Neatly Tangled

This has nothing to do with yarn-y goodness except in regards to why I’m not getting anything done. It popped into my head today because I am in enormous pain from aggravating an old injury that originated in my brief stint in the Navy and, in fact, ended my career. It’s this:

After I got hurt, I was still working out to the extent that I could. One afternoon I was on the recumbent bike and one of the Drill Instructors decided to come over and give me a talking to, which was a little unusual. You rarely heard those guys use their inside voices. Anyway, he paced around the bike and gave me a bit of a lecture, and the part of it that really, really stuck with me was when he said, “There’s a fine line between working hard and being stupid, and I trust you’ve figured out where that is now.”

That was ten years ago. And you know what? I’m not sure I know where that is now any better than I knew it then. I think I might be making the same mistake again. I need to ponder a bit. Because doing the equivalent of physically flunking out of OCS again would be stupid. And if a Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps actually told me that, in an environment meant to push you past your perceived limits, then maybe, just maybe? I ought to consider acknowledging that just working harder isn’t always a good solution.

Something to think on, anyway.

Some of you may not know this, but I work for a certain widely despised big-box retailer which ought to remain nameless. I know that admitting this kills my knitting cred, because they are omg-teh-ebil! if Remnants is to be believed, but whatever. They gave me a job when I needed one to put a roof over my head, and they’re about the most civilized retail I’ve ever worked. Which is not to say that I like my job particularly, but it pays enough of the bills. Come to think of it, it’s been a good ten years since I’ve had a job I liked particularly, and that one didn’t really pay the bills. Hmmm.

Anyway, said retailer has something like 6000+ locations worldwide at this point, so it’s not too uncommon to get sent to another location to work on a special project or to help with training or whatever else might need done. So Monday I found myself working in the backroom of a store I’d never stepped foot in before, in a mall I’d never stepped foot in before. And do you know what happened when I walked out into the mall to get my lunch?

I discovered that I could never, never work at that location full-time. The damned thing is right next to an A.C.Moore.

Sixty-two dollars and change later, I am the proud owner of three new pairs of bamboo straights and something like twelve new balls of yarn. Gorram clearance is hell on my stashbusting plans. OTOH, I only grabbed what I have immediate projects in mind for. Now if I can only find another five or six hours a day…