I was having kind of an icky day at work. A mix of stress combined with cranky people and general tiredness had me feeling blue until I was given the task of booking some complimentary tickets for tomorrow night. This is a fairly ordinary task working at a theater, but what made this special was that the tickets were for active duty soldiers and veterans through the USO of Illinois. I had been so focused on my day, how I felt and how much stuff I had to do that I forgot that all of the work my colleagues and I put in every day goes towards making art that not only entertains but also speaks to the human condition. It brightened my day booking those tickets knowing they were going to people who have devoted their lives to service. Even though I was not the one who made the decision to give them free tickets, I still felt like I was doing something good. And it lifted my spirits right up!
year of fun
HAVE FUN. EVERY DAY. SIMPLE BUT DAUNTING.
Category Archives: Fun at Work
Day 85: Work Holiday Celebration
It’s my second photobooth in four days! And while I still want to write a photbooth focused post, today is not the day. Because our work holiday party was out of control. Not only did we have a photobooth, open bar and what seemed like an endless supply of fried food and sweets at 3:00 in the afternoon, but also a video produced by the staff featuring many different departments. (Yours truly even made an appearance). Not to mention the bake-off and cake walk with all kinds of prizes from cake to theater tickets to flavored vodka.
It was a fun way for large staff to all get together to celebrate. Now, some of us are back at work, until the shows start this evening.
Day 65: My Moment of Zen
My place of work, aside from producing quality theatre, has some of the best views of the city. The second best location for gazing upon these views is the employee lunch room. (The best is the sixth floor bathrooms). Today, instead of obsessively checking my email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for half an hour, I took in the view while eating. It was so calming–the city looked impressive but it was the lake that drew me in–and serene with the sun beginning to set (I ignored the totally depressing fact that it was 3pm and the sun was already setting). This is among the simplest fun I’ve had, yet one of the best because I was able to just relax and enjoy the day without stresses, worries, work or anything getting in the way. My moment of zen if you will. Here is my attempt to share it with you. #nofilter
Day 64: Playing Footsie
Suggested activity, “wear silly socks on a day when others can see them to see who talks about them.”
Well, since Elphaba ate one and a half pairs of my shoes, I don’t have many winter weather and work appropriate shoes left. This morning, when I was at a loss at what to wear on my feet, I remembered this suggested activity and decided to go for it. I went to work with my feet looking like this.
At first, I felt a little embarrassed. Like when someone high up at the theater got out of his car the same time I did and I thought we might ride the elevator together with my socks. That did not end up happening, but I was ashamed of myself for feeling embarrassed–totally not in the spirit of this activity. So then I started trying to get people to notice them by sticking my feet out from under the desk, doing full body stretches, and getting up from my chair a lot.
After hours of no one saying anything, I finally declared, “Hey look at my socks! I’m wearing them for fun!” I then got the responses I wanted: positive comments, eye rolls and chuckles. It was definitely fun trying to get people to notice them, but maybe I need some even sillier socks for this activity to really work?
Day 57: Disposable Camera Challenge Part 2
This morning included a small adventure called “Where can I get film developed?” The brand new Walgreens on the corner of Sheridan and Irving Park does not have that capability. BUT Broadway and Waveland does. I struck up a conversation with the woman working behind the counter, and she told me that I might be surprised to know that a lot of people still get film developed. She is busy most days with film. I did find that surprising. And then when she asked me if I wanted singles or doubles, I balked. The choice of sIngle or double prints is something that had totally left my brain (and I used to have a job running one of those photo machines). Why doubles of course!
The pictures were ready for pick up by the time I got off work today, so I got them and eagerly came home to take a look. It was better than I had expected. My coworkers and I managed to take some cute pictures even though we couldn’t double check how we looked! I think I was the worst at actually taking the pictures. A few of them even feature my thumb…
Now the irony of this is not lost on me, but below please find some pictures–that I had to take with my iPhone–of the best pictures in the bunch. I can’t wait to share these with the people in them. See, that’s why you get doubles.
year of fun 