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Calibration, Adult Development Theory
Mar. 11th, 2022 08:08 pmIsn't it funny how when things are peaceful, they can feel more boring? Not more boring to live, just more boring to tell about. Taxes were slurped out of my bank account and I'm playing Myst V with the bug... YAWN.
This week we did lots of calibration, yeah that thing where we rate all the engineers' work for the last six months. I had very little stress going in; the last several miserable cycles have made me a meticulous writer of notes, and this org is full of softies who don't bother crossing every T. So nobody assailed my notes, and I went in low on my one borderline case so that I could let the room argue me up. Now I seem competent, tough but fair. With that done, the next few weeks will be about promoting people. I'm having fun, which I haven't been able to say about work for a long time. Got some lawyers mad at me this week, but so it goes. I literally got hired because I could do that without freaking out.
An electrician came over and replaced some of our switches, including the crazy one that used to make our living room lights blink on and off incessantly. It was extremely quick/cheap as house things go, and now we have one kind of dimmer in the place instead of four different kinds. Plus a bathroom fan on a timer so that it will turn off after a while, yay! Later that same night I hung out with Helios and his new 3-D printer, and got it calibrated & working so that we could watch it print out a little cat toy. Yes, a people-toy making a cat toy. I guess that was Technology Day.
Wednesday I did my first complete run-throughs of my circus act to the music; it was moderately disastrous, as is expected & healthy, so we changed a few parts in response. Practiced some more today, until I was super tired and falling out of everything but at least understood the timing better. It looks like the show will be in person so, no matter what happens, there will be audience energy and people will clap... how utterly wild.
I've been experiencing some agitation. While I did get overstimulated yesterday, it's been mostly in the form of uncharitable impatience toward people on the forums I often lurk on (work, not here). I read a slide deck on Adult Development Theory and it kind of helped me figure out why I was so cranky -- it said that encountering earlier stages of development often triggers a sense of contempt or disdain (e.g., they're acting like a toddler) while encountering later stages of development often triggers incomprehension and fogginess (huh? that was some woo-woo stuff). I don't know how "right" the theory is overall, but it sure matches my cranky feelings this week. And when I look at slide 53, that's my entire last year. I live on that slide.
This week we did lots of calibration, yeah that thing where we rate all the engineers' work for the last six months. I had very little stress going in; the last several miserable cycles have made me a meticulous writer of notes, and this org is full of softies who don't bother crossing every T. So nobody assailed my notes, and I went in low on my one borderline case so that I could let the room argue me up. Now I seem competent, tough but fair. With that done, the next few weeks will be about promoting people. I'm having fun, which I haven't been able to say about work for a long time. Got some lawyers mad at me this week, but so it goes. I literally got hired because I could do that without freaking out.
An electrician came over and replaced some of our switches, including the crazy one that used to make our living room lights blink on and off incessantly. It was extremely quick/cheap as house things go, and now we have one kind of dimmer in the place instead of four different kinds. Plus a bathroom fan on a timer so that it will turn off after a while, yay! Later that same night I hung out with Helios and his new 3-D printer, and got it calibrated & working so that we could watch it print out a little cat toy. Yes, a people-toy making a cat toy. I guess that was Technology Day.
Wednesday I did my first complete run-throughs of my circus act to the music; it was moderately disastrous, as is expected & healthy, so we changed a few parts in response. Practiced some more today, until I was super tired and falling out of everything but at least understood the timing better. It looks like the show will be in person so, no matter what happens, there will be audience energy and people will clap... how utterly wild.
I've been experiencing some agitation. While I did get overstimulated yesterday, it's been mostly in the form of uncharitable impatience toward people on the forums I often lurk on (work, not here). I read a slide deck on Adult Development Theory and it kind of helped me figure out why I was so cranky -- it said that encountering earlier stages of development often triggers a sense of contempt or disdain (e.g., they're acting like a toddler) while encountering later stages of development often triggers incomprehension and fogginess (huh? that was some woo-woo stuff). I don't know how "right" the theory is overall, but it sure matches my cranky feelings this week. And when I look at slide 53, that's my entire last year. I live on that slide.
