November 19, 2007

One of those days . . .

I do this all the time.

I leave something sitting out on my desk to remind me to do something. I get so used to seeing it there and one day, I pick it up and throw it away or put it somewhere. A few minutes later, I remember picking it up and putting it somewhere, but I can't figure out where it is that I put it. It's almost like those few minutes of my life have been lost forever. Like I enter some sort of "clearing my desk" trance that leaves me with a cleaner desk, but a lot more frustrated.

Right now, I've lost the code for my three free special effects for my video editing program. How will I ever add that "dream sequence" to the staff video without them?!

My office is kind of a breeding ground for lost items. Have I ever written about my office? My office is in a travel trailer. I have one end, our summer program assistants work at the center desks, and Kyle has the other end (with all the windows . . . not that I'm bitter). My end has a couch, so that I have a place to take a nap for people to sit when I meet with them. This couch was also where Jack napped this summer. When I say "travel trailer" you might be thinking that it's a travel trailer made after 1960. But you would be wrong. It's definitely a mid-century gem. Wood paneling, old light fixtures . . . let's just call it antique.

Beside a couch, I have a makeshift desk using four of those cube storage things made of wood-looking laminate (you know, like you get at Target) with a wood-laminate countertop balanced precariously between them.

In the corner of my office is a printer stand that was created for those old dot matrix printers that fed paper up from the shelf below through a hole in the top of the stand . . . do you know which kind I'm talking about? Anyway, my color laser printer sits there. I really do love this printer. It's two years old, so I know there are newer, better ones on the market, but it malfunctions less than any other printer I own. The printer stand is on wheels and the floor in the corner of my office slants toward my desk, so we have wood under the right side to keep it level. That's right. The floor curves up toward the wall. I could open my own skate park in here . . .

On my desk I have a fantastic scanner that I couldn't do without. I like it because it can stand upright which frees up a lot of desk space. My last scanner was donated by my parents and was purchased more than 10 years go. This one is a huge upgrade. The computer on my desk belongs to Kyle and I. It's a Sony Vaio and I love it very much. We bought it 2 1/2 years ago and it's starting to show it's age, but she still runs well. Also, at any given time you can find 3 - 12 half-full bottles of diet coke or water scattered around my desk.

The most important thing to understand about my office is that most surfaces are covered with a thick layer of dirt. Not dust. Dirt. The roads out here are dirt and people who drive by our office don't always follow the 10 MPH speed limit. Also, most surfaces are littered with clutter . . . and honestly, it's not just because of Kyle and I. Stuff gets dumped in here when people don't know what else to do with it. Plus, there are things in here that we inherited when we moved into the office. The window on my door is covered with brown paper so that the sun doesn't create a glare on my computer monitor.

This is where I work. Every day.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about my walls . . . they're as cluttered as my desk is. There are photographs, article clippings, a calendar, magnetic strips, and my framed Bachelor of Arts degree from Greenville College to remind me that I spent $100,000 for a quality education that has allowed me to work at camp. There's a space right next to it for my Master's degree as soon as I finish the thesis (which, by the way, is actually coming along) . . . . to remind me that I went to school even longer and paid even more to stay right where I am.

I love my job(s) at camp, but wouldn't you lose stuff too if you worked here?

3 comments:

heather.snider said...

Yes..yes I would lose stuff. But you forgot to mention the tracings above the door where you are going to make a Head Door (like a doggie door). You describing your office, made me miss SBC. So thanks for that!

Anonymous said...

It's not just ANY camp! It's Somerset. :-) (And maybe you wouldn't have known about Somerset ... or met your husband ... or had your new baby ... without that Greenville College experience. :-)) Let's not take this life for granted now, Sara. Some of us SBC alums miss the place ... dirty office and all. :-)

Kyle Luke said...

I'm definitely not putting down my experiences at either Greenville or Huntington . . . I love GC, and I have moderate feelings toward Huntington. I'm just questioning why after all of this time and money spent on education I'm still working at camp. And I love working at camp. But, you know . . . it's just one of those days.