My World With Words

Today’s Bloganuary prompt is, “what is your dream job?” which I’ve written about before and for which I don’t have a new spin. Since it’s Saturday, oops, make that Caturday, I’m sharing this picture of Walter taking a nap. Babies and cats are often at their cutest when they’re asleep, and Walter is proving that point. Ah, he’s always cute, but I’m glad he’s content in my box of quilts.

Image Credits: Paws in Heart © Bigstock; Cesar Cat © Belinda O

Twenty-five years ago, I started a job that proved to be very difficult, except for one thing: I had a great manager. She was very matter-of-fact and to the point, and you always knew where you stood with her. But generally she accepted people as they were and you stood in good stead. Assuming, of course, you were getting your work done.

I think being a good manager is a difficult thing. I’ve worked many jobs over the years, and there have been people I’ve liked who shouldn’t be in positions of authority, and others who’ve been a pleasure to work for because they had natural skills. Developing management skills if you don’t have the personality for that sort of thing is a challenge. I won’t say impossible, but not everyone is up for it. Still, they get the management jobs anyway.

I share a one quality with my dad when it comes to management, and that is, we don’t want those jobs. When I was in communications, I wanted to write and create. I had a supervisor who just didn’t get that. He was on the fast track and was doing everything possible to get promoted (which he did, he has a high-level position now). I’d say he wasn’t a good people person because he didn’t understand that not everyone thought like he did. Maybe he changed over the years, but I doubt it.

My current job isn’t a career job for me, and I think my manager gets that. When I interviewed for the post, I asked how long the people who’d had the job before me had held that position. I wanted to know if there was a lot of turnover. Turns out there wasn’t. I told her I was looking for a job I could stick with for a long time. I think, although I don’t know for sure, that that point helped land me the position. It turned out to be a good match for me.

Being a manager is tough, and I don’t envy anyone that position. If I had any advice for my supervisors, it would be to hold your employees accountable if they make a mistake, but don’t dwell on it. Figure out where you go from there, and follow that path.

Image Credits: Employee Team © VERTEX SPACE–stock.adobe.com; Female Employee © freeslab–stock.adobe.com

Today’s Bloganuary Prompt: If you could un-invent something, what would it be?

The problem with uninventing something major is you uninvent all the “minor” discoveries that go with it, Take nuclear weapons, for example. I looked it up, and they led directly to the use of radiation in fighting cancer. Where would we be without that?

Now, I’m not saying I’m in favor of nuclear weapons. I’m not. I wish they didn’t exist. They frighten me, and I believe that in the wrong hands they could mean disastrous things for our country and our world. But if you throw them out, you throw out all the benefits.

I sometimes wish we’d never invented plastic, given the amount that’s piling up in our landfills. But I think the answer there isn’t un-inventing something that probably has a multitude of positive uses, it’s learning how to responsibly use it. I no longer drink my sodas from plastic bottles. I only drink from cans, because it’s a challenge to recycle plastic bottles and much of what we think we’re recycling ends up in landfills.

I also started buying my laundry soap from Earth Breeze, because it comes in sheets that are enclosed in a recyclable paper envelope. No plastic bottles to contend with there, and I’m happy with how clean my clothes are. And no, I’m not getting compensated to say this.

It’s decisions like these that will help us responsibly manage the problems we’ve created. I think one blog post can’t fully address the multitude of factors that surround one single invention. I know the moon landing, while not an invention, was the result of many inventions that are used in our daily lives today. How do we dismiss the benefits of progress?

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the world in the future goes back to a much simpler state because we’re destroying so much of what we need. But finding the one invention that is the cause of these problems is a challenge I don’t think too many of us are up to taking on.

Image Credits: Invention Lightbulb © greenbutterfly–stock.adobe.com; Landfill © Davivd–stock.adobe.com; Globe © Tryfonov–stock.adobe.com

One rainy afternoon, I returned to my college dorm, dripping wet and a bit crabby. It was there I saw my best friend, Laurie, working the front desk.

“Belindy!” she exclaimed. “I was hoping you’d be the next person through the door! I wanted to see your face.”

At that moment, I felt loved.

Image Credit:  © OneLineStock–stock.adobe.com

Today’s bloganuary prompt is, “Where can you reduce clutter in your life?” Well, I’ve written about that a couple of times in this blog, so I’m not going to bore you with more. Except for this one point that I’m proud of. I’m going through all of my yarn, most of it leftover from projects in years past, and making two giant blankets from the scraps.

Now, by scraps, I don’t mean one-yard pieces. Some of these scraps are almost equal to a full skein. Others are much smaller. So far I’ve knit about 46″ of a 55″ wide blanket. I’m almost out of yarn for that one, but I won’t finish it quite yet. The other one is wider. I thought I had a lot more yarn for the second one than I actually do, so I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.

I’m kind of embarrassed at how old some of this yarn is. I’ve been able to date some of it, and it goes back 22 years. The yarn isn’t moth eaten or anything–I’ve taken care to keep that from happening–and it’s nice yarn. If I spend the time knitting something, I use quality yarn.

My mom has laid claim to the first blanket, although I never actually promised it to her. We’ll see what happens. I have a few more projects I’d like to start. Then I’ll use up the leftover yarn from those to finish the blankets. Or not! This is a project that may take me a long, long time to finish.

Image Credit: © kostikovanata–stock.adobe.com