Mindless Labours
Do you sometimes like to lose yourself in your work?? This week I have focused on not pushing myself very hard and getting whatever rest I could in order to hasten the departure of this cold I've had. Today I was up around 2 p.m. and took a cup of coffee outside to enjoy while I shook out the webs. Looking about the yard I quickly realized I couldn't leave the lawns any longer - they needed a trim. I threw a load of laundry on, changed into my grubby work clothes, poured another coffee and was set to work before 3. I nailed Lynda with a request as she was coming in the door from work - I could get going on the front yard if you would pick up after the dogs out back???? Thanks hon.
The front lawn doesn't take long because we're on a court and the lot is pie shaped - narrow at the front and very wide out at the back lot line. The weather was perfect - sunny, not humid, mid 70's and we've had no recent rain so the grass had dried out nicely. With the front out of the way it was through the gate into the backyard and beginning the work with the downslope into the yard. With steady movement behind the mower and taking no breaks it still took almost 3 hours. But the nicest part of the whole thing was the timelessness of it... not having to think about what I was actually doing and letting my mind wander aimlessly, hither and yon. The only give away was the increasingly acute angle of the sunshine; the days are much shorter now. Hmmm.... the equinox is Monday coming.
(Point to consider - maybe I should start my own landscaping and lawn maintenance business)
Where did my mind venture to? Well, besides the usual family and work related sorts of things a lot of the time was spent on topics I read about on the blogs and also the folks I've come to care about through my regular reads. (Seems the blogs I enjoy most are written by women) That mindspace was a good place to be while the work lasted. Progress on the job at hand and doing it right but not having to be fully present while doing it. Cool.
In a way it reminded me of different sorts of work I've done over the years. I used to be a process camera operator and film stripper for a big commercial print operation. Some of the more complex jobs involved producing hundreds of film negatives, laying them up on mylar bases and masking them so we could make printing plates from them. Once started into a job like that you could easily lose all track of time as you applied yourself to the task.
Before that prepress work I had worked in a bindery on a variety of machines - stitchers, gluers, folders, guillotines - and mostly on large repetitious jobs. Detailed but mindless labour.
*On the downside of that - I just recalled a guy I took a course with once. He had worked at Kodak for about 20 years and for that entire time had run a folder producing those little inserts that used to go into each box of film - the ones that described the film specs. By the time I met him he was half nuts.
On the plus side - I can recall also during the times I had my home darkroom set up getting so absorbed in developing rolls of film, printing contact sheets and burning and dodging prints that I would be missing in action for 5 or 6 hours when I had only intended to devote a couple of hours to it.
Sitting here reflecting on some recent posts I've seen I might just have to cruise the art supplies stores and see what I can lend my hand to this winter. Link, link, link. Lots and lots of talented people out there to inspire me.
Heh, heh... just had a look at xfacta and Kel has a recent post about their lawn too. Nice, and acres bigger than mine. Shout out to Kel and Mr X across 10,000 miles.
Last night I took a couple of hours out to enjoy disc 2 from David Gilmour's 'Remember That Night' DVD set as a sort of memorial thing for Richard Wright. There is some great footage of him both on stage performing, and off stage being the fun gentleman that he was. He'll be missed. (I also found David's page on Facebook. On his, instead of becoming a facebook 'friend' you become a 'fan'. Now I'm there along with 17,000+ others.)
So?? What do you like to work at or indulge in so as to lose yourself?
(and no, JPW... I don't want to hear about your sex life. Thanks anyway.)
The front lawn doesn't take long because we're on a court and the lot is pie shaped - narrow at the front and very wide out at the back lot line. The weather was perfect - sunny, not humid, mid 70's and we've had no recent rain so the grass had dried out nicely. With the front out of the way it was through the gate into the backyard and beginning the work with the downslope into the yard. With steady movement behind the mower and taking no breaks it still took almost 3 hours. But the nicest part of the whole thing was the timelessness of it... not having to think about what I was actually doing and letting my mind wander aimlessly, hither and yon. The only give away was the increasingly acute angle of the sunshine; the days are much shorter now. Hmmm.... the equinox is Monday coming.
(Point to consider - maybe I should start my own landscaping and lawn maintenance business)
Where did my mind venture to? Well, besides the usual family and work related sorts of things a lot of the time was spent on topics I read about on the blogs and also the folks I've come to care about through my regular reads. (Seems the blogs I enjoy most are written by women) That mindspace was a good place to be while the work lasted. Progress on the job at hand and doing it right but not having to be fully present while doing it. Cool.
In a way it reminded me of different sorts of work I've done over the years. I used to be a process camera operator and film stripper for a big commercial print operation. Some of the more complex jobs involved producing hundreds of film negatives, laying them up on mylar bases and masking them so we could make printing plates from them. Once started into a job like that you could easily lose all track of time as you applied yourself to the task.
Before that prepress work I had worked in a bindery on a variety of machines - stitchers, gluers, folders, guillotines - and mostly on large repetitious jobs. Detailed but mindless labour.
*On the downside of that - I just recalled a guy I took a course with once. He had worked at Kodak for about 20 years and for that entire time had run a folder producing those little inserts that used to go into each box of film - the ones that described the film specs. By the time I met him he was half nuts.
On the plus side - I can recall also during the times I had my home darkroom set up getting so absorbed in developing rolls of film, printing contact sheets and burning and dodging prints that I would be missing in action for 5 or 6 hours when I had only intended to devote a couple of hours to it.
Sitting here reflecting on some recent posts I've seen I might just have to cruise the art supplies stores and see what I can lend my hand to this winter. Link, link, link. Lots and lots of talented people out there to inspire me.
Heh, heh... just had a look at xfacta and Kel has a recent post about their lawn too. Nice, and acres bigger than mine. Shout out to Kel and Mr X across 10,000 miles.
Last night I took a couple of hours out to enjoy disc 2 from David Gilmour's 'Remember That Night' DVD set as a sort of memorial thing for Richard Wright. There is some great footage of him both on stage performing, and off stage being the fun gentleman that he was. He'll be missed. (I also found David's page on Facebook. On his, instead of becoming a facebook 'friend' you become a 'fan'. Now I'm there along with 17,000+ others.)
So?? What do you like to work at or indulge in so as to lose yourself?
(and no, JPW... I don't want to hear about your sex life. Thanks anyway.)
posted by Norm at 9/20/2008 12:29:00 AM
7 Comments:
well, as per your links and mentions [thanx] creating stuff is something i love to immerse myself in
and mowing [on a tractor] is very meditative
Painting takes me into the zone. :)
Good blog title:
"The Only Constant is Change"
No change means
__flat lining__
which is death...eh? :O
Besides give me change any day...stagnant is suffocating and boring!!
I like your writing style..it's honest and raw.
Good energies and peace of heart to you!
~gypsy-heart
Hiya Kel - good to hear from you.
I should swing by for your next workshop session perhaps to help me find my groove.... it's been a long while since I sat down to apply myself to anything artistic and need to give the right side of my brain a kick start.
Hi gypsy-heart - thanks for stopping by and for your positive comments.
I stumbled on you by following my nose though numerous links and I'm glad I did. I'll be checking through your archives to get a better sense of what you're all about. Looking forward to that...
JPW - the bait worked and you bit. I know you check in but you rarely comment. I was just trying to get a rise out of you.
Dinner sounds good - this week is good for me; Lynda is on afternoons. How's your schedule?
The job search continues to be local - durham.
Talk soon I hope.
Your very covert my friend. I can make myself available for thursday if that works?
It'd be nice to see you. Shall it be Swiss or something other than?
Let me know.
JPW - Thursday is good. Check your inbox.
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