Skip to main content

Thumb Twiddling

A little while back, I joked that I should get in the habit of twiddling my thumbs so that I don't show up late for meetings. It was just a joke, since I really can't handle sitting around doing nothing. I get bored very, very easily, and intentionally putting myself in a position to be bored sounds like one of the outer circles of hell to me.

Of course, life has a funny way of throwing you curveballs.

It all started when I was sitting in some random meeting where I wasn't expected to say much. In those situations, I tend to move my hands around. You can think of it as fidgeting if you like, but it's more about keeping myself from tuning out than it is about nervous energy. It's not exactly like status meetings scare me.

Anyhow, I was doing my usual thing. However, I became a little self-conscious about moving my hands, so I made an effort to keep more still. I figured clasping my hands in front of me was a decent plan, so I went with that. For the clever amongst you, you will have noticed that my hands were now in prime thumb-twiddling position.

For a while, though, I held out. I was trying to fidget less, not more, so I held still. This could only last for so long, though. The meeting was a fairly boring one, we were going to be there for a while, and ultimately, I only had so much self control. Eventually, the inevitable started happening; I started twiddling my thumbs in the middle of this meeting.

When I noticed what I was doing, I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Luckily no one heard me, and no one noticed that I was clearly bored. Still, it is not uncommon for me to clasp my hands together in the middle of meetings. If this was simply the first step down a slippery slope, I may end up doing this in more meetings to come.

The next few boring meetings are going to be very, very interesting.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Waiting for the Suck

I've mentioned it before, but I like to watch some Netflix while I do the dishes . I don't remember when I started the practice, but it's become a routine at this point. It gives me something to focus on while I do chores, and it makes the whole experience more enjoyable. All in all, it seems like a good idea to me. Now, I know that my screen time is limited. I'm certainly not going to wash dishes for two hours, so I can't watch an entire movie in one go. Heck, half the time, I can't even watch half of a movie in a single session. Ultimately, that drives my viewing preferences, so that I tend to favor episodic shows. Basically, that's how I watch some show or another: one dishwashing session at a time. Recently, that's been the Star Trek: Enterprise show. I never watched it when it first came out on television, so this is my chance to see the whole series. As with many series, there are some good episodes and some not-so-good episodes. Still, it's a...

The Joys of Coding

I normally don't blog about what I do (I'm a software developer), because 1) I've already got a work blog that's more suited for that, and 2) I'm a software developer, so most of the time it's not amusing. Sure, I find it interesting, and I learn things every day. However, unless you already lean towards Computer Science, it's not going to be very amusing to you. So, for the sake of keeping my audience (all 4 of them) happy, I stay away. Today, I'm going to break that rule, because my work actually did cause mild amusement. So, without further ado ... I've got a deadline coming up fairly soon, so I've been coding away for the last few days. It's not busy enough where I'm stressing about it, but let's just say it's a little easier to concentrate on my work these days. In it of itself, that's not news-worthy, but because I've been more productive lately, I've also been generating more working code lately. That...

Nicknames Again

In a post from a while back , I mentioned that people around me end up with nicknames fairly frequently. It's not always my doing, but I am more than happy to play along. Of course, the best part isn't the actual nickname, it's always the back story that leads to the nickname. And since it's been a while since that previous post, I've picked up a few more stories about nicknames that are worth a chuckle. So, without further ado, I present to you: "ADT" You know how people pay for security systems for their houses? One of the most well-known companies is called ADT . My brother likes to say that he has no need for said security systems because one of his neighbors is constantly on the lookout for what's going on in the neighborhood. She's like a one-person neighborhood watch, complete with a side of the neighborhood gossip. He has actually come home and had her tell him about the comings and goings of his wife. My brother's smart aleck str...