Uppers or downers, either way blood flows

[randy_byers]

Yesterday was a tough day at work. After three different hour-plus meetings (bluewoad will probably scoff at the idea that this is a lot, but hey, he's management), the day was capped off by the discovery of an error I made that has money attached to it. This is the second such error I've made in the past six months. We had just this week finally put the first error to bed after a couple of months of work, and now this one pops up. It's partly a process problem, and it's something that a multi-department team I'm on is working to solve. However, both errors were things I should have caught myself, and I can't understand how I didn't. I ground on it all night, and I woke up feeling really down this morning.

So the walk to work was quite a trudge. I stopped at the Bean & Bagel for my first americano of the day, and one of the baristas gives me a good looking-over and tells me she really likes the new facial hair. The other one chimes in that she had already told me the same, which was true. She went on to say that she thought it actually made me look younger. "Grey hair makes you look younger?" I said dumbly. I thought for a moment she was taking the piss, but she insisted it was true. There I was, feeling about as low as a ground down heel, and she's telling me I look younger?

Well, I had to laugh. Thank you, ladies, that was a nice booster. I mean, I may be completely fucking incompetent, but at least I look good while doing so.

Comments

[kdotdammit.livejournal.com]

I hate that kind of stress. I sympathize. At least you're a hot babe.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but getting greyer by the minute.

[(Anonymous)]

Don't beat yourself up on not spotting the error. No one can spot all their own, or anyone else's errors. That's the nature of our tiny brains. Which is why you're working on changing the process.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear of work stresses -- errors do happen and they can help you to avoid others. Small comfort, I know. Hang in there. Are your boss and co-workers being supportive? To err is human, to forgive yourself superhuman, but you can do it I know you can!

Dude kdot's right you are a hot babe and I bet those baristas have serious crushes on you man. I dearly wish you could find a way to stop withholding yourself from womankind. (Same here!)

I finally saw Broken Embraces again last night. Second time convinces me its a masterpiece. Structure's amazing.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I recently ran across a review of Broken Embraces in which the guy argued that Almodovar has gotten "too complicated" in his past three films. I do think he may have entered a new stage in his story-telling, but I find the complex narrative structures utterly beautiful and emotionally resonant.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I should add that I might agree that Bad Education is overly complicated, but I still find it powerful because of the subject-matter and visual sophistication.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Think about Katherine Howes's prematurely grey hair, back when we were all in our late twenties and early thirties (except for you; you were in your mid-twenties). Didn't all that silver hair on a woman who was obviously not a codger make her somehow look even younger than she actually was? And if it worked for her, why wouldn't it work for you?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Now that you mention it, I'm thinking of a guy I know who is in his thirties and has silver hair, and it does make him look even younger. Strange.

[richardthe23rd.livejournal.com]

Damn. Here I was, assuming shaving would knock twenty years off my age.

(Or off of my life, if I'm a really clumsy shaver.)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Well, part of what's confusing to me is that last time I shaved my full beard down to a goatee, I was told I looked younger. Maybe it works both ways.

[grytpype-thynne.livejournal.com]

"I may be completely fucking incompetent, but at least I look good while doing so."

Have you considered a career in government? Or con running, at least?

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

We seem to be thinking of different ConRunners. (*Ahem*)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I've tried con-running, but it does seem that I might have the right stuff for a Senator. Of course I'll have to get married so that I can cheat on my wife.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

One might note that "younger" is a relative word that does not mean the same thing as "young". Mind you, the word sometimes applied -- with favorable intent, I think -- to me is "spry" (with an implied ..."for your age"). *sigh*

But to your more important point: Yeah, IMHO, if you don't sometimes make mistakes, you're doing something wrong (like, not reaching far enough, which is also a mistake, as is considering that you either are, or ought to be, Perfect).

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Good point about "younger" vs "young". Maybe now I look 47 rather than 49.

Alas, the errors I made were not the result of trying something difficult. They were more or less the product of poor proofing. What's particularly frustrating is that came *after* we formed this team that was supposed to prevent things like this from happening. I think it made me a little complacent.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes.... The thing about the "Team" approach is that, all too often, it ends up with no-one being responsible for anything -- including catching an error made by some other member of The Team. (I don't think this is a necessary quality, but it seems to be quite common.)