the birds, the birds!

Why can't work be more like Angry Birds?

I submit to you, readers: guilty as charged! I am an Angry Birds afficionado.  But nothing more.  Lately I've found myself slingshotting the adorable and talented flightless avians towards captive exotics' cages and evil monkeys while waiting for lunch, stuck in traffic (in the passenger seat only!), or taking a five-minute disengage break from the daunting number of tasks and the implications of sub-tasks at the new job.

In Angry Birds:

Tasks are clear.  The objective is directly in sight.  (Free the birds/kill the monkeys!)

If you make a mistake, you can start over immediately.  Especially helpful in that window of time between you knowing you missed that last monkey, and the moment the game picks up on that and taunts you with soul-tamping evil monkey laughs and "Level failed."

Every sub-task has a clear function (each bird has its own specialty).

When you get tired of it, you can close it - or revisit any level you know you kicked ass on.

Learning curves are clear; they show you the trail of the previous bird you've fired so you can easily modify your next try.

Maybe this post should be titled "Why Angry Birds is perfect for people with ADD," instead.

In my new job:
Many tasks are clear, but the path is not.  Three months from now, I need to have delivered a deliverable.  Some steps along the way are enumerated, but the onus is definitely on me to organize myself, hold myself and others accountable, and keep delivering.  Having lazed around for so long, with no one but myself and Jens to be held responsible to, I'd forgotten how it feels to be working for others.

Still, after five days in the job I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  It'll be a challenge the whole way through but I'm coming to terms with the pace of the day and how to talk to others.  Also I have to take initiative - which lately has become harder and harder for me, but in a new environment is easier.


As I've suddenly switched from zero commitment to 11-hour days (8:30am at work to 7:45pm finishing German), we have had to reconfigure who does the errands.  Jens, despite suffering an unknown bug all week, has been a saint in picking up our bagels, topping up the electricity, going shopping and anything else needing to be done during business hours.  I hope we can figure out a way to share the duties better, but this first week it's been a godsend.  And I'm finally motivated to get to bed early because I know I'll need all the sleep I can get to survive the week!

Jens has also committed to making tiramisu this week to use the mascarpone sitting in our fridge.  We've been looking for ladyfingers around here with no luck, so he's making those from scratch too.  Last night wasn't his best for baking but he's going for it again tonight.  You should be jealous of me, 'cause I'm about to have homemade tiramisu!