and aren’t helpful. The latest was cameras on and (get this) work standing up. From home. At a computer.
Sorry to hear you’ll be back in an office, since working from home is so healthy for families. I hope they realize it’s a mistake. Glad you’ve been able to read so much manga and watch anime! Happy Thanksgiving 😊🌹
Yeah. It’s like they don’t want to let go of the old ways despite what all the research is showing. Now, I’m going to go spend two days a week in a cubicle where I likely won’t speak to anyone face to face anyhow. I once had a manager who insisted that everyone wear a tie and ask at least one question in every meeting. He used to track it too. I’d have to listen to my colleagues asking the most pointless questions that just made the meeting go on longer.
I hope so too. The future is not office based. Working from home when it works for the job makes so much more sense and it enables many more people to be able to work. Either they trust us to do the job they hired us for, or they shouldn’t have hired us. We don’t need managerial babysitters. And, thanks!
The sad thing is, it’s even worse than you think. A lot of it has to do with commercial real estate values. Lower occupancy means a) a reduced tax base and b) reductions in the value of some portfolios. If it were only local managers, we could deal with the problem through education and training. As it is, only political will could change the taxation laws and rebalance portfolios. And I’m not sure any of us really have political representation that’s interested.
RTO disrupts the lives of individuals — specifically, those individuals whose job doesn’t need to be in-person, which is, IMNSHO, about 70% of them. It also increases resource consumption.
There’s debate on who said it, but I am warming up to the saying that this is the first generation that won’t try to save itself because it’s not cost effective. MBAs will be the death of us all.
Yeah. That’s really sad. I appreciate that it’s not my direct manager or even their manager that is making these decisions, but at the same time, I’m so fed up of this society protecting failing organisations and out of date business practices. What ever happened to evolution and adapting to the situation. If a company can’t adapt, good riddance. Something new will take it’s place.
There are so many benefits from working from home that it’s become a bit of a joke that they even considered going back to the way it was in the first place. Increased traffic and the impact on the environment. Opening the work place to people with disabilities. It’s easier for parents to work and changing back to physical offices will impact women more than it will men. And not to mention the impact on mental health. I’m already anxious about how I’m going to fit everything in now that I’ve got to spend two days a week at a significantly reduced productivity level.
The entire system is broken. Maybe, this is why Isekai stories are so popular? I’d take being an adventurer over this garbage any day of the week.