I invented the term “white collar ditch digger” to describe my internship at Lam as a tech writer. My work was pure drudgery, mostly involving formatting documents. Dull.

I suppose I didn’t learn my lesson because here I am again doing dull work. (To be fair, it didn’t start out dull, but then my job description changed a bit.) I consider this dead time because it doesn’t propel me forward in life or make me a better person.

The idea of “killing time” should be taken more seriously. One only has a limited amount of time on this Earth, and wasting this time should deserve more violent imagery to go along with this dead metaphor. The wasted time is murdered time. It applies to idle internet surfing, and it should also apply to drudgery. Yes, I get paid, but that time is going toward cash, not being directly invested in me.

So, I’m working a project to reclaim this dead time. I won’t reveal it for now, but I wanted to note here, in this space, that it is being done.