Feeding the Artist Within

I started training for my new job at US Bank on Monday. It is a "perfect" job for me, and I imagine I will do very well at it; however, it is depriving me of nine hours a day that would otherwise be spent loafing, eating, working out, exploring and, most importantly, exercising my insane brain. My sane brain is getting plenty of exercise. In fact, it's on overdrive. But I find myself in class every day, by about lunch time, getting very antsy. My fingers start tapping, my leg shakes, my eyes dart around between the instructor, my classmates, my computer screen and anywhere else thay can go. And my brain goes to La La Land for undetermined periods of time. I will snap out of it and realize that the teacher has moved on to a totally different subject, and I better start paying attention.
It is not that the material is uninteresting. On the contrary, I have always found personal finance fascinating. Really, even as a child. My mother will testify that I would see ads in the newspaper or in magazines for financial service agents to talk about investing in stocks and bonds, and I would call them to discuss ways to invest my money. I was ten. I had no money, other than paper route and allowance. When they would finally ask how much I was looking to invest, I am sure that $40.00 must have been a heartbreaking number to hear.
Anyway, I love what I am learning, but I inevitably find myself in a theatrical mental state. Our instructor will be talking about interest rates, and I am hearing the entire score of "Next To Normal" or I am participating in a comedy sketch about bankers. My brain flys away for a little trip, and before I know it, class has moved on, and I am not sure what all I missed.
I am grateful to be employed by such a respectable company, but I am quickly rediscovering the importance of feeding my artist. For me, and for many others, creativity is more than a pastime or a hobby. It is a necessity. Like oxygen. Well, maybe not as important as oxygen, but certainly more important than, say, chocolate. Oh, I know. It is on the food pyramid above grains. I have never understood why grains occupy such a large space on that pyramid. Honestly, who eats eight servings of bread, rice, pasta or cereal a day?! I am replacing at least half that space with creativity. When people deprive themself of a creative outlet, it ends up hurting them elsewhere. I have seen it in my own life as well as in others. When we get too busy or too focused on work or on other people's problems, we cheat our artists of exercise and playtime. Wait. Stop. I am getting preachy, and what I really wanted was to provide an example of me on the job.
Yesterday, we were given some quiet time to take an online course in workplace harassment. Now, as you may know, there are few workplace topics with more comic potential than harassment. I was reading a scenario about Banker John who has been persistently asking Banker Sally out on a date. She has turned him down three times, but he is just not getting it. When he asks for a fourth time, she responds by saying "Look, John, I have told you three times I am not interested in going out with you. Your persistence is making me uncomfortable, and if you don't stop asking, I am going to report this to my boss." At this point, we are given four multiple choice answers for what would be John's best response. The third option was "What about tomorrow night?" When I read this, I guffawed. Not a little giggle, but a guffaw. Strangely, I was the only classmember who found it that funny. I don't recall anyone else in class laughing. And there were other scenarios that cracked me up too. I spent a good portion of classtime laughing. And then, of course, the natural progression is to imagine myself in a Saturday Night Live sketch about sexual harassment in the office. This, for some reason, satisfies my brain much more than learning about actual serious harassment issues.
Having worked in theatre for so many years, sexual harassment is a part of daily life. There is a reason actors have no organization for countering harassment. They would have to be open 24/7 and have offices staffed in every city with theaters. Plus I think actors inherently enjoy it. Any attention is good attention. They would probably complain only if they were not being harassed.
Anyway, there I go, rambling again. And it's after 7! I have to go to work so my mind can wander some more.
Normino out.