'Bred Crumbs

05:20 PM Another reason to have skipped a New Year's meditation is that, in fact, the calendar change did bring big real-life change to a few people I know, and to me. Today, I arrived at my new (smaller) cube in my new (smaller) workplace. I approached it with an attitude of coping and optimism and making the best of things.

That lasted about five minutes.

Companies these days pretend to make a big deal about "exceeding your expectations." Well, I entered with much lowered expectations, and my company still exceeded them.

Despite everything that wasn't right and complete and employee-friendly (ergonomics? Sorry, only for executives!), my mood backed away from blackened as the day wore on. Perspective returned; coping resumed (At least I still have a job, etc.) But the it-could-be-worse game is growing tiresome. A day will come again when companies have to go back to valueing employees. I look forward to it.

Meanwhile, I realize that my mood is colored by the Bay Area's biennial Winter of Unending Rain. But again: it could be worse. It could be Buffalo.

·  ·  ·

I don't do resolutions because I just break or forget them. A couple of recent years, I jotted down some off-hand goals/wishes that proved surprisingly prophetic, but I suspect that the more I think about such things the less likely they are to happen. This year, however, I am aware that I have developed, without really trying, a New Year's Philosophy -- a thought to hold hope for and test the truth of throughout the coming year.

It is this: in the past, I have oft bemoaned that I always find myself in the middle. But lately I'm thinking that the middle ground may in many respects be the most advantageous.

The postulate is hazy, but let the research begin.

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