7 Quick Takes: Weather complaints, job complaints and my bout with author jealousy



--- 1 ---

I try so hard not to comment on the weather all the time, but how can I help being a bit distracted by 80 degree weather in JANUARY?!?  Don't get me wrong -- the sunny warm days are gorgeous.  I just can't quite wrap my brain around going bare-legged and shirt-sleeves in JANUARY!  For crying out loud, we slept with a fan blowing air in from our open bedroom window last night. 

 When I read all the teeth-chattering facebook reports from friends and family freezing up in the Northeast I feel a bit more grateful.  

--- 2 ---

I'd planned to keep our cheery Hot Cocoa Station on the counter all winter, but honestly it feels a bit strange looking at it, standing in my kitchen, warm breeze blowing through the open windows.


--- 3 ---

In the past few weeks I've experienced a bout with jealousy that I'm guessing is part of my normal development as an aspiring writer.  At least I've heard before that envy is one of the maladies keeps an author awake at night.  Seems the anxiety is triggered by her discovery that someone else beat her to print with a successful piece based on the very same idea she'd been contemplating.  And this happened to me -- twice in less than a week.

My problem seems to be that I do more contemplating than actual writing.  And the writing I do doesn't know how to get dressed up enough to knock on the front door of anyone who'd want to print it.  

I confess: this keeps me tossing and turning at night.  

In my personal reading through the spiritual disciplines I left off at the practice of praying for others to succeed.  I really need to start meditating on that again.

Also, I need to write more.

--- 4 ---

I thoroughly enjoyed reading a this post at 22 Words featuring the graphic collaboration of Irish creative companies.  The Sharp Suits series transformed the ill-crafted and ridiculous client feedback they receive into a series of illustrated posters.  A bit snarky, maybe, but really funny anyway.  (Perhaps to soothe any guilt they might feel, the series was created as both creative catharsis and charity fundraiser.)


And it got me to thinking about all sorts of client feedback that could be creatively re-worked to help us laugh at the ridiculous conversations we get ourselves into at work each day.  I thought about my dad's vocation as a pastor and admit to some vengeful daydreaming what his series of posters could look like.  I'm guessing teachers could fill several galleries with re-designed ridiculous criticism.  Carpenters, doctors, daycare providers, nurses, chefs, professors all top contenders; still, I'm willing to bet if clergy and ministry leaders of all sorts collaborated their inboxes full of critique they'd win hands down.

--- 5 ---

Here's another of my favorites: 


--- 6 ---

Even in my day job as a part-time office assistant for an appliance repair company I've accumulated quite enough bits of crazy criticism for a few postcard prints at least.  Off the top of my head, three examples that'd be pretty easy to re-work in a snarky graphic:  the woman who kept yelling she was 11 weeks post-partum as an accusation that we thought her complaint was stupid and the man who told us that if we didn't give him the appointment time he wanted that old ladies would die in the Emergency Room where he works because he wouldn't be there to save them.  I'm betting something fun could also come from the guy who called out a repairman because his freezer was so cold he couldn't reach in the ice cream bucket and dip a scoop as easily as he'd like.  

 Any of my graphic artist friends want to work something up with that? 

--- 7 ---

For your weekend browsing, a few links to share:
Also, I'd love to hear some of the best worst feedback you've gotten at your job.  Do share with us in the comment box, won't you??
A beauty and grace-filled weekend for us all, dear ones.

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Tamara Hill Murphy7 quick takes, finding Tamara, graphic art2 Comments