But no, my internet wasn't working. Apparently my floor's wireless internet decided not to let me play. So, unless I spent the entire day in my brother's office on another floor (where the wireless did work), I would have no internet. "Fine," I thought. "I've got the desktop computer that stays in my cubicle. I'll just use that for internet." But no, that computer decided to commit suicide before my very eyes. I've never seen it happen before, but there it was. Everything was lost, and it took the entire day just to restore the operating system. No internet there, either.
"Fine," I thought. "I'll just call Jon during lunch, and maybe he won't be busy, and we'll have a good conversation." But no. A misunderstanding led to a frustrating and much-abbreviated phonecall. So by the time I hung up, I decided I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
So, instead of moving to Australia (click link above to understand), I decided to vent with some creativity. And it really did make me feel better. It wasted about 30 minutes, but I figure it was time well-wasted to get my attitude back where it should be.
Without the internet, I couldn't search through stock photography for the perfect photo for our next magazine ad. The theme for it would be, "Working with Texas Life is as easy as..." and my assignment was to find something that denoted "easy." I had decided on, "Working with Texas Life is a walk in the park." To really catch attention, I wanted the park walker to be something unique. Without the ability to search for photography, I decided to do what I haven't done in a long time--sketch the idea out.
Here is the setting:
And here are my different park inhabitants:
I cut each of them out, and placed them in the park. My favorite is the elephant. One, because it's the only one that really fits proportionally, and two, because I just like elephants.
Although the skipping penguin really makes me laugh, too.The idea didn't go over so well with the rest of the team. They decided it was creative and funny, but not in the normal vein of Texas Life's ads. We decided on something more sedate, most likely, "Working with Texas Life is as easy as child's play" with a photo of children playing. No, it won't catch people's attention as much, but it won't be vastly different from the previous ads, either.
But that's okay. The therapeutic value of these drawings vastly outweighs my coworkers opinion of them. And my day turned out just fine.
You should've called me, we could've done lunch!
ReplyDeleteI like your elephant ad. Hang on to the idea, you never know when an opportunity to use it will resurface.
Sorry I didn't call you! I thought about it, but I had already brought a lunch, and since I was on Day 2 of eating healthy, I didn't want to go out (Day 3 is a different story, though!). And I figured you had probably figured out your lunch schedule already.
ReplyDeleteSadly, my lunch plans this week got moved to next week, so still no lunch together!! Maybe we can get together after work?? I miss you!
Nothing like a rear-view shot of an elephant to brighten anyone's day!
ReplyDeleteI like it...and it's too bad that your coworkers didn't go for it! I'd rather work at somewhere that has a sense of humor any day.
Sorry you had a bad day. Your Thursday this week sounds like my Thursday last week ... I was ready to quit my job, the world, etc. !
ReplyDeleteI like the elephant, too and agree with Lindsey.
Teresa will like the penguins. Maybe you can draw Teresa in your ad. And why does the elephant look like a.....a......larger woman bending over to pick something up. Eeeewwww. Where's the elephants tail??? Where are the ears? Is that a next to the duck? What would the front look like. You should make a cartoon with the penquin, duck, monkey, and large woman....oohh, I mean elephant! That would be fun. You could do like a weekly installment on your blog. Call the comic "Park" and maybe syndicate it all over america in news papers after if catches on like a wild fire throught the blogsphere.
ReplyDeleteI do like the penguins. I like their happy little feet. You could write and illustrate a children's book.
ReplyDeleteI like the penguin's butt...but I must admit that when I think of a line of animal butts I think of the ad campaign for encouraging people not to smoke...butts...get it...yea, I think I was in high school. But either case, I love the no good very bad day story. That is my life story sometimes...or the grouchy ladybug...or 5 lil monkeys jumping on the bed. You know...yup. Luv you!
ReplyDeleteP.S. You don't need the net nor the company of a friend at lunch, sometimes peace and solitude is awesome (thus most of my lunches at the dental office.) but when you want to be on those, then it could lead to insanity. So glad you didn't go that route. :)
Lydia, sorry you had a no good very bad day, but I think you came up with some cute stuff.
ReplyDeleteMiss you and I'm tired of bad days...
It's amazing how our worlds suddenly come to a hault when there's no internet! When ours goes down at work I can't function at all. Everyone just sits around and talks to one another. (I enjoy this time very much, unfortunately it doesn't happen very often.)
ReplyDeleteAnd I wrote a story in elementary school titled My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I'm pretty sure the idea came from the book. It was funny to hear everyone's stories and what they considered to be a "very bad day." I actually still have my story. That might be an interesting blog post. :)