Hidden Shitty Things at Jobs

There's a tiny party whenever there's darkness at a time when there's not supposed to be darkness. If you go into any room with people in it and half the lights are off, everyone loves it. Then some moron walks in and flips all the lights on and ruins it. We know that bright blue screens cause depression and ruin sleep, yet millions of people stare at a bright blue screen all day with bright fluorescent lights bouncing off white walls.

My job makes me hate healthy food. I know I'm going to be in an environment with vending machines, free donuts, and gas station food. No one ever brings a healthy homemade lunch or even an unhealthy homemade one. No homemade food ever, no one cooks. What planet is this? So as a reaction I bring a big glass (no BPA!) thing of vegetables and a vegan protein shake and pb&j on high fiber bread with peanut butter that's made of just peanuts and jelly made of just fruit, every day. And the routine makes me hate healthy food and I treat garbage food on the weekends like it's a reward.

Uncomfortable chairs are a big deal considering what bad posture does to your life. And 100% of office chairs I've ever sat in are uncomfortable and I don't know anyone in my 400 person building that likes the chair they're in, and they're in it all day. You have to whine a little bit about the chairs because it's an office ritual, but it's ridiculous how much power an uncomfortable chair can have over your life.

In the middle of some important task, I'll suddenly notice a thick layer of caked-on grease all over my entire face. What the heck? Why does that happen when I'm not doing anything active, the room isn't that hot, I took a shower this morning. How do I get absolutely filthy sitting still in a temperature controlled environment? I suspect that a lot of other people get spontaneous face residue for no reason at their jobs... if not then I guess this post is embarrassing but I don't care.

If a bunch of important issues come up, it makes sense to occasionally have a meeting about it. What a lot of bosses do instead, is have regular recurring meetings and then invent issues so there's stuff to talk about at the meeting. I have never been to a meeting at work that was held because of a need to address some important issue. They have always been recurring time wasters where management comes up with fake issues right before the meeting, or improvises them during the meeting.

Why aren't there nap areas in office buildings? Literally every office worker wishes there was a nap area at their job and yet they don't exist. I discovered an unoccupied suite at a job once and used to sleep on the floor in there. Someone found out and then the empty suite was locked from then on and I couldn't get in anymore. There is nowhere in an office building to lie down and that is ridiculous. Lying down is comfortable and it would instantly improve everyone's job at minimal cost.

Break rooms are always sad and awkward, so smart people walk around outside on breaks. But then they get all sweaty since they have to dress up for work (for some reason) and then have to sit through the rest of their workday all sweaty. It's a brutal combination to have a lack of a nice break area, and a dress code together. Male business attire is engineered specifically for maximum discomfort, fabric covers the entire body and seals with buttons at the cuffs, tucked in shirt at the waist, thick socks, and tie at the neck, to choke off all entry points for fresh air.

It's nice that people like to socialize at work, it probably makes their jobs easier. Socializing is not a good thing for the few people that care about getting work done. It's impossible when coworkers are constantly bothering you. I've historically been great at stopping people from bothering me at my desk, but there has been constant loud socialization at every job I've ever had. I can only avoid distraction by listening to gnarly metal on headphones all the time. This can put you in the difficult position of either being looked down on for being unproductive, or being the office pariah for not socializing as much as others.

Good night, everybody. Have a great day of sweaty awkward meetings under blinding lights tomorrow!

Activity as a Cure for Pain

I was told my swollen, purple ankle would in heal 6 months if I rested it. I walked normally on it instead, which hurt like hell, and it was fixed in one month without medication.

It was the worst I've ever sprained anything. I got it by drunkenly stomping into a pothole on some jacked up San Francisco street, it hurt so bad I immediately froze and went silent. I hid it all night because I was afraid that acknowledging it would make it hurt more. The next morning it was on fire and I knew I wasn't walking anywhere. I Googled it to see if there was some way to get walking faster. Everyone said aspirin, rest, go to the doctor, get a splint, don't put weight on it.

Some marathon runner said he ran 50 miles a week and has had many sprains and some breaks. He said to walk on it normally, and don't limp or be visually obvious about the injury. I went to the doctor, she prescribed some high-dosage Ibuprofen that requires a prescription, and said to rest it for 6 months. The sprain was so swollen that it looked the same as a broken bone on the x-ray. She said "a bad sprain can be more painful than a broken bone".

I followed the marathon runner's advice instead it was all over in one month, no pills.

I've had back pain since an injury at age 17, but it hurts less now than ever before even though I work out like 8 times a week. Over the years I've read a ton about back pain, much of which is the same old advice. But a few people have pointed out the same principle as the marathon guy, basically "resting a stiff body part tells it to prepare for rest, moving a stiff body part tells it to prepare for moving". If movement is better for you than sitting around, why would that be any different (within reason) for an injury?

A piece of accepted wisdom in the bodybuilding community: "a sore muscle means you have to train it more frequently". Not an injured muscle, a sore one. If you look at random fitness sites they all say the same thing. Do your pecs hurt? Do pushups three times a week instead of one. Sore back? Do deadlifts twice a week instead of once. With correct form. It's somewhat counterintuitive, that using a sore muscle more would lead to less pain. Imagine if anything else in life was like that. Are your brakes squeaking? Drive more aggressively and slam on the brakes. Are your jeans frayed and faded? Wear them more and put them through the laundry more often.

More people are getting wise to the reality that a sedentary lifestyle is up there with smoking, diet, or booze in terms of how fast it will kill you. It can also lead to cancer, stroke, heart disease. It's incredible to think that most of the things we consider unhealthy are almost preferable to simply sitting too much. Movement is the best maintenance for me when I'm healthy, but it's also the best medicine for me when I'm unhealthy.

When I was a little kid I would run around like a maniac until every bone hurt. If something entertaining was going on, it was irrelevant how much things hurt because I was going to keep flailing until the other kids had to go home or the sun went down or my parents made me go home. I remember feeling completely worn out at the limit of tiredness... and then something good would happen and I'd keep flailing and nothing hurt anymore. Is there really even a limit when you're an excited little kid?

I can't do that anymore though, if I flailed around for hours every day I'd have horrible joint pain all the time or some other bad side effects. Wait a second, when I was a kid I used to do it for hours every day and the only side effect was excellent sleep every night for years. Huh.