darkholme

Blogging about work

I've only been in my job for a short time (two months++ on paper and one month+ in reality) but I've already added my colleagues on friendster, msn and started reading their blogs. Which is pretty amazing considering that after a year in previous company, I still haven't added my ex-colleagues (well, a few I have) to friendster.

I think it's partly the culture, plus the fact that in this job, I actually have a life outside of work. In previous company, we saw each other for such long periods that we didn't have to interact outside of work. And to be frank, I have more in common with my current colleagues than with those at my old company. It's just the different background and education that really makes a difference. Most of the people that I hang out with in this new job are most Arts/Soc. Sc. people and there's a bit more in common there. I think the shared experience of JC plus university does create certain common traits/trains of thoughts. There was a big difference in previous company where there were more poly grads. It's not an educational level thing, it's more of shared common experiences.

I'm also happier in general, so I think I'm able to express that side of me more in this job. Although I still feel lost, I know that there are people with a vast reservoir of knowledge and experience. Not like in the previous company where I had to rely on "my best guess" at crisis points. And when there was help, I wasn't sure whether they themselves were just hazarding their own guesses at what to do.

I do worry about whether I'm doing a good job so far, whether I'm up to standard, whether I'm making things more difficult for my colleagues rather than easing the workload. I'm just a natural worrier - if there's such a word. I think that I can do more, but again, I'm afraid of stepping on people's toes or crossing invisible boundaries.

So far, I'm trying to keep an open mind, work hard, work creatively and not have preconceived notions about anything. It's hard sometimes, but I do hope that I'm more positive than negative.

Wah, when did my blog become so super serious?

Let's tell a joke... Why does Tasmania move closer and closer to the main Australian continent each year?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Because Melbourne Sucks. That's a Sydneysider joke by the way.

Back to the serious tone of everything. I do see this divide within my organisation and I wonder if how it started and why it still exists. Besides the obvious reason, I think that there are some underlying currents that have caused the rift. I'm not keen on knowing why, but rather, I'm interested in how this divide can be closed (more towards my side of course ;) )

On Wednesday, we had this activity that is held roughly once a month. It's an informal sharing session where there's two topics of discussion that have been prepared by two officers. I was one of the officers assigned to do something on Wednesday. My colleague presented PostSecret http://postsecret.blogspot.com and I did music, in particular, local music. It's a bit late, but I wanted to express my thoughts on a particular issue that came up.

For my segment, I asked everyone to share their favourite song/band/album and what makes them like it. After the small group sharing, I called for volunteers to present to everyone the song, plus their sharing. One particular person had brought a DVD to play, but when it came to the sharing, the DVD malfunctioned, and displayed a dialogue box over a part of the video footage. When the malfunction happened, she continually bugged me to fix the problem so that the video could be shared properly. Now, I had limited time, so I really didn't want to waste it debugging problems with the machine, however she insisted.

I did get frustrated. After all, it was the music that I was interested in them sharing, rather than the footage. But she insisted and insisted. In a way, it was rather bossy of her. Thinking back on it, I really should've had better control of the situation, plus better control of my emotions and what I show outwardly. What I don't understand is why some people are so very particular about certain things. It's somehow more doing things without thinking. Well, to clarify, doing things but without looking at the bigger picture. Unfortunately, I can say anything bad to this person because they out rank me.

I would like to write more, but i'm really tired, so going to sleep. Seeya.

posted by kelvin @ 11:55 pm