Sonic Workplace

Things at work have been going pretty well for me lately, at least generally.

I am still trying to keep about 200 balls moving at the same time and trying to get them all in the same circle when someone calls "time" but in the last few weeks, I've felt that I'm doing a pretty good job of that.

Naturally, when I stop to really think about it, I can identify probably 50 additional balls bouncing slowly to the side that I need to start paying attention to. If I don't figure out what to do with those ball soon, their bouncing will increase such that I won't be able to direct them anymore.

(My metaphor is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, so I'll quit using it. Suffice it to say that I've been moving along well lately, while trying not to let other stuff drive me to nervous distraction.)

But, I didn't start writing this post to talk about balls.

This afternoon, after a bit of a nervous lunch in which I was worried that those 50 balls on the side were getting ready to bounce a bit higher, I tried to focus a bit and worked on some computer stuff while listening to my iPod. In the midst of this work, Peter Gabriel's I Grieve shuffled up.

This song is a bit depressing, I'll admit, but for whatever reason, the words caught my mind and it helped soothe me into the early afternoon. It inspired me to stop tonight and write these brief thoughts down, but I knew that it wouldn't be a very effective post unless I could provide you a link to the song itself. (Luckily, YouTube provided on the page I provided above.) What I didn't realize when I started searching for some way to present the song is that it was written (I think) in response to September 11th, which is sort of made implicit in this 2002 Larry King clip.

The odd thing is I went into this evening just being thankful for the song that helped calm me down from some moments of anxiety. Now I look at the song itself from a different point of view. Certainly my workplace problems aren't nearly so dire. But it wasn't the lyrics themselves, but rather the overall sense of the song that made me pay attention and divert my mind into a different direction.

As a parent, I often try to divert my girls from their anger or disappointment into a different direction, in an attempt to make them calm down or to see things in a different light. (Speaking of calming, while writing this sentence Moby's Fireworks just shuffled up--a song that is the sonic equivalent of calm.) I guess Gabriel's song did that for me today.

So, was there another reason for this post? Nope, not really. Maybe the brief sonic tour will provide a diversion for you wherever you are and whatever you're thinking, doing, feeling.

Happy listening . . . and go buy the albums.