It is half-past midnight and I am writing this from the editing suite. My editor, my PM*, and I are pulling another all-nighter for a rush job that has to be approved tomorrow for airing the day after.
It's one of those hectic yet curiously non-toxic days. I was up at 6:00 a.m., was at client's by 8:00, got through 4 briefings for upcoming projects before the big client presentation at 10:30, then a couple more briefings right afterwards followed by an interlock**. Then it was off to the studio for a jingle revision, then pre-work with my editor, then home to finish rendering some animation, then back here to piece the rush job together in time for tomorrow's interlock.
I should be a wreck but I am oddly at peace.
Work is a godsend sometimes. And I don't mean its material rewards.
Work helps me take my mind off my private fears and worries and gives me something else to focus on. It makes me feel productive, that I've done something with my time today aside from plumbing the internet till my eyes bleed. It gives me a sense of control over things that have a definite beginning and a definite end. A sharp contrast to the rudderless ship that is my personal life, adrift in the doldrums, waiting for fair winds and seeking the North Star in an empty, moonless sky.
Purpose. For whatever it's worth, work gives you a sense of purpose. It may be shallow and insignificant when set against the panorama of The Big Picture, but God, as they say, is in the details.
At its noblest, the purpose of work is to give some meaning to being. And while I normally have no problem whatsoever doing absolutely nothing, I don't want absolutely everything to be nothing.
So thank God for work. For idle minds are indeed the devil's workshop, and mine needs a reprieve from the hammering of my personal demons.
And with that - gotta get back to work.
*Production Manager, aka the guy you ask if ten more Frappuccinos from Starbucks and two packs of cigs are still within the production budget.
** Interlock: The process wherein Client and Agency come together to view a communications material, usually followed by Client rendering said material unrecognizable as Creative slits its wrists while Accounts takes notes.
in regular doses, work really is a stress reliever for me :D
ReplyDeleteAll good things in moderation, indeed, doc. All play and no work makes Jack a null boy.
ReplyDeleteshe works hard for the money!
ReplyDeletelolz
work used to be awful when i was going through my emo sh*t but after some time, i realized it was an escape. a very welcome escape at that.
ReplyDeleteindeed, idle minds are the devil's workshop.
Hey, all. Just got home. We haven't finished yet, but we have to grab a few winks before resuming later.
ReplyDelete@Eternal Wanderer : Well, you know: no money, no honey.
@citybuoy : Hey, Nyl. I'm glad you discovered how work can save our sanity, strange as it may sound. I'm observed that many people tend to be very productive at work when their personal lives are in shambles. It's when they're giddy with glee with their lovelifes, in particular, that they tend to view work as an inconvenience.
What a strange and funny lot we are.
I like your job, that was my dream job before fate decided i'll excel in a different career path.
ReplyDeleteand i agree, work is a great way to preoccupy yourself while you're still searching.
"Work helps me take my mind off my private fears and worries and gives me something else to focus on. It makes me feel productive, that I've done something with my time today aside from plumbing the internet till my eyes bleed. It gives me a sense of control over things that have a definite beginning and a definite end. A sharp contrast to the rudderless ship that is my personal life, adrift in the doldrums, waiting for fair winds and seeking the North Star in an empty, moonless sky."
ReplyDeleteYou hit the spot dude. Somehow I find our entries interlocking...
when you read between the lines.
work kept me through during the worst of break-ups, that is, until i realized the beauty of spending, hehehe.
ReplyDelete@ Knox: "Interlocking" and "hitting the spot"...hmm! Haha I'm sure that wasn't a double entendre but I'm too groggy right now to read between the lines hehe.
ReplyDelete@john stanley : "I Shop, Therefore I Am."
work becomes an easy distraction and a convenient scapegoat for me during times of domestic conflicts. :)
ReplyDelete@ash: And that's why husbands often "work late." Interestingly, during the all-night editing I had in the post, I had an enlightening conversation with the two married guys I was working with. Regarding married life and why the missus can't understand it when they say they have to work late. But maybe that's best left for a future post.
ReplyDeleteYou, of course, straddle two worlds, which is why your story is most interesting. Thanks for dropping by!
so true! haha i think i'm living proof of that phenomenon. haha
ReplyDeletepurpose, that's what i've been missing lately simply because of the lack of interesting things to do.
ReplyDeletei better get a hobby or something. or go back to my bonsai gardening. hmmmm.
@ Mr. Scheez : Idleness can be a blessed thing. But too much of a good thing is still too much of a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThe prospect of sitting around doing nothing is terribly attractive, but as we've all experienced, having nothing to do can be as maddening as being swamped with things to do.
Balance, if I may belabor the obvious, is equilibrium. And curiously, balance is motion. You keep moving, shifting weight from one side to the other as needed to maintain your center of gravity.
It's when we lock ourselves into one position that we fall.