Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Loss of Perspective

Later this week, I'll be going from this view:

To this view.

I'm kind of dreading it. I love my windows. I get to see the trees change with the seasons. I get to watch weather roll in and out. I like seeing the same people and the same dogs walk by every day, like my own personal reality TV show. (Incidentally, when I was walking back from dropping the car off to have its tires changed the other day, one of the regular walkers said "Good morning!" to me, which was crazy surreal: like suddenly bumping into Jack Bauer or Lady Mary at the grocery store.) I like the sunshine, when we get it. I don't spend *all* my time staring out the window, of course, but it's nice that it's there.

The move is necessary: we have a new employee who will need to be next to the person who will be training her. So off I go. But yeah, I'm a little stressed about giving up my view.

I had a dream the other night that we were moving our office into the run-down underground NATO bunker I worked in for awhile in Germany, complete with guarded turn-stile entry, backed-up sewage smells and occasional power glitches. Definitely no windows in that place. Maybe my subconscious is telling me it could be worse.

I did joke that they should really get me a lava lamp or *something* to look at. And one of the other tech support guys suggested maybe he could rig up a webcam, so I could at least look out the window via my computer....

On the plus side, I'll be closer to the kitchen, so I can mainline green tea and Jif honey peanut butter without disturbing anyone else. Score!

5 comments:

Bill M said...

Well, you could be working in a coal mine.

Elizabeth H. said...

Yep. Could be a lot worse places! I've *been* a lot of worse places, for that matter: that bunker, a building where we had steam coming up through the floor on occasion, a re-purposed closet (really), and a server room built into a vault, where the A/C ran so cold, one of the guys used to stash Red Bull in one corner instead of bothering with a fridge. All of which are better than a coal mine.

But I'll still miss the interaction with the world. And that wall seriously needs a picture, at least.

Scott K said...

There's not a lot of romance in that second view, can I say!
That said, I once worked in a department where a woman was so depressed about being locked in a viewless room, that she brought in a large window frame - complete with glass, and hung it on the wall behind her desk. Later on I got hold of a ledlight window of my own and have had it sitting on a wall section behind my own desk - and I have to say, it kept me a little more sane.

Also, take this opportunity to find an inspiring piece of art from a local artist. If not your own artwork, and use that space to find a different kind of inspiration.

Elizabeth H. said...

If nothing else, maybe I can ask for a cork board. I do love a good cork board....

notagain said...

A similar thing happened to me when they remodeled. I had to take my plants home. I hope you get a window again soon.