workstudy
It's been over 50 hours since i last slept, not counting Friday morning's hour nap i took on my office floor. 30 hours ago i got home feeling dead tired, having slept but 4 hours the night before, and 4 before that, and checked e-mail - main database server was down (why can't we do RAC?). Couldn't let that sit lest i lose my superhero status.
The 30 minute nighttime bike ride to work woke me enough to resolve the situation by morning, just before anyone noticed that the major service was down, just before anyone was around to start yelling about their inability to register students, and just before anyone was around to say "good job" (but there are countless other diatribes on the haplesness of a sysadmin's job, i won't bore you with a rehash of those, i'm working on my own particular hapless diatribe here).
In 8 days i'll be heading to a graduation ceremony. The student speaker will speak of sleepness nights spent with classmates in the studio, of the comraderie, of the endless work, of the shared bleary eyed mornings with friends. I'll remember no one said "thank you" when i singlehandedly brought up that database server before registration started (but i did get some nice overtime). There will be more words on how tough the regimented studies were, on the uncertainties of projects, on the deadlines, on the friends they asked for help. I'll remember all those tasks on my work todo list, some of which have been there for years. I'll wish i had help through the tougher tasks - these days it's an increasingly solitary job.
18 hours after that grad speech, i'll start a 80 hour stretch during which i'll sleep under 10 hours, and during which i'll begin to wonder why i couldn't hack school. I can work for 36 hours straight. I can sit and work in front of a computer for 12 hours before i need to get up. I can get home drunk at the wee hours of the morning and still be alert enough to solve any work problem that presents itself. But school work? It's an unsurmountable labour for me.
Still, challenges are good for the soul. The reason i learned to put my pants on right leg first, decided to eat vegan, am growing my hair out, or bike to work, even through the dead of winter: gotta constantly challenge yourself, in both big ways and small ways (lot of that i learned from my brother). Perhaps one day i will find a way to complete the school-task without resorting to a Herculean solution.
In other news, i'm tired.
The 30 minute nighttime bike ride to work woke me enough to resolve the situation by morning, just before anyone noticed that the major service was down, just before anyone was around to start yelling about their inability to register students, and just before anyone was around to say "good job" (but there are countless other diatribes on the haplesness of a sysadmin's job, i won't bore you with a rehash of those, i'm working on my own particular hapless diatribe here).
In 8 days i'll be heading to a graduation ceremony. The student speaker will speak of sleepness nights spent with classmates in the studio, of the comraderie, of the endless work, of the shared bleary eyed mornings with friends. I'll remember no one said "thank you" when i singlehandedly brought up that database server before registration started (but i did get some nice overtime). There will be more words on how tough the regimented studies were, on the uncertainties of projects, on the deadlines, on the friends they asked for help. I'll remember all those tasks on my work todo list, some of which have been there for years. I'll wish i had help through the tougher tasks - these days it's an increasingly solitary job.
18 hours after that grad speech, i'll start a 80 hour stretch during which i'll sleep under 10 hours, and during which i'll begin to wonder why i couldn't hack school. I can work for 36 hours straight. I can sit and work in front of a computer for 12 hours before i need to get up. I can get home drunk at the wee hours of the morning and still be alert enough to solve any work problem that presents itself. But school work? It's an unsurmountable labour for me.
Still, challenges are good for the soul. The reason i learned to put my pants on right leg first, decided to eat vegan, am growing my hair out, or bike to work, even through the dead of winter: gotta constantly challenge yourself, in both big ways and small ways (lot of that i learned from my brother). Perhaps one day i will find a way to complete the school-task without resorting to a Herculean solution.
In other news, i'm tired.
posted by francisco at 4/22/2006 11:30:00 AM
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