Dim Sum at Ranch 99 this morning - man are those Sesame Balls
tasty! The store's audio system seemed to be fully operational
now - but the music was atrocious. That cheesy Asian karaoke
sound, all the songs sounding alike; atypically the singer sang
in English, performing these standards while I was there:
- Me & You (and a dog named Boo)
- Song Sung Blue
- (If You Come To) San Francisco (Flowers/Hair/etc)
- Tie A Yellow Ribbon
Back on the road again. Me and you and a dog named..."
Went in to work today, but mostly just to play
with PhotoShop. Learned about Layers and made my first
grids. Much tedium creating little graphics which I
took home & converted into animated GIFs - the cartoonist's
life is quite boring. Did a bit of word processing while
there, composing my Performance Appraisal (or "review"),
a yearly chore I believe most computer professionals
undergo. The mechanics of this task in my company (and
perhaps most) is describing in varying detail what my job
is. This is one's chance to detail all of the
accomplishments worth reporting over the past twelve
months - and there are some who actually believe the
text's content is linked with the magnitude of their
annual salary increase and possibly even opportunities
for advancement & job-title elevation. A book I once
read <1>
characterized this type of worker as "Believers" - those
with faith in the system, who think hard work is the one
True Way to Get Ahead. The book also described the two
other main types of employees: "Rebels" and "Game Players".
Rebels have the requisite skills to get the actual work
done, so they can name their tune; Game Players observe
the unwritten rules and do what it really takes to move
up their specific company's ladder. Since I now have that
mature wisdom that sees everything in shades of gray, I
realize that nobody fits these molds precisely, so I
characterize myself as a Rebel/Game Player, with
emphasis on the first. Also I'm now an "old timer" who
no longer has the ambition to climb that ladder, or
desire to taste the false fruits that come with each
higher rung.
The title of today's episode comes from "200 Motels", the Frank Zappa/Mothers Of
Invention film. As I pulled into the parking lot at work, listening to the excellent soundtracks
program KFJC does on Saturday Mornings (Robert Emmett's "Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show")
he was playing the very cut which contains this line, one of that movie's oft-repeated
phrases from my Senior Year at High School.