Ma! I'm gonna be in pictures!

I stumbled across something new at Amazon.com today.  Amazon Studios  If you ever wanted to make a movie or write a screenplay or critique a movie, you need to check this out. 

"What is Amazon Studios?" you ask and I'm glad you did because otherwise this would be one short post.

To paraphrase Amazon Studios, Amazon Studios has a role for filmmakers, screenwriters, and movie fans. 

1. You can make an inexpensive test movie that might become a full-budget, star-studded Hollywood production.
2. You can enter that original screenplay that you've been working on in secret for the past 12 years.  It might become a full-budget, star-studded Hollywood production.
3. Don't want to make movies or write a script, but you love movies and know what you like?  You can write reviews and participate in forums.

"Hmmm, sounds like fun," she said playfully. 
"Sounds like work.  So what's in it for me?" he asks lazily.
 
According to Amazon Studios, you can:

1. Win money.  Monetary prizes are awarded monthly. 
2. Get noticed.  Not just by the "general public", but by studios, agents, directors, Mickey Mouse.  OK, I just threw in Mickey Mouse to see if you were paying attention or trying to remember where you put your camera.
3. Get your movie made.  To quote Amazon Studios, "The goal of Amazon Studios is to work with Hollywood to turn the best projects into major feature films."

So don't just sit there, go to Amazon Studios and start on the road to becoming rich and famous.

Another Day Another Half-Dollar

We have a new employee at the Dumass Corporation and let me tell you he's real Dumass material.   I have never seen a new employee quite like this one. 

• In less than 3 months, he has irritated, annoyed, and offended everyone in the office at least once.
• We quickly learned that he's just not manipulative, but will out-right lie about his co-workers to cover his mistakes and shortcomings.
• He missed training given by the manager even though he was in the office and not working on anything, but then he had the nerve to request that she give him the training later, one-on-one.
• He wasn't working on anything because we can't get him trained.  Either he can't follow written or oral instructions or he's so arrogant he thinks he doesn't need to. 
• When we do give him a simple task, he never gets it done by the deadline.  (Personally, I would be bored out of my gourd sitting around doing next to nothing for 3 months.)
• He gives the impression that he thinks our work isn't important enough for him to bother doing.
• When he makes mistakes (and he often does), it's never his fault.  It's always your fault, or your training, or your instructions, or the process, or the computer system, or because it's a day of the week ending in "day". 
• I found out today that he was ignoring my emails because I hurt his feelings.  I admit I was blunt and truthful.  More so than I usually am, but I tried being nice and he took that as a sign he could walk all over me.   Instead of trying to do a better job so I couldn't find anything negative about his work, he tried to be more annoying.   Yep, he's real Dumass material, all right

If you're going to do a job, do it to the best of your ability.  Earn your half-dollar.  Don't half-ass it.   Or some gray-haired old lady is liable to come along and give the other half a good swift kick. 

What a Day!

Come to think of it maybe I should say, "What A Week!" and it's only Wednesday.  First, I had Monday and Tuesday off work.  That's always a good thing.

But I took my car to the dealership on Tuesday to get an oil change and Pat noticed I hadn't had any routine maintenance done lately so "we" changed the oil and all the fluid in the car and did an alignment which was probably a good thing the way I've been dodging pot holes all year.  So it cost about $500 for an oil change.

Then I went to work today, back at the good ol' Dumass Corporation.   I made a start on the emails, but then got called into a meeting less than 30 minutes into the day and about 15 minutes after it was out, I got called into another meeting where the IT guy explained that we think our computers run slow because they are.  (IT guys are always so helpful.)   As soon as that meeting was done, the woman who drives me to work had to go home so I had to leave with her, come home, and then drive myself back to work instead of having a lunch hour and I was back in the office less than 15 minutes before we had another meeting and after an hour I had to leave that meeting to go to another meeting. And when that was over, I tried to wade through some more emails.  So I was at work till 6:30 even though I got to work at 8:15 and I still didn't get any thing accomplished.

So Whew!  What a day!

Retirement

Retirement is beckoning me.  I almost retired from my current job a few months ago, but I didn't.  Now, I keep thinking how pleasant it would be to retire and not have to go to that job that I don't like at that office that I don't like in the building that I don't like. 

But then I think if I retire there will be a lot of knowledge going to waste, not to mention reference books.  These are things I can't use much in retirement.  I like the work I do, it's just the job that makes the work so unrewarding at the present time.  "So," you say, "Get another job or stop your whining."  The problem is there are few jobs in my line of work.  Not just a few jobs in this city or this state, but in the whole country.  That only leaves "Stop your whining".  Or retirement.

Being an analytical person I've tried to analyze what makes a job good vs intolerable, thinking that if I knew I could change it from barely tolerable to good, or at least "not too bad".  Different people have different ideas about ideal jobs, but in general I have found for a job to be tolerable:

1. The work has to be tolerable.  It may not be work you like, but it should at least be tolerable.  I don't like rote work, but other people prefer it.  I'm glad they do because I'm not good at it.  What I'm saying is that every job needs a worker and I really do appreciate those that work at jobs I can't do, or don't want to do, or couldn't do even if I wanted to. 
2. The people you work with have to be tolerable. I like to work with mature, intelligent people with the same work ethic I have. And by mature I don't mean in age. I once worked with a 17 year old that was more mature than other co-workers that were in their 30's. I don't like working with people who are always trying to figure out the best way to get out of work. Or who do as little work as possible and complain that they never get raises. Or who, pardon the phrase, half-ass their work and still get raises.  I like working with people who feel the same way about the job that I do so I have someone to complain with.  I have read that complaining together is a great bonding tool for co-workers.
3. The boss has to be tolerable.   The bosses nearest in you on the organization ladder affect your job daily, but the ones farther away still count.   I prefer a boss that gives direction then backs off and lets me get results me own way.  I work hard so the boss, the company, gets good results.  Some of the bosses I've worked with have realized that.  Others are so self-absorbed they assume that any work done in their department is because of their great leadership.  For some reason, those same bosses rarely accept responsibility for any failures in their unit. 
4. The office has to be tolerable.  Not too hot, not too cold, not too crowded, not too far away.   I'm fairly flexible on this one - my tolerance level for my physical environment is fairly high.  Doesn't mean that I wouldn't like the corner office with private bathroom, it just means I know I'll never have that.  Unless I work at home. 
5. The paycheck has to be tolerable.  Bottom line is always money.  You need enough to make the job worth doing, but not so much that you wouldn't appreciate more.

Sometimes all she does is complain

Sometimes I feel like all I do is complain.  But it's not my fault that people are so blasted irritating.  It's not my fault that they've exceeded my crap tolerance for one lifetime.

Sometimes I know I have no right to complain.  Things could be so much worse.  I'm fairly healthy - most of the time.  I still have a brain that works - most of the time.  The little voices inside my head don't really bother me - most of the time.  Except ....

Sometimes when they tell me I'm ungrateful for the blessings I have.  When they tell me to suck it up and stop my whining.   They don't really bother me then, it's just that

Sometimes they tell me I can't.  And that I never will.  That I'm too old and I wasted my youth waiting for some time to happen.  That I'm too stupid and it's too late to learn now.   That I'm too short, too wide, too too.

Sometimes I just like complaining.